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2014 Mtbr Lights Shootout

42K views 157 replies 41 participants last post by  Francis Cebedo 
#1 ·
Phase 1 is here:

2014 Mtbr Bike Lights Shootout | Mountain Bike Review

It is not perfect so please look it over and let me know about comments and feedback. I wanted to get it out as soon as the time changed.

I'm testing a dozen more lights this week to add to the shootout for Phase 2. And I'll shoot a few videos to select my top picks.

Here's the excel spreadsheet doc. Please make me some graphs that show the data better.

claimed vs actual lumen

lumen per dollar

lumen per gram

etc.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0isJlpsmGimZ2M0V3VteG5YTGM/edit?usp=sharing
 
#5 ·
Francois, can you clarify the following statements that is on all the individual light reviews right above the tunnel photo?

"Cones and targets are set up with the far target set up at 120 yards."

And then on some reviews it mentions..

"Cones and targets are set up with the far target set up at 80 yards."

The photos don't look anywhere close to 80/100 yards. The markings on the ground I assume represent feet so the target on all these photos should be 120 feet. Right??

Thx
 
#11 ·
That Bontrager looks tiny. Very impressive. $99 for a 700 lumens self-contained light is going to be hard to beat. That 1200 lumen Cateye is going to be another big hit.

One thing that I would like to see more info on is the battery replacement in the self-contained lights (especially if they are built-in). Does the manufacturer offer a replacement battery service and what is the cost of this? I know some of the older Luminas used regular 18650 that could be swapped out by the user. I would hate to see all of these lights end up in the trash three years from now, just because the battery life is a third of what it used to be. After all, the leds themselves should still operational years from now. The lights will undoubtedly be better at that point, but you could still use it for an around town beater bike.

I'll miss the backyard beamshots, but it was sacrificed for a good cause. The pump track looks like a lot of fun!

P.S. I think you forgot to sticky this thread
 
#16 ·
The Seca is awesome but it just a tired design. Long wire, old batteries. But it has a beautiful beam pattern and the old head can still handle the heat of all the lumens.

But the Wilma is just a work of art at 2770 lumens, lumens/dollar, lumens per gram.

I do like the Taz 1000 though at $250. That is a good one.

fc
 
#22 ·
I will recheck it. I think it's related to heat. These light heads are so small compared to the 4500 lumen claims that they're too bright for the heatsinking available. We take readings at the the 30 second mark and our fan was tiny.

fc
 
#25 · (Edited)
For XC riding this year... I would say 1200-1400 lumens. That could be one 1200 lumen light on the bar or 700 on bar and 700 on the helmet.

Lumens get cheaper each year so I tend to ratchet up a little every year.

Generally:

- the faster you go, the more lumens you need so you don't outrun your light.

- the more people you ride with, the more lumens you need. That's because someone will have a super bright light and your eyes will adjust to their bright light.

What do others think?

fc
 
#39 ·
How about some comparisons with lux instead of lumens? $/lux, lux/gram, etc. I copied this from another thread:

Remember when "lux" was supposed to be more important than "lumens"? Compare the lux & lumens of the Gemini Olympia vs the Seca Race:

Lumens: 1477 vs 2022 (Seca Race has 36.9% more lumens)
Lux: 153 vs 170 (Seca Race has 11.1% more lux)
$/Lux: 1.96 vs 2.94 (Seca Race costs 50% more $ per lux)
 
#40 ·
Lux is really not that relevant. It measures light output at a specific spot in the beam pattern.

We do something called Mtbr Lux which is the ambient lux reading of a light meter when the light is pointed at the ceiling in a controlled room. This number is really easy for us to get but it is only relevant to us for the basis of comparison. We used this a lot when we didn't have access to a $20,000 machine that measures lumens, an integrating sphere.

An integrating sphere measures lumens, which is the total output of a bike light. It measures by capturing all the light from a light and bouncing it on a sphere and collecting the light output. So lumens is the end all, be all for measuring light output.

fc
 
#50 ·
Attached is the Excel file that I used to make the graphs.

I added a couple columns to convert the run time and charge time to minutes in case anyone wanted to use them in a calculation. There were a couple I couldn't decipher from the original data (highlighted in yellow). I added a couple macros so you can re-sort the graphs.

I can update as new lights are added.

View attachment 2014 Lights Shootout.zip
 
#52 ·
Hopefully Francois will have a definitive answer for you mb323323. Looking on Cateye's website and checking out the manual, it appears that the battery's are in a proprietary format. The disturbing thing though is I couldn't find anywhere on their website where you could order a spare battery. Hopefully an oversight on my part.
 
#53 ·
Look at this page
HL-EL1000RC | CATEYE

They have a replacement battery listed. It actually looks like the whole back of the light (the black part) is the battery cartridge. My guess is that it is not meant to be on-the-fly replaceable though, not like the lezyne lights.

Edit: It takes two or three allen bolts to remove the battery. I attached a picture from the manual. I wouldn't do this on the trail.

Motor vehicle Text Font Automotive lighting Parallel
 
#55 ·
Look at this page
HL-EL1000RC | CATEYE

They have a replacement battery listed. It actually looks like the whole back of the light (the black part) is the battery cartridge. My guess is that it is not meant to be on-the-fly replaceable though, not like the lezyne lights.

Edit: It takes two or three allen bolts to remove the battery. I attached a picture from the manual. I wouldn't do this on the trail.

View attachment 845215
ugh!! man i'm blind,,, thanx.
 
#56 ·
don't see why people are so excited over this Volt 1200 light. yeah it's self-contained so what.

to me Gemini Olympia is the standout light here.

from top to bottom: Seca / Olympia / Volt :





the first light ( Seca ) is expensive out of the box, and a replacement / additional 6 cell L&M battery is $200, which IMO is downright unethical. The last one ( Volt ) is clearly inferior, but the middle one ( Olympia ) has a great price / performance balance IMO, and the ability to use MagicShine batteries IMO is a huge plus.

the beam pattern of the Olympia looks incredible - a work of art ! they were able to get beam quality similar to the Seca from a much smaller and simpler light head and for much cheaper - outstanding !

if you look carefully starting from the top beam shot and going down, the Seca lights up everything more or less evenly, going down to the 2nd beam shot the Olympia looks similar to the Seca but is just slightly narrower. going down again to the Volt suddenly it just turns to !@#% with mostly one giant artifact instead of a beam - too much light in the nearfield, almost none on the sides, and an ugly abrupt transition.

yes i understand i am comparing a self-contained system to wired systems. the Volt isn't bad for a self-contained light, but the obsession with self-contained is IMO irrational.

as for the Olympia - yes it is unfortunate that they lied about the Lumens, the cooling looks questionable for the output, and the mount is not what i would prefer but if we were looking at beam patterns alone this would be my top pick !
 
#71 ·
to me Gemini Olympia is the standout light here.

the beam pattern of the Olympia looks incredible - a work of art ! they were able to get beam quality similar to the Seca from a much smaller and simpler light head and for much cheaper - outstanding !

as for the Olympia - yes it is unfortunate that they lied about the Lumens, the cooling looks questionable for the output, and the mount is not what i would prefer but if we were looking at beam patterns alone this would be my top pick !
I agree with you on this one. The Olympia lights up the entire tunnel with a very even pattern and still allows you to see directly in front. The Lupines are so intense up front you can barely read the 45 degree and 20' marks. Everyone has been throwing Gemini under the bus for the lumens claims, and they threw the baby under the bus with the bathwater.
 
#57 ·
Yeah, got an email from Cateye and they said it can be replaced but you do have to buy their battery. They don't have the cost yet but said around 100. That takes me out and it's is probably too big for the helmet anyway.

So far I still can't beat my cheap Ultrafire 502b w/ several Panasonic 3100 mah batteries. 15 for the light and about 20 for the batteries and charger and yes, I can replace on the trail no issues.

Still waiting for Dinotte to come out w/ something awesome that is self contained and very small for the helmet.

MB
 
#62 ·
Cygolite... It's very frustrating dealing with them since they don't want to send lights. They just do not want independent reviews of their lights.

We might purchase them for the review but they don't like that either. Just strange.

fc
 
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