Question on Bike Lights

After spending years using crappy lights, I finally am fed up and ready
to drop serious money on SERIOUS lights.

The problem is, I hate to spend $200-$500 to find that I didnt get what
I wanted or what was really worth the money.

MTBR seems to universally agree that Jet lights are the greatest thing
since sliced bread - but I'm not sure about their battery pack. I had
a set of lights with an unwieldy battery pack before, and I never used
them.

Light & Motion seems to have a great battery pack and a good reputation
regarding the lights themselves.

I dont know... has anyone actually done a good comparison and does
anyone have a recommendation of the ultimate commuter / training
lights? I'd rather spend more money and get something great than shave
a few bucks and wish I'd have spent more.

HELP!

On 16 Jan 2005 08:15:53 -0800, "marco007esq"
wrote:

After spending years using crappy lights, I finally am fed up and ready
to drop serious money on SERIOUS lights.

The problem is, I hate to spend $200-$500 to find that I didnt get what
I wanted or what was really worth the money.

MTBR seems to universally agree that Jet lights are the greatest thing
since sliced bread - but I'm not sure about their battery pack. I had
a set of lights with an unwieldy battery pack before, and I never used
them.

Light & Motion seems to have a great battery pack and a good reputation
regarding the lights themselves.

I dont know... has anyone actually done a good comparison and does
anyone have a recommendation of the ultimate commuter / training
lights? I'd rather spend more money and get something great than shave
a few bucks and wish I'd have spent more.

HELP!

Dear Marco,

I expect that you will receive enormous amounts of vehement
advice. The longer people have ridden with a particular
light, the more vehement they will be that it is the best.
Most of the comparisons are made in theory, not in practice,
and focus on the generator versus battery wars or the LED
versus everything else debate.

Lots more heat than light, if you'll pardon the phrase.

Here's a link to a nice German test page from 2001 that
shows a number of lights shining on the same dark stretch of
road with various reflectors. The pictures are duplicated,
side by side, and you can scroll one side up and down to
compare one light to another.

http://www.fa-technik.adfc.de/Kompon.../vergleich.htm

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom. The very last
light makes all the others look like glow worms. (But for
all I know, it requires a very long extension cord.)

Good luck,

Carl Fogel

r.

http://www.fa-technik.adfc.de/Kompon.../vergleich.htm

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom. The very last
light makes all the others look like glow worms. (But for
all I know, it requires a very long extension cord.)

these pic's look way to bright from what I have seen. they are more to show the
shape of the beam the brightness seems exaggerated. the HID light looks so
bright you can't see what it illuminates.

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes
Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices
See http://www.knight-toolworks.com For prices and ordering instructions.

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 10:07:30 -0700, may have
said:

Here's a link to a nice German test page from 2001 that
shows a number of lights shining on the same dark stretch of
road with various reflectors. The pictures are duplicated,
side by side, and you can scroll one side up and down to
compare one light to another.

http://www.fa-technik.adfc.de/Kompon.../vergleich.htm

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom. The very last
light makes all the others look like glow worms. (But for
all I know, it requires a very long extension cord.)

That would be a light using a Welch-Allen Solarc bulb, a Topeak
version of which can be had he

http://www.bullteksports.com/index.htm

(You'll have to navigate through the menus to the lighting section.
The Topeak Moonshine Solarc-equipped unit is the third from the bottom
of the list, at a mere $320; prices may vary elsewhere.)

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

On 16 Jan 2005 08:15:53 -0800, "marco007esq"
may have said:

After spending years using crappy lights, I finally am fed up and ready
to drop serious money on SERIOUS lights.

The problem is, I hate to spend $200-$500 to find that I didnt get what
I wanted or what was really worth the money.

The big questions are whether you want lots of light, lots of runtime
on a charge, or light weight. If price is not a major object, you may
pick two. It appears that you've already done some research and are
well on the way to being reasonably informed...but asking around and
getting as much real-world experience as possible (which is what
you're doing now) is a good idea. Spend the money only when you're
pretty sure that you've found the right light.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

"marco007esq" wrote in message
oups.com...
After spending years using crappy lights, I finally am fed up and ready
to drop serious money on SERIOUS lights.

Marco: I ride a cheap 20W headlamp / lead-acid battery setup plus flashing
LEDs on the bar. I ride in urban areas, and the challenge is not so much to
see as to be seen. Drivers coming from the sides are the big hazard. Front
pointing lights do not protect from the drivers that only make the "rolling
stop" effort at residential intersections. You need something that you can
point right in their eyes. Something that is so bright that they cannot use
the "I didn't see him" defense in their multi-million dollar lawsuit.

LED lighting is undergoing rapid improvements. LED front lights are
currently marginally useful, but every month the candlepower increases and
the cost goes down. I would be reluctant to spend big bucks now. If you
can make do until next fall, then see what is out. If the current rate of
improvement of LED lighting holds, in 12 months my 12 volt system will be 3
pounds of obsolete junk.

Yeah yeah, I know I'm going to catch some flames from folks with a vested
interest in this system or that, and sellers sitting on inventory, but have
a look at the new Cateye 1000 taillight and the Cateye 500 LED headlight.
The headlight is getting close (I would mount 2 of them), and the taillight
is amazing. 10 LEDs. It is actually painful to look at from 10 feet.

marco007esq wrote:

After spending years using crappy lights, I finally am fed up and
ready to drop serious money on SERIOUS lights.

The problem is, I hate to spend $200-$500 to find that I didnt get
what I wanted or what was really worth the money.

MTBR seems to universally agree that Jet lights are the greatest thing
since sliced bread - but I'm not sure about their battery pack. I had
a set of lights with an unwieldy battery pack before, and I never used
them.

Light & Motion seems to have a great battery pack and a good
reputation regarding the lights themselves.

I dont know... has anyone actually done a good comparison and does
anyone have a recommendation of the ultimate commuter / training
lights? I'd rather spend more money and get something great than
shave a few bucks and wish I'd have spent more.

I don't put too much faith in MTBR. First of all, stuff is mostly written by
people excited about their new toys, with little experience of other products --
let alone enough technical knowledge to make truly intelligent obervations.
Second, it's too prone to shilling. Half the stuff on there is written by some
chick in the marketing department, posing as a series of mountain biker dudes.
I know people who have done it.

I've had Jet Lights, and I know their creator. They're very bright, efficient,
lightweight units, but their mounting systems are at best average.

Mounting systems matter a lot, especially for helmet lights. You should be able
to reach up and tweak your aim a bit. Most systems don't allow this. Two that
do are Nightsun (Sunsport) and L&M. L&M are nice systems, very well thought out
and very well made, selling at premium prices. They may be the new "king of the
mountain," which Nightrider has been for many years. The only downside to L&M
is their price. They're better than competing products, but how much better do
you need?

Another of my favorites have always been the Performance systems made by
Union/Marwi. These are great at any price, but the price is good too. I don't
know much about their latest stuff, but if past performance means anything,
they're worth checking out.

If you want better advice, post back describing how your lights will be used.

Matt O.

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 10:20:17 -0800, Steve Knight
wrote:

r.

http://www.fa-technik.adfc.de/Kompon.../vergleich.htm

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom. The very last
light makes all the others look like glow worms. (But for
all I know, it requires a very long extension cord.)

these pic's look way to bright from what I have seen. they are more to show the
shape of the beam the brightness seems exaggerated. the HID light looks so
bright you can't see what it illuminates.

Dear Steve,

Yes, I expect that things would look different (brighter or
dimmer) to the human eye than to the camera. To show the
less impressive illumination of the first twelve lights, the
exposure time was probably increased, leading the white-out
in the center of the last light--a car's high beams would
probably be even more whited-out.

But since the pictures of the lights illuminating the same
stretch of road littered with reflective test objects were
all taken under the same conditions with the same camera,
the differences are still quite interesting.

Note how poorly the first lights illuminate what turns out
to be a standing pole to the right with a sign above a
reflector.

It's about as close as we'll get to taking the same thirteen
lights and trying to compare them ourselves. It seems much
easier to see the differences in this fashion than to try to
figure out what the endless debates about lights are trying
to describe in words.

As you point out, the narrowness of some beams is instantly
obvious--it's much easier to see what people are talking
about.

Interestingly, only one light gives enough illumination to
show the edges of the road. Looking at the others, you
really can't tell if you're on a road or in a vast parking
lot. I suspect that the human eye would be able to do better
in this case than the camera.

Carl Fogel

"marco007esq" wrote in
oups.com:
I dont know... has anyone actually done a good comparison and does
anyone have a recommendation of the ultimate commuter / training
lights? I'd rather spend more money and get something great than shave
a few bucks and wish I'd have spent more.

How much light do you need? What is your road quality? Do you have street
lights? You need much more power on poor quality roads with no street lights.
Cygolite has some pretty good 10-15 watt systems for under $100.

Carl Fogel wrote:

...
Here's a link to a nice German test page from 2001 that
shows a number of lights shining on the same dark stretch of
road with various reflectors. The pictures are duplicated,
side by side, and you can scroll one side up and down to
compare one light to another.

http://www.fa-technik.adfc.de/Kompon.../vergleich.htm

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom. The very last
light makes all the others look like glow worms....

The Gasentladungslampe Welsh-Allyn Solarc with a fuel cell for decent
runtime would be an acceptable light.

--
Tom Sherman - Near Rock Island