However….

That said, remember we’ve all been happy with 200 Lumen halogen lights for years. Those lights cost fout times what these lights cost, weighed five times as much, took up a water bottle cage on the frame, had cables running all over the place going ‘ting ting ting!’ against the frame and had finicky expensive batteries that would only last two to three years of real world use.

It’s super hard to whine about the performance of modern LED lights. No cords, sub 200 gram running weight, still way brighter than those old dual beam halogen lights, and in theory, the ‘bulbs’ never die.

Plus, cigarette lighter USB car chargers are like $5. IIRC, the cig lighter charger for my NiteRider Digital Pro 12e was like $65.

I have a MiNewt 2x Dual 700 (in deep storage ATM) and I gotta say, the thing is WAY bright. I run it on low or medium most of the time, along with a Magicshine on my helmet (on low most of the time).

Anyway, these Lumina 650 things are so cheap, I might just buy two of them because getting my other lights from storage is such a monster PITA. I have to empty my small shipping container storage Pod to get to them. Heck, I’ll just sell them when I get them back out.

This replaces the 10 watt halogen Niterider that I’ve nursed along for years. SOOOOOOO much better.

It mounts securely to 31.8 bars with ZERO problems. (It has shims for smaller bars, but you’re a cheap bitch if you’re still using anything else.)

It comes with a helmet mount, but I haven’t used that.

Charges in 3-5 hours with the included USB plug into a computer monitor. If you need it charged faster, plug it into the wall outlet to USB charger that every phone for the past 10 years has come with. If you don’t have one of those, ya, you’re an even bigger bitch.

The really funny setting is on blinking on city streets. Cars going the other way think you’re some sort of emergency vehicle. People walking towards you think you are an asshole. People walking away from you think a UFO is about to land.

Better to be an asshole and be seen than to not be seen and get run the fuck over at 1am.

I was just there. NiteRider does not do that with their rechargeable lights. Accept for the Mako.

Glad to hear the new light is compatible with the old mount. Now I just wish I had an excuse to ge me a lumina 650.

My only request for improvement is a better battery life indicator. When I’m still 10 miles from home and the switch turns red, I switch to low power and prey.

I also wanted to mention my personal experience after several rides with the new lights. They work very well. I was able to easily ride at 30+ mph downhill with a great view of every pothole and manhole cover. It was almost as good as riding during daylight. Just as important, the cars entering the road from side streets very obviously noticed me far in advance and stopped merging to let me pass. Just this morning, using the flashing mode during daylight, a car gave me a short honk and then a thumbs up. I feel much more visible, both day and night, and that’s one of the best defenses in traffic. (note that I used two of these lights at night and only one during daylight).

It also looks like the beam pattern is more even than other lights I’ve tried. Compared with my 180 lumen Cygolight, it doesn’t have as much of a hot, white center. Not perfectly even, but significantly better. But it is a circle. There was no attempt to flatten or otherwise shape the beam.

I can’t compare theses lights to others of similar lumen output, these are my first, but I can say with some confidence that getting good, bright lights is worth every penny. I’ve gone from $20 department store lights, to lights in the 200 lumen range, to these, and each time I felt a big jump in both visibility of the road, and my visibility to other traffic. I think I got a lot of bang for the buck with the NiteRiders, but I’d recommend to anyone who’d listen that getting any light at 600 lumen or above would make a huge improvement in their cycling safety. High lumen lights shouldn’t be considered a super light, but a standard.