Has anyone tried the new Gemini lights? I'm particularly interested in the new Titan, 4000 lumen, looks like three duos stuck together. The prices are very reasonable and they now have wireless remotes. Thanks
So 2 bins higher, fit into a bike light, the difference is insanely small, and the higher bins are only seen in higher end lights where companies can afford to update bins constantly. On a dual emitter your talking max 100 lumens difference if they can get the newest and highest cool white bin. Unless you have 2 matching lights side by side with the different emitters and staring at both beams, you will NEVER notice a difference.
And were talking NW as in NEUTRAL white, not natural/warm white. 2 different things. Natural is what we consider warm/high cri. Neutral is the middle ground. Higher output, 5k color temp roughly, slight yellow or reddish tint to the light.
And again your missing half the details, trying to use "shade" and "overcast" as comparisons has little to do with led lighting for these purposes.
Just like your comparing on road use against off road use, the opposite of each other. road lights your lighting up pavement and need some lateral illumination. Its a freaking smooth road. Nor offroad where every detail seen possible can be the difference between a crash or hitting the right line.
And were talking NW as in NEUTRAL white, not natural/warm white. 2 different things. Natural is what we consider warm/high cri. Neutral is the middle ground. Higher output, 5k color temp roughly, slight yellow or reddish tint to the light.
97 more lumens at 2 amps per emitter for the top bin of each. That is about a 12% difference.
The benefit of NW is the higher CRI - 10 more, which is good. Is that worth losing 12% of the light?
For me, probably. I like CRI. Not for everyone. And they would have to reduce their lumen claim if they were into publishing correct specs (or drive the emitters to a higher output with more heat).
12% is best case scenario. Your missing half the details. Like error margin and everything else. That gap closes really fast especially when there is no lights out that are 2 bins higher. Cw bins go u4, NW go to u3 now. I know cause the light im reviewing has u3 3c emitters. So 40ish lumens but the NW can produce 5-6% more while u4 can produce minimum, so difference then cancels out.
And find me a light besides the most expensive that's run u4 bin. you can't. Well except ones just now being released or really expensive. Ya before it would be 2 bins, not now. Lumens are NEVER everything, only to the uneducated are they. Its the quality of how the lumens are used.
We can debate the value of lumens vs light quality. I tend to prefer light quality also.
But I just wanted to point out that there is a reason why not everyone is using warmer and higher CRI emitters that goes beyond preference for cooler vs warmer hues. It is not win win. It is a tradeoff between lumens, cost, and CRI.
The lights with better CRI are harder to make with as many lumens per watt. This is even true of you buy a CREE lamp at Home Depot. They have the $5 ones, and the $16 ones with higher CRI. Both are about 9 watts. The lower-CRI one has more lumens and lower cost.
For the home, I would taker the higher CRI for sure - except for the cost difference. I bought a few hundred LEDs for my home and 300 lamps at $5 vs 300 at $16 is a big difference. Same when a bike-light company has to buy a lot of something.
If Gemini has in fact made the 2016 DUO be 1500 lumens, and they change to NW, then the light will become 1350 lumens. I wonder if they would list that in the spec sheet.
I dont think so. The 2016 Duo ($149) has already been discounted from the $229 2015 price,,,, and is brighter and has wireless remote. So pretty good deal. That's a nice gift for yourself,,,,, enjoy!!!
Can we get some dimensions on the spacing for the Titan's mounting hole to mounting hole for those of us who might want to run these lights on riser bars please?
Does anyone have beam shots of this particular model? Trond, any developments as of yet?
I just had my first ride on my fat bike using the 2015 Xera light with the 2 cell battery. They advertise the run time as 2 hours. It was 30 degrees out, and I ran it on high for 1 hour and 7 minutes on my helmet and got done with my ride to find the battery indicator flashing red. I am bummed by the run time. My Dinotte XML3 is pretty close to stated run times at these temps, maybe not as much when it gets to be -10, but around freezing its pretty close. I put the Dinotte battery on the bottom of the stem, exposed to the cold, but the Gemini I put in an interior pocket of my jacket so I am surprised. Regretting buying the 2 cell battery at this point, because when it gets cold, it will be useless due to the short run time. It performed well, but I shouldn't have trusted the stated run times on the web.
Was that the 1st time you used that light? The reason why I'm asking is out of all the different light sets I've had my hands on over the years (16+sets) there have been times that the battery's needed a few cycles in them to perform as advertised.
Also no matter how good quality of a product I purchase, I always do a couple of run time tests at home with the light set up in front of a 10" fan outside to make sure there is no step down. This always gives me piece of mind so I know exactly what my max runtime is. There are many lights that will still run on the high setting well after the red indicator is showing. That been said for yours to be red after just one hour seems a bit premature and could be as mentioned above, needs a couple of cycles through it if it's a brand new light. If its already had several cycles through it just do the runtime test to be sure. If your getting less than 1:50 then the capacity is down a bit but not bad for cold weather. If its less than 1:30 then the battery may be out of balance or just has a week cell.
Also,,, NEVER charge a cold battery!! Let it warm up to room temperature then charge. Charging a cold battery will kill it.
I don't have the light obviously but I have those exact bars (my mukluk) and a few different riser bars. I can say with 110% certainty seeing the above pics those lights will fit just fine on risers unless you have some 3" riser bars. I have 13mm up to 30mm risers, aluminum except my sixc bars and I can fit triple emitter lights bigger than a glowworm xs on either side with more gap between mounts and stem.
Snopro, no decent light is going to give much beyond an hour on a 2 cell, especially at 30deg. Your problems are both temperature and choosing a 2 cell pack.
Well, then why do they advertise it at 2 hours? I understand that at low temperatures the life is shorter, but the battery is kept in an inside pocket of a jacket, against my body, so it isn't really even that cold so it shouldn't be an issue. It hasn't been an issue with my Dinotte, Niterider or even with my cheap Magicshine knock off, so I can't see why it would be with the Gemini. If the run time doesn't get better, I will contact the business I bought it from to see what they have to say.
I ride in 30 degree weather all the time. Your battery should get at least 1:45 unless you have a faulty battery or charger that's not giving a full charge. My Duo is only 150 more measured lumens than your Xera and I get four hours on a full charge with my four cell. These are good battery's and should give close to advertised run times.
Do a run time test with a full battery in front of a good fan and I'm guessing you should get at least 1:45 of run time.
It sucks when things don't go as expected but I do think if nothing is faulty you will get close to advertised run time. My Duo's four cell is on the top tube more exposed than your battery so give it a try, make sure the lamp head is touching the area of the fan closer to the outer blades as that should give you best air flow. Good luck and keep us in the loop. Cheers!!
I managed to fall asleep so I'm not sure actually........... I remember seeing 2:38 and it was still going but I don't know past that. The temperature must really effect the battery more on this system than any I have used before.
Are you sure the lamp head was in the best position in front of the fan while doing your test. Seems the thermal must have kicked in to get 2:38 after the battery was flashing red at 1:41? Could you tell if it was still on the high setting? The whole thing seems off. I know a light can run for quite a while after showing red which is what happens if I use my old MS Bak four cell battery with my Xera or Duo, but I don't have that happen when using my Gemini battery, hmm.
I was wondering about it too. I had the light about 8 inches in front of a large fan at the end of the blades. When I looked at 2:38 it still seemed pretty bright, but not as bright as it had been, plus the lamp head was perfectly cool so protection must have kicked in, I'm just not sure when.
Some brands of lights will by default power down once they hit that (flashing red) indicating the drop in voltage. Maybe that's what happened.
When I do runtime tests with my Betty-R's, I actually have the lamp heads resting against the housing of the fan. At full power outside in about 40 degree temperature I never have step down. With those lights they stay at full power till the end of which the lamp heads will flash for around ten seconds then shut off. They do have a (reserve mode) that you can turn back on but at very low output to get you out of the woods or if carrying a spare battery to swap out.
Actually that's not a "setting". The light loosing power when the light starts flashing red is because the light drops out of regulation. The pack voltage drops continuously while the light is in use. One that pack voltage becomes lower than the requirement of the head, the driver drips out of regulation and Emitters just run off of what last remaining power they can suck from the pack.
No his issue was thermal step down more than likely. There's no way he got more than about 2 hrs from a 2 cell pack on high unless A) the light was stepped down to a lower mode or B) way over discharged the cells.
B) is all but impossible in this case. So thermal step down is the remaining option.
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