Especially for people who have blonde retinas or are otherwise photosensitive.
I can see pretty well at night, even with only a tenth of a lumen lighting a whole room, but Iâm basically blind during the day unless I use dark sunglasses.
I am opposite to jon on the CCT for indoor/outdoors; outdoors in a throwy light too cool of a color temperature is more than useless; it will make such a noticable beam in any haze at all that it is hard to see past it to the thing I want to look at. I would rather a neutral-warm color with fair to good rendering so that I can tell the difference as zak puts it âbetween a stick and a snakeâ; the better the color quality the less harsh and difficult to interpret its light seems to be, though actual brightness is not unimportant. Though for the most distance or for locating rogue helicopters or trees, I suppose even a low color quality will suffice.
It is gone now Nev. It was a âcommentâ replying to your thoughts about Nichia emitters. I quoted your comment below to refresh your memory.
I agree with you alsoâŚâŚ
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Oh, ok , thanks teacher ,it is just my opinion,my favourite tint is 5700k (zebralight H600f)
I have a few warm & neutral lights & I donât like any of them except the blf gt.
IMO, lights that use FET drivers make poor choices for bike lights. I used to use a BLF A6 that uses a FET+1 driver, but in any bright mode (more than about 150 lumens) it dims as the battery drains. I know the FW3A is supposed to use more 7135 chips, but I donât believe it will maintain constant output. All my Convoys that use 8x7135 chips, still dim significantly as the battery voltage goes down. Not as bad as FET, but still very noticeable. Maybe the FW3A will do things better than Convoy, but I wouldnât rely on that.
I now use a Zebralight SC600w MkIV Plus as my bike light. I normally use it at 700 lumens, and that will provide me a regulated 700 lumen output for almost 3 hours (using a Sanyo GA cell). If I go up to 2300 lumens, it will go up that high, regardless of the battery voltage. And when going downhill on gravel or dirt, I want that full 2300 lumens.
You need a light with a good boost driver if you want regulated output. For me, thatâs very important when cycling. I donât want to start out at 700 lumens, only to have it gradually dim to 400 lumens over my ride.
In UK/EU there are strict regulations about bike lights and reflectors, the German ones being the tightest.
They have been drawn up for good reason, with a lot of study. We ride bikes a lot more than in some other regions and have some experience of how to do it properly, on the road, mixed with faster transport.
If you donât have at least a legal front and rear light with certification markings, and a full set of reflectors including pedals, then get wiped out by a motor vehicle, the insurers will probably persuade the court to reduce compensation by 50%
Other EU countries have a blanket policy, any such collision is always the drivers fault, no matter how stupidly the cyclist has behaved.
My point being that an A6 or FW3A is never going to be a suitable cycle light. Fundamental point, it doesnât emit anything 90 degrees sideways, crucial to avoid side-road car main-road bike collisions (sorry mate, I didnât see you as we say).
And the A6 etc. bikelight flashy mode is illegal here (detail: âThe 2005 RVLR amendment meant that it was now legal to have a flashing light on a pedal cycle, provided it flashed between 60 and 240 times per minute (1 â 4Hz).â
To protect photosensitive epileptics.
I was sent a couple of extreme power âbike lightsâ by Thorfire to evaluate, but had to explain to them that whilst great for off-road, they would never be legal on-road anywhere in UK/EU, and they would have to get suitable certification. They were really good, but that project never went further.
The German regulations require that bikes use lights powered by a dynamo rather than a battery, unless the bike is under a certain weight and presumably for racing. They also require that the dynamo output 6 volts, which is oddly specific. Iâm not sure these regulations are actually all that well-considered.
I do think a bike light for on-road use should have suitable optics, usually with hard cutoffs. The 10511 is absolutely not that. The 10510 elliptical optic might work OK for a bike light. Time spent in regulation with 7135s depends on forward voltage, which is lower for the same output with a triple. Of the possible emitters, the 219C has the lowest forward voltage.