The new A-51 and X-51 are good lights but what if we can have two of them. Share the mount and the battery and charger to offset the costs. What we end up is a light with twice the light at only 50% higher cost.
We didn’t know what to to expect when I opened this package with a funny name, MyTinySun. Was it another rebadged Magicshine knock-off? Oh how wrong we were.
What we have here is a meticulously engineered light from Germany that is one of the most powerful lights I have ever tested. The MyTinySun Sport2700x is a light that houses three of the most powerful lights, the Cree XM-Ls and it claims an output of 2700 lumens.
So two things that jump out at us immediately are the craftsmanship and the brightness of the light. The light head is CNC’d to bring out a ton of cooling fins. Three XM-Ls running at full tilt need quite a bit of cooling. So of course, we rushed outside to turn it on. The light is dramatic in brightness as it is huge, bright swath of light. It measured 204 Mtbr Lux and that falls right in between the more expensive Lupine Betty 2300 and 2600.
Jet lites does not mess around. The proprietor, David Joseph solves problems then he iterates over and over until the solution is as good as can be for his customers. He pays deep respects to the work of the founder Jim Taylor as he keeps Jim’s legacy alive with quality and safety for the mountain biker.
We spent hours talking to David on the phone and many months testing his lights.Some of the highlights we’ve noticed are:
So what’s not to like? It’s US made, well designed by a company that knows their stuff and backs up the product for years to come. Jet Lites, based in Reno Nevada is conservative about making claims about their products and they always try to ensure their customers are taken care of. They’re very active in the local mountain biking scene too as they support local groups, events and festivals.
So is the light any good? That’s where mtbr comes in. We’ve ridden this light and the predecessor A-51 for many miles. The design is solid as the light is robust and the mount is one of the best. This version of the light comes with the latest CREE XM-L led and that really is the brightest emitter available today. We ride, measure, ride photograph. Read on and find out.
The Jet Lites F-1 is a late arrival to this year’s night riding season but that just means they’ve had time to evolve their design and wait for the best components available. What they sent us is a true work of art in terms of construction and design. In a field of exciting but crowded self-contained bike lights, the scientists at Jet Lites managed to come up with a light that is truly high end like Lupine and Exposure but is affordable at $179.
The most dramatic part of this light is the case. It’s a machined aluminum case that showcases the best American construction available with a sleek, curved body that hosts plenty of cooling fins. The top of the light screws off to expose the lens and electronics. The back screws off to access the battery. Threading on these parts is very fine to maximize heat transfer from the LED to the case of the light. This not only helps the LED operate at max power, it also helps the battery operate at good capacity in frigid conditions. We hear that lithium cells can lose as much as 50% of their run time when operating in very cold conditions. We ran this light at full power, static on our test bench with no air moving around it. Normally we avoid this and always run a fan but wanted to test the heat dissipation abilities of this light. After 20 minutes, the whole light was warm all the way to the switch at the back. The temperature was pretty even throughout the light and there was no flickering or stepping down of the light at all. It is not possible to do this with lights with separate batteries since there’s not enough heatsinking. And most other self-contained lights get very hot just near the LED.
The LED is the awesome Cree XM-L with excellent binning chosen by Jet Lites (quality batch of LED). And the battery is a Panasonic 3100 mah 18650 cell which is one of the best available today.
Serfas teased us last year with the True 250 light. It was interesting but not quite bright enough for anything but commuting. Well, this year, they doubled the output with the True 500. Now it is bright enough for light trail riding and two or three of these on the bike can get real fun on the trail.
Beam pattern is good as it has a spot and a nice wide halo around it.The case and switch ergonomics seem excellent as there is a positive click when activating the switch. There’s three light modes and a flashing mode to scroll through before the light shuts off. Another way to shut the light off is be depressing the switch for about 2 seconds.
We got the call from a fairly new company called Candlepower Technology that we had to test their brand new light called the TrailTorch TT1800. Candlepower Technology is run by a couple of really smart engineers who wanted a light that was ultra-bright and reliable to feed their love for mountain biking as they rip through the trails of State College, Pennsylvania.
Their light is a small head unit with two Cree XM-Ls and an external battery. The light is available today for helmet mount use and is designed to be the ultimate helmet light available. It retails for $395 and is available directly from their site at https://www.candlepowertech.com
What’s unique about the lights is a very small head unit that houses two of the best LEDs available, the Cree XM-L. The light switch is on the back of the light with good action and a small blue led that lights up when the light is on. When the battery is at low level, the indicator light will flash four times and the light will switch to low mode to give the rider thirty minutes of final run time.
For 2012, bike lights are now brighter than car head lights, smaller than your thumb and cheaper than ever before. Of course, this is not all in one light that has all these qualities. But now the market has evolved to these different segments. The customer can now choose the best type of lights for his application.
This year, we will break up our Lights Shootout into different categories:
Here’s a round-up of the complete set of lights. Please note that ‘Claimed Lumens’ is the stated lumen output by the light manufacturer. ‘Measured Output’ is a proprietary Mtbr tool where we use a Lux meter to measure the total reflected light in a controlled room. Details on the setup are here: http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/lights-shootout-light-meter-measurements. This has been very effective in comparing the output of the lights to each other.
So come join and explore the wonderful world of bike lights.
Visit the 2012 Bike Lights Shootout Backyard Beam Pattern Comparison Page and Trail Beam Pattern Comparison Page.
This light catapults Baja Designs into the arena of high-end ultimate lights and it can now compete with the best out there. more…
This year, the Strykr is called the Strykr II and the output has increased from 700 claimed lumens to 950. On our light meter, the reading has increased from 52 lux to 74 lux so it is noticeably brighter. more…
The purpose of the Stryker SL is primarily for helmet mounting as the Stryker II has a huge head. The Stryker SL is a much smaller, sleeker package with more advanced mounting system. more…
Their light is a small head unit with two Cree XM-Ls and an external battery. The light is available today for helmet mount use and is designed to be the ultimate helmet light available. more…
The Cateye Econom Force is a commuter light from the manufacturing wizards from Japan. Don’t expect too bright a light here but expect an affordable light that is constructed with high quality materials. more…
We love this light. First look at it and it has the best form factor and feel of all the self-contained lights we’ve seen this year. more…
This is a great package from Cygolite. It is a very high quality product and it is competitive both at performance and price. more…
This light features a small but wide aluminum light head with good heat-dissipating surface area. Quality of materials is instantly obvious in the light, acessories and packaging. more…
The Dinotte 1200L is not a new light but it is the most expensive in Dinotte’s line. It features 8 emitters in two sets of 4 and they combine to produce a very wide and bright beam. more…
The Dinotte 400L consists of a 2 led lights encased side by side in a small aluminum housing. It feels extremely rugged and compact and is surrounded by lots of cooling fins. more…
2012 is the year of the Cree XML Led. This new emitter is so powerful that any light that is engineered around it is going to be a winner. The XML emitter has the ability to put out 1000 lumens under ideal conditions. more…
This XML-3 shines on the photos, mtbr lux meter, integrating sphere and most importantly, on the trail. It is a light that could sell for $500 but Dinotte is offering it at $259. more…
The Exposure Diablo is the leader of the self-contained light phenomenon. It crams three Cree XPG emitters in a tiny housing and packages it in the slickest flashlights you’ve ever seen. more…
The Exposure Joystick seems like the first light that launched Exposure into the US light market. It was small, useable and convenient. more…
The MaxxD is our favorite light from Exposure this year. It sports 4 Cree XPGs and puts out a wide beam pattern rated at 1285 lumens. more…
This light features a small but wide aluminum light head with good heat-dissipating surface area. Quality of materials is instantly obvious in the light, acessories and packaging.
This light features 4 light levels and 4 flash modes. It also has on site light level programming called OSP. We tested it and it’s one of the easiest to use. The rider can scroll through the four light modes without having to go through flash. Furthermore, OSP allows the rider to adjust each light level very easily just by pressing the button on the left and releasing it when the preferred light output for that setting is reached.
The packaging stands out as one of the best in class. It is compact and very professional. As you can see in the photos, everything is neatly organized and the box contains many of of the specs and important information.
We’ve never really tested any Cygolite products before and it is perhaps the most requested (by readers) addtion to our Lights Shootouts. Cygolite finally obliged to request and they sent us the Expilion 350 and the Mitycross 750. We were giddy with excitement to finally experience one of the top selling lights in the market.
The packaging stands out as one of the best in class. It is compact and very professional. As you can see in the photos, everything is neatly organized and the box contains many of of the specs and important information.
The light itself looks great with excellent materials and quality of construction. The light head has a big head and heatsink to dissipate heat. The switch is big and raised but is not illuminated perhaps to avoid distracting the rider. The back of the light has a battery that can be removed and replaced without tools. The battery is a standard lithium 18650 but in a proprietary plastic holder so spare batteries need to be purchased from Cygolite.
The light has 4 light levels and a flash mode. Switching the light on puts it on Med-high, Medium, Low, High, and Flash mode. It is odd and non-intuitive that the light does not switch on High mode since that is what the user usually wants. As a result, the user has to scroll through the light levels just to get to High. Also, the very annoying Flash/strobe mode comes right after high so most users will always get to it even though they do not want it as they try to find their light level. Too turn the light off, the button is pressed longer than two seconds and the light fades to off nicely.
The Dinotte 1200L is not a new light but it is the most expensive in Dinotte’s line. It features 8 emitters in two sets of 4 and they combine to produce a very wide and bright beam. It is a great bar light as it really helps the rider track a ton of trail information on the periphery of the trail. It can be used on it’s own or it can be mated with the XML-1 or XML-3 on the helmet to provide a great combination.
There are huge cooling fins here to do the big job of cooling the 8 emitters. Switch mechanism is the usual Dinotte ‘engine’ that sports one of the best interfaces around.
