Flashlight As A Headlight
 

I would like to purchase a flashlight and use it as a headlight. I like the fact that they have replaceable batteries, and I think are built better. I would want to use it in Strobe Mode. Here is the problem. From what I understand, the strobe mode runs in turbo mode. The light output is so high that it only runs for a short time. Any input would be appreciated.

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When you can buy a LED flashlight for less than $10 that outperforms a $150 light from 15 years ago, it's a tremendous improvement.

However, many LED flashlights aren't happy as bicycle lights, mainly because most battery mounts designed for flashlights are susceptible to electrical problems due to vibration, where the light will erratically flicker and dim while riding.

I got around this by replacing the built-in battery packs in my 3-AAA lights with a cork with screws in each end wired to a vibration-resistant battery pack, and they have been nearly flawless in performing brightly at very low cost.

I used a recharegable LED flashlight for a couple of years and it was nice because I could swap batteries. You can buy higher capacity batteries too. That said I switched to a dynamo light and never had to think about it again. It has worked flawlessly for 8 or 9 years now.

Fenix sells several bike lights that work well, are built well, and use standard-sized Li-Ion batteries that are easily replaced:

BC30 V2.0
BC26R
BC21R V3.0

I have the BC30 V2.0, and its "be seen" mode is one where the light cycles high/low between 600 lumens and 50 lumens at about 2 Hz. Multiple hours of use; I've never tested it to the limits of battery capacity.

When are you planning to use it in Strobe mode? Daytime? Nighttime?

If you want a marker light for daytime riding, then you are going to have to use it in very bright Strobe mode with high energy consumption. That's just the reality of it, no way around it. Carry spare batteries and recharge more often. (What is "short time" for you is not immediately clear.)

If you want a marker light for nighttime riding, then using high-brigtness Strobe mode is ill-advised. Just get yourself a flashlight which supports regular-brighness blinking mode and use it. In regular blinking modes the battery lasts forever.

Only Daytime

This.

I have a Fenix BC21R (version 1 with the beam cut-off optics) that I slipped a Panasonic 3600 mAh 18650 battery in (it came with a 2600 mAh). That bad boy will flash all day.

In my BC30 V2.0, I'm running a pair of their (nominally) 3500 mAh 18650s.

I'm glad that Fenix continues to have a presence in this market. IMHO, they are getting a lot of stuff right on these.

I second the Fenix brand.
Although I went with a 2x or 4x AA battery configuration

(was touring and wanted to be able to get back AA batteries just in case)
((probably not necessary with local riding))

Here are some Handel Bar flashlight holders that are printable on a 3-Printer...

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q...&sort=relevant

I'm sorry, I am missing the gene that makes people believe flashlights are better than bike specific headlights. The proponents only prove my point when key elements of bike practicality are missing in the flashlight wheelhouse. Flashlights even today are optimized for handiness. They have abysmal runtimes because you are not expected to be using them more than a few minutes at a time. The strobe mode in a flashlight is an SOS, HELP ME function which, well how long before you either die, or are rescued do you need the SOS function to last? This could have been a really short thread. 2nd post should have been "Get a bike headlight". Problem(s) solved. Oh, not even going to accept that it is acceptable to want to put AA batteries in landfills every week. If a flashlight can be built better than my MagicShine I want to see it. I might buy it. To use around the house!

You are woefully uninformed. Flashlights have always been lightyears ahead of bike specific lights in LED technology. Flashlights have always had much longer runtimes and much more brightness at the same time.

As far back as 15 years ago I was already using 18650 lithium ion batterie Fenix flashlights as bike headlights. Back in those days bike headlights were universally trash. The flashlight could be run several times brighter than any bike specific light. It could do this for 6 hours. When one reduced the brightness to match the brightness of bike specific lights, the flashlight could run for multiple 24 hours continuously. It wasn't even close.

Bike specific lights have caught up slightly in recent years, but still cannot match the raw lighting performance of flashlights. High end flashlights have their own enthusiast community. There are flashlight online forums, just like bikes have forums. Enthusiast flashlights only have to do one thing: light well. They are constantly updated with the latest LED tech coming out of Asia. Sorry to say this but bicycle specific lights are outdated, over-marketed, overpriced, and poor performing products marketed at lay people. High end flashlights are enthusiast products. Bike specific lights are consumer products. It's the same as the difference between an enthusiast bike and a mass market consumer bike. You're not even in the same segment, and you're not getting the same lighting quality. When you look at the marketing of an enthusiast flashlight, it will tell you the exact LED chip used inside. When you look at the marketing for bike specific lights, this information rarely shared. Ever wonder why? Exactly.

Flash lights have round beams. Some bike lights have shaped beams with a cutoff above the horizon. Bike specific lights have dedicated mounting systems. Some of them have remote switches and other smart features. That's where someone might consider bike specific lights. You're making a choice based on secondary features, because I'm sorry, bike specific lights do not, and will never in the future compete on the primary lighting part.

FYI 18650 batteries are the same batteries as used in laptops and portable battery banks. If you open one up, you'll find a bunch of 18650 cells inside. Certain bike specific USB recharging lights have them inside too. All things being equal, you'd prefer the battery to be removable so you can charge them in your own charger, and replace them as they wear out. With bike specific lights, the cells are sealed inside so when they wear out, your light is done. Yet another indication of their consumer product segmentation.

If I'm looking - today, not ten years ago - at the products from Fenix, I don't think I would say that their bike lights are "light years behind" some of their mainstream flashlights. Bleeding edge, no, but they have pretty good emitters, batteries, drive circuitry, and build quality - which is what I might expect from a "bike light" made by a company that knows how to make good flashlights. A number of their bike lights have user-replaceable batteries, too.

I agree that there long have been, and continue to be, a lot of "bike lights" sold that are deeply inferior to a lot of mainstream "good flashlights".

Presumably Fenix themselves would make a decent bike light, being just directly ported over from their flashlight tech with bike specific hardware on the outside.

Fenix is a major brand. The smaller nich enthusiast flashlight brands have faster product cycles for those who care about always getting the latest tech.

https://www.modernbike.com/twofish-lock-blocks

For mounting

I am not as misinformed as you think. You are so flashlight focused that you see everything, including bike specific lights, through that tunnel. Only one of my bike lights is a unit body 'flashlight shaped' product. All the rest (3) have separate 4 x 18650 battery packs. I would no more want to deal with all those cells individually than I would want a Root Canal procedure. I probably have had a couple of those lights for 15 years. The lightheads anyway. The battery packs are mostly newer. They connected right up to the old lightheads and I can use the older chargers but the newer chargers are more sophisticated.

The light beams are round. I'm agnostic on the issue of round vs shaped beam, but you have to know that you are on the contrarian side of the issue and the majority of cyclists want shaped beams. Quite a few want generator hub power to boot, and that equals very modest overall light output. It's simple physics. You cannot get but so much light out of a 3W Son hub no matter what. But even allowing for some lumen inflation, my newest light the Cygolite 1200 sits on its helmet mount over two MagicShine 808's on the bars and that is plenty of light for this cyclist.

Probably any cyclist, because I have Macular Degeneration and I need a LOT of light at night. Way more than most cyclists that are quite happy with no light at all in the city, and were more than thrilled with the 110L Halogen lamps from back in the day. We don't need bleeding edge light fantastic from Asia because, beyond a certain level of illumination, you are becoming a road nuisance. Flashlights obviously were not expecting to be put on Two Fish Lockblocks and pointed at oncoming traffic in anger. I don't need to be that cyclist that carries an insane amount of illumination because they can.
BTW I know what LED chips are in the lights I use. Maybe you need to see what has taken place in the last 15 years of bike specific light R&D.

So many contradictions in your posts, I'm not sure what you're getting at.

You hate the hassle of charging, but you use proprietary battery packs specific to your light models, that you need to charge with their own compatible special chargers.

You personally use round beams instead of shaped beams, but you talk against lights that shine into oncoming traffic.

You have an eye disorder so you need a lot of light, but you don't think brightness is important.

Ok... whatever you say I guess...

I tried using flashlights as bike headlights. Attaching and detaching was too much trouble. The beam shape wasn't good for cycling. Removing batteries for recharging and replacing required too many steps.

Now I use bike headlights as flashlights.

I found an inexpensive flashlight that is working out for me. I only ride during the day, and the strobe is quite noticeable. The rechargeable battery isn't replaceable, but for $10, I can buy another flashlight.
https://www.amazon.com/Blukar-Flashl...0B42R2GKP?th=1