I just got my new bike (and everything) stick light in the mail. I bought a handlebar mount, too. (I still need a headband for it.)
Dang, it seems to be rockin’ powerful. And it seems to have what I need in a bike light.
The main thing is that it takes the huge brightness of a 2-foot Cree hotspot and spreads it out over about 10 feet at a 15-foot range in front of me. Bingo!
And it’s only, like, 5″ long, 1″ diameter and darn lightweight.
The label says 900 lumens but the word is that about 500 come out the end.
It also has 5 modes—including a low that seems pretty bright and would work for reading or normal close range civilian duty for a much longer time-frame.
The only “drawback” is that it uses the 18650 3.7v battery. This seems to be the only way to get beyond the 230-lumen range limit for AA batts. It also has a much longer run-time. I think they’re often lithium batts, which work great in the cold. It’s actually a great battery solution—you just need to have a dedicated set. Oh, this light takes only ONE battery, but I like having a backup. (Note that lithium batteries have serious cautions: follow all charging and use rules. If you don’t, they’re highly flammable in a mean, mean way.)
So, it looks like you can get all you need for $57 (free shipping…takes 2-3 weeks as it comes straight from HK).
I haven’t seen a way to get a big blazing swath of bikeable light for any less. –Or with anything like the versatility of a tiny stick light.
Here’s the price break-down:
$39 MTE SSC P7 flashlight www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060
$10 2-pack protected 18650 batteries, 2500mAh www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790
$6 18650 charger www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3499
—or—
$9 multi-charger (only for 3.7v “exotics”) www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4151
$3 handlebar-mount www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15642
—-or—-
$4 bar-mount www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15342 — just got one of these — might be flimsy — seems easily remedied by epoxy
—-or—-
$2 bar-mount www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8274 — seems good — larger diameter *could* pop out of friction fit but so far mine’s been fine
—-or—-
$2 bar-mount www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.792
https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060
