Headlight recommendation sought

"Will Cove" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

One problem that I have is my handlebars are "risers" that only have
suitable light mounting points at each side of the stem (everywhere else
is
at the wrong angle). These points are now taken up with the Smart mounting
bracket - so although I have a backup light, I have nowhere to mount it.
Perhaps I'll get Space Grip or Swing Grip to solve the issue - but I need
to think a little on that first.

My "El Cheapo super fantastic blindingly bright" light arrived today. Even
though it has a large illumination area, it's not at all focussed so doesn't
seem at all bright! I noticed that it's also very directional like my other
LED light and my cheapish filament bulb light. What do you expect for £5
though?

I had the same problem trying to fit it on my handlebars - luckily it sits
quite far forward on the bracket so it's almost under the headset bracket.
As nearly all my lights don't have articulated brackets, they all have to be
positioned near the centre otherwise the bend makes it point off to the
side.

I might do a comparison of all my lights sometime to see how they compare
from a pedestrian and car driver's point of view.

(Alan Braggins) said:

It looks _very_ like a re-branded Hella (I looked at one in Halfords
with a Hella in my hand), but it's actually 4xAA, not C.http://www.globetrotter.de/de/shop/detail.php?mod_nr=aw_35563&k_id=03...
(The UK version doesn't have the "or dynamo" option though.)

Andreas Oehler pointed out in a post that doesn't seem to be archived
at Google that the case isn't very well designed (not waterproof, can
knock open, can switch on accidentally easily in a pocket), but it is
considerably brighter (and lighter) than an EL-300. And it was £15.
(The £15 price was at Cycle King, but I imagine their January sale
is over by now, or they wouldn't have called it a January sale.)

Also seems to push out significant light upwards (bright ring all
around front) which is not a good idea if your eyes are trying to
catch the photons from tens of meters away.....

Al C-F <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Well done. Think before you ditch the 2.4W bulb. I was using both
beams one night and the battery ran a bit low turning both beams a
rather dark yellow, so I switched to the 2.4 bulb which lit up fully
to get me home.

I understand what you're saying, but I intend having a reasonable LED and
only using the Smart set where the LED is insufficient.

BTW, I think that my set might have the bulbs swapped. The 2.4W is in the
lamp with the patterned lens (the one that gives a flat, wide beam) and the
10W is in the spot (the one with the clear lens). The acid test is the
Shaugh Tunnel, in the centre of which there's absolutely no ambient light
and there's little contrast between surfaces - so I'll see if I can try
switching the bulbs for the next time through - but in the meantime, which
bulb is in which light on your set and have you tried them the other way
around?

Will Cove said:

BTW, I think that my set might have the bulbs swapped. The 2.4W is in the
lamp with the patterned lens (the one that gives a flat, wide beam) and the
10W is in the spot (the one with the clear lens).

Isn't that the way you would want it? A wide spread of 2.4W so that you
can be noticed from all angles, and a bright circle of 10W illuminating
where you are going? All the other (2.4W)front lights I've ever had
have had a patterned lens.

The acid test is the

Quoted message said:

Shaugh Tunnel, in the centre of which there's absolutely no ambient light
and there's little contrast between surfaces - so I'll see if I can try
switching the bulbs for the next time through - but in the meantime, which
bulb is in which light on your set and have you tried them the other way
around?

As yours. No. Though I suspect swapping the lenses over is easy. They
just unscrew.

Do tell us the outcome of your experiment.

Al C-F <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

As yours. No. Though I suspect swapping the lenses over is easy. They
just unscrew.

I thought the same as you until I rode through the tunnel yesterday. The
2.4W didn't have quite enough strength to be useful while the 10W spot was
overkill for the small area it lit - although that area was only the bit
directly in front of me less than two bike widths and I'd have preferred a
wider beam. This morning, I noticed that some of the upmarket lights offer
various beam angles, typically narrow (five degrees-ish) for road use and
up to twenty degrees for off-road use. Most of my riding is done off main
routes, and so a wide-angle setup might be appropriate (but I won't know
until I've tried).

BTW, when I've solved where to mount it, I'll use my LED for others to see
me by and so my primary concern for the Smart is to see where I'm going.

Quoted message said:

Do tell us the outcome of your experiment.

Of course - although that might not be for a few weeks.

Will Cove said:

Al C-F <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

As yours. No. Though I suspect swapping the lenses over is easy. They
just unscrew.

I thought the same as you until I rode through the tunnel yesterday. The
2.4W didn't have quite enough strength to be useful while the 10W spot was
overkill for the small area it lit - although that area was only the bit
directly in front of me less than two bike widths and I'd have preferred a
wider beam.

I have my main beam more or less parallel to the ground - it illuminates
quite a lot in the distance and the 2.4W points down a bit and lets me
see the detail closer up (they adjust separately). There's a bit of
unlit path I use (the old road at St Cross, nr Winchester) where the 10W
shows me the gates, signs, hedges on both sides of the road and the dark
bits of road that are wet or conceal potholes.

The lamp housings are an excellent design as you can't see the lens from
behind, so you get to keep some night vision.

Quoted message said:

This morning, I noticed that some of the upmarket lights offer
various beam angles, typically narrow (five degrees-ish) for road use and
up to twenty degrees for off-road use. Most of my riding is done off main
routes, and so a wide-angle setup might be appropriate (but I won't know
until I've tried).

BTW, when I've solved where to mount it, I'll use my LED for others to see
me by and so my primary concern for the Smart is to see where I'm going.

Quoted message said:

Do tell us the outcome of your experiment.

Of course - although that might not be for a few weeks.

It'll be light soon!

Al C-F <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Do tell us the outcome of your experiment.

Of course - although that might not be for a few weeks.

It'll be light soon!

Not in the middle of the Shaugh Tunnel! <g>

http://www.science.plym.ac.uk/plymvalleypath/Viaducts_photos.htm - top
picture is the southern end.

Will Cove said:

Al C-F <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> Do tell us the outcome of your experiment.
Of course - although that might not be for a few weeks.

It'll be light soon!

Not in the middle of the Shaugh Tunnel! <g>

http://www.science.plym.ac.uk/plymvalleypath/Viaducts_photos.htm - top
picture is the southern end.

Mea culpa.

Will Cove said:

Al C-F <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

As yours. No. Though I suspect swapping the lenses over is easy.
They just unscrew.

I thought the same as you until I rode through the tunnel yesterday.
The
2.4W didn't have quite enough strength to be useful while the 10W
spot was overkill for the small area it lit - although that area was
only the bit directly in front of me less than two bike widths and
I'd have preferred a wider beam. This morning, I noticed that some of
the upmarket lights offer various beam angles, typically narrow (five
degrees-ish) for road use and up to twenty degrees for off-road use.
Most of my riding is done off main routes, and so a wide-angle setup
might be appropriate (but I won't know until I've tried).

What do mean by "off main route" exactly?

A narrow beam is better than a 20 degree for narrow country lanes as well as
wider roads, in my experience with Lumicycle MR11 lamps. Trouble is with
wider angles is that much more power is needed to light up much at all.
Systems like Lumicycle's only manage it by over-volting high-wattage bulbs
and using high-capacity batteries to keep them going. Even then the effect
isn't as satisfying as you might imagine.

Remember that so-called spot bulbs tend to have a much wider area or halo
around the central bright spot as well* - which do tend to be sufficient for
you to make out where the edge of the road is. I find it makes sense to
concentrate most of the light on where you're going, when you can, especialy
when power is limited.

* If yours doesn't - then fair enough to try a wider angle.

~PB

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote
in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

What do mean by "off main route" exactly?

Single-track, often winding, country roads with no street lighting and
off-road NCN routes.

As the year progresses, the chances diminish of me getting caught in a
ride I can't finish before dusk. So, my main issue is getting through the
Shaugh Tunnel, the middle of which receives no light save what you bring
with you even at noon on midsummer's day.

Quoted message said:

A narrow beam is better than a 20 degree for narrow country lanes as
well as wider roads, in my experience with Lumicycle MR11 lamps.
Trouble is with wider angles is that much more power is needed to
light up much at all. Systems like Lumicycle's only manage it by
over-volting high-wattage bulbs and using high-capacity batteries to
keep them going. Even then the effect isn't as satisfying as you
might imagine.

Remember that so-called spot bulbs tend to have a much wider area or
halo around the central bright spot as well* - which do tend to be
sufficient for you to make out where the edge of the road is. I find
it makes sense to concentrate most of the light on where you're going,
when you can, especialy when power is limited.

* If yours doesn't - then fair enough to try a wider angle.

On a normal road I think I agree with what you're saying. I've just got
back from trying my lights on an unlit road close to home both as
delivered and with the bulbs swapped over, and "as delivered" seemed
better under those conditions. However, I could just about see where I
was going without any front lights. The halo around the spot is pretty
dim - but enough to pick out the white line at the side of the road for
some distance and the low-power, wide-angle beam is enough to pickout the
tarmac edge where there isn't a white line. In contrast, with the swapped
bulbs I got a lot of light close in and that created "night blindness"
beyond the pool of light from the wide-angle beam and I had to go a lot
slower.

So, I've still to carry out my experiment through the Shaugh Tunnel - but
since I've already ridden through with the standard setup I know that the
set is adequate "as delivered", which means that the set is adequate "as
delivered" for everything I'll use it and the experiment is really just
academic.

Will Cove said:

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote
in news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

What do mean by "off main route" exactly?

Single-track, often winding, country roads with no street lighting and
off-road NCN routes.

As the year progresses, the chances diminish of me getting caught in a
ride I can't finish before dusk. So, my main issue is getting through
the Shaugh Tunnel, the middle of which receives no light save what
you bring with you even at noon on midsummer's day.

Quoted message said:

A narrow beam is better than a 20 degree for narrow country lanes as
well as wider roads, in my experience with Lumicycle MR11 lamps.
Trouble is with wider angles is that much more power is needed to
light up much at all. Systems like Lumicycle's only manage it by
over-volting high-wattage bulbs and using high-capacity batteries to
keep them going. Even then the effect isn't as satisfying as you
might imagine.

Remember that so-called spot bulbs tend to have a much wider area or
halo around the central bright spot as well* - which do tend to be
sufficient for you to make out where the edge of the road is. I find
it makes sense to concentrate most of the light on where you're
going, when you can, especialy when power is limited.

* If yours doesn't - then fair enough to try a wider angle.

On a normal road I think I agree with what you're saying. I've just
got back from trying my lights on an unlit road close to home both as
delivered and with the bulbs swapped over, and "as delivered" seemed
better under those conditions. However, I could just about see where I
was going without any front lights. The halo around the spot is pretty
dim - but enough to pick out the white line at the side of the road
for some distance and the low-power, wide-angle beam is enough to
pickout the tarmac edge where there isn't a white line. In contrast,
with the swapped bulbs I got a lot of light close in and that created
"night blindness" beyond the pool of light from the wide-angle beam
and I had to go a lot slower.

So, I've still to carry out my experiment through the Shaugh Tunnel -
but since I've already ridden through with the standard setup I know
that the set is adequate "as delivered", which means that the set is
adequate "as delivered" for everything I'll use it and the experiment
is really just academic.

I include unlit twisty single-track roads in what I'm saying. Some of the
ones I've been down are almost like tunnels because of the amount of tree
coverage.

Have fun anyway. I'm looking forward to doing some more country night
riding when the weather warms up. Ironically, I use my 'proper' lights more
in the summer than the winter.

~PB

WRT: Smart 2.4W/10W twin

I've changed my mind about which bulb goes in which light. When I swapped
the bulbs over previously, I kept the same beam aim - which meant the one
with the patterned lens was pointing about ten yards in front of me and
the one with the clear lens just under horizontal. On my set, the spot
has a beam angle of only a degree or two and the "wide angle" light has a
beam angle of five or six degrees. (Al C-F et al, YMMV) So I ended up
with an intense pool of light ten yards in front with everything further
on almost invisible and only the halo part of the spot beam was lighting
the road.

Last night I had a flash of inspiration, swapped the bulbs and readjusted
the aim so that the top of the wide angle beam is horizontal and the
centre of the spot about 25 yards in front of me. I then went for a five
or six mile ride (over half on unlit roads) to test the theory.

The swap has transformed these lights. With no other traffic about and on
the wide-angle light only, I can see more than ten seconds ahead - even
at the fastest speed I got to last night (30-ish mph, freewheeling,
downhill, with the wind). The lens produces fingers of light that probe
the kerb on the left and the white line on the right and the main pool of
light gives even illumination across the road that is wide enough for
handlebar-wobble not to be an issue. I only encountered one inconsiderate
motorist who didn't dip, but the lights were good enough that the numpty
didn't present a problem.

Dropping down to the (now 2.4W) spot gives a pool of light 25 yards ahead
and the halo gives sufficient light to see the road up to that distance.
Depending on conditions, this seems good for ten or fifteen mph (which is
all I asked for in my original wishlist).

I'd like a little less weight and a little more burn time, but then I
suspect I'm just being greedy! Even at the alleged sixty quid RRP these
lights represent excellent value for money. I'm well chuffed!

Thanks again to all who help make up my mind.