Light Recommendations (formerly Front Light For Dark Country) Road Commute

Lumen

langdang wrote: »

It's still excellent lumens per buck compared to the competition. (I'm waiting on the single light version)

The idea of a lot of Lumens is very attractive, but the problem with the P7 emitters is that they don't lend themselves to a nice tight beam - they tend to be quite floody. Which is nice if you want lots of flood, but for road use it can be awkard to light up the road ahead without blinding oncoming traffic.

TinyExplosions

Lumen wrote: »

The idea of a lot of Lumens is very attractive, but the problem with the P7 emitters is that they don't lend themselves to a nice tight beam - they tend to be quite floody. Which is nice if you want lots of flood, but for road use it can be awkard to light up the road ahead without blinding oncoming traffic.

I dunno, one Lumen round here is about all I could handle...

...time to get my coat I fear

langdang

ednwireland wrote: »

what like this, its what i bought last year
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.44459
or with the new battery pack ?

The 5-mode version, because I'm an especially abrasive person and the aggressive strobe appeals to me - disco-disco-disco!!!!

mloc123

Ordered a Magicshine which customs currently have there hands on... how much should I expect to pay? How do they value something like this that deal extreme have no doubt valued at $4 or something stupid like that?

Lumen

mloc123 wrote: »

Ordered a Magicshine which customs currently have there hands on... how much should I expect to pay? How do they value something like this that deal extreme have no doubt valued at $4 or something stupid like that?

AFAIK they take the total value including shipping costs.

mloc123

Lumen wrote: »

AFAIK they take the total value including shipping costs.

So they will use the value giving by the sender? Cool.

Lumen

mloc123 wrote: »

So they will use the value giving by the sender? Cool.

There is only one value - the total amount you paid for it.

mloc123

Lumen wrote: »

There is only one value - the total amount you paid for it.

but... my understanding was that they stop it when the value stated is too low or the description is wrong. So in this case do they stop it but use the value as stated or do they have a 'value book' like VRT office once did with cars.

langdang

No, my package had the genuine cost on it - 98 dollars (magic shine + 2 x rear lights). But customs still asked for my paypal receipt (as there are other sellers that will mark down the value)and calculated 21% vat and added a 6 euro handling fee.

If something is genuinely under about 20 euro (check their site, they have a specific value) then they don't charge vat. There may be an upper ceiling where they add other charges?

Quality of the magic shine is excellent, just got it.

mloc123

Letter from revenue arrived today, I have to mail on my paypal receipt. It took 3 days to get from Hong Kong to Ireland, it has taken 5 days to get to this stage with customs, ffs.

Dr_Colossus

Seems like alot of the dealextreme stuff is getting caught. I ordered some batteries and a charger from them a couple of weeks ago that was shipped yesterday, value €20 total, so hopefully that escapes their grasp.
I got a delivery of a Fenix TK12 last week from the Fenix-Store.com in the US that went unscathed, even allowing for a possible customs and VAT charge it was cheaper than ordering from the UK.

pprendeville

Was cycling into work yesterday morning at about 6:30 am on the back roads out by airport. Pitch dark and quite scary. Can anyone recommend a light that would allow me to see at least a pot hole in advance or something half decent?

Bunnyhopper

I think a lot of people on here use Fenix torches for the really dark stuff. They're more pricey than regular bike lights but you seem to get what you pay for.

I have a pretty ordinary Cat Eye myself (EL510), which is fine for well-lit roads but not great for unlit roads. I think next time I'll go for a Fenix (unless anyone can recommend a good dealextreme equivalent). I've heard the TK11 mentioned here, but it might depend on what sort of batteries you have or would prefer to use.

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/

http://www.thephotonshop.co.uk/

07Lapierre

I have these There pretty good and I cycle around Dublin Airport/North county Dublin. After a full charge you'll get about 2 hours with both lights on. Longer if you use one at a time.

My commute is just under an hour each way, so there perfect for me.

Lumen

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055705708

c montgomery

For cheap high powered lights look no further

http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/index.php

mloc123

c montgomery wrote: »

For cheap high powered lights look no further

http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/index.php

Look no further unless you want to save money. Even with customs DX is alot cheaper.

madrabui

This stuff might come in handy for fixing broken mounts etc: http://sugru.com/

Great thread - keep updating.

boxty

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on LED Lenser lights and how they compare to Fenix etc? They seem to have a good reputation and are cheaper. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Led-Lenser-8407-P7-Torch/dp/B0018O7UAA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1287043648&sr=8-2

And there are specific bike mounts available.

Lumen

Night Reaper Crew Served Weapon Light (CSWL)

FTW.

mloc123

My magicshine finally arrived, when I say arrived I mean I collected it from an post of course :rolleyes:

First impressions, seems very well built and lit up my back garden well last night. Will get its first road test tonight.

mloc123

The magicshine is impressive. Out on dark country roads last night: magicshine on the handlebars and a fake knog frog on my helmet(mainly to check computer displays). Oncoming cars would pull in and stop, pretty sure they did not know what was coming towards them.

Home:Ballyhoura

boxty wrote: »

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on LED Lenser lights and how they compare to Fenix etc? They seem to have a good reputation and are cheaper. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Led-Lenser-8407-P7-Torch/dp/B0018O7UAA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1287043648&sr=8-2

And there are specific bike mounts available.

Ya I have a LED Lenser P6 which I just had as a good torch, then i liked the idea of night cycling so needed to upgrade as it isnt very powerful but as you said it was cheap and seems very well built. Maybe a higher spec model like the one you linked to might do the job very well (mine had an adjustable beam pattern which was very handy depending on what light I was combining it with)

mugwumpjism

Can anyone suggest some good lights for night training on the road and how many lums I will need, basically would like to do some circuits of the naul, kilkee etc and will need to be able to see the road well.

Any other advice? Randy nocturnal troll hazard spots etc

Lumen

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055705708

FISMA

Just in case you haven't see one of these, please take the time to review. For those of us, like myself, that ride all year long, the day light savings time adjustment is a real cause for concern when it comes to being seen.

Anyhow, I have multiple lights on when I cycle. In the rear, I have discovered that this one works best.

Read more here
http://www.lightmanstrobes.com/commuter-strobe-kit
and here
http://www.cnaservices.org/category.php?category=79

If you have a light that you believe is a must see, pun intended, please advise.

mugwumpjism

cheers for the redirection to this thread..seems to me the magicshine is the way to go for road training...did anyone figure out if the 5 was as good as the 3? and are people still getting collared by customs ordering from deltaextreme?

On a related note I bought a pair of the knog boomers, they look great and the light was good enough...but I had to change them twice due to the fact that everytime I hit any kind of significant bump (commuting) the lights either knocked off for a second or two or kept reverting to constant mode, plus they kept turning themselves on when in my bag or pocket, this happened with both sets and I eventually changed them for some cateyes. Disappointing as they looked to be a great design but at €52 I'd expect better function and build quality

FISMA

Does anyone Use Hokey Spokes?

Blowfish

The laws in relation to lights are fairly strict. Your front light must be white or green and the rear must be red. I'd imagine the Gardai would take a dim view of those designs shown above in particular as blue/yellow lights are used for emergency services vehicles.

They remind me a little too much of the neon lights that boy racers use in any case

madrabui

Blowfish wrote: »

The laws in relation to lights are fairly strict. Your front light must be white or green and the rear must be red. I'd imagine the Gardai would take a dim view of those designs shown above in particular as blue/yellow lights are used for emergency services vehicles.

They remind me a little too much of the neon lights that boy racers use in any case

I've seen writing on the packaging of non-standard coloured lights that they are not suitable for road cycling.