I want to mount a light on my bicycle for cycling. I was thinking I need something with relatively wide and “even” illumination.
I was considering the Convoy S12 with LH351D 5k. What do you think? Is there a better option?
My setup is an Armytek wizard (XHP50) and an Olight mount. I personally would recommend the same type of setup, but with a substituion of the Wizard for a Skilhunt H04RC and swap in an elliptical optic from Yajiamei (if you can remove 4 screws you can do this in 2 minutes)
So
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32997947541.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32777250737.html
Can’t think of a better setup if you want a multi-use light. My H03 is one of my most favorite lights.
Onroad or offroad?
Mainly onroad. How does it affect light choice?
You’ll definitely want to consider glare for oncoming drivers/riders/pedestrians. An elliptical optic is really the best budget choice if you want a wide/smooth on-road beam.
Offroad you generally don’t encounter oncoming people, so high-glare wide beams aren’t a concern.
It affect a lot.
You need a light which won’t blind oncoming light users. And elliptical optics is not enough.
Mike
Looking at all those bike lights on sale, I don’t think I have ever seen any features that show concern for oncoming traffic.
Skilhunt H04RC option looks ineteresting. Thank’s for that!
If elliptical is not enough then what are my other options?
Google for StVZO light.
Should be available in you country too or can be bought online.
There is some manufacturers doing it right. Phillips saferide for example.
Mike
Lumintop B01 is an example of a light with a special optic to avoid glare. These may not provide a wide enough beam though for some.
The fact that very few manufacturers show concern for this serious issue is a real problem. Someday eventually, whether by law or by consumer education and demand, they will become more popular.
i;d go with one of the many amazon bike lights
they usually come with a 4 x 18650 battery pack (semi waterproof), the light, maybe a head band, a charger, and maybe a remote button
all under $35
this one is $25
I got the Lumintop B01 recently & it seems good in the house. Haven’t been able to actually use it yet. It is probably possible for me to outrun the beam since I hit 45mph regularly, but I’m excited to use it & find out.
One more for the B01.
Maybe the Convoy Zoomie could work. Mainly because you can widen or narrow the beam as needed depending on where you’re riding. In an environment where there are other car and street lights, a wide flood won’t be too visibly bright anyway. So a defined circle with sharp cut-off lines will eliminate glare and you’ll have a brighter spot light which is great with all the extra ambient light around.
For off road you need neutral white light (even better: neutral white high CRI), as with cool white you lose depth perception. All the greens look like one green ocean, browns all disappear into black, yellows are improperly shown etc. I can even see the loss of depth perception indoors with e.g. a aluminium dust filter over a fan, with neutral white low CRI it looks flat, with neutral white high CRI (SST20 4000K) I see what is slightly farther away behind the filter, as actually farther away.
For on road the issue is not just not blinding oncoming traffic but to be able to see the road properly under all circumstances. Neutral white is better than cool white but not as important for depth perception. Neutral white is better on wet roads. Neutral white is better in fog but just slightly. Warm white is best for fog but under normal circumstances not better than neutral so as fog is an exception neutral white is the best option.
To see the road properly you need a cutoff beam with high intensity at the top, which is why the lux rating is used for bicycle lights. This lux value refers to the value at the top of the beam. The top of the beam gets spread out over a large area so needs to be high.
Close to you there should NOT be a high intensity and there should be no hotspots as hotspots attract your attention, and the eye accomodates to the brightest light, which means the other areas look less bright because of that. Brightness close to you (up to ca. 10-15m) should be lower because you look farther ahead most of the time. Also in rain the farther away on the road the more the road is like a mirror to the light so it all looks dark except close to you. This why I consider eg. the B&M Luxus to be very badly overexposed close to you, whereas some commenters then said this was nonsense, showed that they had either never ridden with it while it rains, or were just bad at analysis…
The beam should be even: You cannot detect unevenness in the road if your light has a beam that is uneven, or rather, it takes a lot of brain power. The result is that with a proper even beam the ride is relaxed, with a beam with a lot of artefacts (almost all B&M lights over the past 10 years), the ride is NOT relaxed.
I can tell much more, but have a look on my site:
https://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/index_en.html
Start with the first one: “Bicycle lighting: Guide to the reviews and analysis”
then read whatever else you may find interesting. In the analysis section you can find all the issues with beam shapes, overexposure, judging beams from beam shots (which has issues due to the limited dynamic range or cameras and of computer screens, and due to what I call “perspective overaccentuation of the near field” that I realised is a big problem in why beamshots do not show what you experience in reality, and light colour (cool/neutral, high CRI)
I mainly deal with dynamo lights as light running on dynamo is a light that has an always full battery 
But most of the specific bike lights for dynamo exist in battery version too.
- I don’t recommend any B&M lights because of the artefacts (you can easily see them on the beamshots they post themselves on their site)
- Almost no manufacturers make lights with neutral white (never mind high CRI) light.
More issues other than glare:
- Off road you want light above the horizon to be able to see ahead in undulating terrain, and to avoid branches hitting you in the face and things like that.
- Using circular or similar optics for on road is not efficient: Long ago I did tests with a circular beams vs. proper cutoff beams and it turned out that a circular beam needs about 3-5 times the light of a proper cutoff beam to illuminate the road just as well
- Using circular or similar optics for on road gives the problem of overexposure of the near field. This is also true for off-road, a proper high beam would be better actually…
+1
If you don't already have a great headlamp than this light doing double duty is a great choice .
Lots of guys in the day were running two lights on their bikes so that's what I do . I have a piece of junk ultrafire P60 light on a cheap mount and wear a headlamp with the strap totally loosened up around my neck . worn that way doesn't bug me like a sweaty headband would. downside is it tracks my body position .. not where I'm looking .OTOH i'm not sure it's a huge downside either since I probably look around a lot and maybe at oncoming cars as well :P
can't think of any downside to a good headlamp
Have I said Boruit D-10 yet today ??
i;ve never experienced glare issues, seen a reason to care about tint, or wanted anything but a circular pattern
so to me, the cheap ones are fine
they are bright and they run over 3 hours on high
that;s all i want
i’ll let you high-roller fancy-nancys, spend your $150
wle
Thanks for your ignorance! Your fellow riders will rest well knowing that you are happy.
just saying
i use them
i ride
used to ride at night all the time
vast experience in ‘what works well enough’
feel free to go spend
Two things I think you are missing:
I suggested a setup that cost about $55. The B01 that others recommend is often on sale for near $30. Nobody here suggests spending huge money.
And more importantly; you do realize glare was never suggested to be a problem for you, it’s for those oncoming. I’ll ride towards you on a dark, narrow bike path with a CW reflectored light blaring 1000+ lumens and see if you experience it then.