Powerful LED torch for MTB night riding

[IbocProSX]

Don't know if it's been covered before but thought I'd share this with you. I've been looking for some big lights recently, Hope Vision, Exposure, Lupine Betty etc. All great stuff but looking at say 300 GBP I hesitated. Then I found this review advocating SSC P7 LED flashlights as suitable for riding: http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/mountain_bike_lights_review_led.html

My non-educated guess this is China manufactured LED emitters for the automotive market and battery tech from laptop PC's. With the flashlight market being much bigger than the bike-light market it all adds up. I got a 900 Lumen torch, 2 Li-ion batteries, a charger, helmet and handlebar mounts including shipping to Holland for 80 $US! (62 EUR).

It weighs in at about 200 grams with battery and lasts 60-80 minutes at Max setting on a full charge, 2 hours on Medium. It's an all aluminium housing sealed with an O-ring, the threaded cap feels well made too. Battery change is a 1 minute doddle, and the extra battery weighs 50gr.

I've opted for a newer, slightly larger and more powerful MTE model than the article. It features a metal reflector, a wider beam pattern for trail riding and some extra settings (Lo-Mid-Hi). Don't know if they make the claimed 900 lumens, but frankly I don't care. I reckon even in Mid setting it's good enough for riding, very bright indeed.

Note: the links to the HongKong supplier do not work at time of posting, sorry, they were fine earlier today. I hope it's just something like server maintenance. I will post updates here how it's holding up, but if it survives the first few rides I'm ordering a second one for a different beam pattern and back-up.

Edit: I just saw that I posted this in retro chat,
Apologies, I had intended to post it in off-topic.

Enjoy!!

 

[onza100]

I to have one of these and found it very good value

 

[IbocProSX]

Have you had it for a while and have you crashed it at all?

 

[onza100]

I tend to crash often! heres a pic with one torch mounted on my bars sorry about the bad quality

 

[No Longer Registered]

I picked up a Aurora P7-2 torch a few months ago. It is similar in size to a Exposure Joystick but with a bigger collimator and 30g heavier. It has a larger and more intense throw of light over a joystick and similar run time on full power. The switch is larger than joystick and easier to use but does not have LED battery level indicator. The torch is supplied with a second battery, so if you do get caught out then you can swap batteries on the fly.
Charge time is a lot longer than a joystick, it takes a good 4-5 hours for the li-ion batteries to charge with the supplied charger.
My colleague at work has a larger version, P7-3. This unit uses two cells, the same emitter and has a larger diameter collimator, this light is seriously bright but is more of a bar mount light as it is more cumbersome and heavier than P7-2.
You can ship either of these torches with batteries and charger to the UK for £45-55. Two lights for less than a Joystick.... ohh and if you want to securely mount the P7-2 to your helmet then you can use a USE Exposure Joystick helmet mount as the P7-2 clips straight in.

 

[onza100]

is that from deal extreame to?

 

[onza100]

is that from deal extreame to?

 

[No Longer Registered]

Yes they supply them. I got mine from a chap in Hong Kong and it was a few quid less as they exchange rates were more favorable at the time.

 

[IbocProSX]

Onza100 it's good to hear they can take a knock too.

My kit is from dealextreme tooTheir site is still down though (to me at least). I've seen the Aurora and a few other brands/models as well. Stuck to the MTE as it got some decent reviews from a Norwegian MTB site, very authentic enthousiast chaps.

The first time charging my 2 cells took 3 hours, but they could have been part charged during shipping as that's recommended for longer storage too.

 

[No Longer Registered]

In all honesty I think there is little that distinguishes the MTE and Aurora lights barring slightly different shaped body's and colimators. The switch gear, emmitors and batteries all seem to be much of a muchness.