Night Light Review

[SPR]

Anyone in the market for some lights check this out:
http://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/lightshootout/

[shourtt]

I am looking at getting a light. For the money and light patterns they show in the MTBR light shoot out, the JET Phanton SB looks like a great deal.

Any recommendations from other riders?

[bigwheel]

Roger, thanks for the link. MTBR does a nice, fair comparison.

From a homebrew perspetive, I am always looking to see what is the best available, then trying to see how many compromises we would need to make in order to equal its performance with a relatively cheap homebrew.

A couple of things come to mind. First, I opened two browser windows, and put the HID and non-HID pictures side-by-side. Using the $900 Lupine Edison 10 (16-watt HID) as a comparison, you can see some interesting results.

First, put the photo of the Lupine alongside of the Jet Phantom SB (20-watt halogen). You really have to study the photos to see any difference. (Comparing the Jet Phantom to any of the other HIDs, it looks like the Jet's 20-watt halogen is brigher.)

Next, put Lupine alongside of the Turbocat S47 (overvolted 35-watt Halogen MR-16). The Turbocat blows the doors off the Lupine.

So, what is the compromise? Of course, quality is a major factor, but I will ignore it for this argument. The other main factor is battery weight. In short, the Turbocat uses twice the energy of the Lupine, so it will need twice the battery capacity. -- OR half the run time.

Most of our night rides only last about 2 hours. The Lupine's battery is rated for 5 hours of run time. So, it makes sense to me that if you don't mind compromising the (unused) run-time, then 35-watt Halogen is a good option.

If you don't mind compromising some brightness, and "only" having the brightness of a 13-watt HID, then the 20-watt halogen setups are a good choice, and not much heavier than the HID.

The Turbocat web site has an interesting tech discussion that talks about why they chose Halogen and NiCD. http://www.turbocatusa.com/tech.html I'm not sure I agree with everything they say, but it is still an interesting read.