900 lumen flashlight under $60

In my never ending search for an affordable bike like, I came upon a website that sells LED flashlights advertised up to 1000 lumens for under $100. The company's name is DealExtreme. It's a Hong Kong based company.

I bought the Aurora AK-P7-3 SSC P7-C 900-Lumen 2-Mode LED Flashlight advertised at $50.02. The reviews say that it's not a total 900 lumens but close to around 800 lumens. 800 lumens is still allot. Plus, compared to some high end LED lights such as the SureFire E2D LED Defender (120 lumens/over $100) it's a steal.

So what do I get with this little toy:

• Seoul Semiconductors SSC P7LED emitter
• Powered by 4 x 3.6V CR123A or 2 x 18650 batteries (sold separately)
• Input voltage range: 7.2V~17V
• Maximum brightness: 900 lumens on high, 230 lumens on low (manufacturer rated)
• Maximum circuit outpet: 2800mA
• 2-mode tail cap clicky switch: Hi > Lo
• 1~1.5 hours total estimated runtime (manufacturer rated)
• Regulated driver circuitry
• Glass lens with alumium textured/OP reflector

Pros:

• Very bright (I can aim the light at a room ceiling and the reflection fills up the whole room to about the amount of a low watt bulb)
• Gives off a white light
• Aluminum body (well crafted)
• Low price for the amount of lumens
• No shipping cost
• Can use PayPal services to buy

Cons:

• From reports that I have read it gets warm after a while, but I'll be using it on my bike so it's a non issue with me.
• Shipping takes about two weeks (it's coming from China)
• Packaging is so-so (mine came in a brown envelope, flashlight in a plastic wrapping inside a paper box. The box looked like it had be crushed, but since the light is made out of aluminum it didn't suffer any damage)
• It uses very expensive/uncommon batteries (18650 or CR123A)

The length of the light is a little bit over 9 inches and the width of the lens is about 2.1 inches

The main issue I have with the flashlight is the uncommon battery size (18650 or CR123A) and price. The CR123 size is common in cameras, but at a cost of around $6-$12 for a pack of 2. I searched online to get better prices and was able to find it at cr123batteries.com for $0.92 each. I waited another week for these to arrive.

Keep in mind that on HIGH the length of run time is about 60-90 minutes. I guess that's one of the drawbacks of a hand held flashlight. Light and Motion HID ARC's battery life is hours compared to the Aurora. It's too bad that Light and Motion has discontinued the HID ARC line.

I wasn't disappointed when I first tried out my new toy. If I was in a search and rescue team, this would be the light I would have with me (plus extra batteries). The spot area was definitely above 800 lumens and the fill or flood area was bright as well. Aiming the beam at a wall 16 feet away the overall coverage was about 20-25 feet.

Two 150 LED flash lights mounted on bike above.

One 900 lumen LED flashlight mounted on bike above.

Twofish flashlight holder.

Click on the images above to get a bigger view.

360 degrees view of 900 lumen flashlight on bike from glenn m on Vimeo.

Information on how I mounted the lights to my bike is posted on my "Thursday, October 16, 2008 - Poor Man's 300 Lumens Lights". If you're looking for a very cheap way of riding in the dark, but don't have $300 lying around, don't mind the uncommon battery sizes and run time, then tryout the system that I created.

• $50 for Aurora 900 lumens LED flashlight
  
• $13 for Cycloblock (plus shipping)
• $40 for (Optional if you have a recumbent bike) TerraCycle Mount (plus shipping)

The downside is, cycling season is pretty much over, unless you're a hardcore rider that doesn't mind the wind chill hitting your face at 18 mph. Until spring, it's the bike trainer for me, because I'm not that crazy anymore to be riding in freezing temperatures.

I'm so impressed by this light that I'm thinking about getting another one for use around the house. Just last night I helped my neighbor with raking up his leaves late into the night by using my flashlight. And yes, he said "wow" when I first turned it on.

Poor Man's 300 Lumens Lights

I was shopping at Sam's Club and I happen to come across their Element K2 Super Bright LED Flashlight. I had bought the earlier model that put out 80 lumens, but this new generation puts out 150 lumens! For around $30 for two lights, it was a decent buy. Each light was powered by three AAA batteries.

Then I thought to myself, what if I used these as my main lights on my bike? I already had a TerraCycle mount that held two Blackburn Voyager 3 lights. The Voyager 3 lights put out 17 lumens each. It was no contest to replace these with the Element lights that combined, puts out 300 lumens.

The next step was how to mount the flashlights to the TerraCycle mount. TWOFISH Cycloblocks Bicycle Flashlight Holder Cross Channel solved that problem. I bought two from Battery Junction for about $8 each. It's basically a rubber block that is secured by velcro straps.

I installed the two Cycloblocks and the flashlights on the TerraCycle mount. My mount had an extender in order to accommodate two lights. I then took an extra velcro strap and wrapped the two Cycloblocks together so that the one piece on the extender side would not slip off.

The lights were a bit heavy due to the aluminum case and on the bike it looks a little bulky. I took it out that same day to see how it illuminated the bike trail at night.

I also found a great place to attach my two Blackburn Voyager lights! On my Strada I have a Euromesh seat. Under the seat there is a bar that connects the seat frame to the seat mount. With some tweaking I was able to mount the two Voyager lights right underneath the seat.

These lights I aimed at an angle to illuminate the sides of the bike. This setup I hoped to extend the width of coverage.

Now for the field tests. I took my new lighting system to my local bike trail to see how it preformed.

I aimed my bike at a grassy hill to view the coverage. The two flashlights gave a really bright white spot beam and you could see the two other beams of light coming from my lights under the seat. The picture above doesn't really do the lights justice. With the extra lights under the seat, they gave out an extra arch of illumination that started from the hub of the front wheel with a width of about 20 feet.

The picture of the lights on the trail shows that the setup easily illuminates the bike trail. I should have placed the bike in the middle of the trail, but I didn't have anything to lean it against and I had to have a steady hand to take the photo with the flash off the camera. The front lights were aimed at about 30 to 50 feet down the trail.

This is a front view of the bike taken with the flash on the camera. You could see the difference in how much lumens are given off by the Element flashlights compared to the Blackburn Voyagers.

The photo above shows another view of the Blackburn Voyagers 3 aimed at an angle. Blackburn has updated the Voyager line with three LED lights instead of just one.

I also had a light mounted on my helmet, which helped me view my cycling computer and any surrounding areas around my bike. On the way back to my truck I was able to help out some cyclist on the trail. They misjudged the time of sunset and were caught without lights. Riding in front I escorted them get back to their cars.

I may have looked liked a Christmas tree on wheels, but I can surely say my path was well lit. The new lighting setup was a success. Other than the flashlights were a tad on the heavy side for bike head lights and bulky. It worked as an inexpensive way to get 300 lumens down the path.

• $30 for Element flashlights (300 lumens)
• $20 for Cycloblocks (plus shipping)
• Optional: TerraCycle Mount $44 (including extender)

Keep in mind that these lights are not regulated. Once you turn them on the dimmer they become until the batteries die. This is a non-issue for me since I change my batteries every few weeks and use the lights no more than 8 hours a week. Using rechargeable batteries could help in cutting the cost.