I’ve been really liking the IQ-X. I do miss the super wide beam and full-strength standlight of the Luxos U though
No joke. the IQ-X is barely ok for night riding in a city. The Herrmann Black Pro on my cargo bike is massively superior.
Really? It doesn’t have the nice short fat beam of the Luxos, but it’s got a hell of a throw and, at least in little beirut, drivers see it (and I see reflections from traffic signs) a long ways off,
I don’t care so much about the visibility to cars when stopped, but that if you’re riding slower uphill or on windy trails, the light flickers where the Luxos U would just keep the floodlight on
I care about both - the city I live in has many steep hills and also very narrow, poorly lit streets, featuring many intersections with absolutely shit sightlines. The flickering is mostly annoying, the lack of a strong standlight is borderline dangerous.
My sample size isn’t that big (1 unit) but I can’t say I’ve noticed either. But (a) the only steep upgrades I ride regularly are during the day, and (b) I tend to take the scenic route, so I’m never stopped at a traffic signal for more than about a minute – not quite long enough to run the standlight down.
Oh the iq x standlight stays on for a few minutes, it’s just weak as hell.
The beam starts to flicker at around 5mph, which means that climbing a steep hill with a lot of intersections deprives one of steady lighting.
Ya’ll aren’t making it sound so awesome. Is the Luxos U still worth considering tho? judging from Tarck alone seems like 50% of them were warrantied.
If you get a Luxos, keep it out of the rain. And maybe get the one that doesn’t have the remote & USB charger built in, because those ports may be the ones too many that let water in.
I have a non-USB Luxos on my sweet fixie (tucked under the rack platform, so that the only rain it gets is blown in from the front where it would really have to work to get into the wiring port) and it’s been reliable even during torrential downpours. I prefer the -X because it’s got a longer throw, but the fat beam of the Luxos is definitely better for puttering around in the city at night.
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How is the regular beam otherwise?
Can confirm climbing up Thompson pass for ~25km and slowing down to sub 10kph will make the luxos u flicker to darkness
Pretty solid. I’ve got it on a cargo bike, so it isn’t exactly seeing a lot of high performance use, but it works well for trundling around town.
Beam shape and cutoff are both quite good for an urban commuter light
Yeah, it turns out that I am not a good typical user. I tend to punch up moderately steep hills, even when I’m lugging a trailer with 50 pounds of groceries, at 6-7mph, and even in stop/start traffic I average about 11mph loaded. So I manage to keep the supercap in my -X nice and charged, and I don’t stop long enough to run it down. Take my opinion with a few grains of salt.
don’t forget the glass lens, which keeps it from being a total win for durability
Other differences are that the Cyo’s standlight is significantly better, and the switch actually turns off the output from the supercap to save that energy for later. On an edelux the switch only disconnects the input, so it’s useless to turn it off when parked.
the cyo switch turning off the output is cool. but do i have to discharge that thing ever? like if i ride with the light off, is it doing anything harmful by leaving the capacitor all charged up?
Does anyone have any experience with some of the off brand dynamo lights that are cheap as fuck on ebay? Spanninga and axa and such?
Almost cheap enough to just say fuck it, it would just be for commuting, but figured I’d ask first.
The Axendo is the modern version of the Phillips Safelight so it’s supposed to be very good, but that version is the DC e-bike version.
Axa Bluelight is one of the lights that the cranky Dutch guy hated less than everything else he hates. It looks like a better Eyc, with a slightly less weird beam pattern. Probably worth the $55.
The Kendo is only 30 lux but it’s hard to argue with a $20 LED light with current technology for townie duty.
Obviously everybody has different financial situations, but I’ve always thought that by the time you’ve sprung for a dynamo hub + wheel, a box from Germany with a Cyo Premium and a Toplight and some consumable parts is worth the extra bucks. If there was such as thing as $20 sidewall dynamo I guess I’d be more curious about cheap dyno lights but since you are going to always be $100+ into the front wheel I don’t feel like it’s even worth exploring.
lol I’m sure this is a piece of shit but I guess this thing makes cheap lights make sense
The Luxos is the dynamo equivalent of thin & fast supple tires.
You’re never going to come anywhere close to the beam pattern on a smaller format light and if you value that sort of thing it might be worth the risk of dealing with a light that could have long term issues.
I hope they keep iterating the Luxos and eventually make it more robust and possibly create a cheaper version.
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