Due to the requirement to be able to see in a bunch of different locations, I doubt that any serious riders can get by with just one light source. I have a very high end prototype dual beam light given to us by Spark to test in the 24 hrs of adrenalin race, and even when I ride with that in the backcountry I have 2 or 3 more lights on the go.
I tend to put a 1x18650 tube light on my handlebars (Convoy S3 or S7 or similar) and a headlamp on my head (ZL H51 or H52). And I frequently bring a XinTD C8 in my purse in case I need to see something far away. A zoomie headlamp can be fun sometimes too, but tends to give me tunnel vision so I see only the far-away objects and not what’s right in front of me.
Would the UltraFire WF-501B XM-L T6 work decently mounted on a helmet? I am thinking of using it with the Convoy S2 (once it gets here) mounted on the handlebars.
It’s currently available for $6.85 at tmart.
Thanks!
I use an older version and it’s fine. It works great when drivers look at you and then continue to drive right at you, one flash of that and they usually decide to stop breaking the law.
Thanks. Someone suggested here that with these chinese products often the quality deteriorates with time. Would that apply here as well or is the 501B from Tmart still fine?
There is a review here Review: UltraFire 501B XM-L but that one was from DealExtreme and the review dates back to 2011.
What I’ve noticed from most of the drivers I’m the 501b’s is they have horrible pwm
I’d stick to a tube style light as they’re better balanced for a helmet like the s2
These are just my thoughts I’m sure others will have an opinion also
I suppose you could do that… assuming you want flood on the handlebars and throw on your head. Though you could easily get something smaller and lighter for around the same price, without sacrificing on throw. I’d go for a tube light over a P60 (the WF-501b is a P60-style light), but even better would be a zoomie headlamp. Fasttech has a few which might be of interest:
http://www.fasttech.com/category/1602/headlamps
It’s very helpful to be able to aim headlamps up and down, which a helmet-mounted traditional light might not be able to do.
I got one of these a while back… It’s basically a head-mounted SK-68. It was fun when I wanted to see things far away while biking, but it was also a bit distracting and encouraged me not to look where I was going. And if I accidentally pointed my head at a nearby reflective street sign, I’d get briefly blinded… so try not to do that.
Since then, I’ve switched to a nicer headlamp, a ZL H51 (or, more recently, ZL H52).
Of course, if you want to see really far… you could mount a C8 on your helmet, like the popular XinTD C8. But it’s big enough to be awkward even on a helmet, and bright enough that it’d be illegal on the road in many places (it’s much more intense than car headlights).
For biking, I don’t always bother with two lights… a head-mounted light alone is often enough. I’ve been tempted to forego the handlebar light entirely and just strap a ZL SC600 to my head. Illumination Supply has a great deal on the ZL SC600 Mk II right now, considered by many to be the best EDC light on the market (and pretty well-suited for biking too).
Thanks for the comments.
I have noticed that the ZL lights get a lot of praise here, but their prices are quite out of range for me. The $50 for the S2, charger and pair of protected cells was already a stretch for me.
I saw the $6.85 deal at tmart posted in the deals thread, and thought if it’s a good option, I may get it and consider to be done with my bike lighting. Since the comments were mixed, I decided to look more into these before purchasing something.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NK6Q7Y/ Lists three different lights. Which one did you mean? The 240LM for 8.99?
Ok…back to square one…
Personally, I don’t feel that any lesser led than an XM-L provides enough light to be useful for biking.
On the road, I don’t care for headsets and one or two handle bar lights are enough. In the city, (One is usually enough around here), In dark country or off-road, one or two might still be ok, but a headlamp in combo is essential for off-road mountain biking after dark, and for that you will need a real solid headset mount to hold them on your head and aim well. It’s probably best to attach it to your helmet, but whatever works out best for you.
Fastech has several headsets in the $15-$20 range that look like they could work out. AA or lithium driven and one with a reflector.
I can see all of them being useful in different situations. I’d lean toward the reflector one. The reflector will have more throw, the zoom might have more flood, some guys might like AA, but until one has their hands on them and runs some comparisons at night it’s guesswork… 10 minutes on the road and in the dark and you’ll know what works and what doesn’t.
The xp-g and xr-e types that I have tried are not adequate as to useful light output for road use, but as long as it has an xm-l and lithium power it has potential.
If i were to buy a bike light i would try this one, it would attach to an ML-102 easily, and its not at all expensive
I was thinking of USB powered lights plugged into USB power banks, but many of those power banks wouldn't output enough current. Plus there would be lose of capacity burned up in boosting voltage to 5.0v. I abandoned the thought.
-Garry
Good point, they won’t output 3A to fully drive the LED
That LED says 1.7A and also says 10W (which would need 3A), so i’m assuming the actual draw is 1.7A, but you are also correct that we don’t know the inefficiencies in the setup
If i had $16 i would try it, i already have the ML-102 for charging
Oh, sorry. That listing only had one item when I bought it. I got a 3xAAA one.
It was cheap, and I wouldn’t trust it on bumpy roads (its angle mechanism is weak), but it was a fun way to see far away. Also very effective for making sure cars see you, since if you aim it at a car it’ll appear brighter than a car’s high beams.
I don’t see much point using a zoomie headlamp in its wide setting while biking… it wouldn’t throw very far at all in that mode. I was thinking more of using it zoomed in to a narrow beam, which would have great throw but no spill at all. A reflector-based light, OTOH, would give you both spot and spill — less throw than a zoomie, but you’d get some nice context around the hotspot.
The best type I’ve used is a reflector-based headlamp (ZL H51), but it was a bit pricey. A spot+spill beam is nice because the spill illuminates things up close while the spot lights things up at a distance. A zoomie, OTOH, can work near or far, but not both at the same time.
This might be a stupid question, but I’ll ask it anyway. Don’t all lights have reflectors, regardless of whether they have a zooming mechanism or not?
Nope. Some lights (especially aspherics) specifically avoid reflecting any light, and coat everything inside (except the emitter) with matte black paint. This helps avoid weird rings around the beam while zoomed to a tight spot.
For example, here are a couple SK-68s which didn’t prevent reflections well enough, so they have rainbow rings around the hotspots:
Oh, and here’s what it looks like if you use an aspheric lens and a reflector (orange peel reflector):
A bit weird, no?
i like that, a bit of free spill from otherwise wasted lumens, and the pattern is fun too
which reflector and light is that?
It’s a Convoy S3 with XP-G2 (sold that way from Intl-Outdoor), and I took the aspheric from an Ultrafire 838. It was just kludged together for a quick test:
i wonder if that aspheric is available on its own
Thanks a lot for the clarifications. It makes sense now. The reflector+zoom combo does look strange.