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Hi all,
Looking into some decent lights for some night riding and getting myself all confused.
I've read the posts about lights thus far but honestly can't see why one would pay for something like a lupine light setup and not just get a cheap LED head set with alot of lumens?
colleague recently bought this and seems to chuck a decent amount of light out and runs on AA's,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280933330122?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Anyone got any advice? I assume you get what you pay for but really for a couple hours worth of hitting some trails after dark?
cheers guys
Lights are not just about Lumens, You need to think about how the light is focused/dispersed on the trail, how the heat built up by running an LED at high currents is dispersed, the types of conditions the light is used in does it require a degree of waterproofing.
Most Chinese lights claim the Lumen output of the light based on the theoretical maximum for the LED in the light, this can never be achieved out with Lab conditions so is a pointless value. Higher priced lights will in general quote actual lumens or actual and theoretical.
There will be some thought into the driver used, for example the LED’s may be driven at 70,80,90% of their maximum to reduce heat but still provide excellent amounts of light. Other lights use smart controllers that reduce the drive current if the heat of the unit exceeds a pre set value to protect the light.
The design of the casing of Chinese lights rarely take into consideration cooling of the light often have poor quality control and the type of reflector/optic is often not the most effective for the type of LED in the light.
You then also need to think about the quality of battery and charger that will be used to power the light.
My opinion of Chinese lights is it is astonishing what they can pack into a bundle for price, take some of the specification with a pinch of salt and you could get a bright light for your money that will give you an idea if you like night riding or not.
You will eventually see the shortcomings of an cheap light and will then look to upgrade by which point you may feel the price is worth paying for a more expensive light.
There's no shortage of discussion about this very topic. Tall and short of it is that some of the cheap stuff is good, some less good, but most is perfectly adequate.
Of course, finding out that it's not adequate at 10pm 10 miles from home / the car is a bit of a scary proposition.
Smudge (MTBBatteries) does good stuff that's in between price. I got a Neninja Gloworm X2 waiting me to test tonight too - again, highly regarded and inbetween price. Both those guys are excellent to deal with, BTW
The cheapo Chinese ones are amazing value:
[url= http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3066/2932486380_5283cde0ea.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/2932486380/ ]Lights[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/brf/ ]brf[/url], on Flickr
On the LHS single P7 LED torch supposedly 900 Lumen.
On the RHS, Wilma 6 supposedly 830 Lumen.
The Wilma has a much more controlled beam pattern and is brighter in the centre, but only just!