Hope Vision lights… confused

Had a particularly expensive ride last night where my Light and Motion HID gave up the ghost along with my knee and left shifter. Planning to replace with a Hope light (since I already have the District rear light) but finding the various shops hopelessly confusing over what’s new, old, and discontinued.

* Am I right in thinking that there are no changes to the R4 for 2012/2013? Nothing on the Hope website, but Chain Reaction claims to have the new 2013 lights coming into stock in September and which are cheaper than the older ones too.

Cheers,

Dave.

(Feeling slightly pissed off – all I want to do is spend money on a light, not get confused!)

We (Biketreks) got a delivery of Hope R4’s in yesterday. As far as I know the light itself is unchanged but the battery options are different. There are now 3 different models.

Lightweight – R4 head unit with small (2 cell) battery – £199.99
All Sports – R4 head unit with one small (2 cell) battery and one large (4 cell) battery – £274.99
Endurance – R4 head unit with 2 large (4 cell) batteries – £294.99

The All Sports pack sounds like the one to have, and you get the head and helmet mounts with that one too. They won’t be on our website yet but call 015394 31245 and we can send one out today.

Hope that helps

Have they stopped doing the vision 2 now?

I believe the Vision 2 is now defunct. It was due for a revamp, and you can now get an R4 from £199 so it has kind of lost it’s place.

The Vision 2 and 4 have been discontinued but then the R4 is both lighter and brighter than the V2 so seem like a no brainer.

I use a R4 on my bars and helmet, the small batt is good for road rides on lower power, head mount and racing laps. The big batt is good for long mtb stints.

Cheers Colin – order placed!

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/lighting/bike-lights/rechargeable-lights/hope-vision-r4-front-led-light-2013.html

No problem!

The vision R4 is in imho underpowered and not as good a housing as the vision 2 was
its too small so they have had to underdrive the leds to keep the heat down .
4 XPG leds are capable of 1800 lumens

I have one in bits on the bench at the moment trying to squeeze the missing lumens out of it

Hmm… sounds like I might be sending it off to you at some point then, Trout!

i really fancy the allsport version as could use it for running / night orienteering too, but am struggling to justify paying 10x more than the chinese xml-t6s.

Is the hope worth more (other than the fact i WANT hope over chinese?)

Damn – what he said ^^.

That All Sports option is just what I want, but I could also buy another battery from Deal Extreme to add to my existing light for only £15…..

when it breaks* you can enjoy their legendary service..

*I’ve had 2 break.

when it breaks you can enjoy their legendary service*..

*Not if trout’s buggered about with it!

Any idea if the batteries for the V2 / 4 will work with the R4?

i really fancy the allsport version as could use it for running / night orienteering too, but am struggling to justify paying 10x more than the chinese xml-t6s.

I use my MTB Batteries one for night orienteering (aire night score league) and find it gives a better light for that than the floodier R4 used by several of my colleagues (and borrowed by me). The beam-like quality which is slightly annoying on a bike works really well for me when I’m running.

Any idea if the batteries for the V2 / 4 will work with the R4?

Pretty sure they are the same.

ta. good to see a review for my intended use.

Dezb it I dont think they will connect to each other.
thats what the owner of the one I am buggering about with said.

velo-m Great price on the R4 here

Dezb it I dont think they will connect to each other.
thats what the owner of the one I am buggering about with said.

Fair enough, but they only sell one type of battery now, so kind of says the V2 will become defunct.Doesn’t seem like the Hope way. Best to ask Hope, I suppose.

They’ve discontinued the XC hub so maybe they’re changing…

I don’t think the bayonet fitting of the R4 is backwards compatible with V2 / 4, which if the cable interconnects were as well would make for a nice upgrade to those older units, and a nice nod to their loyal customers.

it’s a simple job to do a cable swap on the Vision 2
and a led/driver swop makes it brighter than the R4

The old batteries work fine with the new light, they don’t ‘click’ in like the new connectors but connect electronically fine. I’ve got nearly every conceivable option from the last 4 years.

What about new batteries with the old lights

Troutie, I have a Hope Vision 2 of around 2007 vintage.

Are you still doing the LED upgrade conversion for them ?

Cheers.

Yes, the new batteries appear to run both the V2 and V4 lamp too.

Batteries are definitely cross compatible between V2, V4, R4

Gary C

Yes I am still doing the conversions to Hopes and Ayups

and just been outside with the turbocharged ( buggered about with ) R4 8)

Looking forward to picking my TRout4 back up. The only reason I need my R4 buggering about with is because my TroutVision 2 puts it in the shade!

I’m afraid I’d have gone for a replacement LED Light & Motion head unit, the beam pattern is better than the Hopes (less wasted light) & Hopes don’t give the claimed light output anyway.

Trout, I emailed you about my vision 4 but guess you didn’t get it?
There was some talk of you being able to upgrade them on here a while ago, can you still do it?
Email in profile.

Ta! 8)

Yep can do an improvement on the 4 as well
must have been while I was having it problems
drop us another mail things are working properly now

Dibbs – I already have a Hope District so buying a Hope head unit means I have a spare battery. Besides, there’s the fuzzy warm feeling you get from buying British from a great manufacturer. 🙂

Trout, i’ll drop you an e-mail this evening ref upgrading my vision 2 lights.

Just a note to those looking at R4s.

A 2 cell battery version of the Model 401 will be available soon.
An extra 400 lumens, same price, with battery level indicator.

Trout – how have you overcome the heat problem when cranking the output up?

I have not over come the heat just the new driver monitors and dims if it reaches a preset level .
the light can only handle full whack with lots of airflow .
but it also can have either five or three levels on the three. level 2 will I think be similar to full on the stock light.
on full
Just waiting for Jason to report in his impressions of it in the dark.

It was a quick job and I did not get to do the before and after beamshots which I like to get.

I have had both V2 and V4 upgraded and the difference is amazing. As Chris says, you do need airflow over them to keep on new high power settings but even on recent balmy nights ( amazing but true) normal mtb speeds allow unit to stay cool enough- in my experience only dim out if stationary and forgot to dim down.
V2 upgrade is brighter than original V4 and half the weight

Troutie – any development with the all in one unit?