Dynamo lights

[Taylor]

Are they worth the extra money and the extra energy you use to power them(72% efficiency apparently)?

I'm looking at the K-lite bundle from OZ using an SP PD-8X hub.
The K-lite bundle will charge usb stuff like phones/GPS/6 AA battery pack/etc.

I currently use a Diablo with single cell piggyback.

The hubs are twice the weight of a Hope pro2 evo that I was thinking of building.

I seem to be talking myself out of it at the moment.

Is there a downside other than a weight/cost penalty?

[johnnystorm]

Are you comparing the weight of the hub and light Vs a hope hub and equivalent battery light and spare batteries for whatever you're charging? Rob Dean suggests his Revo set up is lighter than his old standard hub and normal exposure light. I haven't used my revo on a "proper" ride yet but I'm very impressed at how quickly it gets up to full brightness and how it stays illuminated when I stop. Even after only about 8 miles riding it was still dimly lit at both ends about 20 hours later! :)

There is the issue of how serviceable the hubs are I think but my overarching idea is the fact that with the dynamo theres no fretting over packing spare batteries, flicking between settings to conserve power etc. I'll just run my lights all the time and to hell with it!

[Taylor]

I was comparing hubs only for weight.

It wouldn't be a fair comparison to compare the K-lite USB/light/battery pack against a light only of the revo or a Pro 2 whilst using a Diablo which I currently have.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Thought 1 ... how much multi-day stuff have you got planned ? I see the ability to charge other stuff as a real bonus but only really if you're planning on trips of more than 2 days.

Thought 2 ... you could sell your existing lights to offset the cost of the Revo set-up.

Thought 3 ... if you've got a Jones coming then you won't notice the extra weight of the hub

[Taylor]

Maybe got week long trip for next year although it wouldn't be impossible to spend the night in a B&B occasionally to charge lights/phone/etc.

I'll still be riding my Giant so will use my Diablo for twisty stuff. It's a MK2 so not worth anything really now.

No Jones coming this way.

[Taylor]

Or one of these and a normal hub?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/10000mAh-Portab ... B0063AAIRG

[FLV]

I'm sure the revo type set ups work well but personally I'm more a fan of the standalone system.

I like my hub to be down there being a hub and doing nothing else.
By the same token I'm a big fan of the exposure lights as there's no external connectors or external chargers to fail in use.
Seems a more robust system to me, and easier to replace any of the items.

I have a 12 month old Diablo and a Toro. The Toro can be used alone for multi day trips, the 12 hour mode genuinely stays on for 12 hours and as long as you're not riding at top speed provides enough light to ride by with no problems.

If I was planning a week long leisure trip, expecting to ride about 2 hours in the dark each night average I would just take the toro and perhaps a petzl eLite (20 odd grams) to bivi with. I wouldn't bother with any chargers. Although, if I expect to be riding tricky terrain I usually take the diablo too.

Its weird I guess that I take more light for a 2 hour evening ride than I do for a week long trip!

[mountainbaker]

The anker charger units are great. I have one of the 15000mAh ones (http://www.amazon.co.uk/15000mAh-Portab ... er+charger) It has enough juice to charge GPS and Phone about 8 times, fully I reckon. Haven't fully tested it yet though.