inexpensive backup headlight

[oh_blinding_light]

If these had been around 5 years ago at twice this price I never would have started building my own: http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_530166_-1___

If you're riding with an old 10 watt halogen, this is brighter. If you have an older $300 HID light, buy one of these for the night your bulb burns out, or buy one to loan to a buddy on a ride that goes a bit later than expected.

Would I ride serious single-track full speed with one of these? No. But it's more than enuff light to limp back to the car.

For $40 bucks it's a decent backup light, especially if you're gonna order some other stuff anyways.

It's sort of like playing the lottery. These use NiMh batteries and are probably a couple of years old. Some batteries will do OK, others will be toast (see reviews on the nashbar web page). The one I ordered seems to work fine. I'll be doing some after work rides with it this coming week and will post results.

I'll also take it apart and post any ideas I have for improving the light.

Happy Daylight Savings Time!

OBL
_________________
Nimium est melior!

[Forest_biker]

I've been using one of these the last two Winters as a handlebar light to go with a helmet light which is stronger.

I've yet to have a real problenm with it.

As the rubber band that wraps around the bar gets older it may slip a little on the bars on the serious bumps.
I put a little friction tape on them where I mount the light to solve the problem.

[oh_blinding_light]

Finally got to try mine out this last week after daylight savings time kicked in.

I've been using the light on some dark back roads thru semi-wild areas with very little auto traffic. I can't comment on how well it works on single-track.

I usually finish my ride right about the time it's getting really, really dark, it has performed well for the 20 or 30 minutes I was glad to have it. Beam pattern is nice. Light output is pretty decent for 150 lumens. I've been bombing down some pretty steep hills around 30 mph and while I worried about hitting the occasional deer, the light is good enuff to spot potholes. The mounting system kind of sucks for my handlebar setup, but I figured mounting the light under the bars (out of the way of cables) was workable.

My only concern is with the battery. First couple of times I charged it, the LED on the pack never switched to green as the instructions said it would. And the pack got warm to the touch. This can be a symptom of a NiMh that has not been charged in quite a while. I put the pack thru some discharge/charge cycles and now the LED at least goes out after a few hours (but it never turns green ... instruction manual error or some other problem?).

I still think the light was a good buy for $40. If you need a backup light, might be worth considering.

OBL
_________________
Nimium est melior!

[joshuacoyote]

isn't a back up head light an oxymoron? who ya callin a moron?

[oh_blinding_light]

Have a bit more run time on the MiNewt and it seems to be holding up pretty well. I even bought a second one for Mrs. OBL to use.

I got a chance to try mine out during the Lippman 38, as a race marshal not a racer. I only rode on 6 or 7 miles of the easier trails after dark, and the MiNewt seemed pretty adequate for that. But I ride slow. So it is probably best as a backup light, something to get your butt back to the trailhead after your main light fails. Also handy to carry as a spare light to loan to a friend. And pretty reasonable as a commuting light if you do much road riding.

I've learned the hard way not to take these apart. I wanted to see what LED they use (Luxeon K2 if you're interested) and see if I could tweak the driver a bit to increase the brightness (not easily). Taking them apart is simple with the right size hex wrench. Putting them back together it's real easy to crack the glass lens, they still work but are much less waterproof.

OBL
_________________
Nimium est melior!