Corey

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After getting back into the bike scene again after a long lapse, I have been reading about four magazines a month.
I ran across a very bright 1200 lumen one from a company called Niterider.
Here is the 1200 Pro.
http://niterider.com/prod_pro1200.shtml

I was shocked when I saw the price of it, between $600 and $700, depending on where you go.

Then I ran across the lighting section over at MTBR.com.

There are two very good quality lamps on the market (out of China) that put out around 600 lumens, although they advertise them at 900 lumens.

$89 Magic Shine



Currently only a handlebar mount comes with it, but you can buy extra a helmet mount.
Many are running two of these.
One on the bars, one on a helmet.

Here are a few pics showing how bright it is on the high setting taken from a cool site that evaluates many brands.
http://fonarevka.lux-rc.com/

Pretty impressive for $89 'eh?





$269 ($215.20 on sale) Airbike Ever Light SLH P7 - SSC P7 LED



Very good review on it here.
http://www.mountainbikingnewzealand....-light-review/

This light comes with both a helmet and handlebar mount.
I placed an order for it the other day, should have it by the end of the week if not sooner, and I will try to get some pics Friday evening.
I rode a bit last Friday night as the urge hit me to get out and ride, and it would have been better with a light for sure in my neighborhood.

Here is a beam pattern from the URL above.



I will try the light both on my bar, and also on the helmet.
I may also order the cheaper light and use it on the helmet only along with the Airbike one on the bars.
From reading it is nice to have the helmet one also so you can look around a trail as you are going down it where the handlebar one may not be shining at.

On my vacation last month I would have cruised some trails/fireroads after dark if I had a light setup.

I am also picking up a Cateye five LED for the seatpost.
Cateye TL-LD150 LED Bicycle Tail and Safety Light (Red)



Anyone here run trails at night?
Anyways, thought I would post these lights as an alternative to the more expensive brands out there.
These cheaper lights are going to be a wakeup call to them.

Toddski

SMOKES!
Thats real impressive. When i used to ride at night you could only see maybe 10 feet in front of you. These lights are brighter than most car headlights!

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I am very impressed with what I have seen so far Todd.
Many fly down singletrack with them as if it was day time.

Strange, the pics from the website I embedded do not show up here on my work PC or on the sites for the lights from Geomans.
Plus if I go directly to geomangear.com, the Boeing virus filter comes up.
For some reason the filter thinks it is a blacklisted site.
I talked with Jay (Geoman) and he said there server is not infected.

I can view the pics just fine pulling up YotaTech on my phone too, just not here at my workstation.

The light should be here tomorrow, and I will get a beam shot Friday night when I go for a ride.

BT17R

Like Todd said, those look better than many cars, most impressive.

I'm in a rural national forest area known for wildlife including predators like cougars. The few times I rode at night made me nervous as a cat. I thought every sound in the underbrush was something ready to pounce.

But with a light like one of those I'd try it again on a warm Summer night.

BTW, there's an underground group that selects different urban undeveloped parks closed at night to ride with lights. They're legendary, anonymous, hard core and have never been caught over the years though I suppose the ranger isn't running around trying to bust them.

Toddski

Me too...
A buddy and i tried to get in a ride after work one day and got ourselves all turned around. All we had for a light is my GPS light. Coyotes were playing with us hollering all around. Scared me pretty good.
I think it was the week after we all purchase lights for the "just in case" ride!

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Todd, if you had this light I bet you would go on night rides.
Just got back from a thirty minute ride around my neighborhood in the dark.
The Airbike is very bright.
I kept it on high the whole time, as the low and medium settings were to dim for me.

I cruised around pretty fast, and I felt in total control with the light output.
I have the mount slightly loose so I could aim the housing sideways and up and down.

I would like to still order a Magic Shine to compare the two though, so I may place an order again with Geo this weekend.

I may mount it on the bar as well so I can compare beam spread and brightness.
Afterwords then one light will go on the helmet, and one on the bars.

I like the all black look of the Airbike over that shiny housing for the lens on the MS unit.

Neighbors got a kick out of how bright it was too, and several teenagers out walking around took doubletakes at the brightness it put out on the road.

Here are some pics of the light setup I have so far.
No pics on the bike yet, I will snag some tomorrow of it and the battery pack mounted to it.
I was also having to much fun riding around tonight to go back in and grab my digital camera to snag pics of how it lights up the road.
I will work on that later...

Helmet mount on top of helmet.



Underside of helmet showing Velcro straps.



Light on helmet.
I do not think it was on, I think that is the flash reflecting on the light lens.



All parts laid out.
Short cable is for the frame mounted battery pack.
Longer extension cable is to mount the battery pack to your hydration pack or the back pocket of a jersey/coat ect.

BT17R

I rode early evening toward twilight on the Springwater Trail about 12 miles. Some guy coming toward me had a light so bright it looked like an aircraft landing light. It was blinding, I had to look off to the side to keep from seeing spots. It was handlebar mounted and had to be 3"-4" diameter. How long do those last on a full charge? Might have to consider one soon to expand Winter riding hours.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Bob, on full high they are seeing around 3 to 3.5 hours of good light out of them.
Plenty for a nights ride.

Plus if you are out in total darkness and have to stop to drain some of that H2O you consumed from your hydration pack, you can kick the light off or put it on low.

It puts out a lot of heat on high, so you want to be moving when it is on high.

A guy also builds some nice "true" 1200 lumen ones for around $400, but his helmet mount requires Velcro to the light base and your helmet, not very professional at all.
If he comes up with a better mount for his, I may consider it in the future.

But the two mounts that came with my light are very professional.

They now have a Magic Shine helmet mount out for the cheaper $89 Magic Shine light, but it is not as pro looking as the one with my unit.

Not sure if I want to run a helmet one too, but may end up with night runs.
Something else will be occupying the space on top of my helmet later this fall when the new HD GoPro is released.
This will be the biggest camera news for users come this fall.
True HD at high res, and even the low mid res looks great.
Be sure to check out the video in the YouTube link, and watch it full screen.
Very good for a $300 camera.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f171.../#post51232835

BT17R

Yep, I'm in line for the same videocam. Should be a great addition to the "studio".

Hot lights? I wonder how long before LED's make it to the bike market? Meanwhile, put some sunscreen on your noggin or have Vulcan-like tan marks, heh.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Bob, these are LEDs.
They get very hot at that high of wattage and light output.

LED is the way to go now, and they are surpassing HID for bike lights.

BT17R

Oh, somehow I thought LED's don't produce heat. Then they should be durable and well suited to MTB use.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Lot of cool new lights at the Interbike 2009 show in Vegas.
http://blogs.bikemag.com/blog/interb...posure-lights/

http://reviews.mtbr.com/interbike/ex...ro-led-lights/

700 lumen, and it uses the same P7 build from Korea that my Airbike light and the Magic Shine light for $89 uses.

But this one in the video has the battery in the light, no need for a separate battery.

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

Shazaam, those are bright. I haven't riden in the dark for years that was when halogens were the brightest.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

These more expensive light companies need to wake up though and see that the P7 LED light can be had for a lot less such as the one I just got, or the cheaper $89 Magic Shine one.

I may try to get some beam shots of mine tonight, but no promises
Smallville comes on at 8 PM tonight, just as it is nice and dark out now.

tc

I have an older Niterider setup and it's very nice. Gotta be 5 yrs old now, though, I'm sure technology has advanced a lot - particularly white LED's (my taillight is red LED)

Construction on the Niterider lights is top notch - I wouldn't be afraid to run over it.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Two more pics.
The light is not on, it is the flash reflecting on the lens of the light.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

My digital camera is a Sony DSC H9 set to auto.
I have not messed around enough with the manual settings to be comfortable enough to get a true beam shot, so I left it on auto.
Here are the specs I shot the light in the dark with no flash on.



Beam shots with low, medium, and high.
There was a little light from porch lamps, but not much.







Here is a video also showing the beam pattern shot with the same camera.

[YOUTUBE]bVAcJSjhk60[/YOUTUBE]

I would like to compare this later to a true 1200 lumen or higher light.
There is a guy who sells a cool looking aluminum blocked 1200 lumen light for around $400 on MTBR, his name is Zen.
I might try one of his later on the handlebar.

LED technology is advancing at a high rate, and even brighter lights are now coming out.
Maybe this will force the big name companies to lower their prices as a lot of the DIY crowd are making some very impressive lights for a lot less, and even the Magic Shine and the Airbike one I bought are pretty impressive for a lot less than the big name brands.

BT17R

Really well defined beam pattern, like a low and high beam combined. Great info and writeup, thanks.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

For the money Bob, it is pretty nice.
The cheaper $89 light uses the same bulb too, but I liked that this package included a helmet mount and the light casing looks more heavy duty.

Geoman is having a hard time keeping up with demands on the cheaper light.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Comparison video of my Airbike P7 light and the MagicShine P7.
Video was shot with my new GoPro HD cam at 1280x960.