i bought the UltraFire UF-2100 XML-T6 5-mode at Kaidomain to use as a helmet-mount bike light for trail riding. i liked it’s small form factor and the price was hard to beat ($15.32 shipped). well, that purchase was back in April and i did get a chance to use it once in the spring, but the ride was less than ideal. it was misting and i left the house without wearing contacts and did the ride, in that mist, with glasses not meant for sports. i did my best just to survive but i was also hopeful.
fast forward to last night. we’d been bringing our lights for the last several after-work rides because of the waning daylight as we head into fall. even when we started, it looked like we’d be in the dark fast but we made it through most of the ride without the need for lights. of the four of us with capable lights, three were NiteRider systems that were less than two years old. i work in a bike shop and could have made that a fourth, but i wanted to try the method that costs a fraction of the big boys.
we stopped to light up at pretty much the lowest part of the ride so we had some climbing ahead of us. i started my light on low and that’s where i left it for all of the climbing. i have never done a run test so i had no idea when the light was going to cut out (protected Trustfire ‘flame’ 18650). all i knew was that it was mostly charged and there was a rider behind me just in case things went dark without warning. that and i had an extra charged cell so no worries. the climb went well. i didn’t think too much of the light setup except that i wish my helmet mount could point up a little. i had to crane my neck ever so slightly more than i like to in order to see a ways up the trail. not a big deal climbing since i don’t like to look up trail at more ascending. the mount is This One also from Kaidomain. the mount itself was stellar for what it cost, as far as i’m concerned. the problem was possibly my helmet not being shaped ideally for the mount to move back enough. i’ll try to tweak before the next ride…
so we pretty much finished the climb with a long stretch of slightly steep doubletrack and the rest of the ride would be mostly downhill. i switched to high and we began a rooty, rocky, dusty, sometimes steep and rutted descent. again, i was focused on the trail in front of me so i didn’t stop to think about how my light setup was performing. if anything, the fact that i didn’t have to think about it speaks to how well it worked. the only thing that concerned me was the lack of depth perception i had when riding with a light. deep roots and big rocks looked flat so i had to be careful not to get too carried away with speed. that said, my confidence was almost as high as when riding during the day. mostly thanks to the bright light on my head, and somewhat thanks to the fact that i tend to ‘dive into’ the ride when it’s dark out — or so it feels.
all in all, although the ride time with the light was short, i didn’t feel like i had many disadvantages to the other guys other than the nice features such as purpose-made mounts, battery packs, and battery indicators. the further into fall we get, the more i can provide a better comparison and maybe have a side-by-side beam evaluation on trail. until then, so far, so good…
PS: in case anyone wants to use this light — or almost any light — on their bars, i’d recommend this mount as the head swivels independent of the bar mount for bars that have any sort of sweep (which most MTB bars do). that way the light doesn’t point to one side as with a static mount like this.
I get to read and learn all the latest great budget lights out there. I’m still loving my Kaidomain C8, but might have to pick up a U3 led light.