Anyone getting a BR Lights C2-K 1000 lumen?

[cave dave]

I've been keeping and eye on the BR lights page for a couple months. It looks like they are shipping the first batch this week. It might be the lumen/dollar king as far as quality production lights go.

I will probably get one if the reviews and beam pattern are favorable, my only complaint from the specs is that low is 400 lumens. I think they need to add a 100 lm level, you will need more than 5hrs runtime if you are doing brevets or 24 hr races. 100lms on the climb, 400lm on the flats and 1000lm on the downhills. Yee Ha!

http://www.brlights.com/index.html

 

[kwarwick]

I've been keeping and eye on the BR lights page for a couple months. It looks like they are shipping the first batch this week. It might be the lumen/dollar king as far as quality production lights go.

I will probably get one if the reviews and beam pattern are favorable, my only complaint from the specs is that low is 400 lumens. I think they need to add a 100 lm level, you will need more than 5hrs runtime if you are doing brevets or 24 hr races. 100lms on the climb, 400lm on the flats and 1000lm on the downhills. Yee Ha!

http://www.brlights.com/index.html

Those are some seriously ugly lights :sick2:, they will have to perform for people to get over the looks!

I wonder what LEDs they are using to get 1000 lumens out of what appears to be just two? I'm guessing a P7 or perhaps MC-E and a XR-E?

I guess we wait for the reviews.

Karl

 

[cave dave]

When the first pictures of the Ra lights came out everybody was saying how ugly they were. Guess people got over that!

I'm guessing its a Cree emitter since that is what is on the website. Two non-fully driven MC-E would do the trick.

The $100 upgrade service seems very reasonable.

 

[cave dave]

Got some infor from BR lights in email today:

They are using 2 MCE's at 500mA. The light has about the same intensity of the H model but over about 3 times the angle space. Meaning its floodier not thowier, which is to be expected from the large die MCE

 

[Dave Wright]

The C2 is a great light. I've been running one of the 360 lumen C2.1-H versions since early in '07. Lots of light, very rugged, completely waterproof, great beam pattern for riding, and super quick setup for easy to switching between bikes. It's a blocky light, but you don't see that at night. The light is so bright, and the beam so well shaped, that some riders show up for my pre-dawn departure group rides without lights, choosing instead to simply ride close to me until there is enough sunlight.

The quick charge time means that the light can be typically stored partially discharged, which increases the lifespan of the LiPo cells. The light charges between when I get home and when I leave for a late night ride. An odd thing about BR Lights marketing is their insistence that the light charges fully in 70 minutes. Indeed, in that time the charge light switches from red to green, and you do have enough charge for a good long ride, but...if you leave the light on the charger (showing green) for a couple more hours then it will take more charge and provide a longer burn. This isn't bad though, because you really don't want the LiPos to spend much time close to their peak charge since they are chemically unstable there.

My only cautionary note is that you should have a backup light source if working deep into the C2's charge. The last half goes faster than the first, and when the light decides it's time to shut down to prevent overdischarge (which would permanently kill the LiPo cells) it goes from warning flash to OFF pretty decisively.

Thanks, Cave, for getting the info on the emitter change. I'm on the fence about getting the upgrade now. Floodier might let me mountain bike without a separate helmet light. On the other hand, more throw would have kept me from outriding the light during 40+ mph road bike downhills. Hmmm.

Earlier suggestions about a third light level are right on. This wouldn't be hard for BR Lights to implement since the light already has three levels when you consider the stealth setting. A great set of levels would be 100 - 300 - 1000. Maybe they're paying attention to this thread. If buying a light in this category (high power self-contained) today, I would go with the C2 family again.

Best, Dave

 

[Dave Wright]

If anyone's still checking this thread, BRLights posted a beam comparison on their blog page.

http://brlightsblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/c2-k-beam-patterns-comparison.html

If all three pictures were taken at the same exposure then the new emitter is indeed much more floody than the old, but throw is substantially reduced. You may be able to mountain bike using the new version without a separate headlamp to look around corners, but there is no way I would give up the reach on high speed road rides.

Think I'm going to pass on the upgrade.

 

[brlights]

Hi Dave,

Actually because we have increased the total overall light output and the flux remains constant the throw of this light is the same as our other lights in the C2 family.

We will be putting up some data graphs which support this on our blog in a couple days. Also feel free to ask us questions like this one at our blog and we will answer them and post the relavent data.

Hope this helps!

Regards

Jeni
http://brlightsblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.brlights.com

 

[brlights]

Those are some seriously ugly lights :sick2:, they will have to perform for people to get over the looks!

I wonder what LEDs they are using to get 1000 lumens out of what appears to be just two? I'm guessing a P7 or perhaps MC-E and a XR-E?

I guess we wait for the reviews.

Karl

Hi Karl

Yes it may not be the prettiest light, but we as a company are focused on how well our lights illuminate the trail. Most of the time it is dark and you don't see your light, just what it illuminates. So we are all about the beauty on the inside of our lights which give you incredible performance. It is also sturdy, light, bright, simple to use, and incredibly well priced in our humble opinion.

Regards,

BRLights

 

[Dave Wright]

Jeni,

Will there be a future option to have the optics replaced as well as the emitter so that the larger MC-E die will be focused for more throw like the previous C2 design? My understanding is that reflectors and optics have not yet caught up with the new large MC-E die.

Also, was the helmet light named after you? The Internet is cool that way, like when I ended up working through a bicycle frame purchase on line with Richard Schwinn, grandson of the original Schwinn.

Take Care,

Dave

 

[Dave Wright]

Hi Jeni,

I may have been mistaken on the optics question. This one sounds interesting:

http://www.polymer-optics.co.uk/Cree MC-E Optics Range.pdf

The 25x10 degree Diffuse Line Lens, Part No. 218, on page 2 looks like it might fit your housing with an adaptor. Orienting the assymetrical beam for more horizontal spread is perfect for riding. 85% efficiency is somewhat less than a reflector, and you would want to cover it with glass for scratch resistance and waterproofing, but you're still ahead if the shape is better.

Just something to think about. It would be great to have both 1000 lumens and a more riding-oriented beam pattern.

Regards,

Dave

 

[cave dave]

I'm hoping they add a 100lm mode.

The limp home mode isn't going to be that useful for riding anyway.

 

[brlights]

Jeni,

Will there be a future option to have the optics replaced as well as the emitter so that the larger MC-E die will be focused for more throw like the previous C2 design? My understanding is that reflectors and optics have not yet caught up with the new large MC-E die.

Also, was the helmet light named after you? The Internet is cool that way, like when I ended up working through a bicycle frame purchase on line with Richard Schwinn, grandson of the original Schwinn.

Take Care,

Dave

Hi,

I'll get back to you shortly on your first question. As for the second, yes the helmet light was named after me. It's given me a bit of a goddess complex, I feel like pushing the button and proclaiming "let there be light!" on rides now and then.

 

[brlights]

Hi Dave,

On your question we are working to get those graphs up that show the throw comparison on the C2.1-H vs the C2-K but in the mean time you might check out the beam shots posted by MTBR at http://www.mtbr.com/beamcomparisoncrx.aspx

In our humble opinion we pretty much whupped the competition in terms of throw, output, beam angle/pattern and price.

The reflectors we currently use are custom. I am working to get a better answer for you on that though.

Photo by Francis of MTBR

 

[Dave Wright]

Wow, that is a great page @ mtbr. You need to link there from your blog instead of doing the white wall shots. It really shows off the C2-K to better advantage in a real-world setting. Is the "C2" on the mtbr page a C2, C2.1-E, or C2.1-H? I may have to mail you my light for the upgrade.

Oddly, the thought that comes to mind is whether it will annoy oncoming drivers when riding road. I would probably run it on low most of the time, whereas now I run my C2.1-H on high mostly.

Thanks for the update. I look forward to hearing if there is any chance of you, in the future, going with a wider-than-tall beam.