On 28 Mar., 17:24, landotter wrote:
On Mar 28, 7:20 am, Tom Sherman °_°
Planet Bike or similar $25 LED battery light on a lowrider mount. I
see no reason to spend more to be seen in the city that's already
awash in lighting. Neither do my LBS owning friends who used to enjoy
the bragging rights of using trail lighting in the city but all of
whom have minimized to battery be-seen lighting.

Even if I had to choose between a free battery operated bike light or
a buy my own dynamo operated light system, I would choose buy a dynamo
operated light system every time. Dynamo operated headlights are just
too convenient and handy. There isn't any logistical problems, like
babysitting battery chargers, or wasting time reading up on Lipo,
Lithium, Nimh, LSD, NiZn, Lit-ion etc battery technology, should these
batteries be fully discharged between recharges or does it damage
them? Will this battery pack short circuit and burn down my house
because I dropped them on the floor (*cough*Magicshine*cough*). No
fumbling with light mounts with gloves on, or get unpredictable short
runtimes in the winter because of the cold. No stuffing lights in the
pockets when shopping or on a cafe, no planning whether you might need
the light on next ride or not, no missing lights on the way home just
because you choose to hang out an hour more than planned. With dynamo
lights you just jump on you bike an go.

Even when riding during the day I find dynamo lights handy, because it
is practically free to run them all the time. It help to have lights
on when the sky is gray or if it suddenly starts to rain.
My dynamo operated lights have also been the most reliable light
system I have ever owned. It helps that dynamo lamps are bolted to the
bike and aren't heavy because of batteries; they are far less likely
to die from being rattled to death.

Cheap bike lights just aren't worth it in the long run: their beam
patterns usually suck just like their general build quality; a drop on
the asphalt often shatter them to pieces. Often their quick release
mounts are flimsy slow release mounts that are just waiting to eject
the headlight under a car when the bike hits a bump in the road. Their
waterproofness is seldom very good, so it isn't uncommon that they let
you down when you need them the most. People buying cheap headlights,
often end up buying a lot of them over time.

The time I spend _not_ caring about lights the last couple of years
thanks to my dynamo headlights, makes even a SON hub and a Edelux seem
like a bargain.

--
Regards