cateye el-300 bike light

Has anyone encountered this new bike light?
http://www.cateye.com/images/el300.jpg
It looks pretty interesting on cateye.com, but there's next to nothing about it there or anywhere else best I can tell. The ad copy on the cateye.com says "our best selling bike light" but that sounds pretty fishy- it doesn't come up on any searches I've been able to do. In the picture it looks like 5 LS leds stuffed into a small black plastic case with 4 AA batteries, interesting.

thought I'd renew my post...

You can compare them here . Not much extra info...

I've been using a cateye HL-EL100 w/3leds and runs on 4 aa's. Mini review ; similar in output to the PT Attitude..runtime undetermined..still on first set of batteries..mounting system allows
the light to shimmy around a little over bumps ..due to the weight of the 4 aa's ..will not come off but could be a stronger system..more of a light to *be seen* rather than to *see* the road ahead. Overall- a good value for 20 bucks!

So that's it I guess- the el-300 is a totally new item it would appear. I might like to try one though since you can't get that many LS's packed into a case like that anywhere. Must be pretty bright. I just wish they'd get the suppliers on there so I knew where to go. That light must get pretty hot too, if they are running serious juice thru them. Maybe that's what they mean its their hottest seller(?).

Hmm..well, It doesn't look like they're driving the LS's in the EL-300 very hard.

Some quick and dirty estimations:

Only the Stadium 3 and EL300 have CP ratings listed, so we can sort of use those for some quick math. If we assume the LEDs are about as effecient as the halogen bulb, then we get the following:

3500/400 = 8.75

so we can assume that the Stadium 3 consumes about 8.75 times the power of the EL300 (since it produces 8.75 times the light)

21W/8.75 = 2.4W

So the EL300 consumes 2.4W (or so)....divided by 5 LEDs, gives 0.48W/LED....divided by about 3.5V/LED, means each is running at about 140mA.

If they are luxeons, they're being terribly underdriven (probably for heat management, as the plastic body of most bike lights doesn't permit any heat dissipation). However, they're probably pretty harsh on the 4AA batteries...as about 700mA is being pulled from them. Expect only about an hour of full brightness. The "100 hour" quote is probably total light time (including ultra-dim time)

This is all purely speculation, though.

Just remember that the Stadium 3 is a HID lamp. Roughly produces 4 times the light output compared to a halogen at the same current.

Allright then, that would mean the EL-300 consumes about 1/2 the power of the Stadium 3...or about 11 watts. Divided by 5 LEDs, that's 2W/LED

They're driving Luxeon's at 2W, in a plastic body, off 4AA batteries, and claiming 100 hours runtime.

Those are some amazing AA batteries...

Something's not right - though it's probably my figuring.

I was hoping someone had come across this light and actually knew. Looks to me like the ad copy is 100% bogus. My guess is they haven't sold any at all, and the webmasters are all over in Japan saying "HO HO best selling light I speaka American" or something.

IMHO, I think they are using ordinary leds, not LS's...

It sure looks like the optics lens of a Luxeon star LED to me. They have another model with it too:
http://www.cateye.com/detail_mod02.php?products_id=93
They are fibbing about it being "most popular" in the US at least. Maybe it's a popular seller in Rumania, Iraq, or Gibbon?

Although I have not personally seen the HL300 I am doubtful that it has 5 ls in it.

It is more likely that it has 5- 5mm white leds with a frensel type lenses. If this light is like its predecessor "be seen lights" then cateye will want to hit an affordable price point with this one as well. Given the cost of a 7 led flashlight the cost of a 5 ls light would be enormous.

Cost aside, the power requirements of 5 ls would be extremly taxing on 4 AAs. Comparing to led rear lights the 100 hr life is only applicable to flashing mode.

MSRP is $36.- , so if there are LS's in there, you would have a heck of a deal...

Yeah if that's the price it must be the cheaper LED. Oh well.. would have been nice. Should say however that I get an awful lot of decent hours running one LS on 4AAA's. A light could be built that size that two or three LSs in it at least if the heat could be dissipated.

It will still be a useful light for commuting
- five optically enhanced LED!

where can I buy it???

Ok, there needs to be an upscale, three to five-banger LS-type handlebar light for road and mountain bikes made. You know, a real TO SEE, blinding bike kind of light. It could have lithium power for weight savings, and a CNC machined aluminum cover which disspates all the heat, and waterproof electronics for off road and rain rides. It would compare to 75 Nichias whites in a cluster, a real sleeper. And the cost would be a fraction of Nichias equivalent, I'm thinking 200 bucks ballpark. I bet it would sell like hotcakes in mass production. Somebody (besides me) needs to make this light. Any volunteers? I will contribute the name: "PentaLux Beamcaster"(5 ls's) "QuadraLux Bike Bomb" (4 ls's) and "TriLux Commuter". You can have 'em. Free.