I did a fair number of predawn training rides with Dr Dre’ in the hills above the Rose Bowl. He has one of these. 10watts. It works great–Better than my $130 light, except that mine has a smart charger. It’s no HID, but plenty adequate for riding on dark streets and road at up to 25-30 mph. (Unless you have a boat load of large pot holes or tons of glass.)
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=17690&estore_ID=444
It says it has a “plug and forget” charger. How does a smart charger differ? Also, do you know if you can get a helmet attachment for this?
Based on reviews here, I was looking at this one for a few bucks more:
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?sku=17645
But a good question is whether there is a helmet mount, as I imagine the utility of these lights is somewhat diminished on a tri bike (and I also wonder is they will mount on “non-round” base bars?)
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…the utility of these lights is somewhat diminished on a tri bike (and I also wonder is they will mount on “non-round” base bars?)
I use mine, round base bar mounting–on the underside. A few aerobar shadows off-center, but works ok.
Would they mount on a computer mount? I don’t know. Never tried it.
I didnl’t read everthing, but I thought Dre’ said his didn’t have a plug and forget charger.
“Plug and forget” is probably a trickle charger which can take a while to recharge - often ~15 hours. Smart chargers or quick chargers can usually recharge in about 1/10th the time. They charge with high current at first, then switch to trickle mode when the battery is almost recharged.