Another cheap Chinese rechargable light $6

On 12/17/2015 2:20 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 12:36 PM, sms wrote:


I'm thinking of cyclists with legal, but relatively poor
lights, like
older bottle dynamo powered lights. These lights aren't
likely to pick
up unlit riders, or those with similarly poor lights,
though presumably
these riders would all be riding fairly slowly.

Oh, nonsense. "Older bottle dynamo powered lights" were
brighter and gave better illumination than almost all
battery powered lights of the day. Besides, a bottle dynamo
gives essentially the same amount of light as a hub dynamo.
The bottle's slight disadvantages don't relate to power.

It's hard to tell whether Scharf is engaging in "safety
inflation" - as in "Nothing but the best is safe enough" -
or merely trying more guerrilla marketing.


Cycle path video:
http://the-japan-news.com/blog/article/140027

Not one blinky light in the whole thing. Check
japan-news.com from time to time waiting for the "cycle path
blocked by piles of dead cyclists" article.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 12/17/2015 2:14 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:
sms wrote:

On 12/15/2015 3:18 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

snip

do get folks with either tiny little glowing lights or none at all, the
park is big enough and with walls and trees it's properly dark, so they
just rely on lack of speed.

They rely on the lack of speed, but they are a hazard to others.

bare in mind they are travelling at walking pace, This being the Royal
parks there are, dog walkers and walkers in genral, plus red and roe
deer.

Red deer in partical are the most risky, being comftably larger than a
man, wild and often well hidden.

unlit cyclist may make me think they are bit of berk but realisticly my
light, picks them with ample time, since it intended to be a MTB light.

Bear, not bare.

Maybe the Royal Parks have some lighting at night, but a lot of
multi-use paths in my area have none. You can have a lot of users on the
path at night, including both slow and fast cyclists. Really annoying
when someone has no lights or crappy lights. One 4th of July there were
hundreds of people on the path riding home from a fireworks show. I was
using my bottle-dynamo powered LED front light and it was fine for
"being seen" but it didn't do much in terms of illuminating the path.

BTW, another Chinese el-cheapo rear flasher that I've seen people using
on a bicycle is the 39 LED triangle from Harbor Freight. $2.99 and it's
quite rugged. Not as good as the Cateye TL-LD1100, but 1/8th the cost
http://www.harborfreight.com/emergency-39-led-triangle-worklight-62158.html
but often coupons for $2.99.

You can remove the center magnet and use a 1/4" bolt and a wing nut
(with a couple of washers) to secure it to a rear rack's light bracket.

On 12/17/2015 4:27 PM, sms wrote:

Maybe the Royal Parks have some lighting at night, but a lot of
multi-use paths in my area have none.

Ditto here. It's never been a problem for me, even back when my ancient
dynamos were powering halogen headlamps.

You can have a lot of users on the
path at night, including both slow and fast cyclists. Really annoying
when someone has no lights or crappy lights. One 4th of July there were
hundreds of people on the path riding home from a fireworks show. I was
using my bottle-dynamo powered LED front light. ..

So you disparage bottle dynamos, and you use one?

... and it was fine for
"being seen" but it didn't do much in terms of illuminating the path.

So tell us about the optics.

In the past, you've also disparaged StVZO compliant headlamps - the ones
with optics designed to actually light the road surface and not waste
much of the lumen output up into the air. You've promoted lights that
throw out a round beam not engineered for road use.

But now you say your headlamp doesn't do much to light the path. Those
of us using StVZO lamps don't have your problem. I wonder if the
obvious solution will dawn on you?

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 12:20:29 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 12:36 PM, sms wrote:


I'm thinking of cyclists with legal, but relatively poor lights, like
older bottle dynamo powered lights. These lights aren't likely to pick
up unlit riders, or those with similarly poor lights, though presumably
these riders would all be riding fairly slowly.

Oh, nonsense. "Older bottle dynamo powered lights" were brighter and
gave better illumination than almost all battery powered lights of the
day. Besides, a bottle dynamo gives essentially the same amount of light
as a hub dynamo. The bottle's slight disadvantages don't relate to power..

What "day" are you talking about? My Wonder light probably put out more light than my Sanyo roller dynamo and headlight. I know that a three D-cell flashlight put out more light than my Schwinn bottle dynamo back in the '60s.. People also didn't ride much at night back in the "day."

I think an incandescent bottle dynamo light is a "be seen" light. Modern LED dynamo lights are much better and mostly adequate for seeing the roadway in dry conditions -- which I haven't seen for weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwnF5m6ktaE Go to 1:08 -- riding home in the dark through 8" of standing water sucks. Listen to this guy! It's all true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDZNk32bTjs I'm looking out the window at the end of the world. Thank God I have my Luxos B!

-- Jay Beattie.

On Thu, 17 Dec 2015 15:20:23 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 12/17/2015 12:36 PM, sms wrote:


I'm thinking of cyclists with legal, but relatively poor lights, like
older bottle dynamo powered lights. These lights aren't likely to pick
up unlit riders, or those with similarly poor lights, though presumably
these riders would all be riding fairly slowly.

Oh, nonsense. "Older bottle dynamo powered lights" were brighter and
gave better illumination than almost all battery powered lights of the
day. Besides, a bottle dynamo gives essentially the same amount of light
as a hub dynamo. The bottle's slight disadvantages don't relate to power.

It's hard to tell whether Scharf is engaging in "safety inflation" - as
in "Nothing but the best is safe enough" - or merely trying more
guerrilla marketing.

About a week ago, Sunday, we drive back to Bangkok from Phuket. We
usually start out, from Phuket, before daylight in the morning in
order to reach Bangkok by about three in the afternoon.

As bicycling has become immensely popular in Phuket we passed a number
of cyclists before the sun came up. All of the cyclists, of course,
were using lights. Both front and rear.

We passed one chap with a red light on the seat post, another red
light on his helmet and two white flashlight like lights on the handle
bar. A kilometer or so down the road we passed a fellow with a single
red light and a single handle bar mounted light. It was very
noticeable that the second fellow was far more visible then the first
chap with the many lights.

The difference? The first chap was wearing black, or very dark
colored, shorts and jersey. the second fellow was wearing a white, or
very light colored jersey.

It is apparent that "safety" is a far more complex subject then just
sticking a light on the bike.

--
cheers,

John B.

On 12/17/2015 3:27 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 12:20:29 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 12:36 PM, sms wrote:


I'm thinking of cyclists with legal, but relatively poor lights, like
older bottle dynamo powered lights. These lights aren't likely to pick
up unlit riders, or those with similarly poor lights, though presumably
these riders would all be riding fairly slowly.

Oh, nonsense. "Older bottle dynamo powered lights" were brighter and
gave better illumination than almost all battery powered lights of the
day. Besides, a bottle dynamo gives essentially the same amount of light
as a hub dynamo. The bottle's slight disadvantages don't relate to power.

What "day" are you talking about?

LOL, why do you even ask? He's making up stories again.

On 12/17/2015 6:27 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 12:20:29 PM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 12:36 PM, sms wrote:


I'm thinking of cyclists with legal, but relatively poor lights, like
older bottle dynamo powered lights. These lights aren't likely to pick
up unlit riders, or those with similarly poor lights, though presumably
these riders would all be riding fairly slowly.

Oh, nonsense. "Older bottle dynamo powered lights" were brighter and
gave better illumination than almost all battery powered lights of the
day. Besides, a bottle dynamo gives essentially the same amount of light
as a hub dynamo. The bottle's slight disadvantages don't relate to power.

What "day" are you talking about? My Wonder light probably put out more light
than my Sanyo roller dynamo and headlight. I know that a three D-cell
flashlight
put out more light than my Schwinn bottle dynamo back in the '60s.
People also
didn't ride much at night back in the "day."

I don't know about dynamos in the 1960s, and I don't know about the
Wonder Light. Aside from teenage neighborhood excursions, I started
riding at night in the early 1970s. At that time, whatever inexpensive
battery headlights I tried were dismal.

About 1977 I bought an oddball Cibie "block" bottle dynamo (dynamo &
headlight in one unit) and used it for night commuting. I had my wife &
son drive by and observe. They confirmed it was much more conspicuous
than my battery light, whatever that was. It also lit the road better.
Granted, the vacuum bulb standard of the day was low, but the dynamo
was better.

I next bought a Sanyo roller dynamo, which still works. It's headlight
bulb was also non-halogen and its optics were crappy, but again, it was
better than the typical bike headlight, which at that time was a Cateye
with two C cells and a vacuum bulb, and which strapped onto the bike
with a webbed cloth strap.

I used that Sanyo headlamp for a few years, but was never satisfied.
Then, in about 1982, my LBS-owning friend said what I needed was a
German headlight. He sold me my first StVZO-compliant halogen
headlight, a 4" Union model. It made a tremendous difference. It was
much better than any battery light that cost less than $100.

That was still with that Sanyo. Eventually, I switched to Soubitez
roller units on most bikes, which I think deliver a bit more power, and
which have a more versatile mount. I also tried various battery lights,
including a couple powered by external lead-acid batteries. I
hot-rodded some of them, with hotter bulbs. I built a headlamp using an
MR bulb. I was given one LED battery lamp. I was given one of the
Chinese flashlights Scharf pushes, which is very impressive as a
flashlight but crap as a bike headlight.

Through all that and more, a decent StVZO dynamo light has done a better
job of illuminating the road than both the typical battery powered
headlamp, and almost any other battery lamp I tried.

Granted, we're now at the point where battery powered LED lights do a
decent job, especially if you get one with proper optics. But most of
them sold in the U.S. don't have proper optics; so in order to light the
road, they glare at other road users and waste light.

Their benefits are that they are a single unit, no separate dynamo.
Installation is so simple even a typical American can handle it - i.e.
strap it on the handlebar. Problem diagnosis is easier, especially
since the most common problem is a dead battery. And more than anything
else, they're easy to buy in any bike shop.

Their detriments are that they are, overall, less reliable than dynamo
lights. They must be "remembered" in various ways ("Did I bring it?
Did I remember to remove it when I parked? Did I recharge my batteries,
or install new ones? Is the rechargeable still retaining enough
capacity for this ride? Do I have spares?") And in side-by-side
comparisons with my riding friends, they still don't light the road as
well. And that's not just me saying it. One woman on a night ride this
year said "I just want to ride next to Frank. I can really _see_ with
his light!"

(BTW, on the last two night rides I led, no battery users had a light
malfunction. That's a record!)

I think an incandescent bottle dynamo light is a "be seen" light.
Modern LED dynamo lights are much better and mostly adequate for seeing
the roadway in dry conditions -- which I haven't seen for weeks.

You mention wet roads frequently, which is not surprising for a guy who
lives in Portland. But as I pointed out recently, almost no light will
be visible to you on the road surface when it's wet. I left a big plaza
parking lot in the rain, and literally couldn't tell my headlights were
on. That was in our 2014 car, whose headlamps are excellent. This is
just the fundamental physics of light. It doesn't mean the headlight
won't illuminate an object on the road. It doesn't mean it won't be
visible to other road users.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On 12/17/2015 10:59 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 6:27 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 12:20:29 PM UTC-8, Frank
Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 12:36 PM, sms wrote:


I'm thinking of cyclists with legal, but relatively poor
lights, like
older bottle dynamo powered lights. These lights aren't
likely to pick
up unlit riders, or those with similarly poor lights,
though presumably
these riders would all be riding fairly slowly.

Oh, nonsense. "Older bottle dynamo powered lights" were
brighter and
gave better illumination than almost all battery powered
lights of the
day. Besides, a bottle dynamo gives essentially the same
amount of light
as a hub dynamo. The bottle's slight disadvantages don't
relate to power.

What "day" are you talking about? My Wonder light
probably put out more light
than my Sanyo roller dynamo and headlight. I know that a
three D-cell flashlight
put out more light than my Schwinn bottle dynamo back in the
'60s. People also
didn't ride much at night back in the "day."

I don't know about dynamos in the 1960s, and I don't know
about the Wonder Light. Aside from teenage neighborhood
excursions, I started riding at night in the early 1970s.
At that time, whatever inexpensive battery headlights I
tried were dismal.

About 1977 I bought an oddball Cibie "block" bottle dynamo
(dynamo & headlight in one unit) and used it for night
commuting. I had my wife & son drive by and observe. They
confirmed it was much more conspicuous than my battery
light, whatever that was. It also lit the road better.
Granted, the vacuum bulb standard of the day was low, but
the dynamo was better.

I next bought a Sanyo roller dynamo, which still works. It's
headlight bulb was also non-halogen and its optics were
crappy, but again, it was better than the typical bike
headlight, which at that time was a Cateye with two C cells
and a vacuum bulb, and which strapped onto the bike with a
webbed cloth strap.

I used that Sanyo headlamp for a few years, but was never
satisfied. Then, in about 1982, my LBS-owning friend said
what I needed was a German headlight. He sold me my first
StVZO-compliant halogen headlight, a 4" Union model. It
made a tremendous difference. It was much better than any
battery light that cost less than $100.

That was still with that Sanyo. Eventually, I switched to
Soubitez roller units on most bikes, which I think deliver a
bit more power, and which have a more versatile mount. I
also tried various battery lights, including a couple
powered by external lead-acid batteries. I hot-rodded some
of them, with hotter bulbs. I built a headlamp using an MR
bulb. I was given one LED battery lamp. I was given one of
the Chinese flashlights Scharf pushes, which is very
impressive as a flashlight but crap as a bike headlight.

Through all that and more, a decent StVZO dynamo light has
done a better job of illuminating the road than both the
typical battery powered headlamp, and almost any other
battery lamp I tried.

Granted, we're now at the point where battery powered LED
lights do a decent job, especially if you get one with
proper optics. But most of them sold in the U.S. don't have
proper optics; so in order to light the road, they glare at
other road users and waste light.

Their benefits are that they are a single unit, no separate
dynamo. Installation is so simple even a typical American
can handle it - i.e. strap it on the handlebar. Problem
diagnosis is easier, especially since the most common
problem is a dead battery. And more than anything else,
they're easy to buy in any bike shop.

Their detriments are that they are, overall, less reliable
than dynamo lights. They must be "remembered" in various
ways ("Did I bring it? Did I remember to remove it when I
parked? Did I recharge my batteries, or install new ones?
Is the rechargeable still retaining enough capacity for this
ride? Do I have spares?") And in side-by-side comparisons
with my riding friends, they still don't light the road as
well. And that's not just me saying it. One woman on a
night ride this year said "I just want to ride next to
Frank. I can really _see_ with his light!"

(BTW, on the last two night rides I led, no battery users
had a light malfunction. That's a record!)

I think an incandescent bottle dynamo light is a "be seen"
light.
Modern LED dynamo lights are much better and mostly adequate
for seeing
the roadway in dry conditions -- which I haven't seen for
weeks.

You mention wet roads frequently, which is not surprising
for a guy who lives in Portland. But as I pointed out
recently, almost no light will be visible to you on the road
surface when it's wet. I left a big plaza parking lot in
the rain, and literally couldn't tell my headlights were
on. That was in our 2014 car, whose headlamps are
excellent. This is just the fundamental physics of light.
It doesn't mean the headlight won't illuminate an object on
the road. It doesn't mean it won't be visible to other road
users.


The world's a big place and people have their opinions but I
agree that any 1960s block dynamo was much brighter than
concurrent battery lights. They may have been better than
acetylene lamps but not by much:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Vintage-...AOSwo0JWP93 N

And dismally unreliable besides ineffective when actually
working. We printed a handout page with a half dozen repair
and maintenance tips for that lamp. It was the industry
standard and popular but by today's standards a joke. And
yet we sold hundreds of Wonder lamps for every dynamo set, a
ratio even more lopsided once we have the Matex Japanese
version with a design breakthrough - wait for it - velcro
instead of a cotton strap in a steel buckle. The 'good old
days' were in many ways bad.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Friday, December 18, 2015 at 8:43:12 AM UTC-5, AMuzi wrote:
On 12/17/2015 10:59 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 6:27 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 12:20:29 PM UTC-8, Frank
Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 12:36 PM, sms wrote:


I'm thinking of cyclists with legal, but relatively poor
lights, like
older bottle dynamo powered lights. These lights aren't
likely to pick
up unlit riders, or those with similarly poor lights,
though presumably
these riders would all be riding fairly slowly.

Oh, nonsense. "Older bottle dynamo powered lights" were
brighter and
gave better illumination than almost all battery powered
lights of the
day. Besides, a bottle dynamo gives essentially the same
amount of light
as a hub dynamo. The bottle's slight disadvantages don't
relate to power.

What "day" are you talking about? My Wonder light
probably put out more light
than my Sanyo roller dynamo and headlight. I know that a
three D-cell flashlight
put out more light than my Schwinn bottle dynamo back in the
'60s. People also
didn't ride much at night back in the "day."

I don't know about dynamos in the 1960s, and I don't know
about the Wonder Light. Aside from teenage neighborhood
excursions, I started riding at night in the early 1970s.
At that time, whatever inexpensive battery headlights I
tried were dismal.

About 1977 I bought an oddball Cibie "block" bottle dynamo
(dynamo & headlight in one unit) and used it for night
commuting. I had my wife & son drive by and observe. They
confirmed it was much more conspicuous than my battery
light, whatever that was. It also lit the road better.
Granted, the vacuum bulb standard of the day was low, but
the dynamo was better.

I next bought a Sanyo roller dynamo, which still works. It's
headlight bulb was also non-halogen and its optics were
crappy, but again, it was better than the typical bike
headlight, which at that time was a Cateye with two C cells
and a vacuum bulb, and which strapped onto the bike with a
webbed cloth strap.

I used that Sanyo headlamp for a few years, but was never
satisfied. Then, in about 1982, my LBS-owning friend said
what I needed was a German headlight. He sold me my first
StVZO-compliant halogen headlight, a 4" Union model. It
made a tremendous difference. It was much better than any
battery light that cost less than $100.

That was still with that Sanyo. Eventually, I switched to
Soubitez roller units on most bikes, which I think deliver a
bit more power, and which have a more versatile mount. I
also tried various battery lights, including a couple
powered by external lead-acid batteries. I hot-rodded some
of them, with hotter bulbs. I built a headlamp using an MR
bulb. I was given one LED battery lamp. I was given one of
the Chinese flashlights Scharf pushes, which is very
impressive as a flashlight but crap as a bike headlight.

Through all that and more, a decent StVZO dynamo light has
done a better job of illuminating the road than both the
typical battery powered headlamp, and almost any other
battery lamp I tried.

Granted, we're now at the point where battery powered LED
lights do a decent job, especially if you get one with
proper optics. But most of them sold in the U.S. don't have
proper optics; so in order to light the road, they glare at
other road users and waste light.

Their benefits are that they are a single unit, no separate
dynamo. Installation is so simple even a typical American
can handle it - i.e. strap it on the handlebar. Problem
diagnosis is easier, especially since the most common
problem is a dead battery. And more than anything else,
they're easy to buy in any bike shop.

Their detriments are that they are, overall, less reliable
than dynamo lights. They must be "remembered" in various
ways ("Did I bring it? Did I remember to remove it when I
parked? Did I recharge my batteries, or install new ones?
Is the rechargeable still retaining enough capacity for this
ride? Do I have spares?") And in side-by-side comparisons
with my riding friends, they still don't light the road as
well. And that's not just me saying it. One woman on a
night ride this year said "I just want to ride next to
Frank. I can really _see_ with his light!"

(BTW, on the last two night rides I led, no battery users
had a light malfunction. That's a record!)

I think an incandescent bottle dynamo light is a "be seen"
light.
Modern LED dynamo lights are much better and mostly adequate
for seeing
the roadway in dry conditions -- which I haven't seen for
weeks.

You mention wet roads frequently, which is not surprising
for a guy who lives in Portland. But as I pointed out
recently, almost no light will be visible to you on the road
surface when it's wet. I left a big plaza parking lot in
the rain, and literally couldn't tell my headlights were
on. That was in our 2014 car, whose headlamps are
excellent. This is just the fundamental physics of light.
It doesn't mean the headlight won't illuminate an object on
the road. It doesn't mean it won't be visible to other road
users.


The world's a big place and people have their opinions but I
agree that any 1960s block dynamo was much brighter than
concurrent battery lights. They may have been better than
acetylene lamps but not by much:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Vintage-...AOSwo0JWP93 N

And dismally unreliable besides ineffective when actually
working. We printed a handout page with a half dozen repair
and maintenance tips for that lamp. It was the industry
standard and popular but by today's standards a joke. And
yet we sold hundreds of Wonder lamps for every dynamo set, a
ratio even more lopsided once we have the Matex Japanese
version with a design breakthrough - wait for it - velcro
instead of a cotton strap in a steel buckle. The 'good old
days' were in many ways bad.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

In the early 1980s $100.00 was a heck of a lot of money to spend on any light!

I remember the Wonder Light that was rectangular and had iirc a 4.8 volt battery. Later there was a conversion sold so you could use 3 AA batteries in it.

I remember the tire sidewall dynamos that's slip the light would flicker or go out at the most inconvenient times and too high a speed would fry the bulb.

I too tried the Sanyo chainstay mounted dynamo but the light patter was absolutely terribly as it was just a T-shaped beam with the long part of the T being only about a foot wide (if that) and the cross of the T not much either. I chucked that unit in a hurry. What I did fing useful was a regular dynamo headlight with a halogen bulb and powered via a 6 volt battery. That gave great light on the road and ran a long time. We used to use one of those and a 6 volt square lead acid battery on long two week tour on Norther Ontario (Canada) mining roads. Never a proble. Then came sealed batteries.

The biggest drawback to dynamo lights comes to people who use different bikes. The dunamo light is not as easy to change from bike to bike as a battery light is.

Radio Control shops have many batteries that are compatible with battery powered lights and those batteriesd are reasonably priced and long lasting per charge. I can fit thre 4.8 NiMh batteries from the RC shop into the bottle that came with my CygoLite Rover II light. I could ride a couple of Arctic Nights with those three batteries. VBG What's important to me is that i ca put the light and battery holder on any of my bikes in less than a minute..

Cheers

On Friday, December 18, 2015 at 5:43:12 AM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
On 12/17/2015 10:59 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 6:27 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 12:20:29 PM UTC-8, Frank
Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2015 12:36 PM, sms wrote:


I'm thinking of cyclists with legal, but relatively poor
lights, like
older bottle dynamo powered lights. These lights aren't
likely to pick
up unlit riders, or those with similarly poor lights,
though presumably
these riders would all be riding fairly slowly.

Oh, nonsense. "Older bottle dynamo powered lights" were
brighter and
gave better illumination than almost all battery powered
lights of the
day. Besides, a bottle dynamo gives essentially the same
amount of light
as a hub dynamo. The bottle's slight disadvantages don't
relate to power.

What "day" are you talking about? My Wonder light
probably put out more light
than my Sanyo roller dynamo and headlight. I know that a
three D-cell flashlight
put out more light than my Schwinn bottle dynamo back in the
'60s. People also
didn't ride much at night back in the "day."

I don't know about dynamos in the 1960s, and I don't know
about the Wonder Light. Aside from teenage neighborhood
excursions, I started riding at night in the early 1970s.
At that time, whatever inexpensive battery headlights I
tried were dismal.

About 1977 I bought an oddball Cibie "block" bottle dynamo
(dynamo & headlight in one unit) and used it for night
commuting. I had my wife & son drive by and observe. They
confirmed it was much more conspicuous than my battery
light, whatever that was. It also lit the road better.
Granted, the vacuum bulb standard of the day was low, but
the dynamo was better.

I next bought a Sanyo roller dynamo, which still works. It's
headlight bulb was also non-halogen and its optics were
crappy, but again, it was better than the typical bike
headlight, which at that time was a Cateye with two C cells
and a vacuum bulb, and which strapped onto the bike with a
webbed cloth strap.

I used that Sanyo headlamp for a few years, but was never
satisfied. Then, in about 1982, my LBS-owning friend said
what I needed was a German headlight. He sold me my first
StVZO-compliant halogen headlight, a 4" Union model. It
made a tremendous difference. It was much better than any
battery light that cost less than $100.

That was still with that Sanyo. Eventually, I switched to
Soubitez roller units on most bikes, which I think deliver a
bit more power, and which have a more versatile mount. I
also tried various battery lights, including a couple
powered by external lead-acid batteries. I hot-rodded some
of them, with hotter bulbs. I built a headlamp using an MR
bulb. I was given one LED battery lamp. I was given one of
the Chinese flashlights Scharf pushes, which is very
impressive as a flashlight but crap as a bike headlight.

Through all that and more, a decent StVZO dynamo light has
done a better job of illuminating the road than both the
typical battery powered headlamp, and almost any other
battery lamp I tried.

Granted, we're now at the point where battery powered LED
lights do a decent job, especially if you get one with
proper optics. But most of them sold in the U.S. don't have
proper optics; so in order to light the road, they glare at
other road users and waste light.

Their benefits are that they are a single unit, no separate
dynamo. Installation is so simple even a typical American
can handle it - i.e. strap it on the handlebar. Problem
diagnosis is easier, especially since the most common
problem is a dead battery. And more than anything else,
they're easy to buy in any bike shop.

Their detriments are that they are, overall, less reliable
than dynamo lights. They must be "remembered" in various
ways ("Did I bring it? Did I remember to remove it when I
parked? Did I recharge my batteries, or install new ones?
Is the rechargeable still retaining enough capacity for this
ride? Do I have spares?") And in side-by-side comparisons
with my riding friends, they still don't light the road as
well. And that's not just me saying it. One woman on a
night ride this year said "I just want to ride next to
Frank. I can really _see_ with his light!"

(BTW, on the last two night rides I led, no battery users
had a light malfunction. That's a record!)

I think an incandescent bottle dynamo light is a "be seen"
light.
Modern LED dynamo lights are much better and mostly adequate
for seeing
the roadway in dry conditions -- which I haven't seen for
weeks.

You mention wet roads frequently, which is not surprising
for a guy who lives in Portland. But as I pointed out
recently, almost no light will be visible to you on the road
surface when it's wet. I left a big plaza parking lot in
the rain, and literally couldn't tell my headlights were
on. That was in our 2014 car, whose headlamps are
excellent. This is just the fundamental physics of light.
It doesn't mean the headlight won't illuminate an object on
the road. It doesn't mean it won't be visible to other road
users.


The world's a big place and people have their opinions but I
agree that any 1960s block dynamo was much brighter than
concurrent battery lights. They may have been better than
acetylene lamps but not by much:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Vintage-...AOSwo0JWP93 N

And dismally unreliable besides ineffective when actually
working. We printed a handout page with a half dozen repair
and maintenance tips for that lamp. It was the industry
standard and popular but by today's standards a joke. And
yet we sold hundreds of Wonder lamps for every dynamo set, a
ratio even more lopsided once we have the Matex Japanese
version with a design breakthrough - wait for it - velcro
instead of a cotton strap in a steel buckle. The 'good old
days' were in many ways bad.

Not the Wonder leg light -- the Wonder headlight. https://sp.yimg.com/xj/th?id=OIP.M76...=0&w=300&h=300

The "powerful" headlights were the three D-cell flashlights -- which were standard equipment for paper-boys, who were among the few actually riding in the dark, in my experience.

Two thumbs up to my SECA 1400 which I used to light my entire bedroom on low beam when the power went out yesterday afternoon and into this morning. It was awesome. Portland General wasn't too awesome. Maybe 400 users lost power -- people two doors away from me had power, but it took them ten hours to figure out the problem.

-- Jay Beattie.