I go mountain biking each week with a group of friends, and we have been trying out different lights for a while now, the latest ones we are trying are P7 torches from Deal Extreme.
I was out tonight to do some mild off roading with the P7 mounted on my helmet using a cheap torch mount, it worked really well, with the torch being self-contained, it was simple to set up and use, and the amount of light was really good.
The torches give a burn time of about an hour, and as the batteries come in packs of two, it isn’t a problem to carry another battery in your pocket.
It is a really cheap way of lighting up night rides.
That looks just like the one Joe was using on Friday nights night ride. I’m sure he’ll post shortly to confirm/deny this though.
On the same ride a couple of us were using the £8 Tesco torches. These aren’t quite as bright as Joes one, however they are very cheap, they use regular AA batteries and last for ages. Riding at uni speeds, they are completely up to the job.
STM
edit: Oh, and for mounting them, all we used were Velcro ties.
I have used the Tesco ones, and they are very good, but the P7 is much brighter and works really well if the trail is a bit rougher, if there is any traffic about you would have to turn the P7 to the low setting, as it is too bright.
It is handy that the Tesco ones use AA batteries, but to be honest the P7’s are quite good value when you can buy the torch, a charger and two batteries for about £30.
The mount in the picture was only about £1.40 as well, it cost them more to post it from Hong Kong than I paid for it, the torch and parts are post free as well.
Mine is this one - very similar in light output and exactly the same size I think, but with a Cree MC-E LED rather than a Seoul P7. I don’t think it makes a massive difference, they are both stupidly bright.
Mine has lots of modes, which is a slight hassle switching between them (not massively though, if you turn off for a couple of seconds it goes back to medium always). The modes mean you have medium, high and low, (as well as various pointless disco-flashy modes), so you can get a couple of hours night riding in if you don’t always use high.
It is perfect for night riding - I used to use a £200 lumicycle light set and it is less convenient.
I don’t like that kind of helmet mount - they put the torch up above your helmet - I want the torch as low as possible, so I rest it in the vents on the helmet, and use a couple of velcro straps to hold it on, which works great, and make it easy to duck under low flying branches.
Also, anyone buying these, don’t forget you need the funny batteries and charger from dealextreme too.
Another easy way to mount a regular flashlight (or whatever persuasion, though usually of the small variety) to a helmet is to just use a LiveStrong bracelet. There’s a YouTube video showing how to do it, if you can’t just visualize it.
So I’m interested in trying out these P7 lights. I’d like to mount one to the uni, and one on my helmet. How big are they? There never seems to be anything in the pictures to show scale. Innes, is your light around the size of a single-cell light that takes AA batteries? How big is it compared to something like that?
Think it’s overkill to use 2 of these? I’d be using it offroad, probably my 29er though maybe the 36er.
…apart from the pictures with caliper gauges showing it’s 145.42mm long and 37.16mm diameter at the widest point (the bezel). You must have missed those
I read quite a lot about the batteries not giving true capacity details, and went for the Trust Fire ones, as they are said to be truer to the rating: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20392
