Light: DiNotte 200L - Li-Ion LED
The first thing you notice about the Dinotte lighting system is that it's pretty. Really pretty. And I don't mean that in a bad way. The lights are not cheap, and it's nice to see some styling went into the design as well as the functionality. They are beautiful chrome cylinders with minimalist rubber padding, slits for the O Ring holders, and heat sinks that resemble shark gills . . . at least to me. Very cool design. The lights, of course, work very well. They are rated at 200 lumens, half the output of the Cutter. But that's still plenty to get you down the road. OverviewI had three lights to test: a white headlamp, an amber daytime running light, and a red tail light. Each unit consists of one LED. They also had red and blue indicator lights on the back of each. The blue light blinks at certain intervals, depending on what setting you choose (low, medium, or high). The red indicates a low battery. And blue and red alternating warns that the lights are too hot (you've had enough cookies; either turn the lights off or start riding again). Sitting still, the flashing blue light seemed like it might be a distraction. I never noticed it when riding. You can see the blue light flash near the end of this video by Eric Norris. The Daytime/Nightime kit like the one I tested is around $420 (MSRP). PowerThe kit I used came with two battery packs: a 2 cell and 4 cell. The batteries were Lithium-Ion. The two cell battery is rated to run a single light for 4 hours at maximum, and 16 hours on low. Double that for the 4 cell pack. UsabilityThe interface is simple and, I imagine, fairly typical. double tap the light switch to turn it on, single taps to cycle through levels, press and hold for two seconds to turn it off. The buttons sit on the back of the light, and are just small enough to make it a little awkward to cycle through the levels with a thick gloves on (it was a little chilly that night). I could do it easily though, one I found the button. MountingThe mounts are O rings which sit in little slits on top of the unit and wrap around the handlebars (or whatever). The pack had a simple plastic adaptor for the seat post tail light, and a helmet mount (which I didn't use). The battery packs had nice, thick velcro straps and rubber padding are are designed to be held tight on your frame. The only thing I didn't like about this arrangement was running a power cord from the battery pack at the front of the bike to the tail light unit at the back. It just bothered me to have a cord running that length. Happily, I had two battery packs, so I just mounted the second one back by the seat post. Marc Rubald, who loaned the light to me, has a recumbent. On that bike, routing the cord to the tail light is not problem. I suspect that for a commuter, having the lights on all the time and the cables secure would also eliminate the issue. I have not made any decisions yet, but for the occasional night ride and brevet, I think it's worth looking into stand-alone taillights with internal batteries. Light CharacteristicsLike the Cutter, the light pattern was plenty to cover Putah Creek Road. There was no central hot spot to focus on which made objects at the periphery easy enough to spot. And it lit the road fine on the low setting, and of course, more than adequately for an 18mph pace on high. The amber running light was very cool. Unfortunately for test purposes, there was no fog on the days I had the lights. I ran the amber light anyway on one daytime ride. I could see the glow, but I have no idea how drivers approaching me interpreted the light. It would be most useful in fog, of course, but also in twilight when the white light is not very effective for seeing the road or being visible to drivers. The red tail light was very bright, when set on high. I went to Winters with the light set on low. One of the riders remarked that it just dimmer than the brightest small LED tail lights on the other bikes. You can see it just briefly (on the left, in front) in this video by Eric Norris. On the way back, I set it to high. I pointed it down slightly so as not to bother the other riders behind too much. I was told my tire looked like it was on fire. SummaryWhat can I say? The DiNotte is a beautiful, useful lighting system. I don't think you could go wrong buying one. The only question would be what configuration to buy. Do you need, or really want, the daytime running light? Or the tail light? Or, like a rider noted below in the Postscript, two headlights with different patterns? Also, Dinotte also now makes 400 and 600 lumen lighting systems. That's pretty damn bright! Check out their website for more info. PostscriptThere were seven riders on this last Dinner Ride. Of these, three had helmet lights: one rider used only a helmet light, and the others used them as supplements. One thing I really noticed about the head lamps is that between being up higher and being directional, a rider who shines this light directly at a car has a much better chance of being seen by the driver. No doubt, using the head lamp to read street signs, change tires, etc. would be very helpful. In any case, on to the configurations . . . One rider, Jim Pavlichek, had two DiNotte lights – one on his handlebars, and one on his helmet. Jim says, "I used it for the 2007 Brevets and PBP and loved it. I have a 5 Watt flood fot the bars and a 3 Watt spot for the helmet. I use them in tandem, with the flood aimed close,and the spot aimed farther out, where the floos starts to loose coverage. I've done 30+mph on unfamiliar descents with no problem outrunning the light. While it doesn't turn night into day like some HID systems, it gets great battery life; 6+hrs on high, 12hrs on low, which, for brevets is great. I got two extra batteries, so, at low power, one light at a time, I have essentially 48 hours of light! I could do a winter brevet in Alaska!"
Finally, Eric Norris showed up on Nigel (a single speed bike) and a Busch & Mulller Lumotec IQ Cyo (R) Plus. This light is powered by a dynamo (you know, the rotating cylinder that rubs against your tire?). I don't envision running a dynamo on a 750+ mile ride, though B&M also make a version of this powered by a hub dynamo. You can learn more here (scroll to about the middle of the page). They don't offer one designed to run off a battery pack, but if it could be altered to do so, it seemed like an excellent light. A little less expensive (around $110 for the light), and had spade shaped light pattern I really liked: wide and flat at the bottom, rounding at the top. As the blurb on Peter White Cycles suggests, it's an excellent pattern for rough roads. Eric supplemented that with a smaller Princeton Tec EOS light that ran off three AAAs. Between the two, I was blinded when I caught them in my rear view mirror.
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