Serious Lights with 2hr Plus Burn

I've put in many happy hours at night with a Schmidt SON hub dynamo and Lumotec Oval head light. The
3 watt rating is deceptive, I can see as well or better than with any 10 watt batter light I've ever
tried, and the burn time is mor or less infinite.

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

Quoted message said:

I want a light which is powerful to allow me to ride on canal tow paths, potentially ones with
obstacles, in near-pitch darkness. Having started riding a bike from scratch (I doubt I'd _sat_ on
a non-motor bike in twenty years) a few months ago, I'm now enjoying cycling to the office (a
forty five mile round trip) once or twice a week. However, I'm now delaying leaving home until
there is some light, and having to race back before it gets too dark. I have marker-type lights,
but not enough to actually see the ground at speed. I can charge in the office, so 2 hour burn +
eight hour charge + 2 hour burn is OK, but four hour burn would be better.

A 10 watt halogen with an SLA bottle battery would be say, $60-75 and would last 3 hours if it's
not too cold.

Doug Toronto

In rec.bicycles.misc Ian G Batten said:

I want a light which is powerful to allow me to ride on canal tow paths, potentially ones with
obstacles, in near-pitch darkness. Having started riding a bike from scratch (I doubt I'd _sat_ on
a non-motor bike in twenty years) a few months ago, I'm now enjoying cycling to the office (a
forty five mile round trip) once or twice a week. However, I'm now delaying leaving home until
there is some light, and having to race back before it gets too dark. I have marker-type lights,
but not enough to actually see the ground at speed. I can charge in the office, so 2 hour burn +
eight hour charge + 2 hour burn is OK, but four hour burn would be better.

My old light just conked out (just in time for the short daylight hours here in the soggy Pacific
Northwest). I picked up the CygoLite Night Rover NiCad XTRA light. It has two lamps (individually
switched) 6.3W/10W. This gives you a runtime of 6 hours, 3.5 hours, or 2 hours depending on which
bulbs you have on or if you have both on.

The 6.3W is a wide focus beam, good for being visible and seeing things at low speeds or short
distance. The 10W is a narrower focus and is canted up at 5 degrees to point farther ahead. The
light is a bit overkill, but it has a nice long life and is fairly versatile.

I managed to pick it up for $70 from REI while it was on sale. It's still a pretty good deal at $90
IMO, YMMV.

Link to it on REI online: tinyurl.comqj4mOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

I can see products from Lupine, Cateye, Light and Motion and others which all appear to be some
sort of exotic bulb with a big NiMH or Li ion battery back, costing of the order of five hundred
euros/dollars. And there's a Lupine LED array (Stuby?) for similar money. That's big money to
spend, and I want to know I'm getting the right thing before I put my plastic down.

Eek. I don't think you need to spend that much on it. The light that gave out on me still lasted a
year and gave me plenty of service for $50. That was the NiteRider Road Rat (10W 2.5 hours).

One of these days I'll get around to building myself a wheel with a dynahub in it. I like to go over
to the page at Peter White Cycles and drool over them occasionally. Unfortunately, having just
bought a house, time and money are somewhat short.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g Everything in this book may be wrong. --
Messiah's Handbook : Reminders for the Advanced Soul

"Per Elmsäter" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I am using the Sigma Mirage today which has a 5W + 20W halogen setup. Unfortunately the battery
does not last bery long. Like 30-40 minutes with everything on and maybe 3.5 hours with only the
5W. 5W is Ok on lit roads and going very slow on dark roads. The 20 W lamp is really nice on
everything up to fast winding trails.

Personally, I find the 5W of my Sigmas fine for fast downhill speeds on dark roads and also ok on
twisty trails through the woods. Spoils the fun to have everything light up like daylight.

Andy P said:

"Per Elmsäter" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

I am using the Sigma Mirage today which has a 5W + 20W halogen setup. Unfortunately the battery
does not last bery long. Like 30-40 minutes with everything on and maybe 3.5 hours with only the
5W. 5W is Ok on lit roads and going very slow on dark roads. The 20 W lamp is really nice on
everything up to fast winding trails.

Personally, I find the 5W of my Sigmas fine for fast downhill speeds on dark roads and also ok on
twisty trails through the woods. Spoils the fun to have everything light up like daylight.

Well I suppose it might have something to do with your eyes. I'm 53 and counting. Even though I
don't need glasses my eyes aren't what they used to be. Hmmm. if I buy the Lupine Edison light maybe
I can keep from buying glasses for another couple of years. That would really turn them into an
investment.

--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

"Per Elmsäter" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Well I suppose it might have something to do with your eyes. I'm 53 and counting. Even though I
don't need glasses my eyes aren't what they used

to

Quoted message said:

be. Hmmm. if I buy the Lupine Edison light maybe I can keep from buying glasses for another couple
of years. That would really turn them into an investment.

Yes, that'd make an interesting addition to the standard eye tests. "Here,
Mr. Johnson, take this bike with it's pathetically inadequate lights, ride down this steep 25% track
and see how many trees you can avoid hitting."

Ian G Batten said:

I want a light which is powerful to allow me to ride on canal tow paths, potentially ones with
obstacles, in near-pitch darkness.

I use a SON hub dynamo (by Schmidt, see nabendynamo.denabendynamo.deOpen ↗) along with Schmidt's E6
light in front on my bike, and with that I can perfectly well ride on unlit roads. No need to
recharge anything.

Michel.

"Ian G Batten" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I want a light which is powerful to allow me to ride on canal tow paths, potentially ones with
obstacles, in near-pitch darkness. Having started riding a bike from scratch (I doubt I'd _sat_ on
a non-motor bike in twenty years) a few months ago, I'm now enjoying cycling to the office (a
forty five mile round trip) once or twice a week. However, I'm now delaying leaving home until
there is some light, and having to race back before it gets too dark. I have marker-type lights,
but not enough to actually see the ground at speed. I can charge in the office, so 2 hour burn +
eight hour charge + 2 hour burn is OK, but four hour burn would be better.

I can see products from Lupine, Cateye, Light and Motion and others which all appear to be some
sort of exotic bulb with a big NiMH or Li ion battery back, costing of the order of five hundred
euros/dollars. And there's a Lupine LED array (Stuby?) for similar money. That's big money to
spend, and I want to know I'm getting the right thing before I put my plastic down.

ian

Vistalite still has a few good 6v NiMh lights out there that are pretty good values. I rode last
night with my Niterider 10w light, my friend with his 5w Vistalite. Both seemed to work OK. The 5w
light is going to save more battery but still let you see.

I'd try sierra trading post for bargains on the Vistalite systems. If that fails, I'd bet that
Supergo still has a few.

I don't know what's out there in the European market, sorry.

Mike

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

Quoted message said:

In the UK Lumicycle do bright lights for not too serious amounts of money.

I have a set of those. I've used them for about a year and have not had a single problem. The
overvolted 12W spot has a burntime of about 4 hours and is bright enough for trailriding in complete
darkness. I also have the 20W flood, which I use every now and then to complement the 12W unit. The
price for the set was about 250e, which is not too bad when comparing to other brands.
www.lumicycle.co.uk

Juho

Tim McNamara said:

I've put in many happy hours at night with a Schmidt SON hub dynamo and Lumotec Oval head light.
The 3 watt rating is deceptive, I can see as well or better than with any 10 watt batter light I've
ever tried, and the burn time is mor or less infinite.

At least provided you eat enough bananas. I carry a spare bulb for the Bisy headlight, and would
concur with Tim; I'm perfectly happy to ride in darkness with the dynamo alone, although I don't
usually have to because I mount two backup battery headlights.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> Distortion Field!