As above, I love my B&M light on my road rides, any reason to change to a Supernova or similar for off road?

They are 2/3 * the price for 205 lumens vs 70 lux. IIRC this is ~twice the brightness, yes?

Is it a beam pattern that blinds anyone in its path?

It will be fine for cycling off road but people going at speed on technical trails desire 1000+ lumens

The beam pattern is quite different between a dedicated road and off road light. It’s not just about brightness.

The road pattern illuminates quite a low and narrow path ahead. An off road beam throws a bigger patch ahead. It is higher and rounder (hence strictly speaking illegal on the road as it blinds oncoming traffic). Both will work OK in both situations, but neither are the ideal horse for their particular alternative course.

BTW the Supernova triple is fantastic off road! I have the Edelux on my road bike and the Supernova Triple off road. Both great for their intended use

I use an SON with the cut-off beam for off-road, works well on easy open trails as you’d expect but on anything slow and technical or steep the output drop can be an issue and it’s not as useful as a torch-pattern with good spread. Also makes low branches harder to see .. So varied output aside, might be a good thing to use the torch-beam supernova for MTB rides.

A battery light with a dynamo + USB box to keep the battery topped up would give more constant lighting for varied off-road but it’s a pricey set up.

Even my revo is crap at night rides in groups.

When on my own it’s ace mostly as I don’t tend to stop.

But the stop start of group rides mean that the dynamo roulette at the start of the descent is a bit un nerving till it gets up to full steam

That’s a great point I’d not thought of. On your own the dynamo would be great, and for routes that put distance/time ahead of technical difficulty or speed.

But the minute you want loads of power you might struggle, like in a group

(light dependent obviously)

Even my revo is crap at night rides in groups.

When on my own it’s ace mostly as I don’t tend to stop.

But the stop start of group rides mean that the dynamo roulette at the start of the descent is a bit un nerving till it gets up to full steam

Ta all.

I’ll maybe try my B&M before ordering anything. I expect I’ll be no mates silo riding tho.

Any better priced alternatives designed for mtbing?

I’m planning on taking my cx bike with b&m road light out tomorrow… I’ll lasso have a 1000lm helmet light as I really don’t think the dynamo will be bright enough off road!!

Will feed back back..

DrP

Any reason you want dynamo over battery?
You can get some pretty good run-times on a large battery pack.

Yeah, I just like dynamo, fit and forget, no need to worry about charging, battery expiring etc.

I use a Revo on and off road with SP-PD8 hubs.
Its great on road, although would benefit from having a more focused beam.
Its great off-road at a reasonable speed. The good spread of light is useful.
Yes, its dull at slow speeds, but thats not a massive problem on slow climbs.

where its a real pain is slow techy descents. Just when you need maximum visibility, you can’t see shut.

And also whenyou’re surrounded by other silly bright lights, its a bit underwhelming

Hope Vision2 on my helmet means its not a massive issue.

For riding all night though, and charging your GPS through daylight hours, dynamos are brilliant.

I actually thought you meant wiring a battery to power your existing B&M light, which can also be done and has the benefit of your light always being at max brightness, although the downside is you have the faff associated with having a battery.

We used B+M dynamo lamps for TT, basically for riding into the evenings and to be able to charge a USB battery pack. they’re absolutely fine on road and fast gravel roads, and for pushing miserably up a 1:4 climb at midnight, but not so good for slower more technical descents.