jk037
Newly Enlightened
As I'm getting fatter, balder, older and generally less fit, I've decided it's time to get my lazy carcass out on the bikes on a regular basis. (It won't do anything about the baldness or age :sigh:, but I can at least burn a bit of the lard off!)
Anyway, my main riding opportunity is in the evening after our little daughter has gone to bed and the mrs is too tired to nag me much... So I needs some lights! Rear not a problem, there's ample choice of cheap red LED things that will keep the cars from ramming me off the road. Well, at least help them see exactly WHAT they're about to ram off the road; doubt a few lumens of 635nm will deter the truly determined maniacs.
At first glance, places such as DX and the like are jam packed with massively powerful (allegedly) lights that cost next to nowt and promise to scorch the earth for thirty yards ahead with a barrage of angry photons. BUT... other than the lumen output (which we all know are subject to a BS Factor of around 3, and so a 3000lm jobbie will probably knock out a useful 1000), there's the questions of build quality - can the thing survive being attached to an unsympathetically-ridden mountain bike? - and beam pattern.
The beam pattern is particularly important. If I go out on the road bike, I don't want to have such a spread of light that I dazzle every other poor bugger on the road; instead, I'd prefer a fixed beam pattern similar to that of a dipped car headlamp.
Also not keen on something that requires a proprietary "battery pack", which many of them seem to utilise (4x18650s in a shoddy-looking pack seems common). I would much rather be able to use the 18650 cells of my own choice instead of something cheap that they throw in with an already-cheap light.
Haven't been on here for some time but I assume the rules are unchanged re. posting links to items on retailers' websites; can we still post something like "see DX SKU number xxxxx" or "ebay item yyyyyyyyyyyyy" to show examples of the lights I'm looking at?
Taaaaaaa,
Jonny
Anyway, my main riding opportunity is in the evening after our little daughter has gone to bed and the mrs is too tired to nag me much... So I needs some lights! Rear not a problem, there's ample choice of cheap red LED things that will keep the cars from ramming me off the road. Well, at least help them see exactly WHAT they're about to ram off the road; doubt a few lumens of 635nm will deter the truly determined maniacs.
At first glance, places such as DX and the like are jam packed with massively powerful (allegedly) lights that cost next to nowt and promise to scorch the earth for thirty yards ahead with a barrage of angry photons. BUT... other than the lumen output (which we all know are subject to a BS Factor of around 3, and so a 3000lm jobbie will probably knock out a useful 1000), there's the questions of build quality - can the thing survive being attached to an unsympathetically-ridden mountain bike? - and beam pattern.
The beam pattern is particularly important. If I go out on the road bike, I don't want to have such a spread of light that I dazzle every other poor bugger on the road; instead, I'd prefer a fixed beam pattern similar to that of a dipped car headlamp.
Also not keen on something that requires a proprietary "battery pack", which many of them seem to utilise (4x18650s in a shoddy-looking pack seems common). I would much rather be able to use the 18650 cells of my own choice instead of something cheap that they throw in with an already-cheap light.
Haven't been on here for some time but I assume the rules are unchanged re. posting links to items on retailers' websites; can we still post something like "see DX SKU number xxxxx" or "ebay item yyyyyyyyyyyyy" to show examples of the lights I'm looking at?
Taaaaaaa,
Jonny
