Lights

[phil_rad]

To be honest Dave, I haven't taken it out on the trails yet. I'm building a wheel for my mtb, when its done I will get out in the dirt. I think though that it will be good. For tight switch backs a helmet light is still a must. But the beam from the e-3 is pretty wide. In all honesty its not cheap, but you don't have to deal with batteries. Thats what sold me.

[bmike-vt]

i've had mine out in the local park and on nasty gravel and dirt at night, in the rain. (i'm running an edelux with SON on my rando rig).
plenty of light - but i'll flick on the helmet light to see around corners or no pick out a line further up the road and to the left and right.
when riding single track trail in the parks it is tough to see round trees / corners with just the light (mine is fork mounted).

i'm also running an asymmetrical beam for the road - it has very sharp cutoff in the light - so it throws everything available up the road where you need it. for trails i'd get the e3 in symmetrical beam with lots of overflow, and still have a headlamp to switch on and off for technical sections.

[SimonK]

I like the dinottes, but you do have to be real careful to keep the batteries dry.

John Nobile use a lightweight dyno at the GDR 08 and seemed to keep up a pretty good pace. I seem to remember him say it cost about $150. When he gave it a spin it looked incredibly efficient

[Slowerthensnot]

Just a heads up a little bird told me of another re-mix light in the works at p-tech is gonna be pushing 100 lumens and be light and cheap

[phil_rad]

By now I've tested my Supernova E-3 tripple and shimano dynamo hub combo on a few trail rides and I can say that this thing is great! More than enough light power for single track. In combination with a helmet mounted light its all anyone would need IMO. It's not cheap, about 450$ but you don't need to mess with batteries, for me its worth it. There's no noticeable drag from the dyno hub. At slow speeds, like going uphill or going around a tight switchback you loose a little bit of light, cause it drops down to one led but its still enough to see well. At low speeds it still out shines my Tikka XP.

Happy trails!

Phil 

Now that is a good looking light!  550 lumens from a dynamo - that's a lot of light.  Plus, a dynamo is a lot cheaper than all the rechargable batteries I've invested in...

It drops down to one LED at/below 8mph.  While I like the concept of more light at speed, I'm not so sure the light would offer sufficient light at low speeds in the techy stuff.  Any comments on that aspect?

[spikolli]

this is the setup I am working on

http://www.fenixtactical.com/fenix-ld20.html

A friend of mine with night blindness used this setup at Primal Quest South Dacotah with good success.
 
Up to 180 lumens down to 9 lumens. 2 AA batts twofish lockblocks to handlebar. simple bright tough

I've tried BLT firewire (good light, bad bracket) Minewt (bright light, short burn, only rechargable) Petzl headlamps (myo xp and duo, great burn and battey availably not enought lumens )

Just need to see how this setup works in the cold. Regulated output lights have problematic in the winter here.

my two cents
Craig

[Pivvay]

AA Lithiums will go a long way towards fixing the cold issue. They're pricey though!