January 15th, 2008 by 
Francois
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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
One of our concerns was that wider beam patterns would be inflated in our readings since they have more reflective surface (our ceiling) to bounce off from. But we found this to not be the case. Using two Dinotte 200Ls , we measured while they were pointed at the same spot, then measured with the them pointed apart for a wider beam pattern. Both cases measured in at 32 lux.
Another good indicator is the Lux measurements of two lights together was equal to the sum of each light measured separately. Example:
Dinotte 200L - 16 lux each
Dual Dinotte 200L - 32 Lux
|
Light |
Price |
Claimed |
Ambient Lux |
|
Light and |
$175 |
75 |
5 |
|
Princeton Tec Switchback 2 |
$299 |
NA |
10 |
|
Cateye Tripleshot |
$330 |
130 |
11 |
|
Light and |
$300 |
180 |
12 |
|
Niterider Minewt.X2 |
$190 |
150 |
12 |
|
NiteFLUX Photon 4 Commuter |
$137 |
270 |
12 |
|
NiteFLUX Photon 4 Enduro |
$204 |
270 |
12 |
|
Exposure |
$250 |
240 |
14 |
|
Levin Brightstar |
$270 |
500 |
15 |
|
Ayup helmet |
$190 |
280 |
16 |
|
Dinotte 200L |
$249 |
200 |
16 |
|
Knog 605 |
$399 |
300 |
16 |
|
Ayup bar (regular kit) |
$190 |
280 |
17 |
|
Princeton Tec Switchback 3 |
$389 |
NA |
19 |
|
Exposure |
$350 |
480 |
24 |
|
BR Lights |
$330 |
410 |
28 |
|
BR Lights |
$299 |
410 |
28 |
|
Exposure Enduro Maxx |
$450 |
720 |
30 |
|
Jet Lites |
$500 |
675 |
30 |
|
Dinotte 200L Dual |
$349 |
400 |
32 |
|
Dinotte 600-LI-4C |
$399 |
600 |
33 |
|
Light On |
$800 |
500 |
41 |
|
Niterider Trinewt |
$500 |
500 |
33 |
|
Jet Lites |
$295 |
675 |
44 |
|
NiteFLUX Photon Max |
$375 |
800 |
50 |
|
Lupine |
$1,185 |
1400 |
65 |
|
Trail Tech MR16 30W |
$398 |
1850 |
121 |
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January 17th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
LUX per dollar, please.
We need this because Lumens per dollar depends on mfctr’s Lumen rating, which clearly varies and differs significantly from your Lux rating.
You owe us this one further spreadsheet column, because you’ve introduced the idea that advertised Lumen ratings are bunkum.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Wow 29′er, awful demanding. Is it really that hard for you to do the math?
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Jason,
I think it’s a reasonable request given that Francois had already provided a Lumens-per-dollar column in one of his spreadsheets. That info is of dubious value precisely because of Francois findings that Lumen ratings are not fair or consistent.
He’s also got the LUX ratings from his own test. I’m just requesting that he put them together.
You are right, it’s not hard to do. I might get to it and will post it myself, if I do.
Thanks.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
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January 26th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Great review and write-up. I couldn’t help but enter your data into a spreadsheet to compare the efficiency of the lights. I used LUX*Hrs/BatteryWeight as the metric. This suggests something is wrong with some of the data. For example, the Ayup - it is way too efficient. It has the tinyest battery of all lights but a long runtime compared to a light of similar brightness, say the Dinotte 200. You might double check the LUX for consistency throughout the run.
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
EXCELLENT WORK!
This was extremely helpful in making a choice on what lights to purchase.
Thanks for all the effort!