Light Recommendations Needed

[Brian Storey]

Could any of you please post what you have found to be good all-round
light solutions for night riding. I expect to use the lights off road
on trails at time at night, but much of the time in semi-lit or road
conditions.

[Ryan Cousineau]

Well, you already know my recommendation (flashlights!)

Dan tried the cheap-but-sweet "Magicshine" solution from Dealextreme,
and...had problems with it not working properly, because the build
quality is inconsistent. But the price!

I think La Bici has a tempting deal on MiNewts right now, which are
pretty nice.

Any light setup that works for the highly demanding off-road-at-night
situation will easily handle road riding.

Ryan Cousineau, rcou...@gmail.com, http://wiredcola.com
"Any world that can produce the Taj Mahal, William Shakespeare, and
striped toothpaste can't be all bad." -from "One, Two, Three"

[Keegan]

I picked up a cygolite milion from MEC (on sale) and tried it out the
other day. 150 lumens 3hr run time. I liked it.

Keegan

On Oct 5, 7:41 pm, Ryan Cousineau <rcous...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, you already know my recommendation (flashlights!)
>
> Dan tried the cheap-but-sweet "Magicshine" solution from Dealextreme,  
> and...had problems with it not working properly, because the build  
> quality is inconsistent. But the price!
>
> I think La Bici has a tempting deal on MiNewts right now, which are  
> pretty nice.
>
> Any light setup that works for the highly demanding off-road-at-night  
> situation will easily handle road riding.
>
> On 5-Oct-10, at 11:00 AM, Brian Storey wrote:
>
> > Could any of you please post what you have found to be good all-round
> > light solutions for night riding. I expect to use the lights off road
> > on trails at time at night, but much of the time in semi-lit or road
> > conditions.
>

> Ryan Cousineau, rcous...@gmail.com,http://wiredcola.com

[Ryan Cousineau]

Oh, here's MTBR's excellent bike lights shootout:

http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/category/lights-shootout/

The photos of relative beam performance are very illuminating.

http://www.mtbr.com/beamcomparisoncrx.aspx

This is their take on the Magicshine MJ-808:
http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/magicshine-mj-808/

If any of you have seen my "portable sun" flashlights, this unit uses
the same Seoul P7 LED as my flashlights, but in a bike-specific
package, and with a 3-hour battery pack. The same basic package is
available in a large number of variants, and with VARYING build
qualities. Dealextreme.com alone appears to sell about 4 different
variants of the same basic combo of a P7 emitter and a 4-cell Li
battery pack.

$85, and it really is amazing. You basically buy one of these and risk
getting a bad one, or buy a $400 light set to get the same quantity of
light.

Oh, and now there's this...

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.36018

Same basic unit, plus two auxiliary wide-spread LEDs.

My flashlight lights are exactly that: small flashlights with a single
rechargeable 18650 Li battery (18650 is a standard Li battery size;
it's longer and fatter than an AA battery, but not nearly as fat as a
C cell). Its runtime is about 45-60 minutes on full power, which I
rarely use on the road. The lo-power mode is enough except for trails.

Claimed lumens for such lights are "900," but real-world estimates are
more like 400-600.

[Brian Storey]

Thanks Ryan - Your recommendations and links gave me enough meat to
put me in the ballpark when I'm looking and know what some
possibilities are.
Brian

> > > striped toothpaste can't be all bad." -from "One, Two, Three"- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Brian Storey]

An update - I ordered the Magicshine MJ 808 - I compared at the LBS
and MEC and could find nothing similar for double the price. I'll post
an update on how they work after a few rides in the coming weeks.
Brian

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Ryan Cousineau]

You're becoming one of us cheapskate bike-hackers, BS! This is how it
starts, you know.

Ryan Cousineau, rcou...@gmail.com, http://wiredcola.com