New Gemini light? the Duo?

[kimm2222]

Man-- im stuck between the duo and the gloworm...

Same here. If anyone ends up with both the Duo and the Gloworm I'd love to know how they compare. I'm looking for something for the bars as I already have a Jetlite on my helmet...

:Kim

[rixsurfer]

So I dank the Gemi koolaid and bought a Duo. By the way, props to Action-Led. Shipping was lightning fast. Anyway, I now have all three lights..xera, olympia and duo. Went for a two hour ride last night with this as a helmet light the Olympia on the bar. In general I like the light though, I wish it was more of a spot. Though much brighter than my xera, I didn't feel as it threw quite as far and that's with the spot lens in my xera. The difference, if any was't huge and in reality, for the trails here in N. TX, I'm probably better off with a wider beam. Not many long downhills where I'd need a lot of throw. Rode for two hours on hi and the battery level was still on green with the hard case battery.

Seems very well built as are the other Gemini's I've purchased. Will have to wait till next summer to see how it handles our hot nights. In all, a nice light though I'm still left wanting a tad more. I wish Gemini would make a slightly larger version of the Olympia with 4 leds running around 2400 lumens for my bar and produce a spot lens for the current olympia so I could run it on my helmet. The olympia is just barely heavier than the duo and I didn't even know the duo was there. That would make for a lot of light ....Gemini...are you listening?

[skidad]

Just ran a first 2 cell run down test on the Duo.

Fully charged battery the light went out at 1:16.

Action LED has it listed to run for 1:30 on high. I never noticed it change to Amber color and at approx 1:15 I noticed the button was red and then it went out out 1:16

I have a second 2 cell battery I will try tomorrow to compare results.

[pucked up]

Man, great price for the Duo!

How long is the sale on for?

[herrhaus]

How long is the sale on for?

I asked Jim @ Action the same question....he told me he was planning to leave it there for a while.

[Rakuman]

Got to give it a good test to tonight. Fire roads & socal chaparral singletrack
Well I know the thermal protection works had dim me down once on a climb that 808E wouldn't. but that's to be expected twice the lumen s twice the heat, I'm just gong to have to learn this lights limits. all in all its a really bright light pushes past the Olympias throw limits well and gives you a lot of useable distance.
This is not a super thrower it seems to get about the same distance as a 808e but in a more smoothed spread out pattern. I think with spot lenses and a hotspot this thing would be insane

[MRMOLE]

[QUOTE=skidad;9786994]Just ran a first 2 cell run down test on the Duo.

Fully charged battery the light went out at 1:16.

Action LED has it listed to run for 1:30 on high. I never noticed it change to Amber color and at approx 1:15 I noticed the button was red and then it went out out 1:16QUOTE]

I was going to do a rundown on the geoman battery but since Rakuman did that for us I did one with the 4 cell 5.2ah Gemini battery instead - 2:59 (close enough). I was watching as it aproached 3 hrs. and my lighthead did the same thing as yours, yellow to red and then totally off within 2 minutes. This is not the way any of my other Gemini lights behave on a low battery and not how the manuel describes the way the light should function. I'm going to ride tomorrow night but I think Thursday I'll try another battery. If you try your other 2 cell let me know how it works.
Mole

[skidad]

I got a PM from Chris @ Gemini saying my run times should be better on the 2 cell and my battery was possibly not fully charged. He said leave it on the charger for at least an hour after the light goes to green as it will trickle charge to 100% capacity that way. Didn't know that but will give it a try.

That being said I tested my second (and primarily used) battery and got allot closer to the 1:30 high run time on the Action LED site for the 2 cell. This was before I got the PM from Chris so I will try a 3rd time to see if that improves it even more.

2nd test on high with 2 cell and my primary battery

1:06 to amber
1:19 to red
1:24:45 to power down

With all the programming options available with this light I'm sure I can milk out 2 hours on or near high with the 2 cell. Just cycling it to the low 280 lumen setting at stops during the ride might do it...and I always have my spare. Nice not being attached to an extension cord IMO but a 4 cell in the back pack and just blast away on high and no worries.

[Cat-man-do]

I got a PM from Chris @ Gemini saying my run times should be better on the 2 cell and my battery was possibly not fully charged. He said leave it on the charger for at least an hour after the light goes to green as it will trickle charge to 100% capacity that way. Didn't know that but will give it a try.

That being said I tested my second (and primarily used) battery and got allot closer to the 1:30 high run time on the Action LED site for the 2 cell. This was before I got the PM from Chris so I will try a 3rd time to see if that improves it even more.

2nd test on high with 2 cell and my primary battery

1:06 to amber
1:19 to red
1:24:45 to power down

With all the programming options available with this light I'm sure I can milk out 2 hours on or near high with the 2 cell. Just cycling it to the low 280 lumen setting at stops during the ride might do it...and I always have my spare. Nice not being attached to an extension cord IMO but a 4 cell in the back pack and just blast away on high and no worries.

Keep in mind that cool weather effects batteries and this effects how the circuitry in the lamp reads the voltage on the battery. Voltage sag in cold weather is always a problem with batteries. The smaller the battery, the larger the issue.

Not sure how cold it is where you live but if you did the test inside the house the above paragraph is moot. Likely the battery just needs to recharge again. Trickle charging should not be an issue once the indicator on the charger indicates a full charge. If you doubt the battery is fully charged you can always check it with a meter. Full charge should read 8.4 volts. (DC)

Anyway, since you're powering two XM-L emitters, if you get 1.5hr on high with a two cell battery you should be thrilled. In cold weather expect maybe 1hr 10min to 1hr 20min. In cold weather best to use the bigger batteries.

[MRMOLE]

Hey Skidad,
My second battery test went better too. I was happy with my time on the first test but I wanted to see if the charge indicator/low battery function would work correctly so I hooked up a partially charged 4 cell to save time. Bingo, approx 15 min. of yellow, followed by 15 min. of red and then flashing red and a power step down insteat of just turning off. I think I'm done testing the light in front of a fan for awhile, time for some single track.
Mole

[gticlay]

Hey Skidad,
My second battery test went better too. I was happy with my time on the first test but I wanted to see if the charge indicator/low battery function would work correctly so I hooked up a partially charged 4 cell to save time. Bingo, approx 15 min. of yellow, followed by 15 min. of red and then flashing red and a power step down insteat of just turning off. I think I'm done testing the light in front of a fan for awhile, time for some single track.
Mole

Please test it with the 2-cell in 40-60* weather

[MRMOLE]

Please test it with the 2-cell in 40-60* weather

Sorry, I doin't own a 2 cell battery. Even if I did, looking at the current temp outside, it's 2 am and still 70. I don't think I'll see those temps till December.
Mole

[skidad]

Hey Skidad,
My second battery test went better too. I was happy with my time on the first test but I wanted to see if the charge indicator/low battery function would work correctly so I hooked up a partially charged 4 cell to save time. Bingo, approx 15 min. of yellow, followed by 15 min. of red and then flashing red and a power step down insteat of just turning off. I think I'm done testing the light in front of a fan for awhile, time for some single track.
Mole

Retested the first battery per Chris from Gemini's instrutions

Exact same results almost to the second except I caught the change to amber this time.

1:13 to amber
1:15 to red
1:16 to power down

Only 1 minute from the change from red to power off and almost 9 minutes shorter run time than my other 2 cell. Not complaining here but a bit curious and I sent a PM to Chris. And yes I'm testing the better battery yet again per Chris's instructions.

EDIT: Better battery also tested exactly the same as the first time...almost to the second.

I can check the 2 cell in 40-60 degrees as it's getting below 40 degrees here at night now.

[KonaKen]

I took the Duo out tonight and it's a great light. I wish I had other newer lights to compare it to. My history is with DiNotte 400L lights. I will say that this light is almost too bright. I found myself on tight single track using it at 50% power and I was very happy. It was only on the fastest sections did I use it on full power. I found that the reflections from trees, leaves/branches to be very bright if I had it on 100% Depending on your local trails I could see how you would really want to pick something other than Low, Med or High. I found myself liking 60% and it was pretty cool that I could dial it up and down. I can't comment on runtime but the mount was quick to attach and remove (helmet mount).

I could see how SPOT LENSES would be really great for this light. It has more of a flood pattern and on this cool moist night (55 degrees F) I found that wearing it on the helmet reflected some moisture in my eyes/line of sight. I can see how lowering it to the bars would be nice. I will run this light on the helmet for the time being and wait for a review of the Glowworm X1 and them possibly move it to the bars. Fit and finish seems great, lets see how it holds up. I can say that 4 bikers saw me pulled over on a trail wiring it up as it was dark. They were amazed by the size of the lamp head and waited for me to turn it on. They all gasped when I did

[gticlay]

Are spot lenses available for the Duo?

[herrhaus]

***Snipped version*** I took the Duo out tonight and it's a great light. I will say that this light is almost too bright. I could see how SPOT LENSES would be really great for this light. It has more of a flood pattern and on this cool moist night (55 degrees F) I found that wearing it on the helmet reflected some moisture in my eyes/line of sight. I can see how lowering it to the bars would be nice. Fit and finish seems great, lets see how it holds up.

Used it last night and I agree with KonaKen.

It is really nice to have that much punch on my helmet with a really low weight (had the 4-cell in my pack).

[manbeer]

I've been on the fence about this one as my current xm-l titan seems to be bright enough but is just too heavy on the helmet. I was going to get a xera but now that this is out I don't know if I can resist. I'm starting to end up with way too many lights to put to use

[Action LED Lights]

I've been on the fence about this one as my current xm-l titan seems to be bright enough but is just too heavy on the helmet. I was going to get a xera but now that this is out I don't know if I can resist. I'm starting to end up with way too many lights to put to use

You can always recycle the Titan as a super tail light with our new RED wide angle lens

[manbeer]

Oh wow, thats brilliant! taking the plunge!

[MRMOLE]

I've been on the fence about this one as my current xm-l titan seems to be bright enough but is just too heavy on the helmet. I was going to get a xera but now that this is out I don't know if I can resist. I'm starting to end up with way too many lights to put to use

For a helmet light I mainly use a Olympia or a Xera and accasionally a P-7 Titan or MS 808e, last night I tried my Due on the trails for the first time. On the weight issue the Titan/808e tend to make my helmet move around a little more and fatigue my old neck muscles on longer rides even though it's only 40-60 grams of extra weight. Withg the Xera/Duo/Olympia, other than the battery cord I don't even notice them at all. Since your considering either a Xera or a Duo I'd go with the Duo. Your going to get lighter weight with either and a nicer beam pattern (wider and more throw) but only slightly more power(compared to your current Titan) with the Xera, with the Duo you get the additional throw of the Xera with a much wider/more powerful beam. I even like the Duo over the Olympia for helmet use, almost as floody with better throw.

Too many lights? I find switching my combinations of lights is fun and educational. If I never swithced light combos I never would have tried my Olympia as a helmet light. I learned that as long as it has enough throw, a nice wide beam is good on the helmet too. Some times when I ride my rigid single speed I run a Titan w/wide angle lens on the bars and a Titan on my helmet. That light combo provides pleaty of light for the speeds I go on that bike and it makes me appreciate my more powerful light when I use them. When I ordered by Duo, Jim at Action-LED-Lights sent me a red wide angle lens (for tail light use) to try. Using a headlight as a taillight is interesting. It's hard to evaluate a tail light while riding but my friends that I ride with seem to like it. A good imagination helps justify having many different lights. More lights = more fun!
Mole

[MRMOLE]

[QUOTE=Rakuman;9783494]
I have noticed with Geomans batteries no power meter on any of my lights were accurate so I'm sure you could easily get another half hour out of it...
so if you want to use Geoman batteries with an Olympia when it dims down just unplug to reset and run it at no more than half power to get the most out of these batteries...,
and I see zero issues using them with the DUO


Well I did my own rundown with the Duo/Geoman 6.0 with good results. 3:05 to flashing red/power down. I plugged in an 808e lighthead to that battery and it was flashing red and shut off almost immediately so I think it did a good job of useing up all the batteries charge. I'm thinking that Gemini has tweaked the low battery (voltage) threshold on this light compared to the Xera/Olympia. With the Xera/Olympia the Geoman battery worked OK but would only allow access to a partial portion of the battery capacity. The Duo works better with the Goeman battery than any other lighthead I've tried (808/808e,Titan P-7, BikeRay IV, Xera, Olympia). Runtimes aren't quite as good as the lower powered units but the battery power level light actually works. Blue to yellow (approx. 1.5 hrs.), yellow to red (approx. 2.5 hrs), red to flashing red @ 3:05. Zero issues with this battery/lighthead combo, I totally agree.
Mole

[Cat-man-do]

I've been on the fence about this one as my current xm-l titan seems to be bright enough but is just too heavy on the helmet. I was going to get a xera but now that this is out I don't know if I can resist. I'm starting to end up with way too many lights to put to use

Fighting the urge to upgrade is a tough nut, especially at this time of year when all the new stuff is coming out. Just tell yourself that there are other people with the same problem who are worse off than yourself, then buy what you want. That works for me.

Sooner or later I will see that the extra stuff gets passed on. I'd like to think that at some point some poor Mexican guy working at the local Wendy's is going to get off work at 1:30AM, go out to his 5yr/old Walmart MTB bike he has chained to a light pole and find a sweet DiNotte 600L sitting on his handlebars ( and PBSF on the seatpost flashing away ).

Now I probably won't hang around to see his reaction but I bet he utters something like, "¡caramba"!

[TCW]

I picked up an Olympia/Xera a few days ago and was super impressed. The Olympia beam looks similar to my friends' Seca 1700s, but at only $220 (lighthead, battery and charger), I couldn't be happier. The size and weight is ideal. The Xera on the helmet with the Olympia is simply excellent; so, this Duo on the helmet with the Olympia on the bars will be even better. Good job Gemini (and Action-Led).

A riding buddy was so impressed with the Gemini lights he promptly ordered a Duo. Interested to see what he thinks.

[MRMOLE]

[QUOTE=skidad;9792709]Retested the first battery per Chris from Gemini's instrutions

Exact same results almost to the second except I caught the change to amber this time.

1:13 to amber
1:15 to red
1:16 to power down

Only 1 minute from the change from red to power off and almost 9 minutes shorter run time than my other 2 cell. Not complaining here but a bit curious and I sent a PM to Chris. And yes I'm testing the better battery yet again per Chris's instructions.

Did you ever get an answer from Chris about this? I was wondering since I've experenced the same thing with one of my Gemini batteries.
Mole

[skidad]

[QUOTE=MRMOLE;9803096]

Retested the first battery per Chris from Gemini's instrutions

Exact same results almost to the second except I caught the change to amber this time.

1:13 to amber
1:15 to red
1:16 to power down

Only 1 minute from the change from red to power off and almost 9 minutes shorter run time than my other 2 cell. Not complaining here but a bit curious and I sent a PM to Chris. And yes I'm testing the better battery yet again per Chris's instructions.

Did you ever get an answer from Chris about this? I was wondering since I've experenced the same thing with one of my Gemini batteries.
Mole

Nope, not a peep back from either of my PM's. Perhaps I should just email him @ Gemini as I have no idea how often he checks here?

What makes the battery exhibit that behavior? Some internal circuitry malfunction?