Flashlight for riding a 'Onewheel' at night

LED Flashlights – General Info
5

Thanks for the feedback so far… To answer a couple of questions…

100m wide throw would be ideal, but certainly not essential.

I will be holding the flashlight in my hand while riding, because you move your body around quite a bit when riding a Onewheel, so head mounting isn’t ideal. Mounting on the Onewheel also isn’t great because a) the angle is too close to the ground, and b) if you fall off, it’s going to inevitably get ripped off.

@sp5it suggested a bike light because the run time is longer. The Nightfighter BT40S looks like it’s no longer available, but was powered by a 2S2P 18650 pack, with a 5,200 mAh total capacity. Each pack would therefore have ~2x the capacity of a single 5,000 mAh 21700 cell. When riding a Onewheel you stop fairly often to take a short rest, so changing out the battery wouldn’t be a problem at all. The form factor of a bike light isn’t great because it would be difficult to hand hold.

It sounds like a multi emitter design might be best if they’re more efficient, and these seem to usually be TIR based. The BT40S is a good example of that as well. I do like that the BT40S was supplied with two TIR optics because I’m not yet sure what angle would be best to ride with. If I’m hand holding, I can freely move the light around to scan the upcoming path, which might allow for a tighter beam.

I think I’d favour something that is customizable so that I could try different beam shapes by changing out optics / reflectors and maybe even between single and multi emitters.

Thanks again for the feedback so far.

6

Headlamp.

You’ll thank me later.

Here’s one: [review] Sofirn D25L high-CRI headlamp, nice revision! .

7

You could hand hold the Fenix BC 30
I did not do a deep dive to check all the parameters to match your desires.
I used mine on my mountain bike since 2015 I have no issues with it.

8

most bike lights have about a 25 degree light angle at best

the trouble with flood is 2 things:

  1. it is hard to get a wide area to be very bright
  2. it may blind cars
9

head mounted light is great

most bike lights ( at least the $30 cheap ones that also have 4 x 18650 battery pack and charger ) come with free head mount

if you have head mount you do not need wide angle of lighting

you can just turn your head to see things off center

10

Consider one of these:

Astrolux BL02

Lumintop B01

Lights that are dedicated for bicycle use are designed for this, with certain beam patterns. A regular hand-held light mounted onto a bike will cause undo glare. I’m considering the Lumintop B01, as I like the fact that by design it seeks to prevent glare for oncoming traffic.

Lastly, you can always augment with a headlamp. I would not use a headlamp alone, as that can confuse oncoming traffic—a steady bike mounted light makes it clear what you’re looking at, a small vehicle, likely a bicycle.

11

Did anyone not catch the word “Onewheel” in the OP?

12

yeah
it is not a bike
has no handlebars
so would be good candidate for head mounted light or helmet mounted
wle

13

I’ve never ridden a onewheel. I used to ride a unicycle but not at night. And not too much off-road. With these onewheels your head and hands are doing a lot of moving around. And your head is not really fully pointed straight. Having said that I do think that a headlamp and a handheld light used in combination is probably the way to go. You going to want both of them to have a wide beam pattern without a distinct hotspot so that all of the movement is not disconcerting. The new Armytek wizard C2 MAX in warm would seem ideally suited mounted on the head even if you’ve got to mount it slightly crooked. The handheld part I’m not sure. But again something without a hotspot that still has some reach.

14

A right angle light like most headlamps might actually be more comfortable to hold in the hand out in front of you than a regular flashlight. Unlike walking where your hand is kind of down by your side I assume on a one wheel you’re keeping your hand and arm somewhat out in front of you.

15

I think a Zebralight H600w MkIV would be a good choice. Handheld or even mounted on your helmet (if you choose to wear one, no judgement implied). The 875 lumen level is temp controlled but I’ve generally found the airflow of moving at 10-12 MPH is enough to keep it from stepping down. Has a reasonable combo of flood/throw and good runtime.

16

Wow, lots of activity on this thread since this morning. I’m sorry I got tied up on phone calls and couldn’t respond as quickly as I’d like, even though I’m seeing the posts.

As Oli mentioned, with a Onewheel, you are moving your body around to turn and even just to balance or ‘carve’ as you go down the road / trail. Also as Oli said, your body is somewhat sideways and therefore not pointed perfectly forward. Additionally, your head is higher up than it might be on a bike, and the higher the light is, the less it is able to identify undulations in the terrain. I do wear a helmet by the way, no judgement taken, but this also has an implication on the feasibility of a head mounted light. All of this is to say that despite the initial obviousness of a head mounted solution, the freedom of movement that you have with your arms, actually makes holding a traditional non-right angle flashlight pretty much ideal.

One light that might be appropriate, is the Sofirn IF25A @ 4000K. This is a quad SST20 TIR optics traditional flashlight with a 21700 cell that also happens to have internal charging (a nice to have feature, but not essential). The 4,000K emitters are high CRI so should be a good form of light for riding. Thermal throttling seems to have this flashlight running at ~500 lm max over an extended period of time, giving a run-time of 2 hours 40 mins according to the charts from 1lumen.com.

I’ve also thought about the Convoy S21A (or S2) with TIR optics. The S2 is a lovely form factor, and seems to be more customisable, but I might be left wanting in run-time. The S21A appears to have TIR optics available to buy, and again according to 1lumen.com, the similar S21B with a single Osram Boost HX emitter was able to run at ~700 lumens for over 2 hours with a 4,000 max 21700.

To be honest, 2 hours is more than enough run-time. There is no way I’d ride continuously for an hour, and I have no issue carrying spare batteries, so even an S2+ could work if it can hold up the luminance.

I think the most critical points of consideration are going to be beam shape, and ability to maintain a steady high lumen output without getting too hot to hold.

17

I don’t think 80% of them did, no :stuck_out_tongue: Though the thread would sure benefit if Nezil put “Onewheel” in the title.

18

Thanks, that should be done now.

19

Yep, it’s there :+1:

20

I had to goggle what it was.

Thought it’s the wheel without the board, like one guy on my block rides. Reminds me of the BC car2n…

21

An Electric Unicycle (EUC) looks more like the BC Cartoons. A Onewheel does have a board, and you ride it sideways rather than in-line BC style…. not that that makes it any less geeky!

It feels almost exactly like Snowboarding.

22

Well, I thought it was the brand the way it was written, “Onewheel”. Didn’t say “unicycle” or “single wheel.” A single wheel design has always been referred to as a unicycle in my experience. But I’ve had enough snark today. Outta here.

23

+1… agreed :+1:

And the headlamp suggested is a good one & very reasonably priced.

24

IMO… to get range you will need a decent hotspot. However, for things like walking, running, bicycling, and skateboarding, you might appreciate a wide spill that will illuminate whats by your feet/wheel.

I might suggest an Acebeam L35 (Cree XHP70.2 version) for a 21700 size, or an Acebeam TK18 (Nichia 219C version) for an 18650 size. Both have WIDE hotspots with a decent reach, and the spill is wide enough to illuminate things close to your feet/wheel. The downsides that come to mind are: the Acebeam has a larger bezel so it’s not pocketable, and the TK18 is discontinued (although some dealers are still selling them)… also both require the battery to be removed to charge, and the Acebeam requires 20 Amp continuous 21700 (mine came with an Acebeam battery); the TK18 doesn’t come with a battery.

I don’t have any Zebralights, Lumintop, Sofirn, Convoy, etc. brands so I can’t attest to their beam patterns. I would assume the “floody” Zebralights would do well, and that the Lumitop FW3A should have a similar beam profile as the AB TK18 mentioned above if using similar LED emitters.

Edit: I might still lean towards a headlamp as suggested above.