I am looking to buy a good flashlight for bike riding and generally that means a wider beam for my needs. I’ve seen a lot of options on DX, eBay, etc. but none seem to advertise as being neutral or warm white. Does anyone have a recommendation on what to pick up? Or is there a way to buy a different emitter unit and swap it in? If so, what would I be looking for? I’m hoping for an XM-L2 or similar for efficient battery use. Thanks!
I tried using a Zeusray as a bike light and didn’t like it. The even beam from the aspheric lens meant I had too much foreground light and no distance vision.
Right now I’m using a Convoy S2+ and like it much better. You can get it in various neutral and warm tints.
For the XML family 3C is largely considered “neutral”, as a side it is also very close to what the (5000k) MT-G2 specs out at.
mtbr.com is the place to go for detail on bike lights — tho’ you’ll find quite a bit of overlap of people and topics between that site and here.
also searching using the search box (upper left corner of each page) will find some extended discussion on bike lights here, including some discounts and recommended lights (and some cautionary comments)
Thanks for the replies. I used to spend a lot of time on the MTBR lighting forum and have a number of actual “bike” lights for my various rides, including the top of the line B&M Luxos U and a Schmidt Edelux that are powered off generator hubs. They even charge my phone while I ride. The reason I’m looking for a flashlight instead of a true bike light is purely cosmetic. I’m building up a unique cruiser/klunker and mounting a flashlight to the underside of my front porteur rack would just totally rock the look! I am also one who can’t stand cool blue light, especially on a bike light, thus my quest!
I’m prob among the minority that use flashlights for MTBing instead of bike-specific lights.
Since I only MTB, my lighting preference is def gonna be different than others on different terrain.
I used an S2+ earlier this week as I was finishing my ride after sunset. It was mounted on the handlebar, it got the job done on relatively flat and straight trails and about 1 mile on surface streets to get to my car. When I actually plan to do the whole ride at night, I’d use a very floody light on the bar and a more throwy light on the helmet.
I’ve tried the Zeusray both as bar and helmet light, for my riding, it’s wide-ish floody beam is better suited as a bar light. I much prefer a light w/ diffusion film (DC Fix) to get 180* dispersion as a bar light.
For your cruiser/klunker, you’re not likely to be going 30mph so you prob don’t need a ton of throw. But the only way to find one light that works well is to test some. A S2+ is prob a good light to start with, then you can decide to go more flood/throw and go from there.
The Convoy S2+ looks reasonable. You mentioned I might want a floodier beam…I’m pretty sure I already do. What would you recommend for a next step in wider beam from the S2+? Thanks!
Interesting option! Thanks for the link. So this just replaces the entire reflector it looks like. Would it fit into a an S2+?
Sorry, I’m a noob on torch mods.
Don’t have that flashlight, don’t recall, but I learned about it somewhere on MTBR and they know suppliers that are reliable for the whole range, that’s just one of a variety of optics.
Hmmm, maybe ’oogle: yep:
https://www.google.com/search?q=carclo+s2+s2%2B
Use the lens to replace the relfector of Convoy S2+ flashlight <= here ya go