Lights , it's that time of year again.
- Thread starter Matthews
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2.5hr ride on mine last week and still showing 2 bars on the indicator. I was running it mostly on medium, which is about the same brightness as my single LED Magicshine light. On full beam I'd say it's about 1 1/2 time brighter.
Think people have properly measured the single LED lights at about 800-900 real lumens, so that would make the Solarstorm about 1300 lumens. Which is more than enough! With my old single and the new double on medium it's like daylight on the trails
Taken the plunge and ordered one so we'll see what happens , my last light that was usable was in 92 and consisted of an old car spotlight (5"round!) mounted on the bars with a 6V halogen bulb fitted in it and wired up to a makita 7.2V battery tyewrapped into the bottle cage so it's got to be better than that .
Matthew
Matthew
Are the connectors on all these lights the same so you could buy the lights only from china and source an appropriate more reliable battery and charger from the UK? Running a fluxient at the moment good waterproof battery very pleased but it was a little more expensive and would be good if you had a few lights all with matching batteries
Exeter Man
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I've got the light linked by the OP, used in anger a couple of times and no complaints from me so far. I've only used it for an hour or so at a time, so I can't comment on battery life yet, but I am certainly happy for the money .
Delivery was very fast too, which was a bonus. The price seems to fluctuate between about £28 to £35, presumably depending on the seller's stock levels.
I use mine in combination with a helmet light.
Regards
.Delivery was very fast too, which was a bonus. The price seems to fluctuate between about £28 to £35, presumably depending on the seller's stock levels.
I use mine in combination with a helmet light.
Regards
Well I ordered it Fri AM, it arrived monday AM , charged it up and went out for a quick blast last night , did all the up/down/twisty bits in my local woods at not much slower than daylight speeds on medium, had a H7 headtorch on helmet so it moved with my head , impressed , night riding here we come , was out for about 3/4 hour and I brought the torch into work this morning and got another 2/1/4 hours on medium to test how long the battery will last so that'll do for me . Ordered a single T6 unit for my helmet today so with the 2 I should be good for most things , how long the batteries will last long term remains to be seen but I've ordered an extra supposedly 6000mah pack to carry for emergencies (at £8 I thought it was worth it ).
Matthew
Matthew
We could possibly do with a sticky information thread on the site if anybody feels expert enough to provide one.
My own research leads me to think that claimed lumen counts are very hard to define and in practice such exaggerations/lies are told that it's best to ignore them.
Cree XMLs are probably the brightest and best emitters currently available. The XML-T6 and XML-U2 are roughly the same brightness, but the U2 gives a slightly softer, less harsh light.
Nobody mentions wattages in their sales blurbs, perhaps because 10w doesn't sound very impressive, but an XML can be run at up to 10w and at that rate would be extremely bright - most applications run at lower amps and around 7-8w, which is still very bright. [I think if they were run at 10w for extended periods you would probably get overheating/loss of power issues.]
It seems that on the most powerful Fluxient you have a battery pack of four pairs of 2,200mAh 3.7V batteries, which equates to 8,800mAh 7.4V. I think the system runs at 1.2A with a 3 x XML-U2 light, so you get just over 8 watts per emitter and a battery life of 8.8Ah divided by 3.6A = c2.4 hours. The same principles can be applied to other systems to work out battery times etc.
If I understand it correctly, the system still runs at the same amps even when you go down to the medium setting, but LEDs work on micro pulses of power rather than a constant supply, so when you turn it down to medium you get the same amps but for half as many pulses per second (if it's a 100/50/30 system) - which doubles the battery life and roughly halves the light output.
I have a XML-T6 single emitter Fluxient zoom torch and it's very useful for off-road (wide beam) and road (narrow beam), but you can't beat more watts - three emitters is always going to give three times as much light as one of the same size. I personally prefer three emitters in one light over separate lights, as the emitters can be set up with the pitch of the reflector to give a broad integrated beam, whereas three separate lights will just send three separate beams.
Even though very cheap lights offer XML emitters, that doesn't make them good (still less reliable) lights. The emitter is only a fraction of the cost of a good set up, and the quality of the lamp housing, connections, batteries and battery charger are just as important - and these are the things that are skimped on in making the cheap lights.
I personally buy Fluxients off Jim Donaldson in Glasgow AKA torchythebatteryboy, AKA big_f_d_d on eBay. His prices aren't the cheapest, but I find him quick, reliable and trustworthy, which is more important to me. He deals mainly in diving lights and batteries, and you obviously have to have total reliability in that environment. He has a very interesting website on which he compares various different lights, batteries etc.
If anybody is able to add to this or correct anything I've said, that would be very helpful.
My own research leads me to think that claimed lumen counts are very hard to define and in practice such exaggerations/lies are told that it's best to ignore them.
Cree XMLs are probably the brightest and best emitters currently available. The XML-T6 and XML-U2 are roughly the same brightness, but the U2 gives a slightly softer, less harsh light.
Nobody mentions wattages in their sales blurbs, perhaps because 10w doesn't sound very impressive, but an XML can be run at up to 10w and at that rate would be extremely bright - most applications run at lower amps and around 7-8w, which is still very bright. [I think if they were run at 10w for extended periods you would probably get overheating/loss of power issues.]
It seems that on the most powerful Fluxient you have a battery pack of four pairs of 2,200mAh 3.7V batteries, which equates to 8,800mAh 7.4V. I think the system runs at 1.2A with a 3 x XML-U2 light, so you get just over 8 watts per emitter and a battery life of 8.8Ah divided by 3.6A = c2.4 hours. The same principles can be applied to other systems to work out battery times etc.
If I understand it correctly, the system still runs at the same amps even when you go down to the medium setting, but LEDs work on micro pulses of power rather than a constant supply, so when you turn it down to medium you get the same amps but for half as many pulses per second (if it's a 100/50/30 system) - which doubles the battery life and roughly halves the light output.
I have a XML-T6 single emitter Fluxient zoom torch and it's very useful for off-road (wide beam) and road (narrow beam), but you can't beat more watts - three emitters is always going to give three times as much light as one of the same size. I personally prefer three emitters in one light over separate lights, as the emitters can be set up with the pitch of the reflector to give a broad integrated beam, whereas three separate lights will just send three separate beams.
Even though very cheap lights offer XML emitters, that doesn't make them good (still less reliable) lights. The emitter is only a fraction of the cost of a good set up, and the quality of the lamp housing, connections, batteries and battery charger are just as important - and these are the things that are skimped on in making the cheap lights.
I personally buy Fluxients off Jim Donaldson in Glasgow AKA torchythebatteryboy, AKA big_f_d_d on eBay. His prices aren't the cheapest, but I find him quick, reliable and trustworthy, which is more important to me. He deals mainly in diving lights and batteries, and you obviously have to have total reliability in that environment. He has a very interesting website on which he compares various different lights, batteries etc.
If anybody is able to add to this or correct anything I've said, that would be very helpful.
I have to echo Anthony's comments. Torchy's service was very fast and well-packed.
As Anthony says, the hidden detailing is important as it makes something durable - heat management and drive electronics don't do much for paper specifications but make things last and perform well. Cheaper lights tend to have poor water sealing or do nasty things at low battery charges. All these lights are driven by high speed strobing (invisible but you can see it on the front tyre tread at different speeds). By varying the on/off duty cycle you vary the brightness.
Lumen specs are for armchair use only. It may chuck out lots of light, but if the optical design is poor and the reflector squirts loads skywards, you still don't see much!
As Anthony says, the hidden detailing is important as it makes something durable - heat management and drive electronics don't do much for paper specifications but make things last and perform well. Cheaper lights tend to have poor water sealing or do nasty things at low battery charges. All these lights are driven by high speed strobing (invisible but you can see it on the front tyre tread at different speeds). By varying the on/off duty cycle you vary the brightness.
Lumen specs are for armchair use only. It may chuck out lots of light, but if the optical design is poor and the reflector squirts loads skywards, you still don't see much!
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