Any updates?

[konadawg]

Well, while ago I had "decided" that the best bikelight for my needs/wants would be a Fenix L2D / now LD20.

Before we go any further, the requirements:

Must be helmet mountable, and of course with decent output, at the very least 110-120 real world lumens, and decent runtime, nothing that wants a battery change <1hr. And no separate battery packs/wiring, just a simple self contained unit. And regulated.

As it happened I did not buy anything but "borrowed"... 2x Ultrafires, nominal 100 lumens, they worked fine and output was good but not very reliable and without regulation the output was only great at the start. But what I did discover is that having 2x flashlights rather than one gives far better stereo nightvision.

So here we are again!

I'm also considering alternative power now - namely, 18650. But it would seem that any such would be a bit bulky in 2x format, and in 1x, not sure whether they compare to the Fenix with 2x AA.

Yet the Fenixes don't like running for more than 10min on Turbo... so in reality the High is the truly usable output, what 110 lumens?

A bit confused!! Anything different as the flavour of the month for a helmet-strappable flashlight? Any 18650 recommendations, or steer clear?

Before I get suggested anything truly wonderful, I only very occasionally ride at night so realistically somewhere around the $50 mark would be a reasonable max spend (will stretch for something wonderful-ish). Or 2x something cheap?

Oh no! Please donate some time to de-tangle my brain!!

 

[chelboed]

I really like the punch of the UniqueFire with the Cree XP-G R5 emitter. It's a bit "tight" for a MTB light, but two of them would probably be really nice.

 

[konadawg]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been doing some reading and it may appear that something WITH a batterpack of sorts may be better!

I'm tempted to convert one similar flashlight, wire it up and have 4 parallel 18650 batteries to power it. I'm hoping for a consistent regulated 4 hr runtime.
Any other suggestions?

 

[pe2er]

What about a Magicshine CT-808? Read this thread: Anyone played with the new DX P7 bike light?
3 Hours/ 667 Lumens on full bright, should easily give you your 120 Lumens > 4 hours at low power. Helmet mountable, and runs on 4x 18650.

dx/sku.29489

 

[yellow]

I'm also considering alternative power now - namely, 18650. But it would seem that any such would be a bit bulky in 2x format, and in 1x, not sure whether they compare to the Fenix with 2x AA.

a good 1*18650 light smokes the Fenix AND gives more runtime.

1*18650 is better than 2*AA in every respect.
There is only one reason to stay with 2*AA --> when one needs the light to be able to run on ready made batteries
(which are not able to give the power needed, btw.)


that quad-led light above, naturally, is a whole other story.
Way more power, way more power consumption, bigger parts, bigger and heavier light, single use light.
Really powerful biking only light ...
(while high powered 1*18650-2-hour-runtime-light is - for me - enought light for biking and serves its main purpose, as a handheld light, also perfectly.)

 

[pe2er]

If you are looking for a single cell 18650 light, consider this one:

dx/sku.32721

It will blow most AA powered flashlights out of the water.

The 50 minute runtime is grossly understated, it runs for a couple of hours on a single battery.

I Intentionally show the single mode / orange peel reflector. It is what is suited best for use on a bicycle.

Brand: UniqueFire Model: R5
Emitter Brand/Type: Cree
Emitter BIN: XPG-1AO-R4
Battery Configurations: 1 x 18650 / 2 x 16340 rechargeable batteries
Modes: 1
Brightness: 330 lumens maximum brightness (manufacturer rated)
Runtime: 50 minutes (manufacturer rated)
Reflector: Aluminum Textured/OP Reflector

 

[konadawg]

Cool, thanks, in fact I did consider sku.32721 but well there was too much going on and in the confusion I went for a P7 based -

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060

Yes, I do understand that I won't get anywhere near the quoted output however having little to go on I assumed that this would be the same for anything I bought, so decided on a bit of insurance...

I intend to set up a battery pack of 4x 18650 to run this for a decent time. A night ride can last for 5 hours easily so I'm banking on running this on a lower output for some of the time and high for the rest. Hence going against my initial "no wires" condition but hey...

Only thing not yet purchased, the battery holder. These do seem to exist but can be pricey or the shipping ludicrous - ($119 shipping for a $14 holder LOL, batteryspace.com).

I was looking at these, but the vendor does not even know whether there is a +ve terminal, well he/she knows absolutely zilch about what these are, or are for, totally hopeless, some luck I will have asking if a protected cell will fit...

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-x-Holder-1865...ewItem&pt=AU_Housekeeping&hash=item51936093ed

So probably will be something off here:

http://www.luminousdiy.com/Buy Now.htm

about $20 all in.

Unless you have any better ideas.

I'm also wondering about how to go about the internal wiring, at this initial stage I was thinking in terms of keeping all the switchgear, hole in the side of the flashlight but on the inside nothing thought up as yet. Some dummy cell perhaps, do these exist?

 

[konadawg]

Update / review. The MTE P7 http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060 is a great bike light. I find that Medium power is generally more than sufficient illumination for 90% of the time, or all of the time if being less demanding, with High being a "luxury" mode only really "needed" for full on high speed blasting. Switching between modes as required, I can get a single 18650 to last me 2 evening rides - in effect around 4 hours+ (combined) this time of year. So no battery packs are necessary, and strictly speaking not even a spare battery, so that's great going.

The floodiness of the beam is very useful but it's not all flood - there is a central gradual / wide hotspot which results in great illumination 50m+ away on high so you get all the advance notice needed on a bike.

I also noticed that on a bike the torch does not get at all hot, although it gets seriously warm rather quickly when tested indoors on high.

The weight is also very reasonable on a helmet, if the helmet fits well you don't notice the torch there at all.

All in all I can't really ask for more for a bike light, with this I can ride in the dead of night just as rapidly as I could in broad daylight - well, except that having two of these (or any torch) will give stereo illumination and hence more depth / 3D to the terrain profile which is otherwise rather flat with a single source of light. Not all bad though - not seeing the rough stuff in it's full gnarly glory often means a faster ride through it!