On Wednesday, December 6, 2017 at 11:40:08 PM UTC-8, wrote:
On Thursday, December 7, 2017 at 4:00:54 AM UTC+1, Tim McNamara wrote:
On Wed, 6 Dec 2017 06:46:01 -0800, sms
wrote:
Yes. The trade-off needs to be made. I'm sure we'd all run out and buy
a dynamo light if it was possible to build one that was adequate for
the riding conditions we experience. Unfortunately it isn't yet
possible to build such a dynamo light.

Good grief, Steven. What bull**** you spout. There are people around
the world riding pefectly contentedly all night long on bikes with
dynamo lights- and have been for decades, even before the advancements
of LEDs and computer designed mirrors and lenses.

Now, for some reason *you* don't find those satisfactory. That's fine.
But that's about you and your preferences, not about the lights
themselves.

I have several dynamo-equipped bicycles, and even the one with a
top-of-the-line dynamo light requires a battery powered light as well
for many situations.

"Top of the line" being what, specifically?

My bikes have:

(A) a B&M 3w halogen lamp powered by a Sanyo BB generator. This is the
lamp I rode across rural and urban Minnesota and France with. Worked
fine. Better in the countryside than in town, where it gets washed out
a bit by streetlights, headlights, etc. I still use it frequently on my
commuter bike, for which it works well enough in urban Minnesota. I'd
like it to be a smidge brighter. Hence:

(B) a Schmidt eDelux powered by a Schmidt SON 28. I bought this a few
years ago. Works great. The beam could be, as you and some other
critics have noted, a bit wider. It's never inconvenienced me in terms
of running into problems, just feels a little claustrophobic at 20+ mph..
Hence:

(C) a forthcoming eDelux II (if it ever gets here, for Pete's sake
shipping is slow this time of year), to be powered by a Velological
generator. Looking forward to checking this out.

Prior to A, B and C I had built a 12v headlamp using an MR16, like many
tinkerers do. It put out a lot of bright light, much of which went to
waste. Visibility was not as good as with A and definitely worse than
B. The circular beam resulted in inadequate performance. As with the
improvements with automobile headlights, bike headlights have come a
very long way from the glorified flashlights many espouse.

Tim I use a SON Delux dyno with a EdeluxII headlamp for my winter nightrides on roads. I can't understand why people consider this combination as not sufficient for road riding (off road is a different story) but I don't have the illusion that I can convince Mr Scharf as he can't convince me of using a battery powered light that I have to charge after every 2 hr ride.

I think everyone would agree that having a light you don't have to charge is very convenient. How much light a person needs, however, is subjective. My night vision sucks. There are times when I want more than 500 lumens, which is about the maximum output of my Luxos B. No light is enough it in a rain storm. OTOH, it takes very little light to be seen in my opinion, and there is nothing worse than a mega-power bike light pointing right at me. I'm not in NL, but I ride around a lot of other cyclists for an American city, and the uber-bright lights are not just annoying, they're dangerous. I've been blinded to the point of not being able to see the road for a few seconds, and bright flashing lights should be criminalized. Some tail lights are far too bright. I was riding behind a woman last night (until I could get around her) who had a rear flasher that was like a landing light. Mine is bright, but it pulses. This was on a separate bike path, so it's not like she was going to get hit by a car.

On a two way cycle track with adjacent car traffic, a bright, solid on-coming bike light also can be mistaken for a car light in the adjacent MV traffic lane. In heavy bike traffic, I think the best front light is a dyno light with cut-off (because it is distinctive and non-blinding) or a light like the L&M that pulses but does not flash, and if more light is needed (pulse mode is about 300 lumen on my battery light), then perhaps something like the Oculus with cut-off. Too much cut-off is a problem, but a spewing 1000 lumen light is a huge problem in bicycle traffic and totally unnecessary. In the middle of nowhere without traffic, it doesn't matter. Use whatever you want.

Finally, I think that in really dark environments with moonlight or star light (like the PBP French countryside), you can get away with a pretty dim light because your eyes can accommodate. The problem for me is dark pavement and bright on-coming headlights (hills with car lights angled up) or point source lights that don't illuminate the pavement (house or business lights).

-- Jay Beattie.