Are You Ready To Really Hate Me? (Bicycle Light Thread Continued)
OK, so are you ready for some big news that's probably going to piss some of you off?
Anybody who has followed my discussions knows that:
1. I don't spend money on accessories easily
2. I don't like to spend EXTRA money on name brand accessories that are no better than the ones I can find in department stores
3. I don't like to buy "disposable" accessories (ones that are designed to be obsolete or irreparable within a year or two)
4. I am extremely frustrated by the overabundance of information we are all slammed with anytime we try to research a purchase.
So, in a thread titled "The Way It's Going, I'm NEVER Going To Buy Lights," scores of you recommended that I just go out and buy "any old damned light." After all, I had $500 in 50th birthday money for bicycle accessories, so making a decision shouldn't be such a stress-producer. Tonight, on a whim, I walked into a store and purchased a 3.75" 32 LED flashlight with an 11,000 to 13,000 candela output. The light, manufactured by a company called Gordon, has a water-resistant, anodized aluminum body, an approximately 2" diameter lens, and a cylindrical body that I easily adapted to an older bicycle light quick-release holder. Best of all, it runs on three AAA" batteries.
I brought it home, clipped it onto my handlebars, turned it on, and...HOLY MOLY!!!!!! This thing lit up the whole block like a propane explosion, enough to make a neighbor five houses down holler "What the hell is that?!!!!!!" My 10w Niterider (which cost $170 in 1997) instantly looked like landfill after that, and I removed it from my handlebars immediately.
Bottom line? I think my quest for a light is over. What a ridiculous waste of time to search so far and wide when the solution was so simple and so cheap (we'll get to that at the end). This light will illuminate the road plenty when I make my commute just prior to sunrise, and it will certainly be seen by the few drivers on the road at that time. Hopefully, it will provide hours of good light on three recyclable AAA batteries, and ideally, it will not be trash within a year or two. If it is, at least my investment will not have been too steep.
Oh...the cost? $4.99.