Ok, I've been appointed the liaison between BLF and MTBR for this particular topic (MTBR thread by GJHS with almost identical name located here). Basically on the heels of the success of the Group Buy with the original Yinding Bike Light (through GearBest), the Yinding factory has expressed interest in building us a fully custom bike light to our desired specs IF we can get 500 guaranteed sales. (A lot of the talk began in the original Yinding thread before being broken out to its own thread.) This is a great opportunity for us cyclists!
So if you would like your voice heard, please post up your thoughts on your ideal bike light with ideal specs. It would help if you would read through the MTBR thread to get an idea of where this is headed. Feel free to join up at MTBR and post there too. If you don't want to post there, I will do my best to represent your ideas over there.
It currently seems that a prototype will be built and then distributed among a few US users to test, review, and report back. At this point you are not committing to buy, just contributing to the discussion.
The first few posts in the mtbr thread have some good suggestions I think.
2x XM-L2, one wide optic, 1 narrow optic.
Illuminated power button on light (possibly with RGB led’s to display voltage levels)
4-5 brightness levels
4-5amps total on turbo
1-2 slow strobe/beacon modes
non-sharp edges and corners on light
good quality mount
good quality battery carrier/wire
It would be cool to have a secondary remote switch you could mount closer to your hands that would only toggle back and forth between the ‘turbo’ and your current mode . That way you could use your preferred mode normally, and just hit the “Turbo button” when you need it, without having to cycle through all the modes. That could make for a complicated driver though, not sure if they could pull it off.
Hmm . . . interesting idea on the remote. I do think many of us want to see a "GoPro" style mount. 4 to 5 brightness levels could be a bit much to run through. Could be ok if there are separate buttons for decreasing & increasing brightness. Beacon and strobe would definitely need to be in a separate mode group.
I’d be happy with 3 brightness levels and 1 slow, low-brightness flasher (just for the rare occasion i’m on a paved trail or road). I gave higher numbers to appease the mode-lovers.
I’d also like the power wire to un plug very close to the light body itself, and also from the battery pack. That way I can remove the light (for daytime rides) or the battery pack (for charging) while the wire itself is still mounted to the bike
For me Bike lights are all about flood (non tunnel vision) So I think the relector is what needs cutting edge design work. We dont need to light the tops of trees but having move light down were its needed would be great.
see
maybe a Bifocal Reflector.
So who is going to design the reflector?
The idea of a turbo remote button sounds good but not more then 3 light levels (really the right two) is all we need.
With that said I want to see a MT-G2 bike light but with that said I have noticed that warmer lights dont show the contrast (small dips/holes) as well in dirt/sand (warm light+ brown trail does not equal good contrast).
I think the one piece designs are dominating the market because they are so simple, they are hard to beat.
how about a 2x18350 or 2x18650 XHP70 one piece light? This could be a winner!
Lets start with this, and then “improve it” I think one question is does the untimate light use TIR or a custom reflector?
Better idea would be to adapt existing product.
Building a new product is nice and all but with all those nice features that people sugest it will be to expencive to sucid on the market…
If they make a light with a remote switch, with at least 3 modes, and a button to switch between current mode and turbo, as pilot dog mentioned, i´m in for one
The idea of wide and throw optics is great, the modes may also be wide-throw-both (turbo), whit other button to select brightness level
I do not know much about cycle lights, but assuming it involves leds on DTP copper boards, would a turbo button not just be a driver bypass?, a switch that directly connects the battery to the led? (or are batteries in series involved here?) In that case sorry for not getting informed before opening my big mouth
Traditional most bike lights run 2S2P battery packs. I too wondered about turbo being "direct drive" but perhaps that needs tweaked to work without being too much power (if such a thing exists).
if this helps, I built a tail light out of a Convoy S2, two red XPE LEDs, a 700mA, 16 mode driver (with 1Hz and 2Hz blinky modes) and a diffusing cone. A bit ‘heavy’ but rechargeable and waterproof. checking out the thread. Ooops. sorry. my brain red tail light… ignore post.
I had a Cateye twin head bike light before, one spot, one wide and both together were very bright for an incandescent of its time.
The head could be swivelled up and down on each head also which I liked so I could focus the beam where I liked.
It is going include a programmable driver, so you can drive it with good battery life even with 3 leds, if you don’t need maximum lumens. An additional benefit of having 3 leds instead of 2 is that it is easier to fit two separate decent buttons, to choose modes up/down, without cycling thru all modes.
Does anyone care to make a google doc for ease of knowing what to include/not include in the bike light like the one I did as per link hereunder? Unfortunately IS did not go ahead with the AA light but it was a learning experience for me and I enjoyd making the form!
LED: 2xXML or MKR/XHP? depending on price once available. Tint should be selectable.
Power: Two base modes (unlit areas, fairly strong but not max and city(low enough to not blind everything in front of you) easily accessible via double tap and tap&hold. Clicking through 4 modes or more on a bike gets annoying fast.
Driver: FET-based, makes >3A easier. Potted for shock absorption.
Angle: Shouldn’t blind cars; how about an insert slot for diffusion/upward angle reduction/lens protection (fine gravel tracks) plates?
Mount: fast removal for theft prevention, something with a quick release skewer. Silicone padding?
Case: Definitely waterproof, thermal fins parallel to driving direction. Magnetic switch like on dive lights might be nice, but probably too expensive.
Price: <$30 excl. battery pack. Ideally battery pack & light separate orders and both below the equivalent of €22 so German customers can avoid additional import tax (idk about the limits in other countries).
You can see a few MTBR users running SSXT4 in pair for their bikes.