[kdiff]

With most stuff I do a lot of research before I buy anything but after a fair amount of light research I'm still a little unsure of a few things.

First, what kind of power/lumens would be enough for moderate speed singletrack riding for approximately 2hrs? (Based on my research I'm looking at picking up a helmet and a handlebar light.)

Second, I'm really liking the Dinotte package with the 800L handlebar & the 400L helmet for $450. From what I've read the Dinottes get great reviews though I've seen a few people comment and say they are a bit overpriced for the lumens. However, I haven't really found anything comparable that would get me two nice lights for less then $450, so I'm wondering how they are overpriced? Am I missing some other obvious light combination? (I mostly looked at Dinottes, Amoeba/Scar, Geoman and a little of Baja Designs since they seem to have a strong presence on here and have good customer support.)

Any other light combination suggestions or other feedback would be appreciated. Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[savagemann]

I have a BD Strykr that makes a wonderful bar light with the wide reflector (included)
Pair that up with an Amoeba on the helmet and you'd have some serious light.

Some of my first night rides ( over 20 years ago ) we would use the old school cateye bar lights, which took 2 C cell batteries. I can't believe we actually used to pull that off.
Most of us ran 2 of them.

Most recently when I got back into night rides, I started back up with a Blackburn X4 system, which I thought was great paired up with a 1 watt headlamp.

Then I picked up a Magicshine 900......which was amazing, but I started to be able to outride it.

Then added a Magicshine 1400 on my bars and put the 900 on the helmet, which was a great combo.

I ditched the 1400 for the BD Strykr, and was very pleased.

Then ditched the 900 on my helmet for a DIY dual XPG system I built which is very much brighter than the MS900.

That most recent combo would be very similar to the Strykr/Amoeba combo that I recommend. In fact, the light I built is very much the same (performance) as the Amoeba.

With that most recent combo, I was actually able to see better than in the daytime, and was hitting some of my fastest speeds down some twisty singletrack....in parts exceeding 28mph.

The Strykr with wide reflector puts out a kind of oval beam that does a really good job of lighting everything up forward as well as off to the sides. I'm very happy with that setup.

But never happy enough as I have recently been bitten by the DIY light bug.
My most recent bar light is pushing some serious power, and is complete overkill at around 2000 lumens.....and I have a 1800 lumen helmet light in the works.....= )

But as I said, I would go with a BD Strykr and Amoeba......I've never seen a Dinotte in person, but have heard good stuff.

Do it right the first time and save yourself alot of $$ in the longrun. As you can gather from my above posting, I have spent alot of hard earned $$ only to find out I needed something different. I didn't even mention all the 900 lumen flashlights I acquired as my buddies put those to very good use....= )
There is nothing I would change about the Strykr, the only reason I moved on from it is that I have started making all my own lights, and some for my buddies as well.
i will not be parting with my Strykr though, as it is a great system.

 

[kdiff]

savagemann, wow! Excellent info! Thank you, I appreciate it. I'll check out the Strykr/Amoeba combo tonight.

 

[indebt]

With most stuff I do a lot of research before I buy anything but after a fair amount of light research I'm still a little unsure of a few things.

First, what kind of power/lumens would be enough for moderate speed singletrack riding for approximately 2hrs? (Based on my research I'm looking at picking up a helmet and a handlebar light.)

Second, I'm really liking the Dinotte package with the 800L handlebar & the 400L helmet for $450. From what I've read the Dinottes get great reviews though I've seen a few people comment and say they are a bit overpriced for the lumens. However, I haven't really found anything comparable that would get me two nice lights for less then $450, so I'm wondering how they are overpriced? Am I missing some other obvious light combination? (I mostly looked at Dinottes, Amoeba/Scar, Geoman and a little of Baja Designs since they seem to have a strong presence on here and have good customer support.)

Any other light combination suggestions or other feedback would be appreciated. Thanks! :thumbsup:

The combo savagemann mentioned is a very good one, the Stryker is buttet proof, and the Amoeba is also a killer little helmet light.Not sure if Scar has caught up on his orders yet though.
Another combo that will give you aprox 1600 true lumens is the upgrade of the Dinotte 800L which is the 800+ using quad XPG's and will be pushing aprox 1000 lumens.And only priced at $319, a bargan for Dinotte's known quality.The Amoeba would be a great helmet light to match with it's two XPG set up.If there is still to long of a wait on the Amoeba,a Gemini Titan with aprox 600+ lumens for your helmet would work well and keep you in your budget.

 

[kdiff]

The combo savagemann mentioned is a very good one, the Stryker is buttet proof, and the Amoeba is also a killer little helmet light.Not sure if Scar has caught up on his orders yet though.
Another combo that will give you aprox 1600 true lumens is the upgrade of the Dinotte 800L which is the 800+ using quad XPG's and will be pushing aprox 1000 lumens.And only priced at $319, a bargan for Dinotte's known quality.The Amoeba would be a great helmet light to match with it's two XPG set up.If there is still to long of a wait on the Amoeba,a Gemini Titan with aprox 600+ lumens for your helmet would work well and keep you in your budget.

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't realize there were multiple versions of the 800? (Dinotte's website doesn't seem that clear sometimes.)

The Gemini Titan looks pretty neat. Do you know how the Amoeba would compare to Titan?

Thanks again! :thumbsup:

 

[indebt]

I havent seen the Amoeba in person,however i had a Lupine Piko(very similar light) in hand which is a little brighter than the Amoeba due to been driven a little harder.Basically same size and beam pattern, both using the XPG's.But the Gemini is also a little brighter than the MS which is(very similar to the Titan).
My conclusion would be the Titan would have an edge in brightness,spill,runtime, and price.The Amoeba would have an edge in comfort,convenience as battery mounts on helmet,colour rendition as it uses the same emitters,and a long reliable history of very happy customers.

 

[kdiff]

I havent seen the Amoeba in person,however i had a Lupine Piko(very similar light) in hand which is a little brighter than the Amoeba due to been driven a little harder.Basically same size and beam pattern, both using the XPG's.But the Gemini is also a little brighter than the MS which is(very similar to the Titan).
My conclusion would be the Titan would have an edge in brightness,spill,runtime, and price.The Amoeba would have an edge in comfort,convenience as battery mounts on helmet,colour rendition as it uses the same emitters,and a long reliable history of very happy customers.

Sounds good, thank for the help!

 

[Cat-man-do]

With most stuff I do a lot of research before I buy anything but after a fair amount of light research I'm still a little unsure of a few things.

First, what kind of power/lumens would be enough for moderate speed singletrack riding for approximately 2hrs? (Based on my research I'm looking at picking up a helmet and a handlebar light.)

Second, I'm really liking the Dinotte package with the 800L handlebar & the 400L helmet for $450. From what I've read the Dinottes get great reviews though I've seen a few people comment and say they are a bit overpriced for the lumens....

My 2 cents for what it's worth: Since you have $450 burning a hole in your pocket, this is how I would spend the money if it were mine...Lupine Piko for the helmet. Getting a light to work on the helmet is sometimes hard to do. The Piko is a nice light ( for about $300 ) and the mount set-up looks to be top notch. Not to mention it is one of the lightest ( weight-wise ) set-up sold. For a bar lamp you might want to check out a Bikeray II or perhaps a Gemini Titan ( both are P-7 lamps ). For a little more light and a little more money perhaps a Bikeray III ( triple XP-G ) sold by Geoman for the bars.

Nothing wrong with the set-up you proposed. I just think the Lupine Piko would be better than the 400L as far as helmet lamps go.

 

[kdiff]

Thanks Cat-man-do. I'll look into Bikeray. The Pikos look like really neat lights.

 

[kristian]

I'm a very happy Amoeba owner. I've had mine for over a year now (one older style flood as a helmet and a custom flood/spot 4 LED combo on the bars), and I've been extremely happy with them. Almost everyone in my riding group has at least one Amoeba now (7 out of a group of 10).

Besides the size and the amount of light, the biggest plus for the Amoebas is the inexpensive batteries--I had sticker shock when I looked to replace a Niterider battery years ago. I have never run out of juice on 3 hour rides with the Amoeba (with a battery roughly the size of two AAs attached to my helmet), and I can get additional batteries for $40 from Scar (or Batteryspace.com since they aren't proprietary). Scar's customer service has been first rate too. I'm stoked to support someone building a great product in their garage.

 

[Baja Designs]

Thanks Cat-man-do. I'll look into Bikeray. The Piko's look like really neat lights.

Hey Kdiff,

Here's something to think about, while I was at the 24hrs in the Old Pueblo this past weekend I had a sale on our Strykr and Strykr Pro light systems - our light's waterproofing capability came into play at this race - but that's a different story.

Both of these lights have life time warranties on the light heads and electronics and two years on the batteries - I won't get into review type thing, other guys have done that, I will tell you that they are very tough and bright. Anyway the special was $200 for the Strykr and $240 for the Strykr Pro, this would allow you to stay under your $450 budget.

If that sounds like something you might be interested in drop me a line at [email protected] and we'll get you all set. Let me know if you have any questions.

Shannon

 

[kdiff]

Hey Kdiff,

Here's something to think about, while I was at the 24hrs in the Old Pueblo this past weekend I had a sale on our Strykr and Strykr Pro light systems - our light's waterproofing capability came into play at this race - but that's a different story.

Both of these lights have life time warranties on the light heads and electronics and two years on the batteries - I won't get into review type thing, other guys have done that, I will tell you that they are very tough and bright. Anyway the special was $200 for the Strykr and $240 for the Strykr Pro, this would allow you to stay under your $450 budget.

If that sounds like something you might be interested in drop me a line at [email protected] and we'll get you all set. Let me know if you have any questions.

Shannon

Thank you Shannon. That is really cool of you. I'll check out the lights tonight and let you know if I have any questions or want to pick some up.

 

[Baja Designs]

Thank you Shannon. That is really cool of you. I'll check out the lights tonight and let you know if I have any questions or want to pick some up.

Perfect kdiff, let me know if you have any questions or anything.

Shannon