Mini-USB

Nope, not the connector, the light.

Thursday's mail brought me the new Minewt Mini-USB Plus light. You may remember my earlier post about it. Rather than rehash the specs, check them out HERE, but come on back afterward.

Now, I figured that the battery was smaller and it is, take a look:

It's the same length as the original, but smaller in every other dimension. The connector is different too, something I didn't anticipate. Again, new battery/connector on the right, standard MiNewt on the left:

I actually like the new connector better, though it doesn't take much of a tug to pull it free, which can be good or bad, depending on whether the tug was intentional or not.

Because I got the Plus version, the box came with a helmet mount and an extension cord. The light head itself is very similar to the Minewt we all know and love, but is made of plastic this time around. Remember, this is a budget light, so the use of plastic here isn't all that alarming.

Keeping with the budget theme; the LED used isn't the highest bin so it's slightly yellower than what is used in the standard Minewt and used by the competition. Place it next to a halogen light, however, and the Mini-USB looks nice and white.

More Seca

I just received some more information regarding Light and Motion's upcoming Seca line of lights. Nothing new in the way of spec's, but--and this is important--images! The info we've received up to now can be found HERE and HERE. Now these images are of preproduction units, so the finish isn't quite up to what you are used to seeing from L&M, but it's close. Also, the colors are close, but slightly off, too.

First up, the Seca 400:

Front--frankly, this is the most interesting image of them all, I think:

So, there are six emitters and two--maybe three?--different beams patterns. Interesting.

Front, right corner:

There will be an elastic strap on the mount used to affix the light to the bars.

Top:

Here you can see the switch and the heat sinks. I suspect that the 6 emitters--and the associated circuitry--generate some heat!

The Seca 700 looks much the same, but has different colors.

Front, right corner:

Top:


I, for one, can't wait to see how well they perform. Since Light and Motion seems to be betting the farm on these--no more Arc, remember?--I suspect that they are making sure that it will be trouble free and, above all, BRIGHT right out of the gate.

More 400L

We previewed the new 400L on Monday, and our local postal carrier dropped off not one, but two--one front light and the new tail light--400L's at the Lactic Acid Threshold headquarters on Thursday. Now that's service.

First off, I was a little surprised by the switch location. It's on the front. This will make it easy to use on the tail light and it will make it easy to find when helmet mounted. The new mount gets in the way of putting the button on the back like they've done up till now.

Second, it's not a very big light. If you take a 200L and turn it sideways, you've got--roughly--the same size as the 400L. I've got a really crappy picture showing what I'm talking about:


The helmet mount affixes to the helmet like the current ones do, but offers a greater range of tilt adjustment.

It might be an illusion, but the lenses seem to be larger in diameter as well.

I've not had the chance to use the lights yet, but I will over the weekend and I'll report back my initial thoughts, naturally.

400L, Take Two

Some of you might remember that there was--oh... around a year or so ago--a 400L from DiNotte landed on our doorstep. It had two white LED's and a single Amber LED. I'm not sure it was ever really offered for sale. Now, DiNotte has revived the name, but the light is completely different.

This time, it's billed as a helmet mounted light, primarily. There is a handlebar mount as well.

Actually, more than one handlebar mount. Also, for the first time they are offering an optional lens kit so you can swap out the lenses yourself. So, if you think you might want wide beams, or one of each, you can do that.

Essentially, what you've got here is a Dual 200L in a single housing. This should make it a good helmet mounted choice--just right for pairing with the 600L. I say should because... well... I don't have one... yet.

And, don't think that they've left you tail light lovers out in the cold. They've added a dual emitter, based on the 400L, to the mix.

As you can see, unlike the white light, the red version has a translucent bezel. Like the single emitter version, this will help motorists see you from the side.

First NiteRider, then Light and Motion--though theirs isn't available yet, get on it L&M!--and now DiNotte; light manufacturers are gearing up for an interesting Summer/Fall season. Who's next? I suspect that Lupine will be making some announcements before too long, and it's time to see what the others, like CatEye are up to. As soon as I know anything, you'll see it here.

News, More News, and Light News

Here at Lactic Acid Threshold--and at GearReview.com, for that matter--we love tubeless tires. We've got them on both road and mountain bikes and would run them on our 'cross bikes if the tire and wheel companies would get their act together. On the road side, though, things aren't progressing terribly fast, what with one wheel and one tire offering, but that's all about to change. Campagnolo and Specialized are jumping on board in a big way.

Paris, France July 8, 2008 - - Cycling industry icons Campagnolo and
Specialized have embraced Hutchinson Road Tubeless technology, with
both brands creating RT wheelsets, and Specialized producing their
"Turbo Tubeless" tires at Hutchinson's factory outside of Paris,
France beginning with the 2009 model year.

I, for one, welcome this news and can't wait to try out the new wheels and tires. This is a very good development.

Moving on...

Ritchey has long made components and tires that are good, quality items. One of my favorite tires from yesteryear is their Z-max. I remember Jon running the red rubber compound model. Boy, that tire wore out fast! But they gripped well.

As good as their stuff is, it's not that easy to find. I can't think of a single bike shop in my town that carries anything beyond the tires. And I'm not positive about the tires either.

Now, you can order direct from Ritchey, with a twist. I'll let them explain.

"More and more consumers are using the Internet to find the products they need," said Steve Parke, general manager and vice president of marketing for Ritchey Design. "Ritchey's authorized retailers provide knowledgeable service and are key to helping cyclists get the most from their bikes. There is no other substitute for the service of a good independent retailer. The new Ritchey site will help consumers find the products they want, along with the service and support of a shop." When consumers place an order through www.RitcheyLogic.com, orders are posted in a special queue. Within one business, authorized Ritchey retailers, with product in stock, will ship those orders within 24 hours. Open orders not selected by retailers revert to Ritchey Design for fulfillment. The new site features detailed information about Ritchey Design products, sponsored teams, news, cycling tips and a blog. Online purchases are only available to consumers in North America, and sales of Ritchey's line of Break-Away travel bikes will not be available when the new site launches.

So, they will be keeping their dealers happy while enabling the end consumer to get the parts they want. It's a neat idea.

Finally, I've got some light news. Light and Motion is going 100% LED for the 2008/2009 season. And they are revamping the Vega. Finally. I've always liked the look and design of the Vega, but the performance has been lackluster of late. Now, it'll be available in two versions, one with 120 lumens and one with 200 lumens. I'll let the following tables fill you in on the rest of the line up. As usual, click on the image for a biggie size.

I don't yet have word on availability, nor do I have product shots of the Seca. As soon as I have that info, I'll post it, don't worry.

So, L&M is removing the Arc from the line up, as NR adds a HID back into the mix. Do light manufacturers have a "silly season"? If so, we are in it.

Light News

We're heading into prime 24hr racing and NiteRider has introduced two new lights. The first is an interesting evolution of the MiNewt line: the MiNewt Mini-USB. It looks like this will replace the Sol/SolMate line of lights, effectively eliminating NiMH batteries from their LED offerings. Below is a scanned brochure image. While not as good as an actual photo, it's all I've got right now.


The MiNewt Mini-USB will come with a wall charger, but it can also be charged from a USB port on your computer. This--I think, anyway--could be mighty handy for commuters. The output is down slightly from the MiNewt.X2 but the price is very nice: $99.

The second bit of news is that NR is introducing a new HID. I'll wait while that sinks in.

It turns out that Welch Allyn--maker of all small HID bulbs--has been working on the durability. This new bulb is very robust. NR has been throwing them onto the ground while running and hasn't had one break, yet. Not only are they stronger; they are brighter, too. The new light--called the SlickRock 900--will have a whopping 920 lumens. It's battery will not be Li-Ion, though. The SlickRock 900 will use a NiMH battery in order to maintain some backwards compatibility with the older HIDs, enabling an existing owner to just buy the light head alone.

The new lights will be available July 1st.

Seca

Frankly, it seems too early in the year to be posting a press release like this, but, advancements march on and Light and Motion needed to kick things up a notch. It seems like that is what they are doing with the Seca light.

Light and Motion Announces Their Seca Line of LED Light Systems:
Three Models Built Specifically To Outperform HID

April 23, 2008, Monterey, CA— Born from a need for high-performance lighting on the trails behind Laguna Seca, Light & Motion is proud to announce the arrival of Seca. Seca is the first LED bicycle lighting system to make good on the promise of besting the top HID’s on the market. Seca provides the first beam pattern that is custom tailored for the needs of cyclists. One look at Seca and you’ll be convinced; this is the beginning of an entirely new generation of bicycle lighting.

“This light is insanely bright,” said Eric Squires, Sales Manger for Light & Motion. “I have been riding the Seca prototypes for months and it’s the first LED system to convince me that LED can beat HID for output and usable light on the trail.”

Between May 15th and August 15th, Light & Motion will release technical details about the Seca line through the website at http://www.theledrevolution.com. In addition, they’ll be sharing a behind the scenes look at Seca’s engineering and development process. Those who register will have access to the latest technical information on Seca sent to their email inbox every few weeks. Light & Motion will also announce special offers tailored exclusively to those registered.

About Seca:

The Seca (starting at $349) sets a new standard for high-performance bike lights. With output to 700 lumens, Seca delivers higher quantity and quality of light than the top performing HID systems. Seca is designed to address bike specific lighting needs both on the road and on the trail. This means not only more light, but more light where you want it. Seca’s beam pattern offers an abundance of light in front of your wheel, powerful light down the trail (piercing the darkness up to 200 ft in front of you) and plenty of ‘spill’ light for enhanced peripheral vision. To top it all off, Seca is less expensive than most HID systems.

Seca will be released officially on August 15th, 2008. To sign up for periodic information updates, visit the Seca launch site at http://www.theledrevolution.com.

So, anyone who was writing off Light and Motion--or who thought that they would continue to rely on their HID technology for their high end--should be reconsidering. It looks like they are in this game still and the Seca looks, at the moment, to be competitive.

You may already be a winner!

Now that Daylight Savings Time is officially upon us, I have to try to ride in the dark. Oh, sure, I need lights on the first half of my commute in, but usually I use them in flashing mode any more. I'm sure that many/most of you are the same--unless you work the night shift, in which case I feel your pain... I really do.

Now, I want to help you, dear reader, in your endeavor to commute by bicycle and I happened to have a brand new, never used, removed from the packaging for photo taking only Knog BullFrog. This light is very similar to the Toad we previously took a look at. The main difference is that it is mounted horizontally, rather than vertically.

Now, here's what you need to do to bring this baby home. In the comments section, leave a message telling us why you need this light--how much it'll change your life. Jon and I will pick the best tale and this bright little sucker could be winging it's way to your abode--shipping on us, naturally.

Now the caveat: Open those residing in the United States only. Sorry guys, gotta keep the shipping cost down.

Edit: We'll announce the winner in one week, Monday, March 24th.

All Done

Yesterday, we teased you with the single emitter lights. Today, we're throwing the doors wide and letting you see it all.

Click on HERE, grab a beverage of your choice -- I prefer Mountain Dew at the moment, but your mileage may vary -- and sit down in a nice comfy chair. It's a biggie.

In fact, this has to be the largest review I have ever written. In school I avoided writing like this... heck, I focused on science in college so didn't have to write papers this long.

Ironic, huh.

Single Emitters -- Now Live!

I read your comments yesterday about the beam shots and... well... chose the easy route. We're using both. You can thank me later.

I mentioned that we were probably going to have to post the review piece-meal, and that is what we're doing. There is just a TON of stuff to post. So, without further ado, click HERE and head over to the the review.

You'll notice that our format is slightly different. Clicking on the section head -- in this case "Single Emitters" will take you to the reviews of those lights. Or, if you are looking for a specific light, click on it and you'll jump right there.

Once you are in the wordy part of the review, clicking the link under the lights name on the link that says "(click here to view the images and graphs specific to this light)" will take you do a page that has the run time graphs, beam shots, beam line plots and the 3D image.

We'll be back soon with the rest of the review.

Beam Shots

I've taken the beam shots from two different angles. I prefer the ones where the camera was at an angle, not in line with, the beams -- I think that they show the shape of the beam better. However, I've had requests to show the other, in line images, though. Which do you prefer?

Last week, I posted this image of the Stella's beam:

This is the same light, same location, same camera settings... but with the camera behind the light.

So... which is better?

Time To Start

All ready it's the 3rd day in 2008 -- do you say twenty-oh-eight or two-thousand-eight? -- and I've yet to post. Fear not! We are here diligently working on new posts, new product reviews and that seemingly never ending light review.

In an effort to speed up this process, we are going to start posting the review piecemeal. This should begin in the next couple of days with the introduction and single LED lights, like the Stella by Light and Motion.

I've posted images of the Stella 180-L before, but I'd like to use it as an example, if I may. This is what each light will have, in addition to the write up. This is what is taking so long.

First, the beam shot:

As I stated in my Teaser Beam Shots post, the flags start at 20ft from the lights. They are placed at 20ft intervals, with three flags at 100ft. All of the lights were aimed at 100ft.

Now, the run time graph:

As you can see, the Stella -- with the Li-Ion battery -- runs a long, long time.

The image of the light on the target:

The graphs below were made by analyzing this image.

The 3D graph:

Finally, a line plot of the beam.

The line plot has four parts. The red, green and blue lines are the red, green and blue spectrum. The black line is the average value for all three. The blue line would have gone higher, but it overpowered the sensor of my camera. The Stella had the most blue tint of any of the lights.

As soon as anything is up at GearReview, I'll link to it here, naturally.

Teaser Beam Shots

Well, since icycle was the only one who posted a request, that's what we'll go with!

He asked for the Betty, Wilma and 600L Wide. I'll post them in reverse order. One thing though, while the DiNotte is available in the wide beam, they don't recommend it, except for specific situations -- like to pair with a standard 600L or other spot light. With that caveat, here we go -- remember, click on the images for a larger version, as usual.

600L:

Here is the light on the target:

Once the above image gets put through the computer, this is the 3D image:

Finally, here is the beam shot:

The small orange flags are 20ft apart. At 100ft, there are three flags together. I aimed all of the lights at this cluster of three flags.

Next up, the Wilma.

Target:

3D:

And beam shot:

The Wilma is the 750 lumen, upgraded unit, not the 820 lumen light head. the 820 will be brighter, but I'm not sure it's appreciably so. Not to the human eye, that is.

Finally, the Betty:

Target:

3D:

And finally, the beam shot:

And there you have it. icycle, thanks for the request!

Obviously, the review -- which I am working madly to get done -- will have the above images as well as the same for all the other lights.

This will be my last post before Christmas, though, so to all, MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you all have a chance to get out and ride.

Good News... And Bad

There is a break between storms today, so I'll be able to get the beam shots tonight!

That's the good news. Also, good news, I have the 3D images complete -- I really like them. Here's why. They show, graphically and quickly, differences between lights.

Here is the 200L, with its solid state optic for a lens:

And here is the Light and Motion Stella 180L:

Immediately, do can see that the Stella has a wider, though dimmer beam, with a hot center spot. Also, the beam doesn't fade out, but has a sharp cut off. The 200L, on the other hand, has a more gradual transition from the center to the edge, and isn't as wide, barely illuminating the dark ring on the target.

So the review is coming together, but not as fast as I'd like it too. No excuses, this is just a lot of lights to work through. Each light, in addition to its write up, has a run time graph, a beam shot, a target shot, an RGB line plot and a 3D graph.

Jon, who does the web posting for me -- the best I can manage is this here blog, I'm not much of a programmer, you see -- has his work cut out for him. I did not consult with him when I decided to add all of this. I just dump it on him. Thanks Jon!

The bad news is that I am not in anyway going to be able to wrap this review up before Christmas. My apologies. As a concession, I'll post the beam shots -- and 3D graphs so you can see the correlation -- to this blog this weekend for two lights from each category. The categories are: Single Emitter, Dual Emitter and Larger Cluster-- the large cluster are lights with 3 or more LEDs. You get to pick which lights get the beam shots posted.

So, which shall they be? MiNewt.X2? Exposure Enduro? The Betty? Maybe the 600L wide beam? You decide.

More than Beam Shots

I'm going to let you in on a secret.

I don't like beam shots. Usually, lights look better or worse than they do in person, never the same. The problem here is that your -- and my, everyone's really -- eye doesn't react linearly to light. We see light on a logarithmic scale, meaning that there is a bigger difference between 100 and 200 lumens than there is between 600 and 700 lumens. Cameras don't behave this way. So, what to do? I still use beam shots, there really isn't an alternative short of having everyone come out to my house and see all the lights for themselves. While I'd love to do that, for some of you, the travel time would be a little outrageous -- plus, I'd never be able to actually ride!

So, I've come up with alternative ways to look at the lights.

Here is the 600L spot lens. I took -- and posted -- this image before, but I'll use it for demonstrative purposes.


Another secret: My mild mannered alter-ego is an engineer at a materials testing lab. I design tests. I collect data. I've joined my superhero GearReview persona to my mild mannered engineer persona to create something... interesting.

First, I had T. make me a large target.

Then I set up the lights 16" from the target, in front, and I set the camera up about 42" from the target, in back. I set up the camera with F13 and a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second. The same 600L beam looks like this:


Now, I hand the image over to my coworker Eric. He plugs it into some software and gives me a data file and a plot. The data file breaks the image down to Red, Green and Blue components. Plotting the data looks like this:

Plotting it in 3D looks like this:

In the 3D plot, you can make out the black lines from the target. They normally show up in the line plot, above, also, but I've removed them.

So, what does this tell us? All by itself, you can see beam spread and intensity. The larger the spread, the more of the target shows up. The more intense the light, the more white shows up in the 3D plot.

It's not perfect though. In order for these plots to be used to compare one light to another, the camera settings have to be the same. But at a setting where the dimmer lights show up, clipping occurs on the brighter lights. This is evident in the line plot. The blue line going flat across the top is indicative of overpowering the camera sensor. Oddly it happens most with the blue component. Still, combined with the beam shots, this is another way of comparing the output from the myriad of lights on test.

Crunch Time

Here at GearReview, we are working overtime to try and get this light review out the door... but the weather might have other plans.

Let me explain. In order to have beam shots that are of any value at all, they must be taken at the same time. This eliminates environmental variations light a brighter moon, fog, slightly different light positions, etc. Now, since I am using the latest lights, some of which have just become available, I am just now able to get them all together for the aforementioned beam shots. Now, however, the weather is playing games with me.

Not exactly ideal conditions.

Now, I'm not just sitting back waiting for the rain to stop. I've been compiling data. Oh yes, lots and lots of data. You think those graphs make themselves?


This is what the data file looks like:

All those tabs at the bottom represent graphs. That, my friends, is a whole lot of graphs. The graphs, of course, look like this:


So, as you can see, we are hard at work here. Later this week, I'll let you in on another addition to the review. Something that should set it apart from all the rest.

Exposure

The last of the lights have arrived in the form of the Exposure Joystick. I had received, and have been riding, the Enduro and Race versions for a little while. If you are not familiar with them, the Exposure lights are made by the UK company USE. They are all-in-one designs, meaning that the battery and light head are integrated.

There are three lights; the Enduro Maxx has three emitters, the Race Maxx has two and the Joystick Maxx has a single emitter. The Maxx designation is to indicate that these versions use the latest LED technology, as opposed to the previous generation Enduro, Race and Joystick.

The Enduro Maxx:

The Enduro and Race models use the same handlebar mount. This mount is bolted to the bar and has a quick-release to remove the light itself.

The mount:


The little red knob is the release to remove the light. The C-shaped piece in the clamp is the reducer that adapts the clamp to 26.0/25.4 handlebars. Removing the reducer allows the clamp to work with the larger 31.8 bar diameter.

The Race Maxx:

And finally, the Joystick:

The mount shown in the picture is the helmet mount. The light is attached via ball mount that allows for angle -- both horizontal and vertical -- adjustment. The helmet is sandwiched between the two wider "washers". It's very light.

Now that all of the lights are here, it's time to compile the data, opinions, beam shots, run times, etc. It's GO TIME!

Run Times

Every time I do one of these big light comparison reviews -- this is number three -- I do things a little differently. The first one used a deserted road for the beam shots. I set up my home office to do the run time graphs and let the lights run overnight. For the second review -- this was turning into an annual thing, it appeared -- I moved my run time logger to my work office. Our family had grown by one in during the preceding year, so my home office was now a bedroom, and therefore, unsuitable to the task. I also relocated my beam shots to the park, where -- I think, anyway -- the shape of the beam is more apparent.

This year -- see, it is annual -- I am still doing my run time graphs in my office, but I've made changes to the equipment that allows me to do the test any time, day or night. I still use the same data acquisition terminal panel as before, but I've changed my photovoltaic cell to be larger, so it picks up more of the beams. I've also placed everything into a very large cardboard tube that I obtained from a flooring store. I fashioned a pvc "handlebar" to hold the lights and am using a fan to keep things cool.

Looking down the tube, you can see the photo cell at the end.

All of this gets logged by a simple program I wrote using LabView. The screen looks like this:

Once the data is collected, I use MS Excel to make the pretty graphs that get posted to GearReview.com in the reviews.

And that's just for the run times. If everything works out, I've got a new trick up my sleeve -- a new tool for looking at the beams themselves since beam shots are of dubious benefit.

Also, I am waiting for one more light from Exposure, then I'll preview all three of them, and all of the lights for the review will be in house. It's getting close to crunch time.

Big Bad Betty

This week Gretna Bikes -- the U.S. importer of Lupine lights -- sent me a Betty light head. Before I get into the preview, let me just say that the fact that I can run any of Lupine's lights off of the battery I have is pretty cool. Other companies do this to some extent -- DiNotte and Light and Motion, for example -- but some do not. Interchangeability is a very good thing.

Back to the preview.

The Betty packs 7 LEDs in there for a claimed output of 1400 lumens. At full power it's using 22W. These are big numbers. And the light head is a little bit bigger than the Wilma -- which also means it has a larger diameter than the Light and Motion Arc.

It's also has nearly twice the output as the Wilma.

The electronics are the same, so you still have the user adjustable dimming modes.

I know what you are thinking... how bright is it? How is the beam? Well, it's very much like a car head light. There is a lot of light with good spill. That's the best way to describe it, really. I will, of course, have beam shots -- for what it's worth -- in the main review coming next month.

Knog Gator

I was perusing The List -- yes, capitalization is a must -- and I made one glaring omission. Back in my post on the fact that it's darker sooner, I mentioned Knog. On The List, I failed to list them. My bad.

We are including them, and they graciously sent us the Gator 605 for us to try out and to compare to the other lights. The 605 has three LEDs, but only two of them are of the high power variety. The battery is a long, slender Li-Ion unit with silicone straps to attach it to the bike frame.


The switch is different than any other light on test. There are three buttons -- one each for the two high power LEDs and one for the 5mm LED. There is a low and high setting for the main LEDs and a solid on and flashing mode for the 5mm. Each LED is controlled independently. That means that you have 27 different combinations.


You can have them all on. You can have them all off. You can have one main LED on, and the rest off. You can have one main LED on high, the other on low and the 5mm flashing... you get the idea. I can put a chart together, but it's a bit unwieldy.

Like Knogs other, smaller, lights, there is heavy use of Silicone. I mentioned the straps that hold the battery, and the light head has a similar arrangement to hold it to the handlebars. There is another one for the switch and then the light comes with two more straps that are removable and are to be used to keep the wires in check. The Gator 605 is one of the more interesting lights in the review, for sure.