We were out on a night ride tonight, and I used my new P7 torch for the first time. It worked really well, I used it bar mounted along with my Triple P4 DIY light.

With the two lights on it was great, no bright spots, and nice white light. I was able to ride just with the P7 in low setting on the road, and with it not getting dark till half way through the ride I didn't need to change the battery.

For £32 for the torch, batteries, bar mount and charger, it is a cheap option as well.

where do you buy such a torch? ❓

Torch
Mount
Charger
Batteries

what runtime on 1 battery?

I'm not sure yet, I didn't use all the power in one, and I was using it at different levels to try it out.

I bought these batteries with the red covers:

Batteries

They are supposed to be better quality, time will tell if they are.

you'll get 3 hours on one battery if you switch between low n med and only use high for the fast descents.

Yup, or about an hour to hour and ten minutes on full blast (Innes has got a 2-mode so no medium power, and low's a little bit weak tbh).

I am interested in a couple of these lights to use as Helmet lights. I already have a Hope 1 which i use on the bars and hope this will supplement nicely on the lid.

My question is abou the batteries and the charger. I already have AA batteries and a charger for the hope. Can i use the same setup for this or do I need specific batteries and therefore charger?

Also anyone have a solution for mounting on a helmet?

You need the batteries in the picture above.

Try this for a helmet mount: Cheap Velcro Mount

It is too flexible for the bars, but I think it will work on the helmet as it doesn't have the vibrations that your bars have. It is only about £1.40 as well.

a strip of 3M dual lock on the (flat part of the)torch and another on the helmet then a velcro strap around the two works way better – totally secure with no wobble at all (if you are using a heavier torch for a helmet light ideally you want it mounted to be as low and secure as possible)

dan – I really hope you don't mean you want to run a couple of P7s on the one helmet 😯

I presume the beam must just dim rather than stop all together, because i used one all last winter for 3hour+ rides on high and never changed the battery once.

yeah, it'll get dimmer and dimmer.. but it will stop eventually 😉

Well i have ordered a couple (one for me and one for the other half).
Thanks for the tips with the hemlet mounts…will try em out when they show up.

Did anyone get hit with customs when ordering lights from the states (Deal Extreme)?

Not that i remember. They actually ship direct from Hong Kong, even though you're buying them from America.

That time of year again eh 🙁

I was certainly happy with my DX P7s last year, thought about buying a new one for this year seeing as they now have brought out THIS dedicated bike light kit with a much longer run time and still cheap as chips 8)

Looks pretty good but the rubber holder bands look a bit flimsy.

The Magicshine is a really good option, it is quite similar a set up to my DIY LED light, so I went for the P7 torch option to keep the bar mounted light simple. The run time of the Magicshine will be much better with no battery changing going on.

I didn't get charged customs for the torch.

Just to keep you all updated, I shall shortly be able to supply Li-Ion cells with the protection circuit inside and also twin cell chargers for use with them. So they will be ideal for the lights most of you are using at the moment 8)

What rating of cell will they be? Are they the same as the 18650 cells?

Used my P7 last winter, pissed all over my Hope HID. Superb little unit. I'm getting another for a bar and helmet combo.

At the moment in talks, but it will either be 2.4 or the higher rated 2.6Ah. but bear in mind I only deal with high quality cells, I have my reputation you know. and also 2 cell chargers to go with them.
But please don't email me just yet as I will let you all know in due time and keep you updated as I go along