On Wed, 6 Dec 2017 06:46:01 -0800, sms
wrote:
Yes. The trade-off needs to be made. I'm sure we'd all run out and buy
a dynamo light if it was possible to build one that was adequate for
the riding conditions we experience. Unfortunately it isn't yet
possible to build such a dynamo light.

Good grief, Steven. What bull**** you spout. There are people around
the world riding pefectly contentedly all night long on bikes with
dynamo lights- and have been for decades, even before the advancements
of LEDs and computer designed mirrors and lenses.

Now, for some reason *you* don't find those satisfactory. That's fine.
But that's about you and your preferences, not about the lights
themselves.

I have several dynamo-equipped bicycles, and even the one with a
top-of-the-line dynamo light requires a battery powered light as well
for many situations.

"Top of the line" being what, specifically?

My bikes have:

(A) a B&M 3w halogen lamp powered by a Sanyo BB generator. This is the
lamp I rode across rural and urban Minnesota and France with. Worked
fine. Better in the countryside than in town, where it gets washed out
a bit by streetlights, headlights, etc. I still use it frequently on my
commuter bike, for which it works well enough in urban Minnesota. I'd
like it to be a smidge brighter. Hence:

(B) a Schmidt eDelux powered by a Schmidt SON 28. I bought this a few
years ago. Works great. The beam could be, as you and some other
critics have noted, a bit wider. It's never inconvenienced me in terms
of running into problems, just feels a little claustrophobic at 20+ mph.
Hence:

(C) a forthcoming eDelux II (if it ever gets here, for Pete's sake
shipping is slow this time of year), to be powered by a Velological
generator. Looking forward to checking this out.

Prior to A, B and C I had built a 12v headlamp using an MR16, like many
tinkerers do. It put out a lot of bright light, much of which went to
waste. Visibility was not as good as with A and definitely worse than
B. The circular beam resulted in inadequate performance. As with the
improvements with automobile headlights, bike headlights have come a
very long way from the glorified flashlights many espouse.