DiNotte Lights
There seems to be some interest in these lights. I'm not at all surprised, especially given the dearth of technical information on their website. So, here's the breakdown of what we know. There are four distinct light systems available.
1) Single Beam 5W LED light. MSRP $219. This light runs on 4 AA NiMH rechargeable batteries and has a 1 hour 40 minute runtime on high. Low gives you 3 hours. In the image below, it's on the right. The light on the left is the new Blackburn System X3.
2) Single Beam 3W LED helmet light. MSRP $169. This light also uses the AA batteries (same
pack) and gets 2 hours on high and 4 hours on low.
3) Dual 3W LED bar light. MSRP $289. This light is the odd duck in that it uses it's own battery. This is a Li-Ion system and gets 4 hours on high and 8 hours on low.
You'll notice that the light on the left has a different lens than the one on the right. That is because the rings on the left lens helps to spread out the beam, giving it less of a spot.
4) Red LED tail light. Not sure on the cost. This light uses the same AA pack as the others and gets 3 hours on high (blindingly bright) 6 hours on medium (too bright to look at), 12 hours on low (still brighter than almost anything) and 12 hours on flash (might send you into convulsions).
My favorite of the bunch so far is the helmet light. It is small, light, has enough light and features red LED's (the normal variety, not high power ones) on the back of it.
My bike now looks like this from the front...
Left to right: DiNotte Double, Ciclosport HAC4 -- which these lights don't mess with but the HID lights do -- Blackburn System X3 and DiNotte Single 5W. Plus the helmet light. When they are all on, it really lights up the road!
Ok, normally my bike doesn't look like this, but since the review is scheduled for mid January, I need as much time on them all as possible and this lets me swap between them constantly to get a feel for them on various conditions. On my mtb I can fit more lights than my road bike.
4 comments:
I expect there's a lot of interest in these lights! And I envy your your handlebar-full, you must be able to light up night football games with all those.
The DiNotte is intriguing but the website is pretty worthless. It's certainly not clear that they make multiple products. I like the idea of the 5W emitter and wonder how bright it is.
Right now, today (12/5), you can get 20% off on anything at Nashbar (with their promo code from the home page). The DiNotte 5W light is $199.99, so you could get it for $160. Trouble is, I see nearly nothing about peoples' experiences with these lights and hate to toss away even $160 on a unit like this.
The 3-LED Cateye Triple Shot looks intriguing as well. It also costs a fortune.
I eagerly await your tests!
I didn't know either that DiNotte makes more than one light.
Did I read this right? You'll wait until mid January for the review? By that time Winter is almost over! What's the reason? Can't you at least post a pre-review, with a bit of more information on the lights?
I ordered two Light & Motion Vegas a week ago and can't wait to receive them. I have absolutely no experience with high-powered bike-lights, so am not sure what awaits me. I wanted compact self-contained lights, without any external battery pack, so the Vegas seemed the most suitable. I'm skeptic though whether they'll light up the road far enough ahead of me, for me to be able to travel at 20-22 mph (my average commute speed).
But I got them at such a good deal at $104 each (street price is somewhere around $130), that I'm hoping, if these don't work for me, I should be able to sell them for at least what they cost me.
Georg
Clearwater, FL
Matt, The Triple shot is nice, but I wouldn't say amazing. The double shot is amazing. Cheaper, lighter and brighter, though it is very much a spot beam.
schorschi, The review won't be until January because, well, because it takes time to do these things properly. Plus, I am still receiving lights, so I have to wait on that too. The Light and Motion Vega is a very nice LED-based light. Check out my review of the Vega for more info. You do get enough light, but you don't get a very broad beam. LED's are still spots, in general,with very little light spill to the sides.
As I said in my post, I like the compact size of the DiNotte lights, but the others are nice too. I'll be posting soon on the Blackburns that have arrived also, and they are a bit cheaper than either the DiNotte or CatEye.
James,
Beam width won't be a problem for me. My commute is on medium to heavy traffic two- and three-lane roads that are mostly well lit, but have some dark stretches. There are few turns.
Will be happy to read whatever review you'll publish.
Georg
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