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Recommend me a good bike light

slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,915
5,794
Ottawa, Canada
Toshi said:
Question for you all: with the light on my helmet, uh, where is the battery supposed to live? Do I get a cable extension and put it on the bike? Strap it to my arm? The back of my helmet? It seems like it'd reach down my back but not much farther.
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I put mine in my camelbak. It reaches perfectly to the top "phone" pocket. I could also use an extension cable from my other light systems and run it anywhere else I need to, but then I wouldn't have the ability to screw them together (the fittings work, but the ability to screw is not present in older cable - it still snaps together nicely though). but in the camelbak works nicely.
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,510
9,296
Ah. On my commuter I run a rack + pannier setup so no Camelbak. Maybe I'll put it on my bars for the commute.
 
Jeremy R

Jeremy R

<b>x</b>
Nov 15, 2001
9,703
1,068
behind you with a snap pop
Toshi said:
Question for you all: with the light on my helmet, uh, where is the battery supposed to live? Do I get a cable extension and put it on the bike? Strap it to my arm? The back of my helmet? It seems like it'd reach down my back but not much farther.
Click to expand...
I have some light called a Gloworm X1 mounted on my helmet. What I like about it is that the whole thing battery and all is on my helmet. It is light and it just works. I always hated doing the helmet wire and camelbak dance before. Some systems are too heavy for this, but if it is light enough, the whole thing being helmet mounted is nice.
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,915
5,794
Ottawa, Canada
Jeremy R said:
I have some light called a Gloworm X1 mounted on my helmet. What I like about it is that the whole thing battery and all is on my helmet. It is light and it just works. I always hated doing the helmet wire and camelbak dance before. Some systems are too heavy for this, but if it is light enough, the whole thing being helmet mounted is nice.
Click to expand...
I had the gemini version of your light, with a 2 cell battery, it was fine all being on the helmet. But the xp3 is much more burly, and the battery pack is 4 cells. Way to heavy to put it all on your helmet (unless you're all traps and no neck). I find the increase in lumens is well worth the faff of putting the battery in my pack.
 
StiHacka

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,510
In hell. Welcome!
Toshi said:
Ah. On my commuter I run a rack + pannier setup so no Camelbak. Maybe I'll put it on my bars for the commute.
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Enduro fanny pack.


I am also of the opinion that gopro mounts suck for light mounting on helmet, they place the lamp way too high -> leverage will kill your neck faster and you'll be catching branches if riding in woods. For that reason alone, I love my TrailLed XXX with a super slim profile and low placement. But, they command dentist money. Can radiologists afford dentists' toys?

 
jonKranked

jonKranked

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Nov 10, 2005
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StiHacka said:
I am also of the opinion that gopro mounts suck for light mounting on helmet, they place the lamp way too high -> leverage will kill your neck faster and you'll be catching branches if riding in woods.
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this doesn't look too bad to me (taken from the ituo fb page)

 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,510
9,296
My GoPro mount is higher, like in the dentist-light position. The Ituo photo seems to have the pack strapped on the back of the helmet. Maybe I'll give that a try. Bringing my helmet + light + battery in to work with me would be easier than unstrapping the battery and unmounting the light each time (it does have a quick release, at least).
 
canadmos

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,585
22,442
Canaderp
Here is how I setup my helmet light. Cable through the helmet (TLD helmet has a perfect channel in the foam for the cable) to keep it tucked away and out of reach of branches. Cable is long enough that I just drop the battery in my hydration pack.
 
JohnE

JohnE

filthy rascist
May 13, 2005
13,568
2,223
Front Range, dude...
Wasmachineman_NL said:
SolarStorm X3
SolarStorm X3
SolarStorm X3
SolarStorm X3
SolarStorm X3
SolarStorm X3

With this: http://www.kaidomain.com/p/S024443.KBP-18650B2S3P-7_4V-10200mAh-6-x-NCR18650B-High-Quality-Rechargeable-18650-Li-ion-Battery-Pack

I have this setup on my ML8 and I love it for (K)night riding:

old pic btw, new since pic:
Rock Shox Reverb 125mm
Kaidomain 6-cell battery pack
WTB Rocket V saddle just to piss off a LBS owner
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Just out of curiosity...why does the WTB saddle piss people off? One of the owners of Koobi (http://www.koobi.com/ )is a neighbor, and I ride WTBs...he doesnt seem to mind. But then again, he isnt in a hurry to offer any deals...
 
JohnE

JohnE

filthy rascist
May 13, 2005
13,568
2,223
Front Range, dude...
As far as lights...I have a MiNewt 650 that has been doing me well for 5 years or so...but I dont use it a whole lot. I find night riding to be a self perpetuating nuisance. I prefer the big orange ball in the sky as a primary light source...
 
boostindoubles

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
8,762
7,405
Yakistan
I've been stoked on the L&M Taz 1200. Had one for 4 or 5 years now. It's always been bright as hell. Adding a helmet mount light along with the 1200 would be a great setup.
10953.jpeg
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
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JohnE said:
As far as lights...I have a MiNewt 650 that has been doing me well for 5 years or so...but I dont use it a whole lot. I find night riding to be a self perpetuating nuisance. I prefer the big orange ball in the sky as a primary light source...
Click to expand...

I prefer natural lighting as well, but round these parts that severely limits your riding options in the winter
 
kickstand

kickstand

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2009
3,441
393
Fenton, MI
Did a night stage this weekend at an enduro, in the rain and fog, kinda tough to see rocks and roots covered in the same color mud as the trail, but otherwise my 750's performed pretty well. For night racing in the future I would have remembered to also bring my wife's two lights....not sure what I was thinking there.
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,510
9,296
I measured the cables the other day. I recall 12" on the light side, 21" on the battery side? Something close to that.

Light head is a beautiful little bit of kit. Battery is big, but then again it's 6400 mAh. It's not great when strapped to my helmet, making for a heavy feeling.

Light output is good. I asked for the importer to put in the 25 degree optics in the lateral two emitters and I'm not sure if he did, but whatever the case the beam pattern is good for helmet mounting and would be fine for the bars, too, IMO.

I don't perceive it as much brighter than my 1200 lumen Cateye Stadium 3 from back in the day but there's a decade+ separating that memory from this. 2200 lumens even as a solo light is sufficient for my commute, which has mixed surfaces and is anywhere from slow climbing speed to 25 mph on downhill bits.

Overall I feel its value matches its $200 price point. I like it.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

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Nov 10, 2005
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Toshi said:
I measured the cables the other day. I recall 12" on the light side, 21" on the battery side? Something close to that.

Light head is a beautiful little bit of kit. Battery is big, but then again it's 6400 mAh. It's not great when strapped to my helmet, making for a heavy feeling.

Light output is good. I asked for the importer to put in the 25 degree optics in the lateral two emitters and I'm not sure if he did, but whatever the case the beam pattern is good for helmet mounting and would be fine for the bars, too, IMO.

I don't perceive it as much brighter than my 1200 lumen Cateye Stadium 3 from back in the day but there's a decade+ separating that memory from this. 2200 lumens even as a solo light is sufficient for my commute, which has mixed surfaces and is anywhere from slow climbing speed to 25 mph on downhill bits.

Overall I feel its value matches its $200 price point. I like it.
Click to expand...
yea, from what i can tell it's the best bang for the buck compared to comparable lights from other companies.
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,915
5,794
Ottawa, Canada
So I tried out the ituo wiz 20 last night for off road riding. It's fantastic. Even with 2 cells it stayed on for the whole 2.5 hour ride. I rode with it in the middle setting for 90% of the ride, only turning it on high for the DHs. After two hours it went to low, but it was still plenty useable.

I thought it would be too heavy and bounce around a lot, but it was rock solid. I'm really impressed.

The colour of the light is another great feature. It's much more natural. I had my gemini duo on there as backup, and the contrast in light warmth was plainly evident.

Finally, the beam pattern on the ituo is much better than on my gemini (first Gen duo).

I really like these lights.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

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slyfink said:
So I tried out the ituo wiz 20 last night for off road riding. It's fantastic. Even with 2 cells it stayed on for the whole 2.5 hour ride. I rode with it in the middle setting for 90% of the ride, only turning it on high for the DHs. After two hours it went to low, but it was still plenty useable.

I thought it would be too heavy and bounce around a lot, but it was rock solid. I'm really impressed.

The colour of the light is another great feature. It's much more natural. I had my gemini duo on there as backup, and the contrast in light warmth was plainly evident.

Finally, the beam pattern on the ituo is much better than on my gemini (first Gen duo).

I really like these lights.
Click to expand...
were you using the wiz20 by itself?
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,915
5,794
Ottawa, Canada
jonKranked said:
were you using the wiz20 by itself?
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Not the whole time. I had my XP3 on too. Most of the time I'd run them both in the middle setting. On the downhills I'd ride them both at full. and on long miserable climbs I'd run just the wiz20 on medium. I'd say the wiz20 on its own would be adequate for toodling around in the woods. I wouldn't run it alone for a "serious" ride. but it does a fantastic job as a bar light in combination with a helmet light. And given the power this two-light system has, I would think a 2-light xp2 on the helmet would complement it nicely.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

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slyfink said:
Not the whole time. I had my XP3 on too. Most of the time I'd run them both in the middle setting. On the downhills I'd ride them both at full. and on long miserable climbs I'd run just the wiz20 on medium. I'd say the wiz20 on its own would be adequate for toodling around in the woods. I wouldn't run it alone for a "serious" ride. but it does a fantastic job as a bar light in combination with a helmet light. And given the power this two-light system has, I would think a 2-light xp2 on the helmet would complement it nicely.
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cool thanks for the info. good to know that a all in one unit like the wiz20 is a good handlebar complement to a full on helmet system.

have you ever run the xp3 on your helmet as a standalone?
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,915
5,794
Ottawa, Canada
jonKranked said:
cool thanks for the info. good to know that a all in one unit like the wiz20 is a good handlebar complement to a full on helmet system.

have you ever run the xp3 on your helmet as a standalone?
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I haven't, but only because I don't have to because I have three other bar-mounted systems. I think it would be more than capable on it's own, for sure. As I've mentioned before, it's just that it's nice to have a bar light as a backup and to provide contrast for the helmet light.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
More of the same from Magicshine...

http://www.magicshineusa.com

MagicshineUSA is no longer distributing or selling Magicshine products. All recent orders are in the process of being refunded.

We suggest buying another brand of light for the following reasons:
  1. High defective/return percentage rates of lights and batteries.
  2. Magicshine is owned by Min Jun Electronics, located in Shenzhen, China. A company that has never warrantied any product that we have return to them. One of the reasons we are shutting our doors.
  3. Magicshine has no warranty network set up in the US, Check their website.
All Magicshine product sold through MagicshineUSA can now be warrantied or serviced thru:



Jim Harger
Action LED Lights
3215 Alta Vista Rd
Rockford, IL 61109
jharger@action-led-lights.com


Thanks,
MagicshineUSA
Click to expand...
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,510
9,296
Jeremy R said:
I have some light called a Gloworm X1 mounted on my helmet. What I like about it is that the whole thing battery and all is on my helmet. It is light and it just works. I always hated doing the helmet wire and camelbak dance before. Some systems are too heavy for this, but if it is light enough, the whole thing being helmet mounted is nice.
Click to expand...
I came to this conclusion as well, that even though it'd be nicer in theory to have the helmet light be brighter it's practically much easier with a self contained lightweight light up there.

To this end I ordered an Ituo Wiz2 light:



$50 shipped with the Cyber Monday promotion good for maybe an hour or two more yet. The Wiz1 and 2 are the same except for the battery tube: 26650 for 1, 18650 for the 2. I don't need tremendous runtime since my commute home's 25-35 minutes so I went for the 2 for less weight on the noggin.

My helmet has a built in GoPro mount so it'll mount up easily, and the XP3 will continue to be relegated to blinding drivers and oncoming cyclists from the handlebar mount.

:banana:
 
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