PaulRivers

B&M makes bike lights that meet German regulations. The beam pattern has to be shaped like the low beams on a car headlight, with a sharp cutoff to avoid the light shining directly into the eyes of oncoming traffic. They usually make dynamo lights. Their brightest dynamo light is 100 lux. It looks like it's official, but won't be available to buy for another 6 months.

B&M Ixon Space
- 150 lux
- Built in lith-ion battery with usb charging (though might be mini usb)
- 8 power modes ranging between 10 lux and 150 lux
- Display that tells you how much battery life is left
- 2 hour runtime at 150 lux
- 30 hour runtime at 10 lux



Beamshot:


B&M website (in german):
https://www.bumm.de/de/produkte/akku...ukt/196l.html?

Rose Bikes lists it in the UK with "Product in 26 weeks available":
https://www.rosebikes.com/article/b-...ht/aid:2669801

Amazon UK lists it as well but it's "unavailable":
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Headlight-B.../dp/B01LCMBVDY

Gresp15C

Price?

PaulRivers

Links I put in my post say 199,00 €, google says that's equivalent to $237.43 US.

acidfast7

Ah, the good old:

Straßenverkehrszulassungsordnungen

I remembered when I lived under them ... quite a nice time ... now back in the Anglo-Saxon world of lawlessness.

For those so inclined: Rules here

That's a very nice light and I love the idea of a very focused beam, much better than the Magic**** 1500 lumens (hate that term) that people often post about here.

acidfast7

+19% Mehnwertsteuer (MwSt for DE) or -20% Value Added Tax (VAT for the UK):

So, it should be about €160 for the exchange or around $200 US shipped, if so inclined

Gresp15C

Thanks. That's a bit more than my bikes are worth.

BobbyG

I would be interested.

noglider 

I don't need anything that good but I'm impressed. Be sure to get the clamp with the bolt, not the rubber band.

I have the Ixon Core which appears to have a similar body design and perhaps similar optics. It's rated at 50 lux. It works very well, and battery life is amazing.

srestrepo

This light looks like a good idea and is at a price point where most people considering a light with a beam cutoff but no dynamo would strongly consider it.

My question is for 200 bucks give or take, you could get this. Or for 385 bucks you could get a cut off beam but also 900 lumens of light also in a focused beam in a Lupine SL A4.

Normal commuters might stop at the B&M offering. Those of us who are more obsessed with lighting, or, just me, are gonna save their pennies to go with something like the lupine until more reviews have been done on this new B&M light.

RubeRad

So what is the light in lumens?

kickstart

Lux and lumens don't translate directly. Subjectivity, I have the B&M IQ-x E which is the same optics and 150 lux output for e-biks, I would say it's roughly equivalent to a 600 lumen light. In practice because of it's shaped beam, it isn't nessary to aim it too low like most bike lights, therefore it's useable range is up there with bike lights in the 800 to 1000 lumen range.

PaulRivers

That's really interesting. I had no idea someone else was making a brighter one.

This video is in German so I can't tell what he's saying, but it appears that the Lupine can switch between a cutoff or a round beam? (Edit: I tried to link to 20:32 but bikeforums keeps messing it up by embedding the video).

Later in the video of the Lupine SL A4 they have beam shots:


Looks interesting, maybe more light and a smoother and wider beam pattern than the B&M model.

acidfast7

It's a night mode "Nachtmodus" that prevent blinding with a cutoff. It also lights everything to the right and left. "Intelligentmodus" (Intelligent mode) with blended. The final is a manual mode for general training (more be seen than see.)

He really likes the Night Mode, with a wonderful cutoff that doesn't blind people while lighting that street properly and adhering to StVZO (Straßenverkehrs-Zulassungs-Ordnung) ... Road Traffic Approved Regulations.

Seems like a nice piece of kit.

acidfast7

Be warned though when ordering ... the daily mode is 1.6W on the German version, and 0.4W on the international version (wouldn't want to break other country's laws.)

HardyWeinberg

Awesome!

PatrickGSR94

The SL A7 is impressive, but it's 385 Euros (not dollars), which is US $460 at the current exchange rate. Way too rich for my bikes.

*edit* Lupine North America is selling it for US $430 currently.

https://www.lupinenorthamerica.com/SL...Bike_Light.asp

ItsJustMe

That's a fantastic light. No reason in the world for it to sell for more than $100 though. Even with a healthy markup and domestic manufacturing. There's really not much to even a good LED light. Nice case, LED itself (couple bucks), reflector, about $6 in electronics (80 cents if made in China).

Scummer

Wow.. nice! I like my B&M Ixon IQ Speed with the external battery pack for my road bike and MTB. I wonder if they are making a newer Ixon IQ Speed with the 150lx option that I can connect to my old external battery pack. I would be so over it.
There can never be enough light when you are bombing down a trail at 40mph in the woods at 10pm. So far I'm using a Lupine Piko RX4 with Helmet mount and the Ixon IQ Speed on the handlebar for racing trails downhill, which in itself is already a great combination.
But the more light the better. Exciting stuff with the new LED technology.

acidfast7

That price should be reduced by 19% as you're not paying MwSt.

Just like a Miele washing machine, one usually gets what they pay for with German products.

PatrickGSR94

But like someone else said, it's a few LED chips, a reflector, lens, housing, battery and a small control board with LED driver. What about that justifies a price of $400+?

acidfast7

ever hear of R&D and QA/QC?

an electronic item is not simply the cost of it's parts.

edit: I haven't interacted with the company directly, but I assume it's just like Rohloff and Wilfried Schmidt Maschinenbau (designed, engineered, built, tested and assembled in Germany, while paying a German-specific wage and including the 19% MwSt). Also, if you have any problems just send it back with a letter and they'll give you a new one.

fietsbob

Don't like the price of the top of the line, settle for one of their many other battery powered headlights..

https://www.bumm.de/en/products/akku-scheinwerfer.html

PatrickGSR94

How do I make a comparison of lights listed with Lux vs. lights listed with Lumens? I know they're not the same unit of measurement, but there's got to be some sort of frame of reference. In the dark I can see the road ahead of me pretty well with my Cygolite Expilion 700 on the Turbo or the High setting. So how would that light output compare to one of these B&M lights with say, 150 Lux?

acidfast7

Lux is lumens/m2. You need a reference plane that you want to measure as total light output isn't a useful parameter to employ.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah but I'm just trying to get an idea in my mind of how it compares. Is the 150 Lux light brighter, or less bright, than my 700 lumen light?