Bike Lights?

[shaunh]

DB, I use the Sigma Pro Black edition on the bars & the Karma Pro on the helmet and this combination is bright and effective enough. The Pro has a spot beam with the Karma a wide beam. The battery power is phenominal that I sometimes get caught out on a ride with low lights (they just go dim but never switch off). I do between 8 & 10 1.1/2 to 2 hour rides on one charge.

 

I never switch my lights off during the ride and it just lasts and is funny to see the other guys with those huge batteries always battling with battery power or something breaking.

[Iwan Kemp]

I used Sigma's Evo / Evo-X before I bought my Exposure lights and they work more than good enough. Well, until I got the Exposure that was.

But then again I don't like lights that flush the whole trail or is blue-bright. Then I might as well cycle in the day.

What I liked about the Sigma is you can point the spot down the trail and keep the normal light lower to light up the 5m trail in front of you. Used a Petzl Tikka from Due South with it to aid when riding sgl trail.

[MintSauce]

 

it's good enoug

 

 

For a girl

 

 

 

 

Vlymskerp!

 

Thanks

 

 

(allthough I know she'll cut me down to size momentarily)

 

 

 

 

[jamis1]

DB' date=' I use the Sigma Pro Black edition on the bars & the Karma Pro on the helmet and this combination is bright and effective enough. The Pro has a spot beam with the Karma a wide beam. The battery power is phenominal that I sometimes get caught out on a ride with low lights (they just go dim but never switch off). I do between 8 & 10 1.1/2 to 2 hour rides on one charge.

 

I never switch my lights off during the ride and it just lasts and is funny to see the other guys with those huge batteries always battling with battery power or something breaking.

[/quote']

 

These lights are awesome and give sufficient light for trail riding , the lithium ion battery does not build up memory and can be charged before complete discharge, the battery pack is also extremely small in comparison with some of the other systems around .Can also run on AA batteries in emergencies (Not day light but good enough)   

[Cornelis]

I second Jamis and Shaun, not daylight but more than enough. Might be a good thing you won't see the hell of a climb coming up from  a mile away!!

[Nancy Drew]

it's good enough

For a girl

 

Vlymskerp!

Thanks

(allthough I know she'll cut me down to size momentarily)

 

Haha... I'm the girl Minty?

 

All of you girls need extra bright lights to light your path... bet you none of you would have the b@lls to do a night race with my 5 LED CatEye

 

Bunch of Nancy's

[MintSauce]

 

it's good enough

 

For a girl

 

 

Vlymskerp!

 

Thanks

 

(allthough I know she'll cut me down to size momentarily)

 

 

Haha... I'm the girl Minty?

 

All of you girls need extra bright lights to light your path... bet you none of you would have the b@lls to do a night race with my 5 LED CatEye

 

Bunch of Nancy's

 

 

AAAACCtually....the last nightride I did followed a twisty, singletrack for about 12km. And the losers with their big lights made me lead....equipped with nothing but a Petzl XP....yes....single LED!!!!

 

And I dropped them several times! Did go home with a headache from concentrating and focussing so damn much to try and read the trail. Nothing like a coupla close calls to keep the reflexes sharp!

 

NANCY!

 

 

 

[Nancy Drew]

it's good enough

For a girl

 

Vlymskerp!

Thanks

(allthough I know she'll cut me down to size momentarily)

 

Haha... I'm the girl Minty?

 

All of you girls need extra bright lights to light your path... bet you none of you would have the b@lls to do a night race with my 5 LED CatEye

 

Bunch of Nancy's

AAAACCtually....the last nightride I did followed a twisty' date=' singletrack for about 12km. And the losers with their big lights made me lead....equipped with nothing but a Petzl XP....yes....single LED!!!!

And I dropped them several times! Did go home with a headache from concentrating and focussing so damn much to try and read the trail. Nothing like a coupla close calls to keep the reflexes sharp!

NANCY!

[/quote']

 

ONE single LED?.... well I am certainly impressed!

 

You Minty are 'Man of the day' in my books, I humbly grovel at your chainwheel... you do have some cahonas after all!

 

Anytime you need 5 LED's, I'm your girl

[Willehond]

Listen you two, get a room and switch your LED to red.  This is a thread for MEN with real lights!

[MintSauce]

 

ONE single LED?.... well I am certainly impressed!

 

You Minty are 'Man of the day' in my books' date=' I humbly grovel at your chainwheel... you do have some cahonas after all![/quote']

 

 

....and don't you forget it!

 

 

5 LED's....girl

 

 

Correct

 

 

 

 

[Dirtbreath]

I apologise in advance for the plagerism. This might help some others who may be looking for night lights.

 

"

Lumen, Lux and Watt...

Since high power LED's became readily available a few years ago, we've seen certain terms used when advertising these LED's and products using these LED's. A typical example is 1 watt or 3 watt Luxeon LED as found in many different lighting products. Other's again, describe their product by mentioning the lumen output.

Describing a LED by means of a watt rating can be misleading and useless. Watt, is the unit used when measuring an amount of electrical power. Electrical power is the result when multiplying voltage with current. So if a device draws a current of 350mA at a voltage of 3.37v, the wattage is 3.37x0.35=1.18watt of power usage.

High power LED's are sorted into different bin groups according to their total light output at a specific current draw, normally 350mA. It is at this power level where manufacturers rate their LED's because it's the level where high power LED's are most efficient. Driving them harder produce more heat and other energy losses. One LED using 3 watts of power can put out 130 lumens, while another LED using 3 watts can put out 180 lumens. Only 2 years ago a LED's with 45 lumens at 350mA were cutting edge. Today we have more than one brand that's rated 115 lumens+ at 350mA. So before getting excited about your 3 watt led light, first find out how many lumens that 3 watt actually put out.

What does lumens mean? One lumen is the equivalent of 1.46 milliwatt (1.46 x 10-3 W) of radiant electromagnetic (EM) power at a frequency of 540 terahertz (540 THz or 5.40 x 1014 Hz). !@#$%! In simple terms: Lumen is a unit of measurement of the amount of brightness that comes from a light source. Does the lumen rating give us an idea of how much light we will see on the trail? The answer is: not really.

The lumen rating gives us a good idea of how bright the light source is, but it really depends on what we do with that light source. A high lumen rating with an inefficient secondary lens or reflector will waste our lumens. It is the same for different beam angles. For the same lumen rating, a light will put out more lux with a narrow beam, than with a wide beam. Why?

Lux is a derived unit based on lumens and is used to measure illuminance or luminous emittance. The difference between the lux and the lumen is that the lux takes into account the area over which the luminous flux is spread. 100 lumens, concentrated into an area of one square metre (narrow spot beam), lights up that square metre with an illuminance of 100 lux. The same 100 lumens, spread out over ten square metres (wide angle beam), produces a dimmer illuminance of only 10 lux.

So what really matters is the amount of lux that your light put out, or the light intensity per square metre. "

[Zoo Cookie]

shees, after reading all 6 pages - I still would not know what lights to buy - should I concider doing some night riding.

for now I'll stick to riding in daylight  only - challenging enough for me right now.

[Nancy Drew]

shees' date=' after reading all 6 pages - I still would not know what lights to buy - should I concider doing some night riding.

for now I'll stick to riding in daylight  only - challenging enough for me right now. [/quote']

 

Zoo.. you have to give it a bash! Don't be daunted by these 6 pages. It's only really the first lap that's difficult.. you'd be amazed at how your eyes adapt and how quickly you 'memorise' the course 

[GoLefty!!]

yep, and how quickly the bloke with decent lights blaasts past because he/she can see where they are going..

[JPW#]

 

 

I just use one small head light.....makes daylight of the darkness....petzel myo xp......single super bright Led.. cost....600 odd bucks....battery life...something like 170 hours...amazing .... buy them at due south or cape union. I think its the best headlight money can buy and if you look after them they should last you a lifetime.

JPW#2008-10-18 02:00:55

[EllieM]

shees' date=' after reading all 6 pages - I still would not know what lights to buy - should I concider doing some night riding.

for now I'll stick to riding in daylight  only - challenging enough for me right now. [/quote']

 

agree with you - whether its road or mtb..... potholes, trees, stones, branches and the likes  always seem to get in my way.. i swear they jump in front of me, in broad daylight..