Brightest LED Headlight?

Any ideas for a really bright LED headlight? Is the 5-led cateye the one?


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Ed Light wrote:

Any ideas for a really bright LED headlight? Is the 5-led cateye the one?

The EL-500 is as bright as I've seen, and I need 4 of them to get along
decently.

The advantage of LEDs is long runtime on the batteries, which of course
means that they don't put out much light, either.

There are supposedly brighter LEDs but they also have shorter lifetimes,
and less runtime, becoming really expensive bulbs in effect.

--
Ron Hardin


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

"Ron Hardin" wrote in message
...
Ed Light wrote:

Any ideas for a really bright LED headlight? Is the 5-led cateye the one?

The EL-500 is as bright as I've seen, and I need 4 of them to get along
decently.

Do you mean 4 side-by-side? What brand are they?

Thanks.


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Ed Light

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"Ed Light" wrote in message
news:J6WGf.32277$jR.29397@fed1read01...
Any ideas for a really bright LED headlight? Is the 5-led cateye the one?


Brightest? I think you have to choose between the Light & Motion Vega, the
DiNotte Ultralight, and the Blackburn X3. Cateye also has the Double and
Triple Shots. All are going to run you about $200. I have the DiNotte, and
it's very bright.

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 11:36:02 +0000, Gooserider wrote:

Brightest? I think you have to choose between the Light & Motion Vega, the
DiNotte Ultralight, and the Blackburn X3. Cateye also has the Double and
Triple Shots. All are going to run you about $200. I have the DiNotte, and
it's very bright.

If you shop around you can find the Vega for $130 or so.

For me the attraction is being self-contained, with no external batteries
or wires. If you're going to put up with that stuff, you'll get a lot
more bang for your buck with old technology (overdriven MR lamps,
etc.)

Matt O.

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 15:02:19 -0500, Matt O'Toole wrote:

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 11:36:02 +0000, Gooserider wrote:

Brightest? I think you have to choose between the Light & Motion Vega, the
DiNotte Ultralight, and the Blackburn X3. Cateye also has the Double and
Triple Shots. All are going to run you about $200. I have the DiNotte, and
it's very bright.

If you shop around you can find the Vega for $130 or so.

For me the attraction is being self-contained, with no external batteries
or wires. If you're going to put up with that stuff, you'll get a lot
more bang for your buck with old technology (overdriven MR lamps,
etc.)

I disagree. All batteries eventually need to be replaced. With special,
or even worse built-in, batteries, the light will be unusable when the
supply of batteries runs out. This happened with my NiteRider -- and no,
neither the company nor any secondary supplier I have looked at has a
replacement battery (4.5V NiMH "smart" battery -- heck even dumb is
unavailable).

the diNotte uses standard 1.3V AA-size NiMH batteries, 4 to a pack. I
have 16 replacements that I rotate in (and carry a spare set) for less
than $20. This is, IMO, good.

The diNotte is not much more than the Vega ($200 on sale), and is
considerably brighter. One poster said his Vega was marginally usable to
see the road. Nothing marginal about the diNotte. Plenty of light to see
and be seen.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Let's not escape into mathematics. Let's stay with reality. --
_`\(,_ | Michael Crichton
(_)/ (_) |

"David L. Johnson" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 15:02:19 -0500, Matt O'Toole wrote:

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 11:36:02 +0000, Gooserider wrote:

Brightest? I think you have to choose between the Light & Motion Vega,
the
DiNotte Ultralight, and the Blackburn X3. Cateye also has the Double and
Triple Shots. All are going to run you about $200. I have the DiNotte,
and
it's very bright.

If you shop around you can find the Vega for $130 or so.

For me the attraction is being self-contained, with no external batteries
or wires. If you're going to put up with that stuff, you'll get a lot
more bang for your buck with old technology (overdriven MR lamps,
etc.)

I disagree. All batteries eventually need to be replaced. With special,
or even worse built-in, batteries, the light will be unusable when the
supply of batteries runs out. This happened with my NiteRider -- and no,
neither the company nor any secondary supplier I have looked at has a
replacement battery (4.5V NiMH "smart" battery -- heck even dumb is
unavailable).

the diNotte uses standard 1.3V AA-size NiMH batteries, 4 to a pack. I
have 16 replacements that I rotate in (and carry a spare set) for less
than $20. This is, IMO, good.

The diNotte is not much more than the Vega ($200 on sale), and is
considerably brighter. One poster said his Vega was marginally usable to
see the road. Nothing marginal about the diNotte. Plenty of light to see
and be seen.

I like the DiNotte because it's very bright and has a small footprint. The
light itself sized between a C and D cell battery, and the stem mounted
battery pack is a very good idea. I also like the fact that it uses AA
rechargables. That made it easy to buy a second set to keep in my bag. I
rotate them through, but always have a fully charged spare. DiNotte is
introducing lithium ion version of the 5W and a 3W helmet light. They also
have a 3W taillight, but it looks like it will only be mountable on the
seatpost. That means no rack trunk, so not for me. Should be a super
taillight though.

David L. Johnson wrote:


I disagree. All batteries eventually need to be replaced.

One of the reasons I prefer generator lights.

- Frank Krygowski

wrote:

One of the reasons I prefer generator lights.

I share your sentiments, but 3 watts is a mighty feeble
light, even using Luxeon LED's. Certainly usable, but
it would burden the rider quite tolerably to go up by a
factor of three or four, and that would be a vastly
more useful light.

The three-watt standard was from the days when Alnico was
the best magnet material. Neodymium-iron is about ten times
better. I really wish somebody would offer a ten-to-fifteen
watt genset for bicycles. Unfortunately there's probably not
much money in that market.

bob prohaska

David L. Johnson wrote:
The diNotte is not much more than the Vega ($200 on sale), and is
considerably brighter. One poster said his Vega was marginally usable to
see the road. Nothing marginal about the diNotte. Plenty of light to see
and be seen.

I think 'considerably brighter' is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration.
There is an objective comparison he

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=1377408

The centre of the Vega's beam is actually slightly brighter than the
Dinotte's, but the overall beam is significantly narrower.

Anthony