chrisjunlee Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Wearables, helmet mount, handheld torches, attached to your wheel, etc. What does everyone use? My pick is the Emisar D1 pro: fits in my pocket, and perfect throw @1300 OTF lumens for going ~15mph. con: 1x18650 = 40 minute battery life at full power + no convenient usb charging My ideal handheld light would have about 2 hours @1500 lumens with midrange throw + usb charging. The closest to that is the Olight R50 (1x26650, convenient magnetic usb charging). Will probably pick that up on a refresh. For on-body lights, haven't found anything I like yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidewalk Enforcer Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 (edited) In a previous thread there was some discussion about head torches vs. EUC mounts vs. handheld and handheld won out due to their versatility in adjusting the beam on the fly to accommodate hills, turns, pedestrians etc. . Using this currently: LEDLenser L7 pro: uses standard AAA batteries, a set of 3 rechargeables lasts me 2 weeks to light my way home on my commute (~40 min). Built-in lanyard allows me to secure it to a wrist guard. con: only rated IPX4 - not water-proof. Edited July 21, 2019 by Sidewalk Enforcer typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blicky Te⚡️la Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 Bump 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjunlee Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 I have a lot of enthusiast lights (no 50000 lumen $10 bunk Chinese stuff). Out of all of them, the Emisar D1 is best suited because of the beam pattern. For the speeds I ride at, I need a medium thrower. The emisar is perfectly spec'd for that with a throw of 400m. And just enough spill for close range. You also have 4 different options for beam tints. Among the emisar line, I also have: D1S, which is the thrower version. It has a throw of 700m. Tried it for a week - superb throw, but it's too narrow. D4, which is their flooder. Again, only downside is since it's ridiculously bright (it will be 10x brighter than any of your $10 5,000 lumen lights), it only has a 40 minute battery life using quality IMR cells. The only way to improve on the D1 would be more capacity, aka a 2x18650, 1s2p. If you're new to quality flashlights, here's what these lights are capable of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1fpadz2y3g 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Backe Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 3 minutes ago, chrisjunlee said: I have a lot of enthusiast lights (no 50000 lumen $10 bunk Chinese stuff). Out of all of them, the Emisar D1 is best suited because of the beam pattern. For the speeds I ride at, I need a medium thrower. The emisar is perfectly spec'd for that with a throw of 400m. And just enough spill for close range. You also have 4 different options for beam tints. Among the emisar line, I also have: D1S, which is the thrower version. It has a throw of 700m. Tried it for a week - superb throw, but it's too narrow. D4, which is their flooder. Again, only downside is since it's ridiculously bright (it will be 10x brighter than any of your $10 5,000 lumen lights), it only has a 40 minute battery life using quality IMR cells. The only way to improve on the D1 would be more capacity, aka a 2x18650, 1s2p. If you're new to quality flashlights, here's what these lights are capable of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1fpadz2y3g Great recommendations. Unfortunately a 40-minute run time is a non starter for me. I don't do a lot of night rides but when I do I'm riding for a couple of hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EUC Custom Power-Pads Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 39 minutes ago, chrisjunlee said: If you're new to quality flashlights, here's what these lights are capable I don't know anything about flashlights, so I ask if the quality can be measured by how much heat a lamp can produce? I always thought that this was an undesirable side effect. But I think that a halogen lamp also produces enough heat to sink a sheet of paper, especially if it is freshly enriched with solvent, or? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjunlee Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 45 minutes ago, Marty Backe said: Great recommendations. Unfortunately a 40-minute run time is a non starter for me. I don't do a lot of night rides but when I do I'm riding for a couple of hours. It's infinitely adjustable brightness. You can set it to half power and probably get 90 minutes out of it. 40 minutes is on turbo, 1300 true OTF lumens. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjunlee Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 (edited) 10 minutes ago, buell47 said: I don't know anything about flashlights, so I ask if the quality can be measured by how much heat a lamp can produce? I always thought that this was an undesirable side effect. But I think that a halogen lamp also produces enough heat to sink a sheet of paper, especially if it is freshly enriched with solvent, or? Two parts to efficiency: LED efficiency: this is going to be pretty much the same across the board for LEDs. 20% I think (vs halogen is 3.5%)? driver efficiency: can't comment much on it since I don't know . There are tradeoffs. PWM, direct drive, boost converter losses, etc. The D4 setting things on fire is due to the light beam itself - it's so efficient enough to throw out that much light. Whereas a poor quality light would put out maybe 1/5 of that light, with the rest going into the body. The term is OTF (out the front) lumens. Edited October 4, 2019 by chrisjunlee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjunlee Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 (edited) I spent a silly amount of time the past week looking up other lights, and there was one that stood out: Nitecore EC4S. It is a 2x18650 light, so it would have double the runtime of the Emisar D1. And the build quality is drooltastic. Why I haven't picked it up yet? 2 reasons: beam tint: it's an ugly cool white. I'm a tint snob, and would trade a high CRI warm tint for brightness. beam pattern: my ideal throw is 400 m. This is roughly half of that at the same brightness. This would mean more blinding people. In other words: this is perfect if your rides are ~2 hours, you don't mind cool white, you're a slower 20mph rider that doesn't need the throw. To give you an idea of the Emisar D1 beam pattern: for my preferred cruising speed of ~30 mph, the D1 produces a ~10 ft diameter spot, 7 seconds away. Edited October 5, 2019 by chrisjunlee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huxley Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 (edited) If I was riding then it'll be my Nitecore ea41. 1020 otf lumens, good mix of flood and throw at 376m and uses 4 aa batteries. 1h 45m on turbo is impressive given it's on regular batteries. of all my torches it's my favourite all rounder. Edited October 5, 2019 by Huxley 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjunlee Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 376m sounds great. I can’t wait for more USB-C rechargeable lights, it’s nice not having to manage the batteries separately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.