cyccommute 

In an effort to perpetuate the Mutual Admiration Society, I certainly agree with this. Lights on a bicycle do more than just light your way. I could, like noglider, 'see' with a much lower lumen light. I don't need 1800 lumens (or 4500 lumens back in the halogen days) to see the road. It's nice to have that much because I don't have to concentrate so hard on seeing the road hazards I'd rather not smash into but I could get by with a lot less. I certainly have in the past.

But bicycle lighting is not just about lighting the road. Car lighting isn't necessarily just about illuminating the road as well. A far more important part of vehicle lighting is about making the vehicle visible to other road users. The less light you throw out the more likely another road user isn't going to see it. I ride with 3 very bright lights that make motorist think I am something much larger than I really am. If the lizard part of a motorist's brain thinks "That is bigger than me and eat me" and pauses for just a moment, that's better for my safety. 100 lumens or 200 lumens or even 300 lumens doesn't rise to that level.

Yo Spiff

I started off with a 200 lumen cygolite, and I consider that fine for lit streets, but found I preferred a bit brighter on an unlit trail. I upgraded to the 400 lumen model and am pretty happy with that. I run it on the medium setting on lit streets and just bump it to full blast on the unlit sections. I get 2 to 2 1/2 hours out of a charge this way. I may go to the 650 or 700 if I run across a really good deal on one.

I've gotten both the 200 and 400 on sale for under the $100 mark.

rekmeyata

I think in todays world all, or at least most, rechargers are smart chargers. All of my lights stop charging when full not after a preset number of hours regardless of how much of the battery was drained.

If you have a halogen light and are happy with it, why waste the money to get a new light? Unless you just want to of course. I had, and still have, a 8 D battery 16 watt (originally 13 watt) halogen Cygolite Metro, I used that for years. I only upgraded because I didn't like the frame attached swinging bulky heavy battery pack, and because it burned through 8 D's pretty quickly and back in those days they didn't make good rechargeable D's, the voltage was too low so the light wouldn't operate at max brightness and would only stay charged for about an hour, so I had to use alkalines which got expensive. So once LED's got perfected and the prices came down I got one, then more as time went by.

cyccommute 

Yes, the charger stop charging automatically. Li-ion chargers have to because overcharging a Li-ion battery can lead to damage of the cell. In particular, it could lead to plating of elemental lithium which is an extremely dangerous situation.

Halogen can still be a bright light, it's just not quite as efficient. Back on the first page of this thread, hamster said that LEDs run at about 60 lumens/watt. Theoretically, they could run at 150 lumens/watt but that's only under the very best laboratory conditions. 60 lumens/watt is pretty good but it's not outside of the realm possibility for halogen lights to get to. An 20W MR11 bulb at 12V will provide 40 lumens/watt. If you overvolt the lamp to 14.4 V, you get 30 lumens/watt. That's not at the level of the current crop of LEDs but if you go to a 20W MR16, you get 42 lumens/watt output at 12V. Increase the voltage to 14.4V and you get 60 lumen/watt. The system is heavier but, on the upside, you get 1500 lumens out the front of the light. That's a bucket load of light from a single lamp.

Here's an old post of mine on how to build them. It's dated and I would use Li-ion batteries now but the lights are dead simple to build and operate.

robmcl

Your right for the most part the halogen light works fine. More just currious than anything, howver, I do have a pretty heavy battery pack that bangs around in my handle bar bag too.

daihard 

I'm sure you are aware of it, but FWIW you can use an external battery pack to charge a USB-chargeable bicycle light.

My current light (Serfas Plus 250) survives 2 round-trip commutes in full mode (about 4 hours in total). The indicator starts blinking on my way in on the 3rd day. Knowing that, I can recharge it every other day. If I need to take it out on a long trip, I can plug it into my 11,000 mAh external battery pack to recharge it. I will carry the battery pack in order to charge my cellphone anyway, so it's not an extra burden specifically for the light.

cyccommute 

Yes, you could use a booster to charge you light but I'm not sure why. The whole point of the USB lights is to have a compact package. Personally, I never depend on a battery to get me through more than one commute (about 2 hours of run time). I'd rather not run the risk of getting part way to work or, more importantly, part way home and not have lights. It's a little appreciated fact that it gets dark when the sun goes down *

I also don't understand why you would carry a boost battery for your phone. Can't you just carry a cord (a lot lighter) and plug it in occasionally as well as the light? I carry a boost battery when I tour but that's because I may not have a place to charge the phone when I camp at night.

I think you may be off on the Ah rating of your boost battery as well. A 11 Ah battery pack is a large brick...about 4x4...I suspect that you are off by a factor of 10.

*Lots of people will roll their eyes at this statement but bear with me. If you are riding into work in the morning and you battery fails, the sun will likely rise and provide you with the light you need. If, on the other hand, you are riding home at night and your light fails, you'll be waiting another 10 to 12 hours for the sun to rise. That can make for a long dark walk.

cccorlew

I love this thread, because it makes me crazy. I am shopping for a light and the more I read the less I know.

USB: What's to like or not like? I still need to charge, just like if I have a charger, don't I? In my life I'd plug either into an outlet and wait. What am I missing?

I currently have an older MagicShine. I use it on my 40 minute commute, but the battery is wearing out and not keeping a charge as long. I have a charger at work and at home, so it isn't an issue yet, but will be someday soon.

New battery? Or new rig? It's almost bright enough for the dark MUP I ride. It used to be, but I'm getting older and my night vision isn't what it used to be. I wouldn't mind just a bit brighter. Plus my MagicShine had a cable issue a while ago and I put Sugaru on it to hold it together, but I worry it will break again.

I'd also like a light with a long-lasting battery because I ride a few double centuries a year and am slow enough I spend a lot of time in the dark. On doubles I usually can turn the brightness down to make the charge last longer as I am not in total darkness and by mile 150 I'm not going very fast any more...

What should I buy? Or should I buy two different lights? I have no problems carrying a battery pack.

mrbubbles

The simple answer to the arguments about charging lights is dynamo lights, never ever have to charge your battery again. My experimentation with different lights (flashlights as bike lights, diys, dedicated bike lights) over the years has concluded (for me) that dynamo lights is the simplest and least hassle.

Nothing beats just hoping on your bike and ride through the night not having to worry about battery life.


Here's one of my setup.









[/QUOTE]

Yo Spiff

I recharge my headlight after every use, even if I've just been using it in flash mode during daytime riding. My understanding of lithium ion battery behavior is that they last longer if topped off, rather than drained, and if they get completely drained, it can rob them of the chemical reaction needed to recharge.

jsilvia

When I nightride I have 3 lights, 2 on the Bike one on my helmet. One of the lights on my handle bar is my backup light 150 lumen nightrider. The other two lights are 350 lumen nightrider lights. One on the Handle bar and one on my helmet. The two 350 s give plenty of light.

rekmeyata

That was the downfall of the Halogen, that dang battery. But keep in mind battery technology has changed to, their much smaller now, back in the days I got mine Cygolite made a Metro with the option of a rechargeable lead acid battery! The thing I liked about the halogen was that it had a natural warm light to it instead of stark white or stark bluish white. I still use that Metro, I used it last year during a 5 day black out as a light to walk around with at night when I wanted to see better.

rekmeyata

there is nothing to like or not to like about USB charging, most lights that's the only way they come today, however you can buy a 110 volt to USB converter, simply plug the converter into a wall and then the usb cable into it; and you can bet 12V car plug with the USB converter as well; so then you could charge the light from either USB port on a computer, tv, wall, or car.

I'm glad your MagicShine lasted, mine lasted 2 months so I sent it back under the 3 month warranty they use to have and never got a new or repaired one nor ever heard from them again even after too many to count e-mails. My friend, who I tested my Phillips against, his died a 13 or 14 months after he got it. It seems that MS has spotty quality control, I will never buy another but that's me. I would be worried about the wire, but mostly the battery is around $50, you could get a nice light for about $100 and not have issues with a potential wire failure or new battery cost, or potential other failure yet unknown.

I do believe that 2 lights are a good idea, I have two lights, a helmet light and a bar light, the bar light remains on steady, the helmet light goes into flash mode in the city and steady out on bike paths and dark country roads. The helmet light is cool because you can aim it at car windows setting at cross streets etc to get their attention fast.

If you're riding for hours at night there are very few that are bright enough to see by and still run for hours, the Cygolite Mitycross 800 Xtra (800 lumens) will run for 4 1/4 hours on high and cost about $165 on Amazon. Generator, or dynamo lights, as another poster suggested, is the way to go under those circumstances. Peter White has a great discussion on these types of lights, they're not cheap though and they're not as bright as battery lights but get real close. Here is beam comparisons for dynamo lights: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp

You can get a main light for the time being, then as money comes about simply add a helmet light. A good light now is more important that getting 2 so so lights, and then only to find out later you want to replace one or both of the lights. And you can get away with a cheap helmet light if you will only be using on flash mode to attract attention. A low cost Planet Bike light would work great.

mrbubbles

https://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-...es-876449.html

This light is $50. Run it on medium for 5 hours of runtime, add another $20 battery pack and you have 10 hours. You can get 3 for the price of one cygolite mitycross, and it's way brighter than the cygolite mitycross 800 xtra.


My dynamo setup pictured is brighter than the cygolite mitycross 800, and has no runtime limitation.

daihard 

My battery pack was actually 10,000 mAh, but no, not by a factor of 10. Yes, it is a rather big box. I carry it because I play a GPS-based game (called Ingress if you'd be interested) on my phone, which is a HUGE battery hog. I start out the day with a fully charged phone. In a couple of hours it can easily be down to 10%. For a dedicated player, battery packs like mine are essential. As a bonus, it can be used to recharge my light as well.

Just to be sure, I never play Ingress while riding.

rekmeyata

Again those are generic lights, if you want to risk $60 or so on a light that may not last that's fine, but Cygolite I know will last a long time. And the Generics far overate their lumens, you have to divide whatever lumens they give you by 1/2 to get even close to the actual lumens. Meaning it you can run 4.5 (not 5) hours, assuming their run times are accurate which MagicShine's was not, on medium at 50% power Gemini says 750 lumens which would be much closer to 375-425. The Cygolite is much more accurate in their ratings for will run on high at 800 lumens for 4.5 hours, or medium at 600 lumens 6 3/4 hours.

True the generics are cheaper but I never had a problem with Cygolite brand. I have their original and cheapest light they made called the Metro they put out 18 years or so ago and it still works, I have a ExpiliOn 350 now for 7 years or so and it still works, as does the Mitycross I had for about 3 years.

By the way, the Gemini has upped their prices, the Duo mentioned in the MTB page is $229! https://gemini-lights.com/products/duo There are generic lights on the market, we mentioned those already here, the OP has to decide if wants to take a risk and get a cheap one and hope it last more than 2 years or buy a good one once and not worry about it for a long time. Like anything you can buy low end stuff and keep buying it over and over and over, or buy a higher end product and not worry about it for awhile.

mrbubbles

Brand name lights like cygolite can also fail, go over to mtbr and you'll find out, especially cygolites made with mini usb ports.

The quality of decently made lights from the far east have gone up, and the overstating of the lumens depends on the seller. The link I posted is not the gemini duo, it's the clone version called yinding, the brightness is the same, the difference is a generic battery (which works) and the lack of mode programming (no big deal), that saves $179 dollars, which allows you to buy 3 more yindings.

The led industry is moving fast enough that everything brand name you buy over $100 is a losing proposition a year or two later. If you want to burn money like that, go ahead. As for you have an expilion 350 for 7 years, you're blowing smokes, that product wasn't on the market 7 years ago.

cyccommute 

You can get a replacement battery for about $10. The problem is that lights have improved since the first MagicShines. The output is a bit better and there are new lights out that have almost 3 times the output of the first generation MagicShines. This one is $40. I was astounded at how small the lamp is. I'm not a fan of the light beam since I prefer a spot light but that's just a personal preference.

cyccommute 

Famous failures include the Niterider Digital. It was a halogen but it was a spectacular failure. Doubly so since it was a $200 light ($450 in today's dollars).

The rapid development of LED lights is one of the reasons that I always suggest spending as little as possible for bike lights now. I paid $80 for a MagicShine 5 years ago. I can pay half of the price...$20...for what I paid 2 years ago for my current light. If the lights are getting better and better (see the $40 light I linked to above), why spend a bunch of money on something that will be outdated in a year?

tjax

When it comes to the internet EVERYONE is an expert. Rather than tell you about my business building LED lamps for fish tanks, and my wealth of "knowledge." I would rather give you a reference point. This is to provide you with imperical evidence to help you along. What you see below is a Cygolite Expilion 800 USB I recently purchased, on it's highest setting at an output of 800 Lumens. Remember, lumens are only as good as the lens that is projecting the light.

EDIT: Also I point the light closer to my front tire because it helps me not blind my fellow neighbors on the trail. Hence the close spot. Hope it helps, if you need 200, 400, and 650 lumen pics let me know.



20131026_195308 by epicexposures, on Flickr


20131026_195258 by epicexposures, on Flickr

rekmeyata

a poster mentioned that the ExpiliOn hasn't been around for 7 years...I can't find the receipt for it so my memory of when I got may be off, or maybe the MityCross was the older one? I can't find the receipt for that one either. I usually throw away receipts after the warranty is over, but I'll admit my memory of when either of those lights were purchased is a bit blurry.

cccorlew

I may well be wasting my money, we'll see.
I ordered
https://www.fasttech.com/products/160...00-lumen-white
It's 51 bucks. I also ordered an 8000mAh battery. https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/1...0-battery-pack

I know I'm rolling the dice, but what the heck...

I do hope the connector is the same as the older Magic Shine connector, or that there is an adapter.

I appears that it comes on a slow slow boat from China, so I'll be lucky to have it in early December.
I will report my experiences either in this thread if it's still alive, or start a new one.

mrbubbles

You won't be disappointed, I and several other members have reviewed the light over at mtbr.

https://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-...es-876449.html

Only thing though, the word from that thread says fasttech has sold them out even though they say "in stock". You can wait, or you can buy it elsewhere.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/YINDI...317378653.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/T3-Cr...091100081.html

If you do decide to wait, the wait is worth it.

ItsJustMe

That looks really good. I especially like that it's press and hold for strobe. I hate lights that cycle through strobe to get back to high mode (which is most of them). Very tempting.

americanlt2

Just go to the Dollar General. You can buy a package of 3 for $1. Their good enough on the dark roads.