Review: KD 2 x Cree XML-U2 4+10-Mode 2200 Lumens Bicycle Light (picture heavy)

ledoman · Nov 30, 2014

I've got opurtunity to inspect very promising dual led bicycle light from Kaidomain.com.<a href="http://kaidomain.com/bike-lights-and-bike-accessories/Bike-Lights/KDLITKER-Bike%20Lights/KD-2-x-Cree-XM-L2-U2-4-10-Mode-2200-Lumens-Bike-Light"><img src="http://kaidomain.com/image/cache/catalog/Bike%20light/S023788-1-458x599.jpg" height="200" width="150"></a><a href="https://www.kaidomain.com/p/S023808.z">https://www.kaidomain.com/p/S023808.z</a>From the outer look it is the one of few latest clones of Yinding (Gemini Duo clone), so it is essentionaly clone of the clone. <img src="/sites/all/libraries/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-wink.gif" alt="Wink" title="Wink" border="0">Here are the pictures:<img src="http://shrani.si/f/2b/Vp/27m8vQ4s/p1040328.jpg" height="342" width="512"><img src="http://shrani.si/f/20/134/354qEYR5/p1040331.jpg" height="342" width="512"><img src="http://shrani.si/f/V/pv/2RPYhgeh/p1040334.jpg" height="342" width="512"><img src="http://shrani.si/f/2n/J5/49u2GWsW/p1040336.jpg" height="342" width="512"><img src="http://shrani.si/f/22/qX/18gTcTTq/p1040338.jpg" height="342" width="512"> Taking it apart was quite easy<img src="http://shrani.si/f/2A/GH/1qdiJ3nD/p1040357.jpg" height="342" width="512"><img src="http://shrani.si/f/2I/4C/3PWmCfps/p1040365.jpg" height="342" width="512">The driver: <img src="http://shrani.si/f/G/11V/wgRKA6W/p1040359a.jpg" height="313" width="512"> <img src="http://shrani.si/f/2d/SM/39oqIwEi/p1040372a.jpg" height="329" width="512">Internals - PCB: <img src="http://shrani.si/f/2S/tn/153SUcSV/p1040377.jpg" height="342" width="512"><img src="http://shrani.si/f/3x/lT/1XIzxN5n/p1040381.jpg" height="342" width="512">Lenses:<img src="http://shrani.si/f/3z/vI/2oN5vTr6/p1040383.jpg" height="342" width="512">Lenses can be simply replaced: <img src="http://shrani.si/f/3V/hZ/279slZoA/p1040397a.jpg" height="338" width="512"> Opearating:The light has three modes chosen from 10 brightness levels. It can be any combination you want. You can make it Low, Mid , Hi or Hi, Mid , Low or Low, Hi, Mid if you want. For this test I've choosen levels 1, 4 and 10. Strobe is hidden and can be reached with long press from off mode.Light is turned off by long press in any mode. The light is powered by tipical 2S2P 8.4V battery pack. Power usageConnected to the battery pack: <img src="http://shrani.si/f/3b/11Q/3wvAYDEy/level0.jpg" title="Connected to the battery pack" height="342" width="512">Level1:<img src="http://shrani.si/f/2I/nd/3Q6ngarI/level1.jpg" height="342" width="512">Level4:<img src="http://shrani.si/f/3A/Ea/2YfX5ZqU/level4.jpg" height="342" width="512">Level10:<img src="http://shrani.si/f/3g/5v/3aIJ5VSS/level10.jpg" height="342" width="512"><img src="http://shrani.si/f/1Y/2U/22EMN6fs/power-to-the-leds.jpg" height="284" width="640"> Beam on high: <img src="http://shrani.si/f/18/XJ/29maNsJq/p1040411.jpg" height="342" width="512">Beam of 2nd generation Yinding to compare to: <img src="http://shrani.si/f/I/MZ/4RudDHde/p1040410.jpg" height="342" width="512"> Final verdictPro:<ul><li>best user interface you can find in the budget bicycle lights</li><li>10 levels of brigtnes to choose from </li><li>small and very light</li><li>nice evenly spreaded beam</li><li>overheating protection</li><li>XM-L2 U2 leds (despite title says it's XM-L)</li><li>14.5W (2200mA) to the leds</li><li>possibilities to exchange TIR lenses for wider angle </li></ul>Con: <ul><li>not the best heat transfer to the housing (Yinding has it much better)</li><li>no thermal paste (as usuall, but can be easily added) </li><li>can overheat at higher levels but it's ok when moving fast </li><li>cool white leds (neutral white would be much better)</li><li>not waterproof but can probably stand light rain</li></ul> Overall very nice bicycle light for helmet use, specialy for MTB purposes. There are quite some improvement I would like to see, though.

ledoman · Nov 30, 2014

Ughh, I have to resize the pictures. It looks they are to wide.
EDIT: I've fixed that, I hope

Cat-man-do · Nov 30, 2014

Looks good to me. Are the photo's of the KD2 with one flood lens or is this with the stock optics? Are you satisfied with the brightness/beam pattern of the stock lamp?
BTW, those emitters look like XM-L2 to me.

ledoman · Nov 30, 2014

Cat, for the lenses I just put wide 25deg instead of stock one to see if it fits. I was just holding them with my fingers.
Yes I'm quite satisfied with beam and brightness. As you can see on the last two pictures the beam is bit wider, no really defined hotspot. Yinding for example looks brighter beause of more concentrated beam.
I know it is XM-L2, but description and original title at KD says XM-L so I didn't change that. Don't know which one you would get in the future. Will need to ask KD.

garrybunk · Dec 1, 2014

Thanks for the review! Kicking myself I didn't wait and get this one instead of the KD 4.2v version one with the weak "standard" driver. Might pick this one up and count the old one a loss.

-Garry

C.M.S · Dec 1, 2014

KD use different optics than the yinding's ??

MK96 · Dec 1, 2014

Yinding has some spread compared to the KD clone and a nice LED tint also. Great review!

ledoman · Dec 1, 2014

Garry, yes this one has way much better driver than 4.2V one you've got. You can still make something of it. Ask KD if they can provide separate driver from this "KD2". Would buy one for myself to.

ledoman · Dec 1, 2014

C.M.S said:
KD use different optics than the yinding's ??

As MK noted correctly Yinding has more defined hotspot and some side spill. But if you run (and you should) second light on the bars, there is no big need for side spill. Still there are different personal preferences about ideal beam profile.
It is bad weather here around so I haven't take it to the trail to compare, yet.

Thanks MK. Yes LED tint from my Yinding is much nicer, though. I'm thinking about combining best from both. Well, maybe. Reflowing leds is quite simple.

Cat-man-do · Dec 1, 2014

The beam pattern of the KD2 looks better than the Yinding to me. If I were looking for my first bar light I would buy one of these in a heartbeat and then look to buy a better battery.

The Yinding is probably using first generation XM-L2 T6 which were warmer in tint. The newer XM-L2's ( U2 ) are brighter and whiter. If you want warmer LEDs just buy a couple XM-L2's that are neutral white ( < 5000°K ) and do the switch if you have good DIY skills.

edit; I should probably mention here that since we are talking about these and the fact that they look pretty nice they will likely sell out really fast....FYI...FWIW.

garrybunk · Dec 1, 2014

ledoman said:
Ask KD if they can provide separate driver from this "KD2". Would buy one for myself to.

Done. I'll post back with their response.

-Garry

C.M.S · Dec 1, 2014

Just got my real Duo in the mail today , and my first thought was HOLY CRAP these things are small ! Nice n bright to boot with a nice beam pattern .
Any way,has anyone experimented with custom optics besides the 60 degree ones that are meant for these duo's and clones alike ?

siata94 · Dec 2, 2014

thanks for your review ledoman

ledoman · Dec 2, 2014

C.M.S said:
Any way,has anyone experimented with custom optics besides the 60 degree ones that are meant for these duo's and clones alike ?

On this "KD2" clone it is easy to use any of 10, 25, 45, 60 degrees TIR optics. I've found most usable combination 10+25 degrees, but tested in some other light. Still stock lenses in the "KD2" has quite nice beam. Don't know what is with stock Duo, though.

Ofroad'bent · Dec 2, 2014

I'm not sure if I have this light or yet another version.
Mine has the usual low-mid-high-low arrangement, but if you hold the switch down it goes off then after a couple of seconds you get a 10-level mode. Unfortunately it just goes 1-2-3-4.... and if you want to drop down you have to switch off and start over. Obviously impractical mid-ride. I am using it for running on my commute where the different levels are needed.

Am I missing some programming trick to set the level of the3 modes?

Incidentally, mine had poor waterproofing and heatsinking. I added o-rings, silicone, a finned metal GoPro adapter and thermal paste.

ledoman · Dec 2, 2014

Ofroad, you have the very same driver and user interface. Yes you are missing the point how to save choosen level. I didn't describe it, though. My bad. Here is corrected copy/paste from my post at DX forum. It is for different driver but same UI:

when connected to the battery status led on the back side turns on (green or red below certain input voltage)
it has three modes (mode 1, 2, 3 - see downwards)
short press turns the light on in 1st mode
every next short press you gradualy cycle through all three modes (gradualy changing the brightness)
long press about 2 seconds turns the light off
no last mode memory
it has hiden flash, you can turn it on when light is off by presing switch for about two seconds. With long press you turn flash off, when flashing with short press you put the light into 1st mode
now the cherry on the cake - You can set any of three modes choosing from 10 levels of brightness
very long press (about 8s) in any of three modes set yellow status light flashing
short press to cycle through 10 levels of brightness. On choosen level very looooong press until light tuns on again sets you brightness level for that mode
repeat this for all modes you want to set
now you can have low, mid, hi or hi, low, mid or hi, hi, hi or whatever you like ;-)))
it has low voltage warning turning red status on
when low voltage is to low lights fade away to low mode and red status light is flashing. It stays in this mode even if you turn the light off. You can't switch to any higher mode at that point unless you unplug the batteries.

Can you explain it in detail how you made it more weatherproof?

Cat-man-do · Dec 2, 2014

Sometimes there are slight differences in how these things work. Basically it should work something like this:

Cycle through to the default mode you want to change> press and hold switch till there is a flash. > you should be in the 10 level mode, do short presses to change output levels. Sometimes the levels will go up and sometimes down, do the quick presses till you get to the level you want. Sometimes if the level gets to max or minimum it will stop moving. If you want to move the levels the other way you ( might ) have to exit by press/holding till it flashes, then restart like before. This time when you do the short presses it should move the other way. > Once you get it where you want it you press and hold till it flashes. At that point that level will be stored on that mode.

Hope this helps. Would be nice if they included instructions with these things.

garrybunk · Dec 2, 2014

Good news! KD responded to my inquiry about the driver. They will sell the driver for this light (sku#S023788) for $8. They also reminded me that for my 4.2v version the LEDs would need rewired to series (I appreciated hearing this from them as it showed me they had some knowledge on what they were telling me about driver replacement). You would just have to contact them and say you wish to purchase the driver used in bike light sku#S023788.

-Garry

C.M.S · Dec 2, 2014

ledoman said:
On this "KD2" clone it is easy to use any of 10, 25, 45, 60 degrees TIR optics. I've found most usable combination 10+25 degrees, but tested in some other light. Still stock lenses in the "KD2" has quite nice beam. Don't know what is with stock Duo, though.

The Duo is 15 degree , as it should be fine I just like to have other options to play around with ..

Great review on this BTW .:thumbsup:

Ofroad'bent · Dec 2, 2014

ledoman said:
Ofroad, you have the very same driver and user interface. Yes you are missing the point how to save choosen level. I didn't describe it, though. My bad. Here is corrected copy/paste from my post at DX forum. It is for different driver but same UI:

when connected to the battery status led on the back side turns on (green or red below certain input voltage)

it has three modes (mode 1, 2, 3 - see downwards)

short press turns the light on in 1st mode

every next short press you gradualy cycle through all three modes (gradualy changing the brightness)

long press about 2 seconds turns the light off

no last mode memory

it has hiden flash, you can turn it on when light is off by presing switch for about two seconds. With long press you turn flash off, when flashing with short press you put the light into 1st mode

now the cherry on the cake - You can set any of three modes choosing from 10 levels of brightness

very long press (about 8s) in any of three modes set yellow status light flashing

short press to cycle through 10 levels of brightness. On choosen level very looooong press until light tuns on again sets you brightness level for that mode

repeat this for all modes you want to set

now you can have low, mid, hi or hi, low, mid or hi, hi, hi or whatever you like ;-)))

it has low voltage warning turning red status on

when low voltage is to low lights fade away to low mode and red status light is flashing. It stays in this mode even if you turn the light off. You can't switch to any higher mode at that point unless you unplug the batteries.

Can you explain it in detail how you made it more weatherproof?

Dude! Thanks for the help- I just set 3 modes to the brightness I wanted.
I'm even more keen to get the 4.2v version, as it would work with most of my existing batteries.

As for the weatherproofing:
I took off the back cap and slipped an o-ring around it before reassembly.
I placed thermal paste between LED board and the prongs that hold it.
I replaced the O-ring type bar mount with one of Vancbiker's aluminum GoPro mounts, and gobbed black gasket-making sealant into the hole under it where the cable exits before reassembling.
I even added some heat sink fins, but that's overkill.

This light could also use some waterproof connectors.

Review: KD 2 x Cree XML-U2 4+10-Mode 2200 Lumens Bicycle Light (picture heavy)

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