[jsigone]

I was torn between which bike light I wanted, Main thing for me was being able to ride at almost any speed on flats and roller both on the roadie and MTB. So 20-30mph range and not out ride the light. I was tossed between the Dinotte sale $99 (200lumens) or dual Fenix L2D (combined 380lumens). In my research, I found a new LED breed called the P7, which is a cluster of 4 P5 CREE LED's, same family of light used in the Fenix and Dinotte lights.

I bought a MTE 7 mode light https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13060 AWESOME AWESOME light for the dollar. The light itself was $45 + mounts, bats and charger came to $70 even. Half the price as dual L2D and 30% cheaper then dinotte.

I went out for a 40 mile road ride but started about 6:30, didn't get home til almost 9:30pm But damn it was fun testing out the new light. I can cruise at 18-20MPH with the slow strobe which gives high power output. The faster strobe is nice with Med output but I fear it might cause bad things for on coming cars. The Med mode is great for climbing at slow speeds or more city lighting where you don't need 100% of the light. High mode was simply awesome. I tried to out run this light and couldn't on the flats. I got it close to 30mph on the flats and still had more room for speed. I went downhill I normally do at 32-35mph and did it at normal speed with this light:clap:

High mode has a 1hr10min run time before it dimmed, another 20 minutes before it dimmed again. This is off a single 18650 battery. Next week I'll try the run time of the Med mode and the slower strobe.

I can't wait to try this light out there on the dirt:thumbsup:

now for the pictures

Medium mode

High mode:clap:

bush about 15ft away.

 

[Cat-man-do]

Awesome!! :eekster: I think these torches are going to give the fancy bike light manufactures a run for their money. Are you using protected batteries? If not be careful you don't over-discharge your batteries or you'll need new ones real fast. The beam pattern looks to be mostly flood but it still has decent throw even on medium power. It is very impressive. Last time I checked D/X had the multi-level MTE on backorder. It looks to be one of their more popular torches. Looks like it would make an excellent bar mounted light, road or MTB.

 

[Turveyd]

I've got the Single Cell trust fire on order 5 mode version, those pics looks like the perfect for bars pattern, Reflectors abit bigger so i'm hoping for more throw as I'll head mount it, but I'll get the CREE Version when it's out then move the P7 to bar mounted no doubt.

1hour 10mins if mine gets that with that output that'll be great, was expecting 45mins.

My batterys are protected as i kill un protected CR123a's regularly and all charged and ready to use

When you can get light output for $80 all in like that, why waste your money on anything else I say.

I'll have a R2 on my head to boost the range for fast sections to, Hope 1 Vision ( CRAP ) on the bars and a C3 100lumen light on the bars to, do you think it'll be over kill

Might mount my spare R2 on the bars aswell, if there is enough room just for bursts though.

 

[denmikseb]

Narrow beams have been keeping me away from using flashlights; but from your photos this light appears to have quite a wide beam. Maybe even wider than a Dinotte 200L?

 

[msxtr]

Hi, great light!!!!!!!! it hot very much the flashlight when you ride with your bike?

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr

 

[jsigone]

I'm running blue protected trustfires. This light has a good mix of flood and throw which is very useful on rides without having to run dual lights. Though I might pick up a ligh and small cr
123 light to mount on the helmet for more dirt rides. I don't think I need that much light on the road.

I got the 7 mode because the 5 mode was on backorder, now all of them are on bo.

 

[jsigone]

Hi, great light!!!!!!!! it hot very much the flashlight when you ride with your bike?

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr

No the light remained cold when I was riding, even at 8mph when I was climbing the last hill home which is 4miles at 5% average grade.

Narrow beams have been keeping me away from using flashlights; but from your photos this light appears to have quite a wide beam. Maybe even wider than a Dinotte 200L?

That would have been the reason why I'd have to get TWO of the Fenix L2D's, but one of these of bad boys is all that is really needed. I havn't seen a 200L in person yet, but the spill of the P7 cast enouh shadows on the opposite side bike lane and then some. I road on the center line for a few seconds (when was safe on that last climb) and I can shine the entire road with the wide spill. With the center still thowing out 100ft.

When I borrowed my friends Fenix L2D a while ago, I couldn't throw it out that far and the hot spot was about 4-5ft wide at 60ish ft out.

This LED is 10-12watts of power, so that would put it in the same range as the Dinotte600L. But only $45 oppose to $400 for the 600L. Not too worried about the seconds its takes swapping batteries every 70-80 minutes of high runtime when I can save over $300:thumbsup:

 

[helibird]

Anyone tried this on the dirt yet?? By the shots there sure seems to be a lot of spill, would it be enough light to have one on the bars and one on helmut??

 

[Turveyd]

I should be trying a different version Tuesday / Wednesday will try it bars and helmet but helmet is my main useage on dirt, it's wet dirt where you really need Max power though.

As long as you stay away from LED's with a strange Lens that pools all the light into a spot with no spill, then all the LED's I've got have plenty of spill for me,

I'll stop every 70-80mins to too save $300 everytime, if you want a longer run time blow $10 on 2 batterys, if a battery dies who cares, if the light dies still barely care Unlike a expensive setup.

 

[jsigone]

I'll try to get out there on the dirt in the next few days for my review. I have an older Cygolite I used to use in the winter months. I'll charge it up and take it out so I can take comparison shots to from the low tech halogen bottle battery setup and this new high tech wonder from Hong Kong with no wires attached

 

[Turveyd]

No wires is key isn't it, no taking your rucksack off forgetting your connected and ripping your head off or no trying to route the lead the right well when putting the helmet on.

 

[tamen00]

Has anyone tried running an external battery pack with one of these? Could you get a 4800 mah 3.7v battery pack and run it as an external and get 4 hours of runtime with it? I do not see why it would not work, just wanted some insight on it before I tried it... You could then shorten the light, run a standard mount, and you would be good to go...

jsut a thought

 

[Turveyd]

I toyed with the idea, but if the battery is in the back of your shirt it'll take you 30seconds to change it, I find it more flexible want a 8year ride, just fill the rucksack with batterys and ride

 

[Cat-man-do]

tamen00 said:

Has anyone tried running an external battery pack with one of these? Could you get a 4800 mah 3.7v battery pack and run it as an external and get 4 hours of runtime with it? I do not see why it would not work, just wanted some insight on it before I tried it... You could then shorten the light, run a standard mount, and you would be good to go...

jsut a thought

No one has tried it yet that I know of but I've toyed with the idea. I just ordered one of the P-7 MTE torches last night from the China Goods web site. Deal Extreme is much cheaper but all of theirs are back ordered so I figured I would pay the additional $15 rather than wait. A couple years back I bought a nice 4800mah Li-ion 3.7 volt battery from BatterySpace and never used it. This would be a nice battery to use to adapt one of these torches to an external battery. Nevertheless, I'm really hoping that the 18650 (2400mah) batteries I've ordered with the torch will give the 1+ hr. run time that is promised. Like Turveyed I'm planning on using mine helmet mounted. The torch I chose looks like it might have a nice center hot spot which is what I am hoping for. Turveyed, I tried to hold off on buying one of these but the temptation was too much. Even if it doesn't have the throw I'm looking for I still will have a nice torch. With my 600L on the bars and P-7 torch on the helmet I should have an awesome amount of light.

 

[Turveyd]

The Trustfire with Copper HeatSink 1 I've order is in stock on DX $54 area, C2 sized reflector so should have a tighter spot than the others but not as tight as Cree's.

Even if it's not a thrower it'll great for 15mph area techy stuff with light everywhere hopefully, I've got the R2 on my head aswell which is a good thrower, but the P7 will boost it more to

I tried too, upgraded both my 100lumen torches to R2's ( 250 ) with the DX drop in but wrecked the 1 R2 due to heat hassles so sod it The 40min run time each was ludicrous though. Hoping using Medium power alot will get me 90mins+++ per change.

Expecting Wednesday on mine, should be Friday at the latest though, need to get some night time training rides in.

Only took 2 days ( I'm in the UK ) from the charger + batterys being despatched to arriving, so slim chance on tommorow, average Tuesday.

new toys

Need the CREE Version, with Side emmiting so it uses the reflector better for more of a thrower, which will be available cheap in a few months i bet.

 

[Team Cyborg]

I competed in the 24 hr at Albion with P7 bar mounted and P7 helmet (2 mode version). I could not outride the lights, they are simply brilliant (we won our age group). The throw is excellent and they provide lots of spill. Not bad for a $45 flashlight. I'm also getting approximately 2 hours on high and even when they start to dim the light is still useable. I have the earlier version which is supposed to be 600 lumens, the newer C bin are supposed to be 900 lumens which will reduce the run time. I got mine from China.

 

[Turveyd]

I competed in the 24 hr at Albion with P7 bar mounted and P7 helmet (2 mode version). I could not outride the lights, they are simply brilliant (we won our age group). The throw is excellent and they provide lots of spill. Not bad for a $45 flashlight. I'm also getting approximately 2 hours on high and even when they start to dim the light is still useable. I have the earlier version which is supposed to be 600 lumens, the newer C bin are supposed to be 900 lumens which will reduce the run time. I got mine from China.

Likely annoys the Expense Lupine Betty / Wilma riders aswell, with only the 600lumen version.

2hours seriously, doubt any of the torches are drawing more power than yours from the battery, abit more efficent so 700lumens i still think is more realistic so fingers crossed on 2hour, I'll do a discharge test with mine by a fan for sure soon though.

 

[jsigone]

The 40min run time each was ludicrous though. Hoping using Medium power alot will get me 90mins+++ per change.

dude this light runs on Med mode FOREVER and I mean FOREVER. I'm in the middle of doing the runtime, I've had to do it on my spare time when I'm not at work. easier at work cuz I'm at my desk the whole time. I ran it THREE hours on Med yesturday while I worked some OT and honestly I was amazed it was still going wen I had to leave. I've been doing 30 minute egg beated timed interval here and there.

I got it running again for another 30 minutes before I'll check the voltages, I'm going to stop the test at 3.60v or when I see the light dim and it hasn't dimmed yet:thumbsup:

Battery started at 4.22v
2 hours @ 3.87v
3 hours @ 3.82v
3.5hours @3.79v
4 hours @3.76v
4.5 hours @3.75v

At this rate of .06v used per hour, the run time of Med mode will be around 6.5hours:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[dazzat3]

I've been using a DX 5 mode SKU12060 for about a month now for commuting and it has a good mix of spread and throw. all for $65 with charger and two batteries, how can you go wrong? Absolute Bargain.

I started using it as a helmet mount but I have since moved it down to the handle bars as I was not able to get it to sit securely on my helmet but I would not hesitate to recommend it as a helmet mounted light as it was very effective....It only weighs 154 grams with a 2500 mah battery.

I was toying with the idea of buying another but I have now started to make a 6 SSC P4 LED dynamo driven light only waiting for LEDs to arrive from DX. I will use the P7 as a Helmet mounted light but I will have to come up with a better mounting method or a new helmet.

 

[zarr]

Thanks for the tip! :thumbsup: