I’ll stick to buying and modding decent lights and hosts then!
On The Road does some nice zoomable flashlights! I have the i3 version (16340s) from 2019 and there are other zoomable lights from them on Fasttech.
Also, there is the Nicron N81 that may (or may not) be a good option. Didn’t find any review of it yet, hence my refrain from saying good/bad things about it.
EDIT: Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NbuXonqaZ4
A Basic S2 or C8 would cost around the same and be a lot better to see with.
right, something from convoy would be a LOT better
wle
I use even cheaper, 2-3USD, 1 x 18650 zoomable flashlights for cycling, one on each handlebar and one on my head. They are not that durable but they do the job. They are branded in various ways. The below is just an example of my most recent purchase at about 2USD.
I am still using these zoomable, one 18650 batter, XML T6 (or XM-L, T6), generally Skyewolfeye, lights on my bicycle because the brightness and life is adequate for this purpose, five years later after originally receiving a recommendation on these forums. I have purchased about 15 lights over the years.
Some issues
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When they stop working it is generally due to corrosion the the thread between base and LED unit. Rust remover on both the LED UNIT thread and the case/tube thread often revitalises them.
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The click switch at the rear goes too but I find this difficult to get apart.
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I don’t know a source of the LED unit only, nor switches (but when I did kind the latter it tended to be about the same price as the torch). I came to this thread to get the name of the LED – XML T6 – thank you. There are lots of listings on aliexpress of the LED PCB, but I was looking for the screw-in unit as a whole, and searching for XML T6 LED unit finds little. If anyone knows a better word than “unit” please let me know because I have many tubes, caps, and some lenses and switches.
They are about 3-4USD these days.
I think I will order another one or two in the meantime, in time for winter.
I am tempted by newer one 18650 lights that give an indication of the amount of charge left, especially in summer when I don’t charge battery every ride. But I can’t find a 1 18650 light that has a removable battery and a charge indicator. The battery tends to be part of these lights.
I also may get a more powerful light because cars keep main-beaming me but I am not sure if escalation is the answer.
I could start a new topic and if the moderator would like to do that fine but I tend to see threads as repositories of information which benefit from being condensed.
Tim
1 Thank
These
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0819CNQJJ/
were 10bux for a tupac, so 5bux each, but not in stock. Pretty decent lights. Hate the driver/UI so was gonna swap that for a 1-mode (ie, on/off) driver.
Generic SK98s are also pretty good, or at least can be pretty good. Just like '501s, '502s, C8s, and SK68s and SK98s, they’re copied by every monkey with access to a factory, and can range from hella nice to pure garbage.
The Cometa is quite nice, 'though discontinued long ago, and there’s a better near-identical version called the Z1 or X1 or something. Jaxman? Been ages…
Don’t bother with ancient LEDs like Crees unless you already got some squirrelled away. There are way more efficient LEDs out there exceeding 100lm/W even when pushed fairly hard.
Oh, with SK98s you can use The Penny Trick for a way better thermal path for the emitter. Old pennies that are Cu and not Cu-flashed Zn, just sand 'em down flat, solder a stack together into a slug, then file around to press-fit into the pill.
1 Thank
Thank you. I am in Japan and amazon Japan tends to be a bit pricier.
I searched alixp again and found lights like the first picture in this thread at only 300 yen = 2USD a light if you buy three products, and I could use a chain tool, already in my cart below.
[
](There are ones like the first picture in this thread on Alixp for 2USD each if you buy three. AliExpress)
But I prefer the ones like you posted.
I have a lot of (x-PC) batteries, a lot of barrels, and I find that they generally die if used a few times in the rain, I’d like to buy the same things.
I tried SK98 flashlight (thank you!) and there was one at only 1.8 USD (if you buy three) but when I click the link the product isn’t there and the cheapest other offering is 1033 yen a light or 7 USD.
I am not sure I need better efficiency. I am just after one 18650 lights as cheap as possible, preferably zoomable.
Maybe I will get two of the above for 4USD. Yes. I think I will.
I ended up getting 4 @ 2USD a light.
Tim
I did a review of one that cost way too much but they are all basically the same thing. The newer ones have better charging options.
All the Best, Jeff
They are one of the most common flashlights purchased by people with no experience. There isnt really anything wrong with them except a very dim flashlight with very poor quality and overexaggerated specs. XML t6 means absolutely nothing right now. It was an alright led sometime in the early 2000s made by cree, but all these are almost guranateed to be cheap clones. Remember, you get what you pay for and if you want something for occasional casual household use it mighg be fine. But otherwise you get a cheap dim flashlight with electronic components designed to be as cheap as possible.
1 Thank
For road riding you need a light with a shaped beam, not unlike those found on other road vehicles, which don’t cast light above the horizon. Failing to do that you will be blinding/annoying oncoming traffic and this can be dangerous in various ways (it also increases hate against cyclists which is not something we are in dire need of)
With a flashlight, on the road, the only alternative is to angle it so sharply that the light hits the front wheel and its immediate whereabouts, which is beyond useless (it messes up your night vision besides not putting light where you need it)
I bring bad news unfortunately: good road-going lights cost quite a bit of money, and there isn’t a huge amount of choice.
On the plus side, there are less powerful lights that will allow for low-speed commuting at more reasonable prices, and there are even some cheap lights with shaped beam that can be found for like, 15 Euros, in places like Lidl or Aldi.
There is a Swedish firm I can’t remember the name of right now, that’s bought off the Philips bike light business, which sells affordable LiIon powered LED Bike Lights analogs with USB charging, but the more powerful models were only rated at 60 Lux, whereas the original LBL was rated for 100 IIRC. The price for the 60 Lux was about 60 Euros, again IIRC.
If you don’t mind riding slowly the Lidl/Aldi sets I mentioned above are excellent value, though, and are much better made/will last much longer than the XM-L T6 zoomie.
Look for a StVZO (German homologation) symbol, but beware of Chinese no-names because the StVZO marking is totally fake on those, i.e. the beam is not shaped at all.
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Dear Finch and Hunter Jackson
I have been using these Cheap XM-L T6 lights sice sometime in the 2000s I think pointed at a place maybe 10m in front of my bike in fairly tight beam, two from my bars and two on my helmet but I generally use at most two at once. They seem to work okay for me, though though I go quite fast.
I find that they do not last all that long but at 2USD or less (recently I purchased 5 at that price) I don’t mind. I am into budget lights. Since I first joined this forum it seems that there has been a move towards greater quality. I can understand, but my preference is still for budget stuff. I find that even high IP rating brand stuff (e.g. a Garmin that came with one of my bikes) can fail at speed in rain so I would rather purchase cheaply an be prepared for breakage.
I do have a problem with cars refusing to dip their headlights, however. I think that this is because here in Japan bicycles are generally seen as pedestrians (there a re fewer road bikers, cyclists remain on the sidewalk/pavement) and cars are encourage to turn their main beam on pedestrians, and not because they are annoyed by my dipped beam.
I deleted my last post in error.
Tim
1 Thank
Maybe consider getting a bright headtorch or helmet mountable light as you can always see where youre going and you can angle it down to prevent drivers being blinded
I did a review of two of the most popular flashlights on Amazon, both were zoomies of course (1Lumen, if you’re interested). The Gearlight S1000 and S2000. Like $20 for a 2 pack of each. The S1000 was a 3AAA (but could also use an 18650) the S2000 used 4 AAs. They were as expected performance-wise and lacking a lot of the features we take for granted on even budget lights.
I modded the S1000. I added some aluminum stock and aluminum soldered it into the pill, added a 6 amp linear driver, and a 5050 led with round die. It’s pretty awesome now and I’ll eventually get a high output buck driver for it. The S2000 can be modded too, but it takes series batteries, maybe 2, 26650s and a oddball size driver. Its sitting on my shelf in pieces.
Hunter, Sirstinky
Yes, I have two of these cheap XML T6 on my helmet and use them in the way that you suggest. I am mean so I think I will stick with the 2USD lights, especially because I cycle in all weathers.
The cheapest lights on Amazon (.com I presume, I am in Japan) are still more than five times the price of the lights I have just bought, I’d have to purchase two of them, which means they are the equivalent of 10 XML T6, which would last me 5 years. Since I cycle in the rain I would be scared to break these lights, even though “the cheapest.” Modding may be a bit difficult for me.
Tim
1 Thank
These things are so cheap that I once ended up with them used as battery containers when I made a 18650 battery purchase. It gets around the difficulty shipping loose lithium batteries because they’re ‘installed’ in the device.
2 Thanks
RichH
Very true.
But I never purchase batteries because folks at my workplace are always trashing laptop PCs, with batteries, of which half or more work.
Tim
1 Thank
LOL!
Old laptop batteries and one of these dodgy lights and there’s a good chance of ‘vent with flame’ I’d have thought. 
If anything, that’s the light to do it with.
They’re “leaky” so can let the cell vent through the sliding joint, vs a regular airtight light that’d turn into a pipeboemb unless/until the front blows out and/or the switches pop.
I have been using old laptop batteries with “dodgy” lights for a long time (more than ten, nearer 20 years), every day in winter, often for two hours a day, without issue.
Early on I was scared. But these days less so.
I watched a few videos of people getting Lithium batteries to explode. It is possible, but it appears to be difficult.
Tim