I use LED bike lighting and have been doing so since Nov 2002,
Started with a BB500 Luxeon minimag on my helmet, moved to BB500 R2H in mid-2003 and it worked well. 500mA to an R bin Luxeon worked to around 16MPH with no problems. Looked a little odd, but it worked well.
Tried the Fenix L1P and loved the size, it worked well on my helmet but was not bright enough. Hence, the MillerMods L1P was the stock Fenix replacement. Hmmm, 500mA to an R bin producing 1.7 watts (I know it works!) with 75 minutes runtime sucking 1.7 amps. If it starts to quickly dim, I click the switch for the 5-ohm "low" setting which gives me enough time to get home.
A Planet Bike 3 red LED flasher that "auto-levels" running a single lithium AAA is strapped to the back of the helmet. A Cateye 10 or 12 LED flasher being fed 2AA lithiums attaches to my rear rack and is very blinding. Cars prefer to change lanes than get retina burns from those flashers.
Any more improvements for 2006? Sure! The 60 lumen MillerMods Fenix works amazingly well, always startles drivers when I look at them and is useable to see with as well as being seen. My dream is for a TWOH bin (at 350mA) Luxeon K2 humming along at 500mA. 100 lumens of helmet light but I have to wait for the dream bin to materialize. My hope is by September, 2006 (when dreaming, dream BIG!)
Riding around in Turkey at night is an interesting experience. Yes, there is some crazy traffic but the drivers are used to bicycles mixed in. I would feel a lot better by adding a frame mounted light to my recumbent to really light up the road. Yes, another mod is coming my way! So far, a bored HA-III 2D Mag and 8AA to 2D adapter have been ordered. My plan is to get one of Andrew Wynn's BAM! "drop-in mods" in the four Luxeon K2 SWAH flavor. 400 lumens when pushing the four K2's at 700mA each (9 watts) The four LEDs will be fed through four IMS 20mm reflectors to have decent throw and a nice wide beam with spill. The BAM will adjust the output by turning the Mag head and has three different outputs 400 lumens at 9 watts with over 2 hours of runtime on 8AA 2500's. 240 lumens at 4.4 watts with over 4.5 hours of runtime or, on low--60 lumens at 0.9 watts with 25 hours of runtime.
Normally, I plan on running the 240 lumen setting and 400 lumens in heavy traffic. If I don't pay attention, the 60 lumen low will bail me out.
The point of the mods is to not look to expensive, a Mag on a bike is not "normal" but it does not seem expensive. Some nut threw a 2D Mag on a bicycle! As long as they don't see it in action or worse, get nuked by 400 lumens I should stay in the background.
My stock Fenix L1P is velcro strapped to a friends helmet, she likes the light and it works much better than her cheapo Wally World special. Aurora 2AA Jupiters work well on my families bikes, they have decent throw and the bluish color is easily noticed by drivers.
I thought I was one of the few that used LED flashlights for bike lighting (although heavily modified flashlights) Time to fire up the MillerMods L1P on the helmet and hit the road... the night beckons.