Cree Q5 light

[cyberknight]

I have one and you get them cheaper deal extreme, they are not to bright for normal roads .

They are not bright enough to be used as a light to cycle on unlit lanes at any speed, well i have managed it with 2 of them and it is doable but they get blown away by the magicshine light which you can buy for £30 now..

link 1 , similar light , same power but with a flash and 1/2 power mode which i use as the main light.. £9.76

http://www.dealextre...unt-3-aaa-26800

link 2 , the same as yours which i have as well.
http://www.dealextre...rap-3-aaa-18697
mount.
http://www.dealextre...djustable-15642

And the light that blows em away .
http://www.dealextre...light-set-44459

The cheaper version of the same light...http://www.dealextreme.com/p/p7-wat...te-led-bike-light-with-battery-pack-set-82509

 

[Svendo]

link 1 , similar light , same power but with a flash and 1/2 power mode which i use as the main light.. £9.76

http://www.dealextre...unt-3-aaa-26800

link 2 , the same as yours which i have as well.
http://www.dealextre...rap-3-aaa-18697

These lights have the same or similar casings, and unless I'm missing something have the P4 LED rather than the newer brighter Q5 in the light linked to by the OP.
I also have the light from the first link above, and find the battery holding mechanism at the rear is flaky and needs extra padding with foil to prevent the light cycling through modes when you hit bumps.

 

[cyberknight]

These lights have the same or similar casings, and unless I'm missing something have the P4 LED rather than the newer brighter Q5 in the light linked to by the OP.
I also have the light from the first link above, and find the battery holding mechanism at the rear is flaky and needs extra padding with foil to prevent the light cycling through modes when you hit bumps.

Yes i think your right i did miss that as i was posting at 4 am but if they are running from AAA batteries they are going to have similar output based on the amount of power you can draw from the batteries, i would put money on the screenshots and quoted maximum power from the sellers description being based on the maximum output from the 18650 battery

.

In fact after a google search the "240 lumens " is a bit of marketing , according to cree they come out at 107 lumens based on AAA batteries
http://www.cree.com/...090XR-E_B&L.pdf

 

[Svendo]

In fact after a google search the "240 lumens " is a bit of marketing , according to cree they come out at 107 lumens based on AAA batteries
http://www.cree.com/...090XR-E_B&L.pdf

Further googling found this document which says the maximum drive current is 1000mA, and the 107 is at 350 mA, so althougth the maths doesn't quite add up, the 240 is what the LED is capable of with a much higher current than the AAAs provide. Noteworthy is that the OPs link comes with an 18650 adapter.

I'm wondering how this would stack up against a hope vision 1, which seems to be as good as any self contained standard battery bike light option.

 

[kishin]

Run time on 3xAAA will be something like 50 minutes on full power, if it keeps constant brightness rather than dimming as the batteries run low.
A Q5 on full power is 3.5W, an AAA has 1Wh in it, and you lose a bit in the drive circuits


I'd recommend getting a 18650 or two, plus a charger.
(eBay, DealExtreme, or a few UK sites such as the photonshop)

I'm probably going to look a bit stupid here but how do you use 18650 batteries? Can they be used in the torch in the OP and if so, do you need some sort of adapter or are you suggesting getting a light designed to take them?

 

[2wd]

The Q5 comes with an adapter to take the 18650 batteries

 

[kishin]

The Q5 comes with an adapter to take the 18650 batteries

Cheers! That will teach me that I should read linked ads properly.

 

[Thomk]

Run time on 3xAAA will be something like 50 minutes on full power, if it keeps constant brightness rather than dimming as the batteries run low.
A Q5 on full power is 3.5W, an AAA has 1Wh in it, and you lose a bit in the drive circuits


I'd recommend getting a 18650 or two, plus a charger.
(eBay, DealExtreme, or a few UK sites such as the photonshop)

I got one of these with a 18650/charger/extension thingy/mount for £9.99 last November on ebay and it made it through the winter OK.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Further googling found this document which says the maximum drive current is 1000mA, and the 107 is at 350 mA, so althougth the maths doesn't quite add up, the 240 is what the LED is capable of with a much higher current than the AAAs provide. Noteworthy is that the OPs link comes with an 18650 adapter.

I'm wondering how this would stack up against a hope vision 1, which seems to be as good as any self contained standard battery bike light option.

I got a Hope Vision 1 for my inaugural Friday night ride to the coast a month or so ago. The Hope's beam is just a little too narrow for using on its own, so I used a couple of Crees - similar to the OP's lights - on wideish beam for more of a spread. So far the combination has run through the short springtime nights without needing a change of batteries, though I've only needed to use the Hope for unlit roads. So far the Crees have also held up well to the rain but on days such as today () it might be a good idea to use a bit of grease/vaseline to make them more water-resistant.