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Dinotte 200L AA versus Fenix L2D Premium - Impressions

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Dinotte 200L AA versus Fenix L2D Premium - Impressions

Old 05-25-08, 03:47 PM
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Accordion
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Smile Dinotte 200L AA versus Fenix L2D Premium - Impressions

Hello all -

I get so much valuable information from this forum that I thought I'd attempt to give back a little.

I've had the Fenix L2D Premium for the past 6 months. I have it mounted on my commuter bike handlebars.

I ride a couple times a week at night on a Southern California bike path. I like to go out around 10pm and I do a 25 mile loop to the sea and back. It's very quiet, there is little to no pedestrian or bike traffic and I can burn along around 15-16mph with my iPod shuffle lightly playing.

The Fenix has been great. I have found it to have a lot of power and the batteries (Sanyo Eneloops) last around 2 hours. Well, my ride is around 1:40 roundtrip and the batteries have never run out.

I have long wanted the Dinotte 200L. It went on sale last Christmas and I missed it. I just couldn't bring myself to pay $60 more for something and figured I was okay with the Fenix and would wait for the next sale.

Well, I ordered the Fenix on Thursday and had it on Saturday! And I'm on the far West Coast!

Packaging was adequate. The light housing is solid. Very solid. It's a classy piece of equipment. Documentation, both online and provided with the light, is sparse but adequate. I've read all about people trying to figure what goes where or taking an hour to set it up. I don't get it. I'm about as untalented as they come as far as setting things up but it was on my bike in five minutes. That O-ring is fantastic! I figured the little piece of velcro was used to tightly secure the batteries which are then secured in their pouch. Maybe that's new. I recall people complaining that they would occasionally lose the batteries over a big bump. I would figure that would be extremely hard to do.

I couldn't wait to try it out. Around 10pm last night I decided to go for it. I mounted my Fenix on my helmet and my wife laughed at me for 10 minutes! She thought it was absurd looking, and she was right! She and I both agreed that it provided a tremendous amount of light in the garage and was an excellent safety step. It still looks uber-dorky!

I have the 200L on my handlebars. My bike is a 15 year-old Specialized Stumpjumper equipped with city slicks. I love this bike for my nightly rides. I ride around 100 miles a week and am of average talent (both speedwise and endurance). The bikepath I ride is extremely dark around the cliffs of Newport. There aren't any cars, houses, traffic lights or light poles. It's D A R K!

Okay, so I've had one ride. Here are my impressions. This is by no means a qualified study. It's one ride.

The Fenix is WAY brighter. No contest. Hands down. WAY brighter.

It takes 2 AA's and lasts two hours. I run it on turbo mode (175 lumens) and it lasts 2 hours. Supposedly the Dinotte is 200 lumens on 4 AA's and lasts 2 hours.

The Fenix has a yellow tint. More of a standard flashlight color. Perhaps I'm used to it. I have been riding with it for 6 months after all. The 200L has a white/blue tint. Think more like those BMW headlights. I would turn off the Fenix on my helmet and DAMN I could barely discern the 200L was on! I would then turn on the helmet and turn off the 200L and I could see fine! I did this several times during the ride on variously lit sections of the path. I changed angles on the 200L (it's really easy to do with the O-ring!) a number of times trying to find the sweet spot. I don't think I found it on last night's ride.

The O-ring holds the Dinotte way better than the lockblock on the Fenix. I am so darn tired of adjusting the Fenix on every downhill. That's absolutely not necessary with the 200L.

Tonight I'll try the Fenix on the handlebar and the 200L on the helmet.

The combination of the two was EXCELLENT! There is no way I could outride my lighting with the two lights! Granted, I top out at around 20mph but it was great! We've had some rain the past few days and the bottom of the bike paths has a lot of debris and I could see everything. I especially loved being able to turn my head and see things. I never rode before with a helmet light and don't think I will ever go without it now. It adds an incredible degree of awareness.

Things that were not fair on this preliminary test:

1) I am so familiar with the Fenix. I am used to the yellow hue and beam pattern.
2) I am using 2000mA batteries in the 200L. I have some Duracell 2650mA batteries and charged them today. I'll put them in the 200L tonight and see if that makes a difference.
3) I think the position of the helmet light overrides the handlebar light. I'll know more about this tonight as well.
4) It's just one ride. It will take some time to make a more informed analysis.

Things that are great about the Dinotte? It's SMALL! Very small. It's a heavy little sucker. Classy. Great controls! Seems built to last. Customer service gets great marks. I feel that if something goes wrong I'll be taken care of. That means a lot to me. The O-ring mount is SOLID. Easy to connect.

I bought my Fenix for $68 shipped. The Dinotte 200L on sale was $105 shipped. That's a hefty difference. I do like that the Fenix only takes 2 AA's but it really doesn't mean much to me. I have so many rechargeables and the added weight of the battery pack is negligible.

I might want to take a look at that 600L at some point. I bet it's a lot smaller than I thought. I would never need more light than I have for the paths I ride now (and my computer will NEVER need more than a 40Gb hard drive! Hah hah!) but maybe for dirt trails or riding with cars the 600L would be valuable. I use a PB Superflash on the rear. It is more than adequate for bike paths.

Do I wish I would have just bought a second Fenix? Not yet. But I'll come back and post later with more thoughts.

Thanks for the fast shipping Dinotte and the fair price!

Last edited by Accordion; 05-25-08 at 04:22 PM. Reason: error in duration times
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Old 05-25-08, 10:06 PM
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I am not saying this happened to you, but I have been out with my 200L thinking it wasn't putting out much light, and then finally realized I did not have it set on high. Just in case you had not checked that. I have not used the Fenix though, so have no input myself on its brightness. But if it is way brighter than the 200L that is impressive, because I have found the 200L to do a very good job on dark country roads.
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Old 05-25-08, 10:21 PM
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Thanks for that great review. I have the P3d and the 200L and find them VERY comparable too. The dinotte does NOT dominate the fenix.
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Old 05-26-08, 12:02 AM
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Talking

Originally Posted by bhc
I am not saying this happened to you, but I have been out with my 200L thinking it wasn't putting out much light, and then finally realized I did not have it set on high. Just in case you had not checked that. I have not used the Fenix though, so have no input myself on its brightness. But if it is way brighter than the 200L that is impressive, because I have found the 200L to do a very good job on dark country roads.
An excellent point, but I did make sure it was on high. I played around with it in the garage before it got dark enough outside. The Dinotte is extremely simple to switch between low/medium/high. Just two clicks to turn on, then one click each to cycle through them.

The Fenix is a nightmare for me! You need to turn it on, then rotate the bezel once, then click the button, etc. I believe you can set it up to always come on in turbo mode but I haven't looked for the directions. My son dropped it one night while Geocaching and now it powers on in strobe mode. I have to power it on, click the button once, rotate the bezel and then it's in turbo.

It's all user error on the Fenix but I do make sure the lights are on Turbo. I don't need the extra battery life so why not have them at full power?

By the way, I just completed a 32 mile ride tonight in the dark. Half of it with the 200L on the bar, a quarter with the Fenix on the bar, and a quarter with both on simultaneously.

It's late now so I'll put my thoughts together tomorrow at some point and post them.

Take care!
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Old 05-26-08, 02:33 AM
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Fenix supporters are seen as fanatics on this website. I stand by my statement that a Fenix on the helmet will satisfy most cyclists. Another one on the bar will satisfy almost all cyclists.

I wish that I had purchased a Dinotte(s) instead of the lights that I have. They will eventually fail and I will buy a Dinotte for the bars to go with my Fenix on the helmet.
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Old 05-26-08, 02:52 AM
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I have mounted many fenix lights to my helmet.. The lockblock is not the ideal mount for this.. The bikeblock which has parallel mounting and a larger velcro strap works great.

I found that the zefal doodad plus is the easiest mounting.. The doodad gives more flexibility to aim the light a little higher. Both are super secure, the doodad plus is a little more minimalist.. I found a good source for the doodad +, from genuine innovations, the co2 people..

It is best when ordering a fenix that you should order 1 bikeblock and 1 lockblock.. Depending on your helmet, one will work better than the other..

https://www.genuineinnovations.com/bi...=5&prodid=1044
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Old 05-29-08, 02:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Accordion
The O-ring holds the Dinotte way better than the lockblock on the Fenix. I am so darn tired of adjusting the Fenix on every downhill. That's absolutely not necessary with the 200L.
liked your review, thanks. helps me to verify that yes, i did the right thing by going th fenix route.

on the lockblock: if it's wiggling, yank down tighter on it. I can just about pick my bike up by the light w/o disturbing the mounting. Been running them 8-9 months now.
cheers
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