Ebay generic "5000 lumen" lights

[jerrah]

I just spotted a review for one of those generic dual LED lights that are popping up everywhere on eBay.

https://www.bikelightdatabase.com/gener ... ericlight/

With false promises and poor quality, you get what you pay for

[diventare]

It's not always a bad thing.
I have used a $13.00 ebay cree torch (3500lumen) on the commute for the last three winters, this being the third.
For that princely sum I got the torch four ultrafires and a charger.
Apart from one of the batteries dying its been a winner.

[battler2]

i used one for a little while. they're crap, forget it. the cree led's might be ok, but they're poorly made and the battery life is terrible (30mins on highest setting).

the strobe is epilepsy inducing.
using the light mount on handlebars is terrible.
and need to use a wired battery pack that's too heavy, needs to be strapped somewhere, can explode.
lumens are ALWAYS overstated.

[Duck!]

As the article says, Cree's own output estimator rates the absolute maximum output from optimum power delivery at 1700 lumen. Anything claiming more is an outright lie.

[Rhubarb]

5000 "Chinese" lumens

[bychosis]

I dunno, I've got a code of solar storm lights like that. Didn't cost much, not very high quality, but happy with the light and run time (for the $). The strobe is horrid, I can't use it.

I can't justify spending big money for the infrequent use and these have been ok.

[jerrah]

Found another review. Not actually planning on buying a set but I find the extremely low cost lights interesting.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... ase-review

I have seen a few of them out on the bike paths, but none in the bush.

[bychosis]

I've predominantly used mine in the bush. Helmet and bar light combo and find I rarely need to use full power. Sometimes on fire trail I'll flick the bar light to full, but usually medium is enough.

One thing I don't like about them is the button cycling low-med-hi-off and long press for strobe. I would prefer to be able to cycle lo-med-hi and long press to turn on/off/strobe. It is to easy to cycle to off by mistake.

[mitzikatzi]

$50 is a good price from what I can see. $150 at LBS, $100 at a Melbourne bike shop and between $50 and $100 on flea bay.
Any good?
https://www.mountainbikesdirect.com.au/ ... umen-light" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[nathan_bldb]

I just spotted a review for one of those generic dual LED lights that are popping up everywhere on eBay.

https://www.bikelightdatabase.com/gener ... ericlight/

With false promises and poor quality, you get what you pay for

Hey,

I wrote the review and run The Bike Light Database. Found this forum post after seeing some referrals from this site.

I wanted to point out that while the issues with deceptive marketing, outrageous lumen claims, etc. are true, the real problem with these lights are the batteries. The batteries are dangerous. They could literally catch fire. At best they're under-spec, sometimes having half as many active cells as they claim; at worst they're dangerously constructed and could start a fire.

Here's an image from the review, showing the battery pack for the light I received. One of the battery cells is rusted; two of them were completely dead and not even wired up to anything.

I got the torch four ultrafires and a charger.
Apart from one of the batteries dying its been a winner.

UltraFire batteries are famous among lighting enthusiasts for being low-quality and potentially dangerous. Much like these headlight manufacturers overstate their lumen output, batteries like "UltraFire" (which isn't even one company, the brand is used by dozens of fly-by-night manufacturers all ripping each other off) will often claim battery capacities 2-3x higher than the actual capacity. As you saw for yourself, they're prone to just failing.

It's OK (even if it may not be the best deal) to go cheap on the light, but one really must be careful with batteries. They're holding a lot of energy, and they can be dangerous. The companies selling cheap generic batteries don't care if they fail, because the chances of you even figuring out who to return them to are slim and there's no real legal accountability.


Anyhow, I'm not from Australia so I probably won't be around here much, but if anyone has questions about this stuff I'll check back for any replies to this post, or you can always email contact at bikelightdatabase dot com.

[Storm Boy]

Hi Nathan,

I just had a quick look at the website and found it pretty interesting and useful, thanks for that!

Regards,

SB

[carcharias]

Hi jerrah.


http://www.bicycles.net.au/2013/09/budg ... 000-lumen/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This review from this very site overall favourable..
Can recommend Xeccon brand. Good quality and do what they say they will.

Inflated lumen rating to sell a product. Can recommend "Horses for Courses".

C.