Or being able to take the long way home at night and avoid all the traffic so swap batteries so you can use the full beam all the way. I appreciate the simplicity of USB lights, and I do have a mix of both USB and 18650 charging lamps that I can swap in or out.
I've actually moved over to using Garmin/
GoPro mounts for all my lights with the light clipping underneath my Garmin, which makes for a nice clean setup and I can put my hands anywhere I like on the bars pretty much (which given I rock 46cm wide bars is a lot of space), so the Fenix doesn't get as much use as it did and even if I could find an appropriate adapter for the light, the fixed beam pattern would mean that even if angled downward the lense would send light directly into the eyes of oncoming traffic, which is not idea.
For charging, I have a powered USB hub with a ton of cables running off it on a shelf in my office, so it's not an issue to pick USB-C or Micro USB really, although my phone and all my headphones as well as Keyboard/Mouse now charge via USB C so the competition for a cable is usually there. Interestingly, originally the plan for standardised charge connectors did look at Micro-USB but it took the legislation so long to come in that everyone has started moving away from it.
Good point; although tbh I can't really see me using the full output other occasionally than for the novelty. I have one small (sealed) USB front light that came with my Fuji and that perfectly illustrates the reasons why I don't like them - it lasts maybe 40 minutes before it dies and the only way I can mitigate that is by carrying another light, which seems a bit silly.. really I think its only value is as an emergency light in the cycling rucksack.
I can appreciate the appeal of the universal Garmin mount, however I don't like their products so don't have any mounts
I do have "out front" mounts for my Polar trip computer but they're a much less popular brand so I doubt any adaptors are available to facilitate mounting the light in this way - which would be a shame as it would be ideal to sling it underneath. The mount is removable from the bracket so I did toy with the idea of getting an alternative 3D printed, however I'm not sure how strong this would be and I'd not want to risk dropping the light.
I think the light will probably end up on the handlebars, however space here is limited with the GPS unit and bell.. IIRC Fenix might now do a garmin adaptor for their products so it might be worth a look - I don't see why it should be any more problematic than a normal mount re. glare, as long as its angled appropriately.
Sounds like you have a nice charging setup. Conversely I rarely need such facilities as most of my stuff still runs discrete batteries and the only things that get charged by USB are my Polar unit during syncing (and usually too much as I forget about it and it goes past 80%) and my laptop which is relatively new and has a C-type charger.
Does your setup have any ability to cap charging voltage the at all? I've often thought about some sort of inline voltage limiter for USB charging to prolong battery service life in items with non-replaceale batteries, however nothing seems to be commercially available and I lack the savvy to make one. I do have a charger with this facility so I could potentially knock up a dummy cell with a USB output to achieve this..
Back to the light in question and as usual the decision has become less straightforward since I've found slightly larger BC26r, and subsequently had cause to take another look at the much larger BC30.. for the benefit of anyone else who might find themselves in a similar situation I'm now fully down the rabbit hole in attempting to provide the comparison below.
The core specs have come from the links provided for devices from a US retailer, however there are some inaccuracies that have now been corrected - in the dimesions have (incorrect conversion from inches, verified by
this video by Longhorn Tactical) and the masses (verified by these two videos from the Sweet Cyclists -
BC21r and
BC26r; which are worth a watch - the former having a bit of a comparison between the two).
Specs:
BC21r v3:
Output, Lumens: 50 / 150 / 400 / 1200 (Flash 400/150)
Runtime, Hours: 33 / 11 / 6.5 / 2.2
Bulb Type: Luminus SST40 LED
Size: Length: 4.25” (108mm) Width: 1.06” (27mm) Height: 1.14” (29mm)
Weight: 156g including battery / excluding mount
Impact Resistance, m: 1.5
Waterproof Standard: IP68
Battery: One included rechargeable 18650 2600mAh li-ion battery or two CR123A lithium batteries
Included: Fenix ARB-L18-2600 rechargeable li-ion battery, USB type-C charging cable, quick-release bike mount, spare O-ring
Price: £85 (myfenix.co.uk), £55 (Ali Express)
BC26r:
Output, Lumens: 50 / 200 / 600 / 1600 (Flash 600/0)
Runtime, Hours: 65 / 18 / 9.5 / 3.5
Bulb Type: Luminus SST40 LED
Size: Length: 4.45” (113mm) Width: 1.06” (27mm) Height: 1.14” (29mm)
Weight: 154g including battery / excluding mount
Impact Resistance, m: 1.5
Waterproof Standard: IP68
Battery: One rechargeable 21700 li-ion battery (included). Compatible with an 18650 Li-ion battery with an ALF-18 battery holder.
Included: ARB-L21-5000 Li-ion battery, USB Type-C charging cable, quick-release bike mount, spare O-ring
Price: £100 (myfenix.co.uk), £61 (Ali Express)
BC30 v2:
Output, Lumens: 50 / 200 / 600 / 1500 / 2200 (Flash 600/50)
Runtime, Hours: 50 / 16 / 6 / 2.3 / (30 sec)
Bulb Type: 2 LUMINUS SST-40-N5 LEDs
Size: Length: 4.7” (120mm) Width: 2.0” (50.5mm) Height: 1.3” (33mm)
Weight: 5.4 oz. (154g) excluding battery and mount; c. 250g inc. batteries.
Impact Resistance, m: 1.0
Waterproof Standard: IP67
Battery: Two 18650 Li-ion batteries or four CR123As (batteries not included)
Included: Bicycle mount, wireless switch, CR1632 button battery, bicycle mounting shim (thin/thick), spare O-ring
Price: £100 (myfenix.co.uk), £66 (Ali Express), plus around another £20-25 for batteries
Runtime
Beware that the scales on these graphs are bloody abysmal (logarythmic perhaps, at best..?) so they're indicative at best. It's interesting to note how the published brightness values vary with time on / presumably battery voltage.. which will be discussed a bit later.
Information on the conditions under which the data below were gathered is somewhat sketchy, however I think it's safe to assume that for the BC21r and BC26r this would be with the supplied batteries, while the BC30 was apparently tested with 3500mAh cells.
BC21r v3:
BC26r:
BC30 v2:
Images:
BC21r v3:
BC26r:
BC30 v2
Differences
Of course I've now researched these to death with info from various sources (some of which conflicts with that above). The two single-cell offerings are very similar in many ways, while the twin-cell BC30 is often significantly different.
Size
While the BC21r and BC26r apparently share the same width and height, the BC26r is around 5mm longer which corresponds with its longer battery. It's interesting to note that the 3mm larger OD of the BC26r's 21700 battery isn't reflected in a difference between each unit's external dims; and in the Sweet Cyclist videos the BC21r's 18650 battery looks like a much sloppier fit inside the unit than is the case with the BC26r and its 21700.. so pernap internally both units are nominal 21mm.
The BC30 is slightly larger than both single-cell lights in terms of length and height, while it's just under twice the width due to its twin-cell design.
In terms of handling etc the size difference between both units is insignificant, with the 5mm extra length of the BC26r representing only around a 4% increase over the BC21r. The size and shape of both single-cell lights is IMO preferable to those of the BC30; making them both a more viable proposition for use as a torch off-bike, as well as meaning they're take up significantly less precious handlebar space when mounted to the bike.
Mass
Oddly both single-cell units apparently weight nearly the same with the battery fitted. More oddly still the smaller BC21r is seemingly slightly heavier at 156g v the BC26r's 154g (both without mount).
Unsurprisingly the BC30 is significantly heavier than both, at an estimated 250g with cells, assuming a cell mass of 50g each.. obviously the lighter mass of the single-cell models is going to be preferable.
Batteries
While all three lights allow the use of removable, standard-size cells they all differ in terms of what they actually use. The BC21r is supplied with a single 18650 cell rated at 2600mAh, while these typically run as high as 3500mAh if your pockets are deep enough. The BC30 runs two of these cells, so has effectively double the capacity of the BC21r. The BC26r uses the newer, larger 21700 cell - the supplied item packing a fat 5000mAh - seemingly about as much as you'll get out of this size of cell. Comparing the supplied cells the BC26r's 21700 is nearly twice the capacity of the BC21r's 18650; however in terms of cell volume the 21700 is around 1.5 times larger than the 18650; so all things being equal should provide around 1.5 times the capacity.
So... on balance it seems that the BC21r has the lowest potential capacity at 1x3500mAh, next the BC26r at 1x5000mAh and finally the BC30 at 2x3500=7000mAh.
Functionality
Both single-cell lights incorporate the now-standard USB-C charging connector while the BC30 lags behind in this regard as the cells must be charged off-unit. The ability to charge the unit directly clearly has some advantages, however also potentially gives another point of water ingress / failure.
The BC30 includes a bluetooth switch that can be positioned remotely to the light to allow easier control on the fly.
Design and Construction
All three units are of machine aluminium construction, however the two single-cell units (released this year) have a newer, arguably nicer-looking monotone aesthetic than the older (released 2020) BC30. The newer models also have nicer-looking / likely more sturdy metal power buttons as opposed to the BC30's rubber item. The tops of the lenses on the BC30 have shuttering / shades to reduce glare to oncoming road-users, while this feature is not present on the BC21 and BC26 (somewhat oddly as the earlier variant of hte BC21 had this feature.
Finally the water and impact resistance ratings of the BC30 lag those of the newer BC21r and BC26r at IP67 v. IP68 and 1.0m v. 1.5m respectively.
Light Output and Run Time
So this is where it all goes a bit squiffy. I'm going to cover this generally due to the amount of data present, however, referring to the charts further up the page it can be seen that to some degree all lights experience degradation in their published light output values as battery power diminishes.
On the highest "turbo" or "burst" modes all models can only achieve thier headline values for an instant on a fully-charged battery, with output falling either consistantly (presumably proportionally to battery voltage drop as the light runs in an unregulated state) or stepping down to a lower output after a period of time (one would assume under the action of regulation circuity).
For consistant decline the two single-cell units are worst; with the outpout of the BC26r pretty much halving from its highest setting over its first hour of use.
The stepping down of light output is also present on both single-cell lights on their 2nd-highest setting; with the BC21r stepping down from its published value of 400lm to maybe 200-250lm after perhaps 1.5-2hrs of use, the same happening with the BC26r as it drops from 600lm to maybe 300-350lm after around 2-2.5hrs of use.
The light output of both single-cell lights on their two lowest settings (50 &150lm for the BC21r, 50 & 200lm for the BC26r) is pretty much consistant until the battery drains completely. Conversely the light output of the BC30 is pretty much consistant on all settings other than its highest (50, 200, 600lm) until the battery drains completely.
It's interesting to note that for the same light output of 50lm, the BC30 only manages 50hrs of runtime with 7000mAh of charge while the BC26r achieves 65hrs of runtime at the same brightness with only 5000mAh - perhaps suggesting that the newer model is more energy efficient - although they apparently use the same LEDs.
Conclusion
Unfortunately in my mind there's no one clear winner from these three units.
Advantages - BC21r and BC26r v. BC30
The newer BC21r and BC26r have many positives over the BC30, including:
- USB 3.0 charging capability
- More compact dimensions
- Lower mass
- Greater resistance to impact and water ingress and potentially more robust construction
- Arguably nicer aesthetic
- Lower cost (when factoring in the cost of batteries for the BC30)
Advantages - BC26r v. BC21r
Diving a bit deeper into these two, the BC26r offers a few advantages over the BC21r:
- Far higher capacity battery / corresponding increase in run time for comparable outputs
- Higher outputs on many settings, especially on the lower ones that are likely to be used more (2nd-to-lowest output is 200lm v. the BC21r's 150lm).
Advantages - BC30 v. BC21r and BC26r
Conversely the older BC30 does still carry some benefits over the two single-cell alternatives:
- Near-consistant light output over on every setting other than the highest
- Shaded lenses to reduce glare
- Remote control
In most respects (size, mass, robustness, aesthetic, charging ability) I prefer the two single-cell units - with the BC26r probably edging in over the BC21r due to its higher capacity battery (for little additional size / no additional mass) and higher useable brightness settings.
In addition, while the veneable and ubiquitous 18650 cell used by the BC21r is currently by far the most common Li-Ion consumer battery, I wonder if this will eventually be superceded by the BC26r's slightly larger, but far more capacious 21700 unit.. so it seems there might be an element of future-proofing in going for the BC26r.
That said the additional length of the 21700 is potentially problematic when it comes to charging the batteries off-unit, as most chargers (mine included) can only handle the 65mm OAL of the 18650.. meaning a new charger might well be required.. although adaptors are available to use 18650 cells in deviced made for 21700 batteries so there's some degree of backward compatability here.
I suspect that the BC26r's 200lm second-to-lowest setting (and the highest it can sustain consistantly throughout the battery's whole charge) would be adequate on the road, while I'm not so sure about the equivalent 150lm setting on the BC21r.
All that said I'm not at all keen on the fact that the two highest output settings on the BC21r and BC26r are subject to heavy throttling as battery power drains, and in this respect I much prefer the BC30 as it will give its 2nd-to-highest output of 600lm consistently through its entire charge - unlike the other two.
Unfortunately it seems that the headline figures for all three of these lights are nothing more than headline-grabbing marketing fodder since none of them can be sustained for any length of time..
I also prefer the sleepy-furby lens design of the BC30 if this reduces the level of glare to incoming traffic.
Finally it's worth noting that the BC30 is, relatively speaking, pretty old now - having been released in 2020 while the two single-cell lights were released earlier this year.
As is suggested by its suffix the BC21r v3 has had two previous iterations, the last one also being released in 2020; with an aesthetic and spec that are far more in-keeping with those of the current BC30... so I wonder if this is due for an update soon to be more inline with the newer BC21r and BC26r.
Following the natural progression of other models I'd expect a BC30 v3 to get USB 3.0 charging (although oddly this was omitted from this model upon its release, despite the existance of 2017's BC30r with its non-removable batteries). One would also assume that a newer model would get the nicer aesthetics and robustness of the current smaller offerings, while it might also get some higher output settings - fine by me if they're not subject to the throttling-back that the single-cell offerings are subject to.
Anyway, after all that for now I'm undecided and think I might sit on my hands to see if a new model BC30 is released at some point. In the meantime I hope this comparison might be of use to others in a similar predicament
