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Outbound Lighting

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,155
Canaderp
Anyone use any lights from Outbound Lighting?

I'm looking for a new helmet light and their Hangover model seems to tick most of the boxes. Though it has a two weeks asterisk on its ship time...

 

JustMtnB44

Monkey
Sep 13, 2006
840
113
Pittsburgh, PA
I pre-ordered the Hangover light months ago and it just showed up yesterday. I might be able to use it later this week if trail conditions improve.

I like everything Outbound is doing in concept at least, so I'm looking forward to finally trying it out. I'll probably order a Trail Edition next year for the bars if I like the beam pattern of the Hangover.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Curious about these. I do a night ride pretty much every week. Have been using Lupine lights with great success for several years. Pricey but the quality is very high, and the bluetooth remote is a great thing for a helmet light. My friends like their with the cheapo chinese lights, but they routinely get hosed with random shut-offs, etc., to the point that most end up buying and carrying a spare, so they're not saving a ton of dough.
 
Curious about these. I do a night ride pretty much every week. Have been using Lupine lights with great success for several years. Pricey but the quality is very high, and the bluetooth remote is a great thing for a helmet light. My friends like their with the cheapo chinese lights, but they routinely get hosed with random shut-offs, etc., to the point that most end up buying and carrying a spare, so they're not saving a ton of dough.
I have been using a cheap Cree for over a decade...

The two hour burn time for the Hangover seems way short.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,155
Canaderp
I have been using a cheap Cree for over a decade...

The two hour burn time for the Hangover seems way short.
Yeah it might be on the short side, but that run time is supposedly on the max setting. For me, majority of my night rides are in the winter when its cold as hell out or wet, so the rides are generally shorter anyways.

And reading the large thread on mtbr about this light, apparently you can also use an external battery pack with it via USB-C (it can run while charging).
 

JustMtnB44

Monkey
Sep 13, 2006
840
113
Pittsburgh, PA
I received my Hangover light on Monday. I charged it on Tuesday and was able to go for a ride last night (Wednesday). For reference my other helmet light is an old Nightlightning iBlaast with upgraded 3x XML emitters and a 4 cell 18650 battery pack, supposedly putting out 1200-1400 lumens and lasting at least 2 hours on high.

My initial impressions of the Hangover:
  • Build quality and fit & finish looks great. The button is large and has a good feel to it.
  • I put it on one of my helmets that already had a GoPro mount stuck to it. However the mount was maybe a bit to far center/rearward on the helmet so I couldn't angle the light down quite as much as I would like to. I'll adjust this for next time.
  • Brightness on high is good. I can tell that it's not as bright as my other light, but has plenty of light where I need it. Definitely way more light than the 600 lumen lights I have on my bars. Medium is also plenty adequate for most trails, just not the high speed sections. Low is very low and not really useful for riding, but good for walking or standing around.
  • Beam shape is awesome, definitely way less spotty than my other light. This is most noticeable in that I don't feel like I have to look directly at something to illuminate it, there is always light going in the general direction I want to see.
  • The high pitched driver noise is noticeable while standing around in a quiet environment, but not really noticeable while riding and doesn't bother me yet.
  • The USB cover is definitely the slowest rebounding rubber ever, and would be better if it fit tighter into the opening. Good to hear it isn't totally necessary.
  • Runtime was less than anticpated. I will assume this is mostly due to the ambient temperature last night being around 26 deg F, but I only got about an hour on high. Once the battery charge is down to 1/4, high is no longer usable. I specifically left it on high most of the ride to see what kind of run time I would get. I was only out for about 1.5 hours total, but the battery light was flashing the last bar when I got home. That said I think the Hangover still lasted longer on high than my bar light, which is a Light & Motion Stella 600 with 2 cell battery pack.
I'll have to get a few more rides in to finalize my thoughts. Maybe one of these days I will bring both lights on a ride and do a direct comparison to my other light as well.
 

JustMtnB44

Monkey
Sep 13, 2006
840
113
Pittsburgh, PA
And to be clear I really have no complaints with my old helmet light other than managing the separate battery pack and cable can be annoying, so I wanted to get an all in one light for shorter rides so I can just grab it and go.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,155
Canaderp
Hmm, only an hour on high sounds a little disappointing. I wonder if a little neoprene sock of some sort might help?
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,155
Canaderp
I always thought that the lower the temp, the lower the output from a battery. I assume batteries in general have an optimal operating temperature range: too hot or too cold and the performance will go down.

@Toshi can probably confirm with his ///tesla and ///pivot. He's gone full elect'erd.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Ride time on high is always dubious, the more efficient and more lumens the light has the better it seems to do at intermediary settings where it provides good brightness and run time. Sometimes they do strange things, like go into low-power mode when it's cold, but never really shut off because the energy is there, just the voltage is lower in the cold. I ran a couple handlebar ones for a while a few nights ago to see when they would fail, after commuting, but they never did, just flashed like they were going to. Going to a remote system is the best of all, you can keep it low while climbing and turn it up as you pick up speed. I try to keep my batteries somewhat protected (as long as it's not a self-contained handlebar type). Worst of all is probably externally mounted on your helmet, as I see some people do. It'll get crazy cold there. I've started using a cheap hip pack and I run the cable down the backside of my jacket to the pack, remote controlled.
 

Lemke

Chimp
Aug 22, 2019
16
14
I had received my "Hangover" last week, and have EXACTLY the same report as JustMtnB44. It's a great "grab-and-go" light for last second trail rides, but still can't outshine my Gloworm XSV/XS/X2 battery pack powered lights.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Rode tonight with my 3400 lumen bar mount and 3400 lumen helmet mount lights...no such thing as enough lumens...
01aedf14a5b89acf24f5c1fb5d248aa62b4403ffc7.jpg
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,155
Canaderp
Am I reading that right, it's 850 Lumens?
Yes

The thread on mtbr has lots of info from the guy who designed it. Sounds like he was trying to hit a price point, self contained power supply and quality of the light.

He goes on about the 850 lumens being the actual output for the duration of use, unlike some other lights which throttle back.

Its obviously lower, but sounds like a quality light. And of course cant compete with something more powerful or something with an external battery pack.

It sounds and looks promising, but if it only has just over an hour of run time on high, that's unfortunately just too short.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,190
19,155
Canaderp
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Take a look at the Nightrider Lumina series. Self contained, 2+ hours of run time on high, way less expensive and about the same weight. I have the 1200 and it’s super nice, and will run even longer on the mid power setting that is likely the same light output as the Hangover. The beam pattern is very good, I’d run it as my only light, but for some reason unless I have 2 lights at different heights my depth perception is crap so it’s on the bar and I have a Glowworm w/external battery pack on my helmet.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
My 1200 lumen headlight crapped out on last weeks ride so I ordered a new one thats supposedly 100% waterproof. It arrived today. I can put the battery on the helmet or in a pack. 5 hours at full power is what they claim

Damn, that's like one of those WWII search lights on your helmet!

There's some real good stuff these days. I have a gloworm XSV and I mount it on my helmet, I run the cable down through my jacket to a hip pack. It has a bluetooth remote and the ability to change it on the fly is bitchin! Cygolite makes some great stuff, not crazy bright, but good and reliable.