Headlights on main beam, Troutie Liberator and Luminous 601 on full beam…

Might just keep the bike on the roof and use those lights instead!

Some of that difference will be because the car lights will be angled down by the optics….still cool though.

Have you any comparison shots in the dark?

Wombat – not yet. Hope to get some either tonight or tomorrow night.

Obviously a bit distorted but thought it looked quite funny!

that's cool – nice number plate too

I will be trying out me new light setup vs a pair of xenons (on the car) next week, will post pics if I can work out how to

Strange choice of number plate srambling. Wasn't that the same method used by that Pedophile who disguised himself and taunted the Police?

It's the quickest way I could find on Photobucket!

Not really sure why people do that to reg numbers, because I saw your car on the road yesterday, I've got the reg number too!

Feed back on the trout light please as I might be in the market for something soon.

More interesting comparison might be the cost. 😀

Is that your bike shed on the left?

Come on Mr Surf_mat, I can't cope with the waiting!

Piccies, piccies, piccies…….pleeeeeaaasssseeee 🙂

How did you look through the view finder, I reckon you just aimed and pressed and hoped for the best.

He wont be back till the batteries are flat .

well as surf-mat is going to be a long while….. heres some feedback on Trouties LL after 1 year of heavy usage rain, snow, descents of the Cwmcarn DH course…… it's not missed a beat been loaned out for 24hr races + 2 people that have borrowed it have gone on to purchase from Mr T

25km of pretty full on terrain around Poldice Valley and a good test of both. Really handy being able to compare side by side.

Here's what I think:

Both lights:

Both survived very rocky and fast descents without working loose. Both UK made and very nicely engineered. Both a similar price – around £300 I think (Troutie £285ish, 601 a bit more AFAIK).
Both inspire HUGE confidence with night riding and at no stage did I feel the need for a helmet light – this could change as I got used to them and wanted more but both "spill" nicely and the quality of light is brilliant. I was riding pretty much as quickly as I do in the day – however when it comes to DHing, this isn't very fast!

Troutie Liberator:

Slightly unusual shape but lots of well designed cooling "fins." Very solid looking, nicely anodised, well machined.
Nice mount – really high quality and easy to fit.
Battery slightly tricky to mount sturdily but no issues once riding.
The connector on this (battery to light) was a bit iffy – this was pointed out by Troutie very clearly and won't be the case on models sold. Once riding it was fine.
Three modes – press and toggle for brighter, hold (for about 2 secs) and toggle for lower. There's also a flashing mode. Hold for about 5 secs to turn off.
It gets warm pretty quickly.
Didn't manage to run the battery out as I used it after the 601.
The light – I didn't get the chance to take beam shots as I've only just got back. This has a mix of XPGs and XPEs and definitely gives a "warm" light compared to the 601. And yes it's bright and the spread is totally even – no "blank" spots at all making it look much better than any light I've seen before. Plenty of "spill" too.

Luminous 601
More conventional shape and very nicely machined – good scratchproof lens, O rings where needed (Troutie uses silicon sealer as the shape won't take O rings).
Connectors look slightly higher quality.
Had 7 XPG LEDS (I think!) as opposed to 6 mixed ones.
Only two modes on this one – latest ones will have three.
Mount not quite as high quality as Troutie but it works fine on carbon tapered bars.
Battery pack seems more compact and was a bit easier to secure.
However I ran it out using mostly high mode but occasionally low in just under 1.5 hours with some of this time used trying out the Troutie – this could put some off? I'd say a spare battery needs to be carried.
The light – this definitely seemed brighter and has a much "whiter" light. On technical descents I admit that I felt more confident with the 601 – again there are no "dead" spots in the light – just an even spread of powerful whiteish light.

So not entirely conclusive – the 601 appears slightly better made and has a more compact battery pack but that battery life was a bit of a worry.
Didn't manage to run the Liberator battery out but from the post above I'd guess it would last longer – but then it has less LEDs to power.

Both are kick ar5e lights and I would take beam shots now but I've run the 601 out and I need to go to bed!

Will try and add more tomorrow.

Nice write up Matt did you run them both together (of course you did :lol:)

on the mixed leds after the most confusing thread the other day I thought the best plan was to offer a choice of mixed leds or all 6 of the best XPGs on the planet that way the 50/50 split is 100% sorted 😉

NB: I've no experience of the lights tested above, but the stuff below is borne of plenty of time messing about with heatsinks.

Just a point on stuff getting warm – I often see this on lamp reviews, and heat does affect LED output & life.

But. It's very difficult to evaluate the cooling ability of a lamp by how quickly it gets up to temperature. You could build two lamps with the same LEDs and heat output, one where the casing was really well connected with thermal paste & a close fit, and second one where the casing wasn't a great fit, and the thermal paste is a bit lacking.

The first one would get warm quicker, but would work better as the cooling system overall is more efficient. The second one would stay cool externally for longer, but the LEDs themselves would roasting merrily away, because the connection to the casing isn't efficient at transferring heat.

I'm not implying this is the situation here – a lamp could have far more cooling capacity than it ever needs, and therefore never get noticeably warm. Equally, a lamp could get warm but never exceed the temperature where the LEDs start getting upset.

The only way to actually test this kind of thing is by monitoring the temperature of the LED units, or doing tests over time to see if the brightness and colour alters over decent periods of time.

if the light gets hot you just need to go faster to air cool it 🙂

CORRECTION REQUIRED TO THE WRITE UP:

Model 601s all have 6 LEDs, not 7

Hence: 601

Thank you
🙂

Additional info, the 601 was supplied with a 2.6 amp hour battery (the smallest battery), I'm not sure what size of battery came with the LL.

Surf_Mat, did you run the 601 on a full charge ?, you have mentioned switching it on at home for looky, testy stuff before the night of the ride.
🙂

Cheers

Luminous

Tron.

Just in case you were wondering, both lights are well connected for heat-path and heat dissipation.

That particular 601 is an old campaigner now, its been knocking around with that battery for over a year, and its still monster bright, which would go to indicate that the LEDs are not cooking and that the 601 manages heat well.

Its been in the hands of a couple of forum members from here, before Surf_Mat, and it bares the scares for this (someone gave it a fair clonk on the right hand side)and its still going strong.
🙂

Surf-Mat.

Forgot to thank you for the write.
Ta.

😉

Lum – looks like 7 to me:

Or am I being daft?! Is it definitely a 601 not a 701?

I topped up the charge just before leaving so it should have been fully juiced up.

TBH I didn't run the LL out (ran out of time).

I didn't find the 601 got very hot – which was impressive. It was a fairly cool night (about 12 degrees) which may have helped and we kept moving the whole time.

That number plate is illegal.

I do keep getting pulled for it…

By ladies?

Nope – ladies don't like diesel estate cars apparently…

I was blanking the plate out (just in case) but it took ages – this "swirly" thing is much quicker on Photobucket. Probably paranoid doing it but there are definitely too many oddballs on STW. Don't want my plate cloned!

Surely not, I've not seen any oddballs on here!

Surf-Mat.

As I built it, I can assure you, it is a 6 LED light.

The optic can make use of upto 7 LEDs, but I've placed 6 in there.

Model 601

6 = No of LEDs

01 = 1st generation of that model of light.

I didn't find the 601 got very hot – which was impressive. It was a fairly cool night (about 12 degrees) which may have helped and we kept moving the whole time.

Both the ambient temp, and your constant motion were the key. If you recall, your static test indoors did get the light hot, eventually.

during testing of the 601 I conducted a static temp test.

In ambient, still air of 23 degrees, with the 601 set to Maximum power of 1A to the LEDs, the light remained switched to hi for over 5 mins, before the thermal protection cut-in and reduced the light output.

The radial fins have been developed to be effective, and seem to do the job well.

As above, if I were cooking the LEDs, then they would be much dimmer by now. The fact that they are as bright as in your pictures goes to show that the light is keeping the LEDs happy enough.
🙂

I've got some comparison beam shots of the light you have, up against a Lupine Wilma 4 I recently had in for repair.
When I get a moment, I will post them. Perhaps here if you don't mind.

Cheers

Lum – so is one LED housing blank? It definitely kicked out an awful lot of light!

Luminous, I'm not suggesting that your lamps have overheating LEDs.

I'm just explaining why whether the casing of a lamp feels warm or warms up quickly isn't always a good indicator of whether the LEDs will be cooking.

Tron.

No worries, what you describe can occur, but LL and the 601 have that particular issue sorted, I reckon.
🙂

In fact, a quickly heating body can be totally misleading, neither a good or bad sign as a quick heating light might be due to the driver being well heat sinked, and the LEDs could still get cooked.

Basically, its down to the designers to ensure good heat management, and if they try to cut corners, then word will get out.

Heat management isn't always a totally obvious discipline

Cheers
🙂

the Cree XPG leds are rated upto 150 degrees before failure
which is pretty darn hot

the led dies will be 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the heatsink .

which in both Lumis and mine is the whole light casing

Lumis light has 6 leds inside even though it has a 7 up optic so it should run cool as it was designed for the 7 leds .

My lib 3 is getting more cooling added as the mk2 was designed when the XPE leds were only rated @ 700 ma drive current and now the XPG is rated too 1.5 amps drive but at that current heat will be a big issue .

also the circuit monitors the heat sink right behind the leds and will dim the light when it reaches 70 degrees which is getting up to ouch when touched.

I make no secret of the fact that on hi/ boost my light will warm up a bit but it will stay in safe parameters most of the time and when stood still will look after its self and so will James light .

Hi Trout
Do you have any of the Liberator in stock for sale and if so what colours
Cheers
James

Not yet James
it will be the end of the month or week 1 oct

then black gold silver-grey red blue

Hi Trout
Thanks for prompt reply
Can you reserve me a Red Lumen Liberator please
Can I pay via paypal or do you prefer cheque or bank transfer
I can pay straight away to confirm order
Many Thanks
James
PS – do you know where I can get a replacemnet lenses glass for my Lupine Wilma as have cracked mine and will use it until I get my Trout then sell it on

if you can measure the diameter I will cut you a lexan one and pop it in the post
just drop me amail