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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.
Here is the 2009 Update:
| Light |
Price |
Claimed Lumens |
Ambient Lux |
| Ayup Wide |
$250 |
300 |
31 |
| Ayup Narrow |
$230 |
300 |
33 |
| Ayup Standard |
$230 |
300 |
33 |
| Blackburn System X4 |
$259 |
170 |
4 |
| Blackburn System X8 |
$259 |
170 |
10 |
| BR Lights C2-K |
$399 |
1000 |
65 |
| Cygolite Rover II |
$160 |
255 |
17 |
| Dinotte 400L |
$269 |
400 |
25 |
| Dinotte 800L |
$439 |
800 |
55 |
| Exposure Maxx D |
$399 |
960 |
48 |
| HID Technologies Lumen8r (triple) |
~ $305 |
720 |
45 |
| Light and Motion Seca 700 Race |
$549 |
700 |
52 |
| Light On! 900 |
$475 |
900 |
57 |
| Lupine Wilma 5 |
$590 |
920 |
56 |
| Princeton Tec Switchback 2 |
$299 |
na |
10 |
| Princeton Tec Switchback 3 |
$389 |
na |
19 |
| Trail Tech MR16 30W |
$398 |
1850 |
121 |
2008 Data:
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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