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2012 Mtbr Lights Shootout.

142K views 569 replies 137 participants last post by  indebt 
#1 ·
I'm working on it now. I have a ton of lights and I'm getting a bunch more!!!

It will be broken up in a Commuter and High End category.

What do you guys want to see?

Here's some sneak peak photos.

- ok light
- very flat beam pattern light
- bright light :)

fc
 

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#3 ·
I think you have done good job breaking it down in the past. I like the idea of "commuter" and "high end" for sure.
Battery life on max is always what I'm looking for.

What light is photo 3? Pretty much makes it daylight out.

I'll be waiting to see the shootout.

Thanks,
Woody
 
#4 ·
I'd like to see comparisions between the china lights (bike ray, magicshine ect ) VS Niterider, Light and Motion ect. I'm torn between spending more on those non china lights or just dealing with the battery problems. Old L&M Arc is on it's last days and I need to make a informed decision.:confused:
 
#9 ·
I second this.

I bought a Cygo-Lite Centauri 1000 OSP back in spring of this year and while it's been working well since then, I feel it's power is a bit wasted with it being so much flood and not enough throw. I would REALLY like to see a beam comparison between the Bike Ray IV and a high end cygo or nightrider.
 
#8 ·
I think grouping by light output would be helpful, but it doesn't need to be specific. Something like:

Commuter/Be Seen: < 200 lumens
General Riding: 201-1000 lumens
Ah, my eyes!: 1000+ lumens

And some sort of grouping by price would be great as well since budget is a limiting factor for almost everyone. As someone else said, light setting on high is all I care about.
 
#10 · (Edited)
It will be broken up in a Commuter and High End category.

What do you guys want to see?
This sounds like a good idea at first glance but one person's idea of a commuter light is another persons MTB light.

As for what I would like to see: Francois you have a very nice back yard but it lacks the distance needed to demonstrate the throw capability of the brighter lights. Ideally I would like the lights demonstrated in a flat trail/dirt environment or fire road. It has to be wide to demonstrate the width of the beam pattern but it also needs a good 200 to 150ft of distance...hopefully with some trees or brush near by to help judge depth. Also distance markers starting at 50ft. and continuing every 25ft. till about 150-200ft. ( for the throwers )

I'm sure the commuters will want at least one beam shot on a road with at least one or two distance references which wouldn't be a bad idea.

Now if you can't get a longer place for testing I suppose a way to compensate would be to place a *lux meter at the longest distance and give us that reading. Even better, three lux meters spaced out so wider beams get some credit. (*now if lux meters won't work at distance forget that idea. )

Anyway, just my thoughts. I realize much of what I said won't be done but you did ask "Want do you want to see"?
 
#11 ·
We're getting to the point where beamshots are not all that useful anymore due to the limitations of digital photography and computer displays.

I'd like to see a measurement at distance of how wide the brightspot (down to 50% of max beam brightness) is at several distances, say 25', 50' and 100' then how wide the beam is overall to 90% of brightness for the spill. I don't know if that's possible, but one ought to be able to do that with a spot light meter or an incident light meter, I would think.

Those two pieces - the measurement and the beamshot would tell us a lot more about the beam and brightness and usability of the light.

J.
 
#19 ·
Can't wait to see this years offerings. As far as technical readings at distance and whatever else. That's a bit technongeek. A measurement isn't going to mean squat on the trail. A 500 HP car isn't squat if it doesn't get it to the ground but on paper its impressive.

I think beam shots like last year possibly from behind the light source a bit back or different landscape to really showcase lights beam and throw would be more use full.

Just a thought.
 
#24 ·
ditto the ^. Beam shots on some kind of non-reflective surface (ie. not grass) with more distance - fire roads are excellent for this. Also, if you want to better reflect what the eyes see, drop the exposure time on the higher powered lights. I don't know if you're still using 6s, but I find that setting washes out the brighter beam patterns and doesn't accurately represent what my eyes see. If you want continuity between lights of different power, do all of them at one exposure then the mega lights at lower exposure times.
 
#25 ·
Great insight!

I've maintained my camera settings over the years.
Camera - Canon G9
Setting - full manual
ISO - 100
Exposure - 4 seconds
Aperture - F4.0
Focus - Manual
White Balance - Daylight

It works well as it similutes what I see with my eyes. But with these lights over 2000 lumens, there is a washout effect on the grass.

Dropping the exposure times to 2 seconds, etc. may prove really useful for comparing these ultra powerful lights.

fc
 
#28 ·
you're welcome. I had this problem trying to capture the beam patterns on my collection of DIY lights that ranges from 100 - 2000lm. 2s with a Cateye EL320 (?) wasn't any different to moonlight, 6s with my dual XM-L@3A was like daylight :)

I also think the ceiling bounce/ wall shots are still useful for getting an idea of how the light is distributed within the beam. That together with the outdoors beam patterns should give people a good idea what it should look like.
 
#31 ·
Francois,

Do we have an estimated ETA before seeing the first round of results? Are we talking 1 month, 2 months out etc? I am looking to make a rather large purchase and am unable to get my hands on these lights locally so your reviews will be very helpful in framing my decisions. Especially on the lupine with the various beam angles and xpg/xml color rendition/configurations.

Thanks
 
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