Well, Frank bought one, and I would like to hear his unbiased review. I have to admit, though, that there are aspects of the design/logo/website that scream home-brew -- which goes to show you how much window-dressing makes a difference these days, often for the worse. There are a lot of lipstick wearing pigs these days. But if I were running the company, I'd spend a few bucks on graphics and product design.
The fit and finish of my L&M for example is impressive. The battery life on my little Urban 800 is not impressive, and the beam is adequate for my purposes but it is certainly no trail light. I would want something more robust for a full speed descent of HWY 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=lpFCHTcAaEI (I used to descend that at night full speed .. . . in an ambulance. Never on a bike.) On the Urban, beam shaping is non-existent, but I do like the pulse flash for non-injurious conspicuity. For a sale-table light of $49, it was a great deal and fine for daily commuting.. A multiple setting, high lumen light with long battery life and a reasonably shaped beam would be great. I leave it to others to decide whether the Oculus is that light.
-- Jay Beattie.
Home Brew?
Ever have an idea in the back of your mind that won't leave you alone til you do something about it? Have a hobby that takes over you life and turns into something much bigger?
Same as Tom Carrol at Nite Rider might tell you. My journey shows what every bike light company, and other innovators in any industry, suffer and endure, overcome critics and fight off competitors hoping they fail, on the way to becoming profitable and being merged or acquired.
Oculus is my design and creation, patent, and enough out of pocket into design and testing to put a sizable down payment on a house, before Angel investors came in to make this go up to a consumer product and functioning full time business. Its still mostly a one man operation that I need to choose my time wisely.
There's two sides to Oculus.
1. The product I make and sell.
2. The patent and technology, separate from how its currently packaged and sold.
So I am both growing and operating the business at the same time. Some of you know the toll that the demands of doing that can take on a person's life.
This didn't start out wanting to make and sell my own lights. Objective was always to have someone else make and sell them, with me in a design or CTO role.
The long term goal remains to design and license for others. MY STVZO design is at the behest of one of the major players who found that, yes, my design beats the Supernova that most of the e-bike makers are selling on their bikes now, and can be sold for a sufficiently lower wholesale margin than Supernova does.
No one else wants to take on the ambitious self contained battery + field replaceable + internally rechargeable design + unbreakable mount + highly efficient long-burn circuit concept all in one product.
A tactical rough duty version with the current 3000 circuit and optics would easily outsell Colt's Magna Carta. Firemen have asked about firefighting approved packaging. Robotics and self-driving car navigation systems get an advantage with these vs other onboard lighting. Police use it now as their "you've been drinking mister" and " more serious "stop or I'll shoot" light when they stick their necks out doing a job that most of us would be scared ****less to even put the badge on for one single day on duty.
Think of the current Oculus as huge bang for the buck. It does have places that aren't bad now but I know, and some users suggest, see can still be better.
Better at what cost? If it can be done, without needing to charge more, then I either make improvements when I run out of hard parts and need to order more, or change the firmware on the fly as needed.
Oculus 3000Extreme is the big risk that came about with a combination of suggestions, combined with needing to order more circuit boards, allowing for a circuit redesign and new firmware.
Big investment, some meltdowns and failures in testing til I got it right, and now it works and makes more money than the 1800.
Sitting here on a table tonight, a 3000Extreme on the same brightness as the 1800 burns for 2 hours 10 minutes, lasted 2 hours 42 minutes. The 'long burn' power table cuts power settings ~7% lower but nothing the eye notices, lasts 3:10. One step lower is where the racers at the World 24 Hour TTs got 6:30 burn time, so they needed only one battery change, at brightness that they could ride at 20+mph speeds, all night long, 450 - 500ish lumens.
About other brands:
L&M makes nice finished packages, but as you observe, something has to give to make those low cost Urbans. A $2 cheaper battery can make the difference.
The Urban's and Taz, and most small NiteRiders, can be opened up with some careful screwdriver and fingertip manipulation. Replace what's in there with Panasonic 3400mAH rated 18650, and you add up to 50% longer burn time.
At the Google winter bike safety employees event, with Light and Motion selling lights side by side with me, people got to compare Oculus side by side with the Taz 2000 and Seca 2500. Most who did, and did buy a light one or the other, bought Oculus.
The LEDs in most cheaper L&M and NiteRider lights can also be replaced with brighter LEDs. Cree XPG can be replaced with Cree XPL-HI. Both brighter and longer burn times.