Busch&Muller Lumotec IQ-X headlight

kj2

Flashaholic
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
8,082
Location
The Netherlands
I purchased a new bike a few months back, and it's now fitted with an Axa Luxx70 headlight. Plenty of light on the street with streetlights, but if there isn't any street-lighting it gets quite dark.
Looked around and found the Busch&Muller Lumotec IQ-X. Should do 100 lux, which is a lot for a dynamo driven light.

Has anyone here experience with this light? Photos from B&M look good, and found a few videos/photos that shows the light well, but am looking for some hands-on experience.
 

abvgdee

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
49
Thanks for the link, nice photos there. From the beamshots it looks like B&M sacrificed optical/technical superiority in favor of aesthetic looks. The near field, although well adjusted (IQ2 lens?), is very narrow — apparently due to cylindrical housing walls blocking the rays. If the housing would be wider (SR80 comes to mind), the carpet could have been made wider too. Also, to transfer heat from flat LEDs PCB to the curved housing (which also does not have heat-dissipating fins), they had to use a spacer. Flat housing surface (again, like in SR80) for direct dissipation, some fins, and they could put there 4-5 LEDs instead of 2.
 

kj2

Flashaholic
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
8,082
Location
The Netherlands
... and they could put there 4-5 LEDs instead of 2.
Well, there are three inside. Two for "DRL" and one for nightime. And the light gets power from a dynamo. Mine does 6V 2.4W- so don't think that will power 4-5 led fully.
 

abvgdee

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
49
Well, there are three inside...
Strictly speaking, there are 4 more actually :), 2 for backside, and 2 for side visibility (thanks again to the walls of the elegant cylindrical housing). The main night "single" LED is actually made of two LED dies (last photo in post 37). Outbound uses a row of 5. That's what I meant.

Mine does 6V 2.4W.
True, may be it's not as powerful as it could be because of the low-power dynamos. I wish they'd make more such models (but powerful, with modern dome-less 1x5 LEDs + IQ2 lenses) — for accus and ebikes.

You are a fast decision maker!
 

kj2

Flashaholic
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
8,082
Location
The Netherlands
Installed the light yesterday, and took a test-ride in the evening. It produces so much useful light. The beam upfront lights the road very clearly, and I also noticed that I automatically start looking further again, because of it. Beam cut-off is good. During my ride, I'd no cars flashing or pedestrians complaining. Install was easy, even for a first time doing an install :)
 

znomit

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
979
Location
New Zealand
I've been running mine for two years now. No complaints. I still run my old 80 lux cyo premium on my training bike, IQ-X beam is a lot nicer.
 

kj2

Flashaholic
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
8,082
Location
The Netherlands
Took my bike for a short spin last night. Am still amazed by the amount of light, that the IQ-X puts out. It lights-up about 10-15 meters in front, so I can see everything clear, without blinding upcoming traffic.
Used the Fenix BC30 before, and that does put out more light but doesn't have such a nice cut-off beam. Can't really photograph the beam(pattern)/output, but there are good enough videos on YouTube.
 
Top