Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 01:30:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Marty Goodman MD KC6YKC Subject: New Bike Lights from Specialized Message-id: <01JHGFKKM3A68XKG6I@delphi.com> I finally was given a copy of Specialized's year 2000 catalog, and was able to at least see a PICTURE of their new lighting systems. Of most interest to me was their "Fireball Team", the top of the line of their three-product "Fireball" series. The name "Fireball" appears to come from the physical form of the lighting heads: Two eyeball-like heads, fused to each other and presenting a sort of "infinity symbol" to the viewer (when the lamps are off). Each head has a short stalk below it, which terminates in a clamp for the handlebars. This arrangement is fairly "recumbent and other non-standard bike hostile", but I'm told the system also has a helmet mount that can make mounting on a recumbent easier. Within each "eye socket" a MR 11 lamp is placed in a fashion that allows one to aim each of the two beams separately. The Fireball Team consists of a 20 watt Welsh Allyn metal lamp and a 12 watt halogen lamp (both in MR11 reflectors) powered by a 57 watt hour 14.4 volt NiMH battery. The battery is charged by a smart charger that uses fuel gauge info, temperature info, AND voltage sensing info to allow relatively fast (I'm not sure HOW fast) charging, then "set and forget" via switching over to a tiny trickle charge. The fuel gauge is located in the battery container, so that multiple batteries (of the sort provided by Specialized only) are well supported (as is not the case with NiteRider's fuel gauge, located external to the battery). Specialized rates the run time of the halide lamp alone at 3 hours and 15 minutes. The ballast used for the halide lamp is not regulated, nor does it support rapid startup (I presume that startup takes about 10 to 15 seconds, as is the case for the old CatEye Stadium lamp, and as I believe will be the case for the new edition of the CatEye Stadium lamp). However, I'm told that they've built in a feature whereby the 12 watt halogen comes on when you start up the plasma arc halide lamp, and it stays on until the plasma arc lamp attains sufficient brightness, then automatically goes off. The Fireball Team also features a WIRELESS switch control, for easier mounting of the lighting control convenient to one's fingertips. They use their own PWM regulator to allow running the 12 volt 12 watt MR11 halogen bulb off the 14.4 volt battery pack, AND have an optional low power mode where the 12 watt bulb is run at 6 watts of power. I personally don't think much of running a halogen bulb at half power by dropping voltage, for this causes efficiency to go to hell. I'd have preferred to see them use an 8.5 watt bulb as the secondary bulb. Or even a 6 watt 6 volt bulb. I'd consider the 6 watt mode an EMERGENCY ONLY mode, to be used infrequently when you need to nurse a nearly failing battery along to get you home. If you find yourself using the 6 watt mode a lot, I'd urge users of this system to add an additional 6 watt lighting head (powered via a Willie PWM) to the system, for more efficient use of the power. This is pretty much my one significant criticism of what otherwise seems (based on description and pictures... I've yet to see or test it myself) an extremely well designed lighting system. Retail price is to be about $500. I am (based on descriptions, I remind you... not bench or field tests!) very impressed, overall. The battery charging system sounds like it's one of the two best implemented and most appropriate in the industry (I also like Night Sun's charger on their Tri Light). The next step down in the Fireball series is the "Comp" edition. This has all of the sophisticated NiMH battery and charger and fuel gauge technology of the "Team", but instead of a gas plasma metal halide lamp it has a 20 watt incandescent halogen MR11 lamp. It also features the wireless light control, and like the Team it utilizes a PWM to regulate voltage to the bulbs, and allows running the 12 watt bulb at 6 watts in what I would consider an "emergency only" low power mode. Their economy version of the system has a 12 and a 6 watt halogen MR 11 beam lamp system, with NiCd battery, and no wireless switch. This is their "Sport" model. Specialized is also taking on the famous CatEye HL500 Micro 2 with their new "SparkPlug" lamp. This product is very similar to the HL500 Micro 2 in many respects: Same 2.4 watt tiny halogen bulb, powered by 4 AA batteries, and a very similar overall looking case. Like the HL500 2 micro it utilizes advanced optics... combination of reflector and lenticular lens... to shape the beam. Specialized can boast that their product is slightly smaller, and that its beam pattern is "German Standards Compliant", which some have alleged means more light on on the ground and less light wasted "in the trees". Since I've yet to see this product, and do the obvious side by side bench and field comparison test to its main competition, the CatEye HL500 Micro 2, I can't say more at present. Specialized is also introducing a single high output LED flasher, which seems from the picture in the catalog to be relatively similar to the KnightLight single LED flasher from England that I tested a while ago, and with which I was so very impressed. When I learn more about these products, I'll share with BikeCurrent and HPV what I come up with. I believe the cycling community can only benefit from what appears to be quite significant competition in a number of bicycle lighting categories between Specialized and CatEye. ---marty