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NiteFLUX Photon 4 Commuter and Enduro

Light Meter charts and comparison table available here.

NiteFLUX Photon 4 Commuter Photos

Description:

The Photon 4 Commuter and Enduro share the same light head. They differ in battery size as the Commuter has a 2 hour battery and the Enduro has a 6 hour one. The Photon 4 Commuter is a self contained system since the battery is mounted with the light head. The Enduro is a traditional wired system since the battery is quite big and needs to be mounted on the frame. Read the rest of this entry »

NOTE: Click on any photo for a full-sized version.

Bike LED lights have come a long way. They have come from bike tail lights to affordable commuter lights to decent trail riding lights last year. Everything about them was better than halogen or HID except for light brightness. This year though, we heard that they are now brighter than HID. Brighter than HID? This we had to see for ourselves.

Here are the light that will be reviewed in this shootout:

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NiteFLUX Photon Max
NiteFLUX Photon 4

Light Meter charts and comparison table available here.

Description:

Now here is a nice surprise! NiteFLUX is a company we’re not familiar with in the US. But this Australian company heard of our shootout and seemed confident that we would be impressed with what they had to offer.

The light comes in a very handy satchel bag that protects the light during transport and opens up nicely for setup. The light head features three LEDs and is fairly big but surprisingly light at 151 grams.  The case is a mix of plastic and aluminum molded together in a design that includes nine cooling fins and five vent holes.

The battery is a neoprene wrapped unit slightly smaller than a coke can. The switch is on the battery and has very nice action to it.

Photon Max Light Head & Bag:

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Lupine Wilma 6 $695.00

Light Meter charts and comparison table available here.

Description:

The Lupine Wilma 6 features 4 leds in a relatively compact light head that weighs in at only 140 grams. It is very well built and it integrates cooling fins towards the rear of the light head. Mounting is done with a beefy rubber band.

The switch is external and is designed to be mounted close to the grips. The Wilma 6 has a small battery in a soft case that is meant to mounted between the top tube and the down tube of the frame.

Light Head and Switch Close ups:

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Here’s some nifty pages to compare the beam patterns of the the various lights. Allow all the images to preload then rollover the light names to view the beam patterns.

Backyard Beam Patterns

Trail Beam Patterns

Side by side Trail Beam Patterns

Comments?

Mtbr Lights Shootout Main Page | Mtbr Lights Reviews | Mtbr Lights Forum

Mtbr Lights Shootout Main Page | Mtbr Lights Reviews | Mtbr Lights Forum

The light output measurement is performed by placing a Lux light meter beside the light. Both are pointed at the ceiling (five feet above) of a dark room. This measurement uses the ambient light produced by the bike light. We found this to be the most effective and repeatable measure of each light.

Pointing the light directly at the meter produced varying readings depending on exactly where the light beam was centered. Also, it was highly dependent on how focused the beam pattern was. Thus we chose the ambient light measurement test as the most effective for evaluating these lights.

Chart 1: Here is a graph of our measured Ambient Lux compared the lumens claims of the manufacturer. The readings are normalized using the Niterider Trinewt as the baseline since they measure their lumens output. (click to enlarge)

Chart2: Measured Lux per gram, Measured Lux per $

Chart 3: Run time vs. Weight

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Lupine Betty 12 $1,185.00

Light Meter charts and comparison table available here.

Description:

The Lupine Betty 12 features 7 leds in a relatively compact light head that weighs in at only 156 grams. It is very well built and it integrates cooling fins towards the rear of the light head. Mounting is done with a beefy rubber band.

The switch is external and is designed to be mounted close to the grips. The Betty 12 has a waterbottle style battery and the Betty 6 has a smaller battery in a soft case.

Light Head and Switch Close ups:

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Knog 605 $399.00

Light Meter charts and comparison table available here.

Description:

Then Knog 605 is the high-end light of the Knog line. It features a nicely styled light head with three LEDs. The aluminum and rubber casing is bonded together nicely and the rubber mounting strap is integrated into the light head. The first two LEDs serve the function of lighting up the trail. The third light is good as a map-reading light and has a Flash mode to help the rider become more visible to oncoming traffic.

The switch is external and can be placed near the grips so it can be controlled easily while riding. Each of the three LEDs comes with its own switch that operates independently. Each press toggles each LED through its light modes starting with the medium setting. To turn on full power requires five button presses on the three switches. Turning off requires four.

The battery is long and it mounts on the top tube. This light is for handlebar use only.

As the photos will show, the package is quite attractive and the materials and construction are very good.

Light Meter Readings:

On our light meter readings, it scored a 16. This equals the readings from the Ayup helmet light and the Dinotte 200L.

Light Head Close ups:

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Ayup bar (regular kit) $ 380.00

Ayup helmet

Light Meter charts and comparison table available here.

Description:

The Ayup ‘regular kit’ is a light system from Australia that features two light heads. Each light head has two LEDs that can be tilted up and down independently. The kit includes two small batteries and a large battery. Aside from the 110 volt charger, a 12 volt car charger is included as well. The whole system comes with a handy neoprene case to transport everything.

While some lights are full-featured, fancy sytems, the Ayup is a no-frills light system. It sticks to the very basics to deliver the most light and battery power possible for the price. Thus for $380, you get two lights, an extra battery and a home/car charger. What you don’t get is a light switch, fancy electronics and a flexible mounting system.

The beam patterns are selectable at the time of purchase. The patterns available are wide, intermediate and narrow. We tested the intermediate on the bar lights and the narrow beam on the helmet light.

Light Head Close ups:

Mounting Options:

The ‘regular set’ comes with two lights, one for the handlebar and one for the helmet. The mounting system uses zip-ties and thus can’t be moved to other bikes/helmets easily. The battery is so small that it is meant to be mounted on the stem and on the helmet.

Light Output Measurements:

On our light meter, measuring ambient light, the narrow helmet mount measured 16 Lux and the wider bar light measured a 17 Lux. The closest competitors are the Knog 605 at 16 and the Exposure Race Maxx at 24.

Complete package comes with an extra battery, a car charger and a carrying case.

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Dinotte 200L $ 249.00

Dinotte 200L Dual $ 349.00

Light Meter charts and comparison table available here.

Description:

The Dinotte 200L consists of a small light head cylinder and a compact, plastic-encased battery. The connector is a non-directional plug that snaps into place and keeps water out. The rubber switch is very easy to operate as it scrolls through the three light levels available. Mounting is simplistic with a rubber hoop that goes around the handlebar. The light is bright and the beam fairly wide with no hotspot.

All Dinotte lights have three ‘flash’ modes for commuting. They are very effective and visible for greater visibility for oncoming traffic. These flash modes are extremely visible on the red tail lights as well. And the best part is that the ‘flash’ modes do not interfere with regular use. The user has to press the button for six seconds to enter this mode. After using other lights where the flash mode is always in the way, this feature is very welcome.

We consider the Dinotte connectors as best in class as well. They are non-directional and pop into place and are thus the easiest to connect. Initially, they were a bit too hard to disconnect. But a little bit of Vaseline fixed that right up.

The Dinotte 200L comes with one lithium battery. The 200l Dual and the 600-LI-4C bothe come with two batteries. There are two batteries available with these lights, a 4-cell and a 2-cell battery. The batteries are selectable by the buyer at the time of purchase. All our run-time measurements were performed with the 4-cell battery.

Light Head Close ups:

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