Saw a little LED light at the dollar store yesterday, and thought "How bright can this be?" Bought the 3 AAA alkaline batteries it needed, took it home and waited for dark.
Shone the light around & was flabbergasted (flabbergasted, I say!) at how bright this little thing was. Had a stroke of semi-genius and took out an old NiteRider handlebar mount, rigged the lite to the bar, and presto! A $2 commuter light. Not quite bright enough for the trails, but plenty o' light for the street.
Just makes me think how overpriced lighting rigs are nowadays. In a few years, we'll have lighting systems for the bikes that are under $100 and will be more light than you'll ever need.
I use two as emergency backup. Small cheap, light, and WAY better than a dead battery light system. But barely enough light to crawl home where the street lights aren't after having 1000 lumens on the low setting.
I agree with BrianMC, those kind of lights are good for backup, but you can't rip through the woods at night with those, you'll outride that light the whole time.
I have a this 9 LED light from DX (btw, don't buy this particular model, contact problems on all 4 I bought).
Interestingly enough, one of these are just as bright (no BS!).
*EDIT* I re-read the original post, he did say he was using it as a commuter light, not for trail use. My bad.
Hey, if the OP is out riding the trails with this light and having fun, then it is enough light. No need to recreate the daylight...that defeats the purpose of night riding for some.
I applaud the OP. If you can ride with that amount of light you have my respect. A lady I work with has one of those 9-led models. Usually they sell for around $3-$4.
I have to admit they throw out a fairly bright beam but not much throw. I recently purchased a small AA battery type light from D/X for about $11. The one I have uses only a single led ( type not specified ) and puts out about 50 lumen. Seems to run forever on a single rechargeable AA. The 9-led is a little brighter than mine though. The only thing I don't like about the 9 is that it uses AAA's. Yeah, they make rechargeable triple A's but I don't own any of those. I have lots of other batteries though. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with my little single AA light. Very good for close up work...still, I wanted something a little brighter ( around the same size ) that I can carry in my pocket and use at work. So I spent another $13 and bought a nice little Ultrafire Cree Q-5 5-mode using a single rechargeable CRC123A.
My advice to the OP...Yeah, it's fun to say that you only paid a buck for your light. However unless you have rechargeable triple A's you are still going to have to buy packs of triple A's which is not so fun. Even at a dollar store they are not free. My advice is to use your 9-led as backup and buy a nice 200+lumen torch from D/X for commute duties. The torch will likely cost around $13. If you need rechargeable batteries and a charger another $18 ( shipping free from D/X ) A good torch will make your commute SO much safer. Not to mention it will blow away that little 9-led you now have. Do as I say and you will not regret it. Even if you are satisfied with just the 9 you should still have a back up because something THAT cheap can't be that reliable.
Exactly. I have NiMH AAA's but the Alkalines haven't fired the lights in anger much. The first one was $3, this last one was $2. At that price, a backup for the backup was smart.
I too admire OP's being able to use them for more than an emergency light. I did a lap of the naeighborhood to prove they would do, but I had to ride slow. But then, my night vision isn't what it once was.
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