# Who makes the best Bike Light ??



## arracer (Nov 23, 2004)

Looking for the best solution for a bike light that can have multiple power settings and as long a battery life as possible. (Riding sundown to sun up) and has to be bright! Either H.I.D. with LED backup or high power LED??????


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## udaman (Nov 23, 2004)

1. Depends on how much money you want to spend. Li-Ion batterypacks will get more runtime but cost more.

2. Depends on how bright you need, throw vs wide angle coverage.

3. Depends on what beam pattern appeals to you the most. If you go into a bike shop and could see the beam of the Nigthrider HID, it's core hotspot is brighter and it has slightly greater throw within the narrow spot beam. But the Lights In Motion HID has a smoother gradation from hotspot, with more side spill, which could be important if you want peripheral vision.

4. Lupine 16w HID is brightest, costs the most-German made. Cateye 21w Stadium HID is supposed to have greatest over all output, but its a broad beam, IIRC. Cateye has and even larger separate ballast compared to the Lupine 16w, and has had reliability problems in the past. But then the HID's in general seem to be less rugged as compared to LED. Lupine LED is again, tops in cost.

5. For very long runtimes you'll need several sets of battery packs, or have a custom made pack which will be bulky and heavier. Using the search engine might help, perusing the "Spotlights/Lanterns/HID" forum, but this thread is the only one I recall off hand that seems to be in the area you are looking at:

Needed: a bright light with app. 20 hour burn time


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## cy (Nov 23, 2004)

I've got a Cateye HID, very bright w/short runtimes. 

Also had a TurboCat 10watt w/li-ion pack. An excellent light!!! good runtimes, quality build, Turbocat has lots of options.


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## gessner17 (Nov 23, 2004)

I have the Cateye Stadium 3, 3 hour runtime, excellent light. It is brighter and has longer runtime than the original stadium light.


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## Pinter (Nov 26, 2004)

If you use HID you should take multiple battery sets with you. Unlike LEDs, HID lights do not like switching them off and on in order to spare with your battery. Once you switch it on you'd better let it work continuously. 

Lupine has 16W HID system and very usable beam pattern. It comes with a very light Li-Ion battery set (I think Cateye Stadium has NiMH) that is good for 2.5hrs. Their bigger pack is for 5 hrs. Moreover they have also a 10W setting.

Some time ago I made a little comparison here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=762017&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 

Will you use it on a 24hrs race? (perhaps in solo ? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )


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## Leow (Nov 26, 2004)

Some MTB LED lights....
http://www.mountainled.com/
http://www.exposurelights.com/
http://www.solidlights.co.uk/

Leow


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## NamTinker (Dec 9, 2004)

Damien
Next time when you're in Calgary, drop me a line and you can see/test the solidlights LED and NiteRider side by side. Then decide which way to go.
Cheers


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## LEDSmith (Dec 9, 2004)

I can chime in about LED's for mountain bike lighting - as this is a subject that I am Passionate about.

I have be night riding for many years on quite a range of terrain, have participated in a number of 24 hour mountian biking Endurance events (which require riders to have a significant burn time, a lot of backup batteries, or a very fast charger - as you are riding for 10 to 11 hours at night (solo riders).

Within the last year and a half, I have been very faithfull to LED technology, and I am definitely the only rider (out of typically 300 competitors at these races who uses exclusively LED. HID reigns supreme at these events. 

For race speeds - Averaging 12MPH and ranging from 5-25MPH, I would recommend a setup of 2 X 5 Watt luxeon LEDs. My typical Setup is my homemade barmount "Nanoburner" and a helmet mounted Surefire L4 with rechargable Pila Lithiums - as nothing with these requirements currently exist as a store bought Item (including previously mentioned LED lights in this post).

It is my considered opinion that Each 5 Watt LED is roughly equivalent to a 10 Watt Halogen in terms of light output. A reflector is the only way to go, as optics do not provide the correct beam pattern for this type of usage. A wall of light with a center hotspot that can throw about 15-20 feet is ideal (Like the Surefire L4).

The current benefit of the LED light for bike usage is that they can be made in a small, lightweight and uncomplicated package. And perhaps someday, the efficiency of LED's will match the HID.


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## diggdug13 (Dec 9, 2004)

I use a Topeak Moonshine Pro, light with multiple levels of light, the High looks like a motorcycle light coming down the road. uses a large rechargeable battery pack that fits inplace of one of your water bottles. Downsides: You will have to recharge it on a daily basis after use and the hatefull people you will be blinding as you ride.

Doug


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## turbodog (Dec 9, 2004)

I think I've got you covered.

Turbocat ( www.turbocatusa.com ) makes some extremely fine lights. See my avatar for a picture of their bar light.

Their batteries provide 2 output wires. This allows 2 light heads to run off 1 battery.

Setup I'd recommend that meets ALL your criteria:
2 nicd water bottle batteries
1 5w halogen head, flood beam, bar mount
1 19w halogen head, flood beam, bar mount

The 5w should be enough to ride with 95% of the time, and the 19w will be enough for anything else. The 19w head has a nice bar-mounted switch for your convenience. And both these lights can run at the same time for 24w of light. The 5w light will run about 6.5 hours off their nicd water bottle pack. This will drop rapidly with 19w use.

If you don't feel that 5w is enough, then you'll need another battery, OR you could custom assemble a battery with higher capacity cells in it. If this is the case, I'd use the 10w head.

HID has the highest lumens/watt output, but all are way overpowered and will eat batteries, thereby negating any benefit of this higher efficiency.

Halogen is next in line. The good thing is that these are available in 5w, 10w, 19w, 30w, 47w from turbocat.

Led is below both of the other choices in efficiency.

The surfire L4 will run about 75 minutes on 2 123 cells. You may consider this light and carry a pocketful of extra cells. This light mounts to your bar very well with a lockblock from www.twofish.biz 

Things you didn't mention:
all night... does that mean 8 hours or 12 hours?

Your bio says you are an electrician. You could easily assemble a larger battery pack yourself that would not cost nearly as much as buying prebuilt packs.

Ah ha! I read your other posts about the niterider not being bright enough. That leaves out most any led light and any 5w halogen.

(after racing with turbocat stuff for 8 years you might wanna give them a look in their 10w light, it is noticably brighter than niterider's)

Revising my above recommendations, look at this setup:
turbocat 10w head - ok for most of your stuff
turbocat 10w or 19w head - when you need a boost
2 custom made batteries (details below)

batteries:
The turbocat nicd water bottle batteries are 4400mAh, 5 cell, 6 volt, with a D size cell.

I have made packs for my turbocats before that were 11000mAh nimh D cells. These packs will run the 10w bulb 6.5 hours at still fit into a water bottle cage.

Unless you can go with less light, this is highly likely your cheapest and best option.

10w bar light w/ cnc quick release $88
10w bar light w/ cnc quick release $88 (add $15 for 19w)
2 regular water bottles $5 each
battery charger $17.95
10 11000mAh D nimh cells $8.99 each
misc parts, wire and connectors $15
sunglasses $10 (you'll need these with all this light)
total $318.85

You're not going to TOUCH this at this price any other way.
13 hours of runtime @ 10w
ability to go to 20w
spare parts are included already... you've got 2 batteries and 2 light heads


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## LEDSmith (Dec 9, 2004)

Alright Turbodog,

Let's race! - (with our respective choice of lights).

I do contend that the effieciency of the 5W Luxeon is greater than 2x that of a Halogen.


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## cy (Dec 9, 2004)

Turbo cat makes good reliable bike lights. I've used the 15watt li-ion version with good results. For bright I've got a cateye HID, crazy bright but not too great runtime. please note this is the older version with nicads. 

My current bike light is Barbolight U-09 with it's 150+ lumens w/2+ hours runtime. mount with a C maglite bike adapter. w/spare set of C cells, another 2 hours runtime.


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## turbodog (Dec 9, 2004)

[ QUOTE ]
*LEDSmith said:*
Alright Turbodog,

Let's race! - (with our respective choice of lights).

I do contend that the effieciency of the 5W Luxeon is greater than 2x that of a Halogen. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to derail into another arena, but to try and throw some real numbers out here...

Surefire's web site (reasonable source of data) claims led efficiency of 15-20 lumens/watt. They go on to say that their halogens are getting 18-20 lumens/watt.

Take a good halogen bulb and overdrive it. Lumens jumps by 40% and watts jumps by only 10%.

Leds are approaching halogen efficiency, but they are not there yet. Anyway..... you still have to come back to the color rendering properties (or lack of them) of the led. Reds and browns simply do not show up except at very close distances.

Edit:

More data..... shows the mr11 and mr16 halogen lamps getting waaaay over these l/w figures.


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## arracer (Dec 16, 2004)

Thanks for all the good information, I will try some of these, I think i might build an LED version for the long life I need for the slower riding and then use a large 20W or so halogen as you speek of for the brighter option. As far as time goes, they need to run for an entire night, and have a way to carge all packs by the next night becasue of multi day races, I will also be using the lights for trekking and paddling too(to see shoreline etc...)


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## twentysixtwo (Dec 16, 2004)

Might be out of your price range, but the Nova headlight
http://www.caves.org/imo/LED.htm has a 5 watt LED which might fit the bill...


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## Darell (Dec 16, 2004)

* Who makes the best Bike Light?*
Me! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Probably not bright enough for you - but plenty bright for what I do. About two hours on high, six hours on low. I use low for most everything.






More here.


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## gessner17 (Dec 16, 2004)

I have an elektrolums Pentelux Bikeight I am selling. It has 5 3watt LED's, very long lasting, runs on NIMH D's. Has good beam and spill.


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## bikeNomad (Jan 4, 2005)

NightLightning is a NZ company I just found out about (someone responded to my query about a 3x 3W LED bike light head).

They have a 3x 3W Luxeon head and seem to be very DIY-friendly, selling kits and parts too. They also supply regulated halogen units and various battery packs, including reasonably priced Li-ion systems.

http://www.nightlightning.co.nz/
http://www.nightlightning.co.nz/multisporters.htm


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## Alex_Rice (Jan 10, 2005)

I would venture the light and motion Vega 3W led - it's just an overdriven Luxeon III but it is a very neat package with an integrated charger, full regulation and several brightneses : perfect for commuting.


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## arracer (Jan 20, 2005)

Can you email me directly with some more details on it , what have you used it for, and how much, can you compare it to another light so I can have an idea how bright it is, does it project far?


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## cy (Jan 20, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*turbodog said:*
[ QUOTE ]
*LEDSmith said:*Take a good halogen bulb and overdrive it. Lumens jumps by 40% and watts jumps by only 10%. 

[/ QUOTE ]

this tactic is exactly what turbocat does with their lights. they take a lower rated bulb and overdrive it. results in a lower bulb life, but way brighter.

Darell, those bullmoose handlbars with non-index shimano shifters and full size motorcycle levers dates that to be an early mountain bike /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


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## Leow (Jan 20, 2005)

The Lionheart is a very good road light on highest or second highest settings.







LeoW


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## cy (Jan 20, 2005)

what an excellent idea using lionheart as a bike light! with 18650 and extra cells, that's a candidate for a long run light.

what's the mount?


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## mtbkndad (Feb 6, 2005)

My favorite Halogen is a Planet bike Alias SC. I looked at a lot of models before I bought this one. It has a unique open cage that illuminates down as well as forward and uses a blue spectrum halogen. It is also quite light weight

http://www.planetbike.com/highpower.html

The battery packs are small and extras could easily be carried.

My favorite LED mtb light is currently my Quad Mod. from Elektrolumens
Made as a bike light.

http://elektrolumens.com/4_SALE/For_Sale.html

Wayne made the Quad mod for me to my specs. 3 Fraen LP's and one Wide angle optic, it originally came with 4 Fraen LP's . I then did some other mods. to it to make it more mtb friendly. It runs off NiMH C's so I can easily carry extras for longer rides.
The other mods. I did were to switch to more flexible multi-strand wires, add a plug connector, improve the mounting bracket, etc. This light is really bright. Also check out his forum he is currently working on a model using 6 3w LED's and two different light settings. When the kinks are worked out it will be real nice.
If money is no object check out this web site

http://lupine.de/en/home/index.php

I believe their primary US distributor is 

http://www.gretnabikes.com/lupinecats.asp

You simply will not find better lights then these. In typical German fashion they are as nice to look at as to use.

For me personally I plan on getting more Elektrolumens mtb lights.
They are only going to get better.

Last of all if you want to check out all of the big mtb light companies yourself check this site out.

http://www.mikebentley.com/bike/headlights.htm


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