Is it too soon for a lights thread?

With gearbest is it best to pay via paypal or debit card (i dont have a credit card)?

I pay via PayPal as it’s easier for me. Not had any of the emails asking for pictures of card or ID as above either.

Cheers Muggo. I’ve got an XT40 as well but not used it as yet – would like to put it in my lid but it’s a bit tall / chunky for that. Will prob get a BT21 for the helmet and run the XT on my bars.

Ok i thought i would live life on the edge and go with the bt21, lets see what happens.

XT40 is v bright but sucks serious current and is badly sealed from elements.

Just received my BT21
Looks really nicely made and turbo seems brighter than my Solarstorm X2.
Connector fits with Solarstorm (but without screw).

Hope mount arrived from Tredz for 6.99. Doesn’t really fit 35mm bars, but I can put it at the tapered end and angle the light slightly. Seems snug. Not really necessary with X2/BT21 but I bought it for the BT70.

Haven’t tried them outdoors yet so can’t really talk about beam pattern.

How long did it take to arrive?

Looking forward to seeing what you think of the BT21 when you have a chance to use it.

Shipped on 18th – arrived 28th – very impressive!

That is good. Mine shipped on the 22nd so with any luck it’ll be here in the next week or so.
Is the Hope mount just a case of unscrewing the supplied o ring mount and screwing in the Hope one or is there some fettling required? I’ve got a plastic mount I got from Torchy that I use on the 7 LED light that I’ve been using on the bars, but that’s a bit of a struggle to get on 31.8mm bars near the stem.

Just seen this (scroll down the page a bit) Magicshine 2016 lights. 8000 lumens with 3 hours run time 8O

http://ride.io/news/eurobike-15-day-2-3/

Is the Hope mount just a case of unscrewing the supplied o ring mount and screwing in the Hope one or is there some fettling required?

No fettling – I just used the original M3 screw instead of the Hope M4 one.
Shame they aren’t tapped for M4 though – M3 with a Philips head seems a bit feeble

Thanks. I’ll get one ordered.

Subscribing for later reference

Ordered my bt21 on 26th but still waiting for the status to change from processing….

Is the hope mount necessary for the bt21 or is this just a preffered option to the oring mounts (i am not a fan of the rubber rings)?

Alexsimon how long from point of ordering to receiving was it?

Is the hope mount necessary for the bt21 or is this just a preffered option to the oring mounts (i am not a fan of the rubber rings)?

Not necessary at all – quite a lightweight unit. Just experimenting, that’s all.

Alexsimon how long from point of ordering to receiving was it?
Posted 1 hour ago # Report-Post

Mine shipped a day after ordering, so 11 days. Sounds like 18days is more normal looking at a few past threads from GearBest.

Thats pretty quick, i guess you dropped lucky with the shipping schedule. Looks like i could be in for a bit of a wait, no rush though.

Video review of BT70

BT21 and BT40

Just had to start using lights on my after work rides starting around 6.30-7
Currently using a nukeproof reactor on the bars and lezyne on the helmet its a good setup but my nukeproof seems to get flooded by my friends £18 ss x3 when he’s behind me
Can’t believe how bright it is
My nuke is nocking on 4 years old now and not had an issue, my lezyne is used daily for commuting aswell so lots of charging almost daily with no issues

The Winter Lights Arms Race is on!!

Nitefighter BT70 just ordered :-)

I ordered a BT21 from GearBest on 21st August and it arrived today (1st Sept).

People who have ordered from gearbest can you keep me in the loop with how your orders are progressing? I reckon people who ordered around 22nd august got theres delivered quickly due to shipping calendar but after that it seems to have slowed down. I ordered on 25th august and my order in still in the processing stage, its not even a week old so i am not going to hassle them about it. If it all goes well and somebody can confirm they will work with magicshine battery connection then i may order an extra head unit.

EDIT: my order has now changed to shipped so i will let you know when it arrives so you might be able to guage your own orders

All the pictures I’ve seen show they have the older round connection and not the newer magicshine rectangular connection.

Thats just what i wanted to hear muggomagic as my magic shine is a few years old and has a round connection. I will see what my bt21 is like first.

I ordered a BT21 from Gearbest around the 21st and got it within a week.

Took it out for a first ride last night. I’m running it paired up with four good quality protected XTAR cells in a battery box. It survived getting rained on, and is plenty bright enough. I only used the overdrive mode on fast descents and suspect it won’t do much intelligent stuff to mitigate the heat buildup over time. It does get hot fast, so we’ll see if the driver burns out in the next few months (a similarly built one sold as the Jexree Owl seemed fine at first, but has got noticeably dimmer over the year to the point it’s useless now – whereas I’ve had years of use out of P60 based XM-L2 and P7 flashlights).

One of the things I liked the look of with the BT21 was the heatsink giving a decent mounting area at the side of the light. I hate the rubber band light mounts these all come with, so bought a Gloworm quick release mount off the classifieds here, and adapted the light with a bolt, a range of drills from 2.5 to 5mm, and an M3 tap:

The messy looking spacer is there for now because I only had long M3 machine screws to hand. The first fin has a 5mm hole to accommodate the inner facing part of the mount, the thread goes all the way through the rest.

Gloworm mounts are the best I’ve seen: machined aluminium, low footprint, can raise the light up a little to help fire it over cables, and let you position the light body directly over the stem (which is more an OCD thing for me than anything, but does take up less room on the bars).

Nice mod.

I like the look of these that a user on the mtbr forum has made. They’re made out of Aluminium and he’s extended the fins to help with the heat dissipation. Not sure if he’d ship to the UK or how much it’d be.

http://www.pacifier.com/~kevinb/Additional_adapters.html

Not sure if he’d ship to the UK or how much it’d be.

He does – $8 for one or two fittings.

nach – nice work.
How did you find the beam pattern?

Cheap Cree ebay jobby is still doing me well a year later and hasn’t yet burned my house down

Nach – liking the look of that. I’m using a Hope handlebar mount from CRC for my C&BSeen but looking at other options for mounting a light to the o/h’s bike.

What are other people using?

Also, any neat solutions for mounting the battery packs or is everyone using Velcro straps like me?

Cheers,

Si

I just use Velcro for the battery. Works really well on my square stem.

can someone please tell me the best universal charger for a solarstorm?

I know there’s been threads on this but just need a link or just point me in the right direction.

I bought it last year so it might be a v2 or something, if that makes any difference.

many thanks in advance.

If you can get a magicshine charger with the round connector, that would be a good reasonably-priced bet.
You’d have to check on the connector, but I think this:
http://www.bikelightsuk.com/accessories/uk_mains_magicshine_charger_P580.html

Otherwise http://mtbbatteries.co.uk/ are a safe and quality but pricier option.

has anyone bothered dropping new LEDs into Trouties Lumen Liberator? Mine is coming up for it’s 6th year of use this month and whilst it’s been brilliantly reliable and pushes out a proper dose of light, Im sure there is new LED tech that should be able to drop in on the same driver. Anyone?

I put my battery in a tiny topeak bag (not a saddle bag but a small square bag that just about fits the battery) this way its an extra layer of protection plus its quick release so no faffing with velcro. I mount it on underneath the top tube close to the headset.

AlexSimon – Member
nach – nice work.
How did you find the beam pattern?

Ta. I found the beam fine, but I do ride with a XM-L2 torch on my lid that throws a spot quite a long way, and tend to use bar lights for flooding the trail closer by. I’ll let you know if I find anything rubbish about it in the next week or two.

Overall, with all of this stuff I’m finding about 1/3 of cheap lights are a pain in the arse. Still works out cheaper than brands, but it’s very much for fettlers.

Quick update on my order. Day 9 since ordering and my parcel left hong kong on sept 2nd, it seems to have been on a journey just to get there so not sure where next destination is.

Anyone recently got theres and had a chance to test yet?

Rode with the BT21 last night.

Loved it.

Brighter than my Solarstorm X2

The neutral colour of the beam really does work better. Much easier to see things and just more pleasant.

Cycling through the modes confused me a bit, sometimes seemed to have 3 levels, sometimes 4. I’ll have to investigate – perhaps it remembers last mode at switch-off.

Beam pattern is very nice. No visible hotspots. Quite floody.

I put my X2 on the helmet, but it seemed very spotty and blue in comparison. Might need to think about a second Nitefighter product. I’m also getting tempted by a Hunk Lee battery.

AlexSimon – Member
perhaps it remembers last mode at switch-off.

It does.

Second ride with mine last night, and like you I found the light on my helmet was noticeably bluer. The BT21 throws a wider beam than I feel I need that close to the bike, but even so the output is more than adequate.

I seem to remember somebody on here mentioned about buying another neutral white light as it will likely clash with non neutral white lights. Thats the reason i was asking about the connection as i might by another bt21 head unit only and attach to my current magicshine battery.