Looking to venture out into the deep dark night and courting opinions on these two lights – the Torchy BK2200 and the MTB Batteries “The Lumenator”.

Both look very similar (2 x XML Us LED) and get good write ups.

Just wondering what peoples experiences are with either of them.

lumenator was good but battery was quite big. Sold it to a mate and bought a gloworm X2 with 2 cell battery than can run on the helmet. much better build quality.

Very happy with my Lumenator.

Awesome throw and beam pattern. I wear it on helmet with battery in top of my pack.

Battery is hefty but lasts ages so you don’t have to worry if you get carried away and stay out longer than two hours.

What’s the total cord length for the Lumenator, and also Torchy’s BK2200? Thinking of light unit on bar and mounting the battery pack under the saddle in a large saddle pack (e.g. a Topeak one), as frame mounting is awkward.

Has anyone done this?

Views from light owners on pros and pitfalls of an under saddle battery set up welcome.

I have the Lumenator, Can’t see the cable being long enough to go under the saddle. I like to ride without a pack too, and my solution is to pop the battery in my rear pocket of my club top. Don’t notice the weight at all.

I’ve run my Lumenator with the battery pack under the saddle without a problem. Use it in conjunction with a Lumen 800 as a helmet light & find them a fantastic combination, rarely on full power so they last for hours.

I’ve a lumenator, the lights great, but the battery died in about 9 months (i.e. the next time I used it after the summer). Their reponse was pretty much ‘they do that if not stored in a fridge at 40% charge when not in use’. Which may be true, and not their fault, but I was lead to believe that they were better than chinese batteries, which they weren’t.

I’ve had a lumenator too, excellent lights and great service from smudge.

My Luminator is very good. It works best as a helmet light though as I’ve noticed quite a bit of glare from the top of it when its mounted on the bar. Only happens when you’re lingering over the bars, but it’s definitely more pronounced than with my cheapo magicshine.

i’ve remembered one gripe I had. To change to a lower power setting, you had to cycle through the off setting.

Buy MTB batteries, great little lights and the batteries are all checked. The guy is also great, fantastic service.

To change to a lower power setting, you had to cycle through the off setting.

Not on my Lumenator you don’t.

mine was quite an early model. they must have changed it.

No need to cycle through any more. With reference to tinas battery issues above, I sent my battery back, Mark had a look and reckoned I’d dropped it (perfectly possible) but sent me a brand new one.

Awesome service.

Cheers Nobby – that’s really helpful.

I feel a purchase coming on…

I’m with Nobby same combination, ace lights!

Love my Lumenator, bar mounted with the battery pack under the stem. Rarely need full power, the battery outlasts my legs, good service.
And no, you don’t need to cycle through off when changing modes.

Thanks for the input everyone. No recommendation for Torchy which surprised me. Think I’ll be purchasing the Lumenator then.

Received my Lumenator on Saturday – thanks to Smudge for a speedy service. Quality of the light appears good and though I haven’t had a chance to try it in anger yet, light output is something else compared to previous lights I have had. It’s also a decent beam pattern with a good spread of light. The light unit is very compact.

I’ve mounted the light unit on the handlebars and the battery pack, after a bit of shopping around, in an extra small Topeak saddle bag (with the battery removed from it’s OEM woven nylon bag): http://www.evanscycles.com/products/topeak/aero-wedge-with-straps-extra-small-ec008237 . It’s very neatly strapped tight up under the saddle. The straps have decent buckles fixing it to the saddle rails rather than velcro, which is a bonus. For anyone that needs to know the battery pack is 7.5cm x 6cm x 4cm. Pack is rubber coated and cable exits through a sealed grommet in the end. It appears to be very water resistant.

I’ve handlebar mounted light unit with a Hope Universal Handlebar Mount which means I can position the light where my handlebar starts to kink near the stem without any problems: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hope-universal-handlebar-mount/rp-prod23533. The screw that comes with the Hope mount is too big for the Lumenator, as others have said, and the size it needs to be replaced with is M4 x 10mm.

The cable length between the light unit and the battery is about 125cm. I’ve run the light cable attached to brake and gear cables under the top tube. I want to be able to remove the light and battery quickly and easily so instead of the ubiquitous zip ties I am using 5 black coated wire ties. I’ve also used one of these M:Part adhesive cable guides I had lying around on the side of the frame just below the seat post to help run the cable vertically for the last bit to the seat pack: http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/m:part-self-adhesive-cable-guides-3m-pack-of-3-prod13059/ . Fortunately the light cable clips into the jaws of the cable guide quite nicely without the need for a cable tie.

All in all a very neat light and what turned out to be a very neat install.

I’ve had a couple of rides on the BK2200 now, great little unit with plenty of light. Did a runtime test on Sunday having not charged the light after Wednesday’s ride and it was still going on full after 4 hours.
I’ve only tried the larger of the two rubber band mounts and I find this causes a little wobble over rough ground, nothing too bad though.
This has replaced my 5 year old Ayup bar mount (I’m still using the helmet mounted one)and the difference between what I thought was a good light once and the Torchy is amazing.

Alternative to the Lumen 800, for £40 here: mapdec Properly sealed, well made and the battery automatically steps down through the 3 or 4 levels as the battery starts to go. British plug etc.

Never used the Gloworm but have a Lumenator and Lumen 800 from mtb batteries.

Both are great.

The battery packs are put together in the UK b Smudge who chooses what he believes to be high quality cells on the basis that these are better (but more expensive) than a number of the units you can buy abroad.

Excellent one to one service.

He will do you an extension cable if needed but I could fit my batteries under my seat I reckon.

The battery is big but it’s got a great run time. I have used my very small Lumen 800 battery with the bigger light for shorter runs but as I know this will run the smaller light for exactly the claimed 2.5 hours I wouldn’t rely on the big light / small battery for anything other than a short blast.