AAA/Rechargable Powered Lower Ln Headlights?

[DismalScientist]

What do you mean by lower lumen?

I’m a fan of cheap Chinese mini-flashlights with cheap handlebar clips bought on ebay.

[GuyContinental]

@DismalScientist 26642 wrote:

What do you mean by lower lumen?

I’m a fan of cheap Chinese mini-flashlights with cheap handlebar clips bought on ebay.

As in not the 300ln of my MTB lights but enough to fill in some shadows. ~75-100 ln? I’ve had no luck getting one of the cheapo LED lights to survive so much as 2 charges- any that you’ve used to good effect?

It looks like the newest Tika headlamps can put out 70ln, maybe that’s my answer…

[DaveK]

I got one of these for my brother and he seems to like it well enough – http://www.cygolite.com/products/new/Expilion/expilion250.html

Lezyne also recently started making a really cool looking light that I might end up buying for myself – http://www.lezyne.com/led-lights

[GuyContinental]

It’s clearly been too long since I looked for lights…

http://www.ebay.com/itm/240Lum-CREE-Q5-LED-Flashlight-BICYCLE-bike-Head-Light-/170883608136?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c974ee48

$5 for 80 / 250 ln

[Certifried]

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_536905_-1___203598

• Small and light for easy transport and less clutter on your bars
• 4 super-bright white Nichia LEDs throw out 40 lumens to light your path and keep you visible
• USB smart charger gives you flexibility and prevents overcharging
• Standard, Overdrive and Flash modes

$8.39, on sale

[Starduster]

If you are looking for a light that puts more light ON the road than a “blinkie”, but don’t want to blind oncoming riders on the trail (W&OD or Mt. Vernon), there is this option- lights designed to the German StVZO standard. They will share a headlight beam with a sharp cutoff- just like a good low beam headlight. Sorta important as LED emitters continue to progress well beyond halogen bulbs in brightness. USB charging ports on many (not all, just yet). Lights from Busch + Muller, Supernova, and Phillips from here: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/index.html.

Um, OK, not necessarily cheap, but you do get what you pay for…

[FFX_Hinterlands]

I’ve had good luck with low-discharge AA/AAA and this MAMA Charger (comes in 1 hr and 2hr). You can charge from 1 to 8 batteries, which is important because many of the lights come in 3 cell varieties.
http://www.thomasdistributing.com/MAHA-MH-C801D-AA–AAA-Battery-ChargerbrDELUXE-8-Cell-Professional-Battery-Charger-w-Full-LCD-Display_p_2559.html

I use this headlight, which is small, cheap and has a decent blinky mode. It’s not quite bright enough for unlit trails by itself ( use it with another light). I keep it strapped to my helmet from fall unti spring:
http://www.petzl.com/en/node/16804

Also I love this super bright and super cheap headlight (4xAA):
http://www.dontgethit.com/3waledbihe.html

[GuyContinental]

@Starduster 26732 wrote:

lights designed to the German StVZO standard.

It’s a good point- I have no good way of dimming my winter dual Nightrider set-up short of my hands (which works well) so I generally have them pointed down and off trail right lest I blind people in places where I need my hands on the hoods.

Was blinded by my first 500ln strobe of this morning… sigh. I. Hate. Strobes. On. Trails.

[Terpfan]

I kept forgetting to replace the AAAs in my rear red blinky. I finally stopped in today at Radio Shack. They had a sale running if you buy two packs of four you get two more packs free. I almost bought this and then realized I could buy 36 for $2 more ($12total). So I’m the owner of 36 AAA batteries now. I not run out of lighting anytime soon, ha.

[thecyclingeconomist]

I was happy that someone posted a link to peterwhitecycles, they have a great set of products. Also, my lighting kits come from http://www.dinottelighting.com. Not cheap, but i get 4 hours with over 1000ln’s on high out of the larger Li/ion battery. You can get an adapter to plug into a usb I believe. Dinotte makes awesome AA compatible models so you can use rechargeables instead of the li/ion.

Another awesome resource: http://www.surefire.com (An avid cyclist: Jim Verheul works there.)

[Dirt]

I have a set of Cat-eye lights left over from TJROW that, if I recall correctly are both AAA-powered AND USB rechargable. They might be AA-powered. They are not the most amazing lights in the world, but I’d be happy if someone actually gave them a whirl to see if they might work.

Send me an IM.

[CPTJohnC]

I know this is an older thread, but if you’re still looking for a solution, and if you’re a Costco shopper (or have a friend), they have 150 lumen (or maybe they’re 200 now?) ‘tactical’ flashlights 3 for about $17/20 per pack. They take three AAA batteries (I run Duracell rechargeable with great success. I have not had great luck with Eneloops, though others swear by them) have a high/low/blink option, and work great with TwoFish lockblocks/flashlight holders. I get about 2-3 hours from a full charge on high if the weather isn’t too cold. When the temps dip below freezing, the run time is probably closer to 1.5-2 hours.

They’re no 400 Lumen monster, but they throw a fair bit of light – enough that I could ride the Towpath at night and not worry that I wouldn’t see a huge rock or other major obstruction. Sure, they’re regular flashlights, so the beam pattern isn’t truly proper for cycling, but they do the job well enough for occasional or backup use. I preferred having one mounted on my helmet so that I could point it where I needed it.

[FFX_Hinterlands]

Hey, one more note. I found out this summer that Bikes @ Vienna is a dealer for Peterwhitecycles. They have a bunch of their lights in stock if you want to check them out. You can also order anything from the Peterwhitecycles website and have it shipped to Bikes@vienna for free, the last time I checked.

I upgraded my lights to a bottle generator this year and lower end B&M lights (Lyt). My front wheel is a roller brake 26″, so the hub dynamo choices are not great. As a bonus I have a bottle generator mount on my fork for drama-free mounting. The big difference between the B&M lights is that they have a a good amount of cutoff to avoid blinding oncoming riders (light beam is more like a rectangle). The light pattern on the typical magicshine-ish light is a big bullseye.

[GuyContinental]

Thanks for all of the replies- at the end of the day I ordered a Chinese ebay special that is amazingly bright, particularly for the price ($13):

LINK

However, I dithered for so long that I ended up going straight from my little Blackburn Flea (USB) to my winter & MTB set-up of bar-mounted NR mininewt X2s, using the Flea as back-up. Consequently, the linked light is currently on household duty. I also bought a pack of the previously mentioned CostCo lights (actually the harbor freight version) but 2 out 3 of them have already died- the PCB is not durable enough for rough handling (but they were super cheap and may actually be different from the CostCo type).

[CPTJohnC]

I hope you have better luck with the Chinese lights than I had. My taillight is going strong, but the headlight died after a week or two. I’d have to wonder whether the harbor freight lights are really the same as the Costco ones; I’ve been using my Costco lights (older 100 lumen units) for almost 2 years now with no issues, including plenty of pounding on the towpath. My son also uses them for boy scout camping trips, and trust me when I say a middle school boy is tough on equipment. Not sure what PCB stands for in this context, but I’m assuming you mean the plastic? My Costco lights are all machined aluminum and quite solid. Definitely up to the standards of my Mag-light products, though probably not as good as Fenix or some of the other high end makers.

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