Bike lights

[johnridley]

I started out riding at night about 4 years ago with a homemade halogen light with a 12V SLA battery. It cost about $30, put out a lot of light, but weighed a ton (well, 12 pounds or so). The next year I went to a HID light with a NiMH bottle cage battery, and a homemade voltage regulator. The whole thing was homemade, a HID fixture here, a battery there, a charger there. It worked very well for about 3 years, but in the last week it got very dim for a couple of rides (bad enough that I was using my LED flashlight to supplement it) and then one morning it wouldn't strike at all. I put the halogen back on for a few days, but decided after 4 years, it was probably time to buy a proper bike light.

After checking out reviews and beam comparisons online, I wound up going with a Dinotte 200L. This thing is a TANK, it's unbelievably tiny and light, the whole thing cost less than just the HID fixture did 3 years ago ($130), it has wonderful flash modes, and while it's not quite as bright as the halogen in the photos, it's really close and it has a whiter light so it seems about as bright in person. It runs about 2/3 as long on 4 AA cells as the HID does on 12 C cells (2 hours in high mode versus 3.25 hours for the HID), and it's light enough to mount the whole light+battery combo on a helmet if I wanted to.

200L stands for 200 lumens. They also make a 140L taillight, which as you might guess, puts out 140 lumens of red light. I have historically had an amber xenon strobe on the back for adverse conditions, but A) they don't last long; I just broke my 3rd one, and B) it ran on 12 volts and I don't have a 12V battery on my bike anymore. I do have two Planet Bike SuperFlash units on the back of my bike (I do not trust running only one taillight) but though they're outstanding little blinkies (they throw a decent red beam) and I think totally sufficient for clear conditions, they're no match for what the strobe put out. I had no worries with the strobe even in fog and rain. I think I'll probably have a Dinotte 140L on the way soon, once I do a couple of actual rides with the 200L and confirm that it's a winner. I'll probably watch for sales, I read on BF that they put these on sale for $99 every couple of months.

They also make a 600L, which, yes, is 600 lumens. It's basically three 200Ls in one package. Apparently it smokes HIDs, and at $399 is the same to a little cheaper than a full-up commercial HID headlight. If I were doing offroad night rides, I'd definitely pick one up, but I think the 200L will do for me.


Sorry, I built a nice page with Javascript rollover links to make this comparison really nice, compact and easy to see, and LiveJournal refused the script.




What the Dinotte looks like (isn't it cute?)



The old, large, ugly and hard-to-adjust 20W halogen system overvoltaged to 14.4v



Dinotte 200L in High mode



13W Welch Allyn HID (3 years old) running at 12.8V regulated (photo taken a few weeks back when it still worked)



UltraFire C3 Q5 flashlight running on 2 AA batteries

Comments

[rono-60103.livejournal.com]

I was just looking at bike lights today. While it isn't practical on days that I have to take the kid to school (most of the days Tara works), I've thought that it might be nice to bike to the train station. However, I'd have to bike home after dark much of the year -- since moving to Oceanside in mid-October, I don't think I've ever made it home before dark, and don't leave work before dark now that we are back on standard time. So I'd need a light, or more correctly both head and tail lights (if I read information correctly, this is state law not just recommendations).

I'll also have to figure out if I want to throw the bike on both trains and the shuttle van, or try to get a bike locker at the first train stations, and determine if I can actually successfully ride back up the hill. I failed last weekend, but then realized that taking a bike ride the same day I donated blood for the first time in nearly 2 years wasn't a good idea.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've gotten to the point where I don't really have trouble riding home after donating blood, but I wouldn't have made it when I first started.

One thing people like about the Dinotte is that it's tiny and it mounts with velcro and O rings; if you have to lock your bike somewhere not secure, you can get it on and off in about 15 seconds, and the whole thing will fit in your pocket.

I've screwed around with a few lights, and my conclusion is that if you need the light to see by, you need to spend at least $90 (the Nite Rider MiNewt USB goes for about that). If you just need a blinker so people see you, you can get by for something for $30 to $50.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

FYI, they have a sale going on at www.dinottelighting.com - the one I got, the 200L with no battery and charger (I have LOADS of AA rechargables) is $100 instead of $130 right now. I think they only run their sales a day at a time.