Cateye LED bicycle light

Has anyone here had experence with the Cateye Triple Shot bicycle light?

URL Triple Shot

"The Triple Shot is the latest rechargeable light from CatEye, the leader in bicycle lighting. We were the first to introduce Halogen, HID, and LED lighting to bicycles, and the new Triple Shot represents the future in bicycle lighting. Nearly indestructible, and with a lifespan of over 100,000 hours, it is the first LED light bright enough to race on in the night. The Triple Shot features a handle bar remote, and a compact Ni-MH battery that provides 3.3 hours of runtime with a 3 hour charge.

Functions

3x3 watt LEDs combined with Opticube lens
Smart Charger with 3 hour charge time
Locking cable connectors to prevent blackouts
Virtually indestrubtible
Produces the brightness of a 20W Halogen bulb
Includes both standard and oversized mounts "

Interesting find...thanks for the link. I noticed they also have a 2 x 3W "spot" beam model boasting 5-hour runtime here .

I wonder what they sell for (or if they're on the market yet)...

John

Looks like there being marketed in Japan. The best price I found was about $212 USD. A bit steep imo.

http://search.vendita.jp/hl-el700rc/

I found that cateye LED still have bluish color. for example the EL-400 has distictive blue color instead of pure white. I am really disappointed in their product. I might as well use petzl myo xp

Looks like a pretty promising light indeed, however that price is downright scary. I was contemplating building my own bike light with 2 LuxIII's and 20mm IMS reflectors. I was going to make it as small as possible, basically a copper pipe capped off to house the reflector and that's it. With a bit of paint i think it would look pretty slick and would not be very much bigger then the depth of the reflector, i always hated bulky ugly looking bike lights. I'm thinking of driving them both at about 700ma for a good balance between heat and lumens.

I currently have a Triple-Shot to evaluate. Solidly made, good heatsinking metal head.

I would hardly call the output a flood beam - fairly narrow spot with good throw and some side spill. Beam pattern is very smooth - hot spot has nice gradual transition to spill region.

Good beam for road riding, though not the best pattern for off-road.

Easily the brightest LED light I've seen myself (but I have no other multiple Lux lights to compare it with).

I have sent email to Cateye in hopes of getting a bit more technical info (no response yet...).

12V battery pack has small "black box" with some printing on it that leads me to believe it might be a current-regulated down-convertor. I would certainly hope so considering the selling price for the unit.

I'm guessing on this setup:

12V battery (10 x NiMH) + 700mA CC down convertor + 3 x LuxIII's connected in series.

Note - Battery pack has separate connectors, one for connection to light and the other for connection to smart charger.

I'll report further once I have more info.

John

I have a little more information on this light...

Optics used have a hole thru center similar to those used in the LED-Lenser torches. IMS20 reflector(s) may fit with some minor mofications - still investigating possibilities.

Emitters are bonded directly to front half of housing, and wired in series. Construction looks to make it very difficult to replace emitters, though these seem to be excellent ones - and well matched in tint. Slightly bluish - similar to HID Tints.

Front lens is polycarbonate and has stippled texture only on two outside optic areas. Center optic area is clear (non-textured).

Not certain whether the emitters are Luxeon or not - awaiting email response from home office in Japan.

Unit appears to be well made with seals, durable construction, etc. Head unit exhibits excellent thermal relief characteristics (external temp increase noticeable in just a short time following turn-on).

Here's a few pics of what I believe to be a constant-current regulator for the LED's...





Anyone wishing to offer their thoughts on this circuit or its components are gladly welcome to do so, as I am no expert in this area.

Will attempt to do some comparison beam shots if there is interest.

John