Inova T2/T3 as bike light?

I'm currently using a combination of lights strapped to my handlebars or on my helmet to light my way. I've settled on a Q3 w/R123 for lighting the road right in front of me, but I want a complimentary light to reach out a bit farther than that. I've tried the other Luxeons I have on hand (SL Jr, LSH-P, EOS) and they work OK in combination with the Q3, but I want something with more throw that can cover most of the width of a ~10 foot wide, dark bike path at 30+ feet. Will a T2 or T3 serve my purpose well? I know they throw well, but I'd like more than a 4 foot circle of light at 50 feet, so I need some real world experience to help me make the right choice. Can anyone tell me how big a spot they would light at 30, 40, 50 feet, etc.?

Mattman-

At this point I can at least partially answer you question. I think the idea of two different lights on a bike is a good one.

You clearly need a strong flood type light that is good and wide out to 20' or so.

I have both a T2 & T3. They are definitely throwers with very minimal sidespill.
Of the two, I would go with the T3. It has a larger reflector and throws further. It is only about 3/8" longer and slightly more $.

As for beam size. I just measured the diameter at 5.5' at 20 feet which is the length of my dark garage. Outside at about 30' the beam completely surrounds a Jeep Grand Cherokee from the front. About 7.5' Looking out into the woods it seems to be 9-10' across at about 50'.

There is some sidespill but it is quite ringy due to the optics.

The area within the beam is bright and very white. If you got one and it was not perfect for the bike, you would still have a great light.

Mark

In my experience the side spill from bike light will give a good vision on the road. If you want the far throw from QIII you should try to change reflector to IMS 20 mm or McR20 mm from dat2zip. It will give the good light and nice side spill for your bike. The car come from beside can see you easily from angle of side spill into their eyes.

The inovas light is no side spill from the specific lens.

I'm currently using a Costco 1 watt Luxeon flashight.It does ok, but now that it's getting darker in the mornings I'm looking for something better. I tried my T3 on my bike to work one early morning and decided that it doesn't have the sidespill I'm looking for.I tried my Surefire U2 next and it was terrific.After I get rechargeables for I'll be going with the U2, although it 's pretty expensive if you don't already have one.You can buy a real nice purpose built bike headlight for $270.

I think this light would make a great bike light HOWEVER CR123 batteries coupled with a relatively short run time of two hours may make it an expensive habit to continue riding with this light on the handlebars. But a lot of people (myself excluded) have a butt load of CR123 batteries on hand so if you fall into this category than I'de say this is a great bike light. It is certainly a lot more powerful than the bike lights they offer which are made for this cause. Maybe I'll experiment with this idea when i get my 12 pack from surefire.com some time this week

Dan K

I use a BB500 R2H minimag mod running a Fraen LP optic for a helmet light. It works well at speeds up to 16/17 MPH. For my wife's electric scooter, I put an Aurora 2AA Jupiter on the bars. That ball optic in front produces a pronounced bluish spot but a friend of mine said he saw that flaming blue ball half a mile away. The difference in color really makes the light stand out. Her light runs on NiMH AA batteries and it works well for her needs.

If you really want to be seen, use a helmet light because drivers are not used to light that moves. I point mine at drivers at side roads and it really wakes them up. For serious lighting, my 170 lumen WX1S LuxeonV 8AA 2D Mag really lights up the road! The larger die of the LuxeonV gives a much larger hotspot than my 800mA driven R2H 2D Mag which throws a narrow beam.

Reliable bike lighting was the reason I got into LEDs... they work well and the crisp whiteness of them makes you stand out.

I'm still not sure what the ultimate solution is. Using non-rechargeables doesn't sound like much fun, but the bright options are 2x123 lights or expensive Surefires. For now I have a QIII lighting everything from 3' out. I've also got an EOS bike on my helmet - as BentHeadTX said, it gets people's attention. I've got another twofish lockblock on my handlebars crying out for a good, reliable thrower, but until I figure out what that is(where did that LRI Proton go?), I'll probably just stick my SL Jr Lux in there. Hmmm, I wonder how much duct tape it would take to mount my Mag85 on the bars...

Hello, I'm using a 3 x Luxeon III on a ledguy heatsink with a Taskled 1A regulator supplied by 13.2V AA's. I find that at about 30km down a firetrail I'm running out of light. An when I hit the single track I'm searching for a flood beam. I tried eight 8mm 13 lumen leds the other night mounted on my helmet in a couple of film canisters but it wasn't a big enough flood to see the erosion gullys and tree roots. Any ideas? I have 2 spare Luxeon III's. I thought some 45mm reflectors may be a possibility. I also hadn't thought about direct driving the luxeons from my battery source. You can get some light 7.2Volt RC batterys that will fit in a back pocket or camelback.
But for the price of some modded flashlights I think a $300 HID system from Light & Motion or NiteRider may be a better investment.

The Dorcy Metal Gear and Brinkman headlamp both run off of 3 "AAA" batteries and use 1 watt Luxeon LED's with a good mix of beam and sidespill... if you have a charger for NiMH "AAA" cells, then this may be a good move-- either light can be purchased for ~$20 at Wal-Mart, and either would be cheaper to replace if stolen or wrecked...

I have the Inova XO3, which is pretty much the same as the T3, and while it's great for my use as an EDC light, the beam is a bit too narrow for bike use.

What about the T4?? It is rechargeable, save on batteries.


Blades