Amazon? They sell Chinese lights? Can you send me the link? Otherwise it’ll be the one above (the boxed solar storm)

@howsyoudad1 yes fake, poor logo, metal black edges arent clean, silver reflector marked, square power, cheaped sprayed bezel, philips screws, it looks second too 😆

is anyone using Uniquefire XM-L2 X2?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/201163626290?var=500344273474&ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649&clk_rvr_id=706172831562&a

Me! I have one!

Used it a few times. It’s ace! decent runtime, good beams, hasn’t set my hair/helmet/house on fire.

@cruzcampo Dang. Ok thanks for the confirmation. One bl00dy use! Any tips on a decent one other than that you have
Linked to above?

@hyd1 if you can afford another $10 the XT40 with the proper battery box is a cracking offer

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10003977/1527803-solarstorm-xt40-4-cree-xm-l2-u2-4-mode-3000lm-led

Beam akin to having an SSX2 on the bars and helmet on full together

Deal extreme have it too, unboxing video here

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtNSbRgYK_4[/video]

http://www.dx.com/p/solarstorm-xt40-4-x-cree-xm-l2-u2-3300lm-4-mode-white-bike-light-black-4-x-18650-270428#.VDwfNvnF9as

Bought this from 7 day shop when it was on offer, http://www.7dayshop.com/products/7dayshop-bike-light-hyper-bright-t6-cree-led-bicycle-light-with-headlight-kit-rechargeable-genuine-cree-t6-xm-l-led-DS-009, light linked to a few pages back, and I was wondering whether I could put the battery pack in a bottle and keep that on the bike. It would save me having a wire wrapped around the bike and battery pack just velcroed to the top tube in the little bag. Is this a stupid idea? Should I cut/drill a couple of holes in the bottle to let some air through? Will I die if I do this?

Doh. I just spotted this thread, right after I posted some pics of the new R4 in another thread. *sigh*

Anyway, it’s all here. Hope you find it interesting:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/hope-vision-r4-comparison-with-cheapy-ebay-light-and-fitting-pictures

Daern

Possibly a silly question: can unprotected cells be put in the battery box that comes with the XT40 and all 4 charged at once in the box?

Thanks.

can unprotected cells be put in the battery box that comes with the XT40 and all 4 charged at once in the box?

Yes, I believe so! I got a battery box and 4 panny batteries last winter, and have been using the charger that came with my MagicShine MJ872 to charge them in the box.

Personally, I prefer to throw the cheapo chargers that come with the Chinese-sourced lights in the bin – I just don’t trust them.

Well my XT40 arrived today, and despite the description and the picture on the FastTech product page both showing that it should come with an empty battery box for 18650 battries, it actually came with one of the crappy half-sealed rubbish battery units instead. I’m a bit miffed – already bought the batteries in anticipation.

I’ve raised a ticket with them, but doubt they’ll do much.

Rocco, re batteries in a bottle, exactly what a mate has done for a while now with no issues. Might be worth ramming something soft in to wedge the battery in place.

Anyone looking for a really strong spot light I can recommend this for the price:

http://www.mtbrevolution.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=20&product_id=82

Wanted something with a bit of punch to compliment a D-star set up as more of a flood on the bars. Looked at loads of photos of beam tests and went for the S12 as (at the time) it had the longest throw for the money.

Impressive bit of kit for the price, helmet mount is a bit clunky and sticks up a bit if I’m being picky but have been using it regularly for a couple of years now and have without problems or drop in light/battery levels.

Now I quite often leave the D-star and just take the cheap spot light, not as good spread of light but is quite good for forcing you to keep your head up and looking where you’re going!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Supernova-10-GENUINE-High-Quality-10400mAh-Battery-Pack-7-4V-2S4P-8-4V-Fluxient/181552659584?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3D05e919b581244cd6ab176356269ce3cb%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D20140122125356%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D301343510085&rt=nc

Big battery pack, supposedly Samsung

Having followed this thread since it started I have gone with Cruzcampo’s advice and taken the pluunge on the Solarstorm XT40 (see here clicky). I didn’t fully read the spec and didn’t realise it came without batteries 😐 but got in touch with Mark at MTBBatteries.co.uk who has been brilliant. It seems from reading around the subject that it is more important to get decent batteries and chargers. Mark recommended either a 6 cell 7.5V 6.6Ah Li-Ion Battery including battery bag or a 6 cell 7.5V 7.8AH Li-Ion Battery including battery bag based on the spec of the XT40. I have gone with the 7.8AH option. Whilst I haven’t received the light or the batteries as yet (I am working away from home, back next week) I have been extremely impressed with Mark and the speed of his replies via email to my queries.

Once I have everything I’ll report back. This will be my first foray into the world of ‘superlights’, I got an Exposure Joystick from last years PSA on here when Wiggle were knocking them out cheap so that’ll be the helmet mount. So far, I have been pleased with it (although it did need to go back to Exposure when it failed to turn off after a few months use – thankfully their customer service lived up to the hype and it’s been faultless since).

Just one question for Cruzcampo – what is the bar mounting system like for the SS XT40? Kinda hard to tell from the Fasttech site…

Roll on the dark nights 8)

Rocco, re batteries in a bottle, exactly what a mate has done for a while now with no issues. Might be worth ramming something soft in to wedge the battery in place.

Do I need to drill any holes in the bottle or am I alright to leave it? I’ll find something to wedge in the top to stop the battery rattling around

@kevin 1911 thats naughty of them, can you do a CC / paypal chargeback worst case? although they usually respond to tickets pretty quickly from past dealings.

mattrgee – Member
Possibly a silly question: can unprotected cells be put in the battery box that comes with the XT40 and all 4 charged at once in the box?

Thanks.

Matt you could, but with unprotected you are at risk of over charging and discharging too much.(explosion) I’d pick up a Xtar VP2 or the like if going with unprotected cells, which is my setup.

northernerindevon – Member
Having followed this thread since it started I have gone with Cruzcampo’s advice and taken the pluunge on the Solarstorm XT40 (see here clicky). I didn’t fully read the spec and didn’t realise it came without batteries but got in touch with Mark at MTBBatteries.co.uk who has been brilliant. It seems from reading around the subject that it is more important to get decent batteries and chargers. Mark recommended either a 6 cell 7.5V 6.6Ah Li-Ion Battery including battery bag or a 6 cell 7.5V 7.8AH Li-Ion Battery including battery bag based on the spec of the XT40. I have gone with the 7.8AH option. Whilst I haven’t received the light or the batteries as yet (I am working away from home, back next week) I have been extremely impressed with Mark and the speed of his replies via email to my queries.

Once I have everything I’ll report back. This will be my first foray into the world of ‘superlights’, I got an Exposure Joystick from last years PSA on here when Wiggle were knocking them out cheap so that’ll be the helmet mount. So far, I have been pleased with it (although it did need to go back to Exposure when it failed to turn off after a few months use – thankfully their customer service lived up to the hype and it’s been faultless since).

Just one question for Cruzcampo – what is the bar mounting system like for the SS XT40? Kinda hard to tell from the Fasttech site…

Roll on the dark nights

Bar mount on XT40 is two different rubber rings, I use the larger one for the middle of my bars, after wrapping some electrical tape around first. Doesnt budge a mm once set.

” 6 cell 7.5V 7.8AH Li-Ion Battery including battery bag based on the spec of the XT40.” sounds a good choice, more powerful than my battery box with 3400’s which will only give even more to the excellent runtime!

Cruzcampo – cheers for that. Can’t wait to try it out. ta

Paul

I’ve had a battery in a water bottle for over a year now. I haven’t v
Drilled any extra holes and it’s not blown up yet 🙂

Quick battery question,

I have a solarstorm and will probably get the torchy battery pack.

I also have a Cree xml-t6 with a dead battery, any ideas where I can get a decent replacement for this unit as well?

rocco – don’t drill any holes. lumicycle standard issue for quite a few years was a battery pack in a bottle wedged in with foam. think they recommended undoing the lid during charging.

scandal42 – Member

I also have a Cree xml-t6 with a dead battery, any ideas where I can get a decent replacement for this unit as well?

Most likely the Fluxient batteries will fit, it’s the most common plug “standard”. There’s some variations in waterproofing, screwfits etc but generally the actual plus is the same. My MJ872 uses the same plug as my old XML-T6 bastid and works perfectly with the fluxient.

Lights experts.
What light glows blue out the back? Just seen a commuter with one that was on flash mode that was way too bright for lit streets and would blind any oncoming traffic. Just wondered what make it was?

Can anyone who knows anything about lights/batteries give an opinion on this please:

The light in question

Was thinking at least he is honest about the output and that the battery is a least made by Trustfire….also thought I might be able to use the battery case and replace the cells inside if they don’t last.

Still looking for genuine UK Solarstorm sellers. I bought an X3 from 360digital2011 on ebay, the LEDs look the same but it has phillips screws and the logo on top is smaller than the pics on Solarstorms website. Anyone got a UK source for legit units?

i bought one of these a couple of days ago:

2x XML U2 type job

delivered next day, £40, awesome.

What light glows blue out the back?

Possibly a Lupine Betty?

Quite a few of my lights have a blue led under the power/control button. All variations of Chinese efforts.

The lights are very brought but it helped me see a cyclist coming up on the inside of me when I was in the car. So it does work I suppose.

Bought a SSX2 from lightmalls on the 30th Sept, it arrived yesterday.

Lightmalls appear to sell a few different variations and some at slightly different prices. The one I chose was the more expensive of the bunch and the pics showed what appears to be a genuine unit when comparing the the link that was supplied earlier in the thread.
When I opened it there was no rigianl packaging and the screw heads were phillips style. The beveling looks ok, graphics match too. Took it out for a ride earlier and its bright and works well. Havev’t had the courage to charge it yet as i took the charger part to see what it’s like and its pretty basic.
It was £18.45 inc delivery, so you pays your money etc…

Its a fake, no doubt, i’m just considering whether to contact lightmalls for a refund as the unit doesnt match the one in the pics? Any suggestions?

Over the years I have bought AYUP,Magicshine 872’s,Solarstorm-fake or real? Last year I bought an exposure Joystick and I am happy with it as a helmet light.

The Magicshine 872 is still going strong as is the Solarstorm….

I ride a lot at night and have decided to treat myself this year..so after humming and hawing— Hope R4 V Exposure v Lumicycle— I have pulled the trigger on a new UK made Lumicycle Explorer!

Lumicycle Explorer

Its in the post. Soon as it arrives I will do some beam shots alongside the others in the quiver.

Yeah it’s expensive but once I started adding up the cost of replacing dangerous batteries,chargers etc…the value of UK made products soon become clear

Bought a SSX2 from lightmalls on the 30th Sept, it arrived yesterday.

Lightmalls appear to sell a few different variations and some at slightly different prices. The one I chose was the more expensive of the bunch and the pics showed what appears to be a genuine unit when comparing the the link that was supplied earlier in the thread.
When I opened it there was no rigianl packaging and the screw heads were phillips style. The beveling looks ok, graphics match too. Took it out for a ride earlier and its bright and works well. Havev’t had the courage to charge it yet as i took the charger part to see what it’s like and its pretty basic.
It was £18.45 inc delivery, so you pays your money etc…

Its a fake, no doubt, i’m just considering whether to contact lightmalls for a refund as the unit doesnt match the one in the pics? Any suggestions?

POSTED 52 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

For £18 i’d just abuse it till it breaks 😀

Bought a couple of SSX2s, got them today and took them out tonight. So good, so good. How long are they supposed to take to charge up by the way? I got real ones rather than Chinese efforts, warranty and all from bright bike lights good guys, would recommend them

John when you say real SSX2 not Chinese ones, well I think even the real ones are Chinese in origin 😀

Although it looks like you may have found an original SSX2 there, can you put some pics of the lamp up.

The originals came from “Shenzhen Blackshadow Technology Co., Ltd. ” as far as I know…

http://blackshadow.en.alibaba.com/

They produce the proper black shadow, starry light and solar storm.

The starry lights look very interesting and they have some decent protected pano 3400mah 18650s too

http://blackshadow.en.alibaba.com/product/1511201868-220472580/Panasoni_c_3400mah_3_7V_18650_li_ion_rechargeable_battery.html

Cruz, made a wee album, my phone quality is a bit sucky. I wont pretend to know more than I do which isn’t enough to talk to you about them by the looks of it! I have been trying to decharge the battery in one of them since I got in 4 hours ago and it is still on and it only had the charge it came with out the box to start with…

photos

Stuff all the SSX2,XT40`s, bla bla…

I`ve just got the Hope R4….. 😛

So there!!!!! 😉

@stoney the Hope R4 battery pack is mantle piece worthy 😆

They need to upgrade their LEDs though, surprising for Hope as their slightly behind

http://www.cree.com/LED-Components-and-Modules/Products/XLamp/Discrete-Directional/XLamp-XPG2

http://www.cree.com/LED-Components-and-Modules/Products/XLamp/Discrete-Directional/XLamp-XML2

Even the Hope R8 sticks with the older G2 but double the quantity
http://www.hopetech.com/product/r8-led/

I’d love to see them use XML2s

@johnbot looks a decent quality lamp!

You shouldn’t discharge the battery till flat though, looked at your link its one of the 18650 sealed battery packs, these may be recycled laptop cells, they may or may not have protection circuits. They work best simply being topped up after each ride. Taking them too low isn’t good for the battery health and can destroy the battery.

Some info here

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

Over-discharging Lithium-ion

Li-ion should never be discharged too low, and there are several safeguards to prevent this from happening. The equipment cuts off when the battery discharges to about 3.0V/cell, stopping the current flow. If the discharge continues to about 2.70V/cell or lower, the battery’s protection circuit puts the battery into a sleep mode. This renders the pack unserviceable and a recharge with most chargers is not possible. To prevent a battery from falling asleep, apply a partial charge before a long storage period.
Battery manufacturers ship batteries with a 40 percent charge. The low charge state reduces aging-related stress while allowing some self-discharge during storage. To minimize the current flow for the protection circuit before the battery is sold, advanced Li-ion packs feature a sleep mode that disables the protection circuit until activated by a brief charge or discharge. Once engaged, the battery remains operational and the on state can no longer be switched back to the standby mode.
Do not recharge lithium-ion if a cell has stayed at or below 1.5V for more than a week. Copper shunts may have formed inside the cells that can lead to a partial or total electrical short. If recharged, the cells might become unstable, causing excessive heat or showing other anomalies. Li-ion packs that have been under stress are more sensitive to mechanical abuse, such as vibration, dropping and exposure to heat.

I`ve just got the “ordinary” 2 cell battery,that way the missus can use it on the strap for running. I will get a nice flat 5.2ah battrey from Smudge and then run it in the rear pocket so you can take the pack off without being hindered with a cable.
I looked at the R1, but allthough there was just enough light (for a helmet) it was in the wrong place….ie, the R4 put way more light down directly in front and a slight nod of head downwards then you could see where you put ur feet (for the hikeabikes)

Has to be said though,even with the R4 on full, it does nothing over the Troutie Dominator on the bars, 😉

update, those lights i bought are chuffing great.

nice even spread, 4 levels from ‘bit dim’ to ‘more than enough’, all seemingly well put together.

the highest output level isn’t biblical, but when i was in the trees it was too much – the glare bouncing back from nearby stuff was dazzling. levels 2 or 3 are plenty bright enough.

(but, for a laugh, i found i could ride behind someone, and whack it up to full to temporarily put them in their own shadow)

£40, fast delivery, brilliant.

Bought this
https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10005710/1443727-yinding-2-cree-xm-l-u2-4-mode-1800-lumen-white
Great light super bright and tiny but plan to replace the battery with one from torchy.