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I’m looking to buy some lights for night time riding and trail riding. Is there a lumen amount that I should have as a minimum? The Niterider has a light weight cordless light that has 250 lumens which I was really interested in buying. I also read somewhere that you should have at least 400 lumens. Anybody have some input on what they use with lumens/candle power? What kind of price range were you in for your purchase? Reliability?
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I recently borrowed my friend’s Cygolite something-or-other 250. It’s great for recreational riding, but a little underpowered for racing.
However, like chilipepper said, grab the magic shine. I just ordered one a couple days ago from here
$67.50 and free shipping!
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"ChiliPepper" wrote
Madd…….you actually trust ordering from Hong Kong??? 😆:lol::lol:
Where do you think Geoman gets his? He doesn’t actually stock them, he just takes your money and places a drop-ship order to the same dude in Hong Kong. 😉
I have actually ordered computer parts and adapter cards for Nintendo DS from ebayers in Hong Kong, and other than the slow-boat shipping, I have had no issues.
That is very important when flying through rollers or berms, or if you need to look in another direction without loosing light ahead of you.Same applies to switchbacks.
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"ChiliPepper" wrote
[quote="maddslacker":xbsq9u72]Yeah, he may get them from Hong Kong, but he does not drop ship.
[/quote:xbsq9u72]
Sweet! I assumed he was just like very other internet retailer!The $68.00 (free shipping) one comes with a ‘headlamp’ mount/strap, but without a neoprene sack for the battery, for those who may be comparing. I won’t know until it arrives whether it will work with a helmet or not.
The ones at Geomangear have the neoprene sack, and a helmet mount costs an additional $10. Geoman also charges $12.64 shipping.
The bottom line is, there is no reason NOT to have nice bright lights on your bar and head, and it doesn’t need to cost as much as the bike itself!
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From Geomangear website:
GeoManGear has temporarily discontinued sales of Magicshine lightsets due to our concerns regarding the quality of Magicshine’s lithium-ion battery packs. We have determined that the Magicshine battery packs do not meet GeoManGear’s high expectations regarding product performance and quality. We are working with the manufacturer to quickly resolve these issues and will begin selling Magicshine products again after we have obtained a high-quality battery pack for our customers.This just appeared within the last day or so.
Until they sort that out, a bunch of my riding buddies are ordering Amoeba lights from a guy who is local to us. Check them out here:
http://amoebalight.blogspot.com/These are handmade buy a mountain biker here in Denver. They use the same LED as the Light & Motion Stella 300 (but two od them) and they are insanely light and comfortable.
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"maddslacker" wrote
These are handmade buy a mountain biker here in Denver. They use the same LED as the Light & Motion Stella 300 and they are insanely light and comfortable.
Bummer about the MagicShine lights, though I’m not surprised to hear there may be issues with the battery packs. They may work great initially but the important thing is that they keep their battery life after multiple charges. I have a buddy who rides with that light and it’s worked great so far; I’ll let you know what happens six months from now…
Interesting to hear about Amoeba lights. I know some guys that get their lights from a dude who makes ’em in Florida. Who would have thought fancy bike lights could be such a DIY possibility? Though I still doubt any homebrew lights have quite the same durability as a set from L&M or Niterider…
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"cynergy68" wrote
I’m looking to buy some lights for night time riding and trail riding. Is there a lumen amount that I should have as a minimum? Anybody have some input on what they use with lumens/candle power?
To answer your original question about lumen count: at medium speeds (not racing) I can often get away with just 120 lumens from my helmet lamp. Now I definitely prefer pairing that with a decent bar light (at least 100 lumens) but some nights I’ve let others use my bar lamp after their main lamp died and didn’t have a problem.
250 lumens should be enough. But if you run the 400 lumen lamp at medium you may get the same light as the 250 lumen lamp but with much longer battery life.
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"trek7k" wrote
Bummer about the MagicShine lights, though I’m not surprised to hear there may be issues with the battery packs. They may work great initially but the important thing is that they keep their battery life after multiple charges. I have a buddy who rides with that light and it’s worked great so far; I’ll let you know what happens six months from now…
Yeah, I just ordered a MagicShine from another vendor. I’m hoping it will be okay…
Interesting to hear about Amoeba lights. I know some guys that get their lights from a dude who makes ’em in Florida. Who would have thought fancy bike lights could be such a DIY possibility? Though I still doubt any homebrew lights have quite the same durability as a set from L&M or Niterider…One of the guys has been running the Amoeba for a while now with zero issues. Two of the other guys are replacing broken NiteRiders. I also had massive issues with a fairly new Niterider light that I borrowed from a teammate at 24 Hours of Moab. The Light & Motion models seem to be really solid though.
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"trek7k" wrote
250 lumens should be enough. But if you run the 400 lumen lamp at medium you may get the same light as the 250 lumen lamp but with much longer battery life.
I’ll second this. I’ve used a 250 lumens Cygolite and it is totally fine by itself for recreational riding. It isn’t quite strong enough for racing, but when paired with another decent light it works for that too.
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If my battery does go bad, I’ll get one of these:
http://tinyurl.com/24a5kwc -
Yeah, the one I ordered has that exact battery.
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"trek7k" wrote
[quote="cynergy68":2ncx83rg]I’m looking to buy some lights for night time riding and trail riding. Is there a lumen amount that I should have as a minimum? Anybody have some input on what they use with lumens/candle power?
To answer your original question about lumen count: at medium speeds (not racing) I can often get away with just 120 lumens from my helmet lamp. Now I definitely prefer pairing that with a decent bar light (at least 100 lumens) but some nights I’ve let others use my bar lamp after their main lamp died and didn’t have a problem.
250 lumens should be enough. But if you run the 400 lumen lamp at medium you may get the same light as the 250 lumen lamp but with much longer battery life.[/quote:2ncx83rg]
I was all geeked to order the Magicshine next week. Now I’m kind of back where I started. Would you ride trails with the Nightrider mini 250? That’s what I was going to buy originally until I read something that said not to ride trails with anything under 400 lumens.
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FWIW…I latched onto Exposure Lights a few years back…paid a premium on the front end, but have bullet proof milled bodies with cordless technology using CREE LEDs.
On the helmet, I run a Joystick (240 lumens) with a White Eye add on for another (240 lumens)..so 480 on the head. 3hr burn on Hi, 10 hr on low.
On the bars…Enduro Turbo/MaXx @ 720 lumens 3 hr on Hi, 10 hr on low.
These in combo gets you a great dispersion from the bars and a deep bore from the head….allowing for 25MPH plus speeds without needing a full moon.
I’ve concluded the best bang for the buck is to pursue the CREE based lights versus the HIDs/Halogens etc.
Lighting is definitely a place where you get what you pay for…lower priced units will trade off on lumens, battery types/formats, light source, hot spots in the field of vision and differing dispersions plus varied running and charging times.ONLY add on…if riding in the dark, DON’T RIDE ALONE! A guy went night riding at my local trail, fell and broke his femur. Spent the night throwing rocks and mud clods at a pack of coyotes until he was found by a hiker the next morning.
Good luck…always better than spinning in a studio.
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That’s the battery mine came with, and it’s the three way switch rather than the newer 5 way.
It’s exactly what I wanted, it was $67 with shipping, and I can’t wait to try it out this Thursday!
Oh, and it’s insanely bright!
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I run the Amoeba, and I love it. I am not sure of it’s lumens anymore. It has performed great and after trying others I am glad I spent the $200 for this light. The light is super small and puts off a massie amount of light. NTM it has a long range on it. It is make locally here in Colorado. Just get a hold of SCAR on http://www.mtbr.com or search amoeba. You will like what you see
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A bunch of my friends are ordering the new 600 lumens Amoeba. It’s a great light!
My issue is that I need a fork and want some wheels, so if I’m to get a light, $67 fits my budget right now.
I plan to get an Amoeba as my second light before my next 24 hour race.
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The new ones are great, he now has a 750 lumen one out.. WOW!! I understand budget, it took me about a year to get one of his lights.. but it was worth it
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Umm, no, the new ones are 600 lumens:
2x Cree XP-G R5 LED’s (spot beam pattern) – ~600 lumens total output
regulated at 800ma. Single mode – on/offhttp://amoebalight.blogspot.com/
Incidentally, this is the exact same LED as the Light & Motion Stella 300. Stella has one, Amoeba has two…for less money!
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I was reading the "Amoeba Recieved" thread. Maybe it was a custom one with that output. Sorry about that.
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Yeah, he does do customs, so that makes sense.
Here’s your 700 lumens model:
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I just orderd a MS 1400 I hpoe it work well if I have battery issues I will run to the hobbie shop and build my own.
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You can get whole battery packs and/or TrailTech connectors here:
http://www.batteryspace.com/Also, I’ve heard that sealing the OEM battery in PlastiDip helps a lot, and I am doing that to mine.
One of my friends has the 1400 and it’s amazing. Picture the lights they use for night highway work and that’s about right!
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Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Jay, aka scar from MTBR and the maker of the Amoeba light. Been seeing a few hits on my blog coming from this thread and wanted to take the chance to say hello. Thanks for the interest in my Amoeba light. Just to let you know who I am, I am a 46 year old mechanical designer for a major medical device manufacturer in Lakewood, Colorado for whom I have worked for the last 23 years. I have a small milling machine at home that I am producing my lights with. I also have two small children, therefore, I cannot afford $1000 dollars for a kick ass light set up so I made my own. I am now trying to help out others with similar budget constraints and/or desires for LED technology. I am just trying to raise my kids in today’s world, perform at my job during the day, build some lights on Friday and Saturday nights, and trying to get a bike ride in there somewhere. 95% of my riding is done in the dark at 5am because of all of my other commitments, therefore I need lights. I also like sharing my stuff with others that value a handmade, custom light and the service that goes with it. I consider myself a "small batch" brewer of lumens.
Here are a few reasons why people purchase my lights –
1. – Size
2. – Weight
3. – Non proprietary batteries
4. – Customer service
5. – Made by someone who uses his lights on an almost daily basis
and knows the importance of reliability and has the same passion for biking.Everything is custom "built to order". Here is how the process usually works – Make contact with me thru email [email protected]. Then we figure out what exactly you need. Then I have you forward some funds to secure a spot in the next available build que. I then build and ship you your light. You receive your light and are amazed at how incredibly small it is. You then turn it on for the first time on the trail at night and are amazed at how bright it is. Pretty straight forward.
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Hi Jay,
I was actually going to email you and suggest you throw a post over here. (We’ve emailed before, I’m the friend of Jim and Mike)You might also send a PM to element22, as he’s the resident light reviewer. 😉
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I just re-read the GeoManGear’s post and it says to stop using the lights because they want "to protect the safety of (their) customers." Are the battery packs exploding or catching on fire or something?
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The rest of that information is new since I last visited the site.
The light I bought from a supplier in Hong Kong predates the time frame they have listed, as determined by the fact that it is the older 3-way switch rather than the newer 5-way.
Although it’s a bummer, it’s good to see them being proactive about rectifying the situation.
I guess in the meantime, scroll up to Jay’s Amoeba post!
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Yeah, and based on your picture, I have the same battery model as yours.
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My $68 set came with a ‘headlamp’ mount which is actually the helmet mount base, but with stretchy headlamp-type straps on it.
I cut those off and replaced them with some accessory straps like these that I already had from backpacking.
The plastic mount has two strap slots on each side, so by running the strap down the inner one, and then back up through the outer one I can then thread through whatever helmet vents are handy, back through the buckle, and cinch both sides down tight without the buckle ‘following’ the strap. The thick rubber pad on the bottom of the mount stays very steady on my helmet surface, and it ends up working very similar to the system NiteRider uses.
The straps I had are 36" long, so I will need to cut them and melt the ends, but my wife says I should leave them long and let them stream behind me. 😆
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For those who own a MagicShine light, you might want to read up on this thread over at MTBR:
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=664848Apparently a friend of one of the members nearly burned down his house and the battery wasn’t even charging.
This was the older style battery (battery in shrink wrap) and it was not plugged into the light or charging at the time. It was stored in a duffel bag in the closet. -
That post smells like F.U.D. to me. Laptops, cell phones, iPods, Nintendo DS’s, etc all use this same battery technology, and although it’s not unheard of for them to catch fire, it is a rare occurance.
It is also highly unlikely that it caught fire while not connected to the light OR charger…
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I’m taking mine out for its maiden voyage tonight.
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Ok took my new MS 1400 out last night for the first time. They are very very very bright. And a small package I truly thought they would be a little bigger but that’s a good thing. The people I ride with said they want to ride in the front so they can get a tan while riding. I only got to ride for about two hours but no fade on power for that time. I will try and post up some pics soon.
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I went out to Green Mountain last night for the first ride with my Magic Shine 900, and my friend had his Amoeba for its first ride.
The MS is claimed to be 900 lumens, but they are regulating the power at 1000mAh, which implies it really has more like 700 lumens in the actual application.
The Amoeba puts out a confirmed 600 lumens, and mine was definitely a bit brighter, so I’m comfortable saying it has a solid 700.
The beam has a ridiculously bright center spot, with a nice round ring of lesser light that is just enough to light the sides of the trail. With the light aimed about 15′ ahead of me, the bright center was about 4′ wide, and the lesser ring was around 15′ or so. This is just an estimate, but suffice it to say it lit the actual trail like a prison spotlight, with enough side spill that I spotted a deer a ways off the trail.
I didn’t charge it at all, but just used it on the charge it came with. We were out for 2 hours and 15 mins and it was still going strong.
After the ride we chatted with some other guys at the trailhead. One of them had a borrowed Seca 900. My center spot was every bit as bright as his, and carried just as much distance, but his bright spot was larger, with the same brightness across the whole beam.
However, it was not 10x brighter/wider. 😉
I am very satisfied with my purchase, and am plannig to get a second one for the handlebars before my next 24 hour race. Bang for the buck, I’m not sure you can beat the MS models.
@badbandit, On my last ride, before the MS arrived, the batteries died in my old headlamp. Another friend has the 1400 and he rode behind me and lit the way for both of us! That is one bad-a$$ light, and I may get that as my bar mount, and keep the 900 on my helmet. I just haven’t decided yet.
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"ChiliPepper" wrote
Not a good ideal to store a battery in a duffel bag in the closet, though I am not defending the battery issues MS is obviously having. But like I just stated, not a wise ideal to store any batteries like that. Store them openly in a cool and dry place is the safest manner of storing.
Good point Chili. That guy probably doesn’t empty and dry his Camelbak bladder after rides either. 😀
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"trek7k" wrote
That guy probably doesn’t empty and dry his Camelbak bladder after rides either. 😀
You’re supposed to do that? 😮
I do city water in mine and use it almost every day so it’s fine.
The kids’ and wife’s ones I have to clean though.
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All my lights I keep in the garage in a cool place…Not that I am paranoid or anything it just works out that way with the rest of the bike equipment..
As far as brightness yeah the Magicshine do have good light but as stated before they are not 900 lumens…I guess do to the quality of the product you get variances in output…They have almost the same intensity of light as a Seca 900 but not as large of a beam pattern both in lenght and width.. The newer Seca 1400’s are very different pattern then all of them as these don’t really have a hot spot. Rather light just spread over a great distance in width and length.
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"maddslacker" wrote
I do city water in mine and use it almost every day so it’s fine.
Years ago I used to keep my camelbak in the trunk of my car and let’s just say the thing got a little funky with black goo. I do city water in my reservoir too and I only empty/clean every other ride with no issues. Gotta love chlorine!
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That’s exactly what I observed with the other guy’s Seca 900 last night, but again, are they 10 times better? IMO, they are not.
A very little research shows that the 900 claim of the MS is just fluff, as they specifically limit the power to 2400mAh. (I mistakenly said 1000 earlier) Ignoring heat buildup or lack thereof, that LED with that amperage should throw about 700 lumens, and from eyeballing it, that seems to be about right.
Bottom line is, for the price of a decent jersey, I can light up my ride bright enough for recreational riding, and for another $110 I can put an additional 1200 lumens or so on my handlebars for racing!
And it’s no more likely to burn a hole in my pocket than an ipod… 😆
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Yeah, that black stuff the rest of them get is weird. I spent the $10 and bought the official camelbak cleaning kit. It’s a cinch to swab them out now; a job I used to dread!
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Humidity? What’s that? 😆
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