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

The tax man

keith_d99 wrote: »

Just got the Magicshine - will be using on the way home.
Build quality looks impressive.

Anybody know how you know when the battery is fully charged???
Also where do ye mount the battery pack, handlebar, stem, crossbar?

Cheers,
Keith.

Keith I had the same question about the charging time. When I got mine I stuck the battery on charge and a green light came on the plug,left charging and nothing changed. After using it for a while I stuck the battery pack onto the charger and the light was red. I presume the green light means it's charged while red means charging. I've yet to get the battery fully discharged to figure out the charge time.
I had to mount mine under the crossbar just behind the head tube. Stem is full.:)

Gavin

Try to avoid discharging the battery fully, apparently it's not good for em. Don't know the chemistry of it.

blorg

Gavin wrote: »

Try to avoid discharging the battery fully, apparently it's not good for em. Don't know the chemistry of it.

This is true, however if the cells (or indeed the battery pack as a whole) are protected, they will shut off power before they go low enough to do damage.

Gavin

No, this is separate to the protection circuit. The protection circuit is for when you are getting to 0% discharge. Geoman (I think, don't have link), advises trying to avoid going below 20% discharge.

Again, I have no idea why this is, just read it. Could be old wives tales.

Chemistry would have been handy to have studied in school.

beans

I ordered a Fenix TK-11 on Wednesday from TheTorchSite.co.uk and it arrived this morning! Take that, postal strike

Looks like a great piece of kit, very much looking forward to giving it a test-spin in the park this evening. Quite an expensive option when you compare it to something like the Magicshine, but looking at the build quality I'd say this thing will just keep going and going!

keith_d99

Yeah you're spot on Tax Man - was surprised that it was fully charged on delivery - so was confused about the charging bit.

Used it for 3 days commute - leaving it plugged in to the battery for about 5 days. Noticed after my third night - that the green light on the light turned red. Left it plugged in still and charged it in work the next day. As you said - light on adapter is red - then green when fully charged. I think I read somewhere that the light flashes red when battery is at an absolute end. And yeah also read not to leave it totally decharge. Oh it took about 4-5 hours to charge.

Also have the battery strapped to the crossbar - seems fine and velcro seems secure.

Also, I was not charged anything by customs (ordered from DealExtreme Hong Kong ... total cost €55).

An excellent light, for a pretty low cost.

The tax man wrote: »

Keith I had the same question about the charging time. When I got mine I stuck the battery on charge and a green light came on the plug,left charging and nothing changed. After using it for a while I stuck the battery pack onto the charger and the light was red. I presume the green light means it's charged while red means charging. I've yet to get the battery fully discharged to figure out the charge time.
I had to mount mine under the crossbar just behind the head tube. Stem is full.:)

trinewbie

How long did it take for your order to be shipped dude? mine has been stuck in 'processing' state since last Thursday, Ive emailed them but no response.

keith_d99

Yeah took about a week to change from processing to shipped

trinewbie wrote: »

How long did it take for your order to be shipped dude? mine has been stuck in 'processing' state since last Thursday, Ive emailed them but no response.

blorg

keith_d99 wrote: »

Used it for 3 days commute

Is your commute on completely dark roads or lit? How is it regarding blinding oncoming drivers?

keith_d99

It's about 80% unlit - for the other 20% I leave it on the lower light setting.

Haven't had any drivers flash me anyhow (or leave their headlights on either for that matter)

blorg wrote: »

Is your commute on completely dark roads or lit? How is it regarding blinding oncoming drivers?

ednwireland

trinewbie wrote: »

How long did it take for your order to be shipped dude? mine has been stuck in 'processing' state since last Thursday, Ive emailed them but no response.

mines been there for a few days as well

Sunday Spins

http://fonarevka.lux-rc.com/

Click on the different torch names .... not sure if you have this already

Apologies if u do

Stokolan

I oreder one from dealextreme on the 16th of October, It only arrived yesterday. which is nearly 5 weeks for delivery.

ednwireland

Stokolan wrote: »

I oreder one from dealextreme on the 16th of October, It only arrived yesterday. which is nearly 5 weeks for delivery.

3.5 weeks ?

Stokolan

ednwireland wrote: »

3.5 weeks ?

You would be right. I dont know how I got 5. Maybe the light blinded me enough that I couldnt make out the calendar

Home:Ballyhoura

Hi guys, I bought a Fenix TK11 a while back and so far I'm happy enough with it. However, it is not as bright as I had expected it to be. I mean don't get me wrong, it is a fantastic light and lights up pitch black roads OK and all but I just still don't have the amount of visibility and therefore confidence when cycling in the dark. I know it is a fairly throwy light and maybe I need something with more of a flood beam...I actually came across this light (on DealExtreme and another site called GeoMan) which I saw "The tax man" has too...it seems to fit the bill alright.

However, I have been reading crap reviews of DealExtreme and it is really putting me off making an order with them (especially as this light is considered more of a gamble than something like the Fenix, and can often be faulty or go wrong somehow). This means I might have to use their returns procedure at some stage which appears to be run by a bunch of cowboys (I was reading here, many more examples where that came from too) who don't put you right very well and not with great speed either. DX have it for €55, GeoMan is €71 (with an option of an extra battery included for €102). My question is do ye think it is worth the extra €16 and get it from a more reliable source?

Gavin

Does that Geoman price include delivery as well..? Probably best to go with Geoman for peace of mind. I got the dealextreme one (which has finally arrived, woohoo!) as I ain't too bothered if I have to send it back.

Home:Ballyhoura

Ya, price includes delivery alright. It's not a huge difference but it just doesn't seem like the ridiculous good value that you think of when looking at €54.55 delivered from DX. Plus, if I get caught for customs, the difference is increased further...although fingers crossed I won't if I do decide to go for it!

How do you find it anyway, happy enough? Got any pictures, videos or other lights to compare it to? I wouldn't mind sending back my one either if there was something wrong with it, it's just that they seem to mess about with you a little if you decide to do this (judging by reviews on the web anyway!). However I presume the build quality would be the exact same from both places would it? The only real difference I can see it 5 modes versus 3 modes...would there be any other differences do you think?

blorg

I would think there is a slightly higher chance of being caught for duty+VAT buying from Geoman. Have never bought from them but in my general experience of buying from the US vs HK the latter seems safer (in that regard.) Just my hunch. Why don't you buy it and let me know how it works out To be honest though I would move fast one way or the other, customs tend to up their game coming up to Christmas.

Gavin

Home:Ballyhoura wrote: »

Ya, price includes delivery alright. It's not a huge difference but it just doesn't seem like the ridiculous good value that you think of when looking at €54.55 delivered from DX. Plus, if I get caught for customs, the difference is increased further...although fingers crossed I won't if I do decide to go for it!

How do you find it anyway, happy enough? Got any pictures, videos or other lights to compare it to? I wouldn't mind sending back my one either if there was something wrong with it, it's just that they seem to mess about with you a little if you decide to do this (judging by reviews on the web anyway!). However I presume the build quality would be the exact same from both places would it? The only real difference I can see it 5 modes versus 3 modes...would there be any other differences do you think?

Don't have any photos yet, will do it properly soon. Only advantage of Geoman is the 5-modes and a better customer service if the yoke arrives dead.

Lumen

Thanks to RflynnR's misordering, I'm now running twin B&M Ixon IQs. The results are satisfactory. I think I'm using about 5W (1.5Vx2.4Ahx8 cells/5hr runtime) compared to about 3.5W with a single TK11 (3.6Vx2.4Ahx1 cell/2.5hr runtime), although my Fenix is still out of action so I can't compare the outputs.

Must get out for one of these group evening spins soon.

Gavin

Geezer in work warned me about dual lights, if they are side by side on the bars. He said he heard of motorbikers who had modified their bikes to enable two full lamps on either side of the front forks.

In the pitch black, cars assumed that the oncoming motorbike was actually a car far away, would pull out and the biker go into the car.

blorg

@Gavin- what are the 3 modes on your light? 900/500/strobe? A "200" mode as on the 5 mode could be useful for longer distance maybe, although for that I would prob just use the TK11 anyway.

Lumen

Gavin wrote: »

Geezer in work warned me about dual lights, if they are side by side on the bars. He said he heard of motorbikers who had modified their bikes to enable two full lamps on either side of the front forks.

In the pitch black, cars assumed that the oncoming motorbike was actually a car far away, would pull out and the biker go into the car.

Lordy, I'd better buy another one then.

Gavin

blorg wrote: »

@Gavin- what are the 3 modes on your light? 900/500/strobe? A "200" mode as on the 5 mode could be useful for longer distance maybe, although for that I would prob just use the TK11 anyway.

Yeah 900/500/strobe. The strobe is pointless alright, 200 would have been far more useful, but I'll probably only be using it offroad so for me it's handy enough.

Mounted low on the road bike, on the fork perhaps, 500 could be ok to not blind oncoming cars. Apparently over 5 hours on 500 is pretty good.

Home:Ballyhoura

blorg wrote: »

To be honest though I would move fast one way or the other, customs tend to up their game coming up to Christmas.

Thats a very good point to make to be honest, however I feel I might even have left it a bit too late to order. Most people are saying it takes around a month to arrive, and at that rate it would be two weeks before Christmas, I'm sure the exact time when the customs people will be on the top of their game! Oh no, what to do...and I don't really want to wait until after Christmas to get it either.

Also blorg, the MagicShine had been tested to actually to produce only 500-600 lumens at max output and not the claimed 900, so at this rate of over estimation I would guess that the "500 lumen setting" would actually be a bit closer to 300 or thereabouts. At least that is a bit closer to the 200 setting you were looking for and they reckon you get around five hours out of this setting, which I would presume should be plenty for most night cycles, but, you never know with blorg! If not, go with geoman and get the one with the extra battery pack (and the more setting including the actual 200 setting you were originally looking for)!

One quick question, what do ye guys do with handlebar mounted lights to prevent the cables getting in their way (by this I mean in their path where the light shines). I'm not really worried about losing light or anything its just that the light is reflected back up towards my face into my eyes and is very distracting. It also takes away from the actual illumination out front on the road as it appears to be not as bright. When I pull the cables away with my hand for a moment it is much better, but I was wondering if there was any other trick to solve this minor yet very annoying problem?

blorg

Home:Ballyhoura wrote: »

but I was wondering if there was any other trick to solve this minor yet very annoying problem?

Yes, very simple, Di2 or at a lower budget new Ultegra sorts that problem. Seriously though I have both cableless (new Ultegra and fixed) cockpits and the old DA/Ultegra/105 and it honestly has never been a problem. You get a slight shadow on the immediate road from your wires.

congo_90

The tax man wrote: »

No ordered it through Ebay. Coming from Hong Kong.10-14 days delivery time.:( Seller claims no one has been hit for customs,looking through feedback it seems no one has....yet.

Hey I know this post is old but how is that light working out for you?
I've a small led light I use for travelling along street lit areas but I find that when on country roads (during my commute, always at night) that fails to deliever.
Is this light still reliably working for you? If so I'm going to buy one. Been relying on moonlight and the dimness of my little led light which I'll keep on for flashing mode

Edit,
Missed your last post a few days ago! never mind

The tax man

Sorry Congo,can't really give an update on reliability due to an injury keeping me off the bike. It's still lighting up the back garden successfully though.:D

Last spin I had on the bike I had the Ay-Ups on the bike,which BTW is another excellent light system. Coming down from the viewpoint in the wet, at times I wished I had the Magicshine on the bike just to light up the road in front a bit more.

congo_90

I saw those ay-ups in action on another cyclist bike before.
Personally I wouldn't shell out 130 for lights as I don't get enough use. My darkest part of the journey is around 15-20mins so in between I can use my little light + magic shine. I'll check out funds then make a move. (have a few birthdays coming up).