Finally went out for the first time last night with my new P7 torch, a fenix and a hope vision 1.
Used the fenix on the way up – pretty good, turned on the whole lot at the top of spooky wood – unbelievable, the P7 is amazing and p*sses on the hope which was sh*t and kept turning itself off (on a fully charged set of batteries) and will be going back to wiggle today.
Another guy was out with some hope 4’s and the P7 destroyed it, I now have no idea why anybody would buy a £500 set of lights when one P7 on your bars and one on your lid would do for anything. The fenix is really good too but not quite as good as the P7.

Why do so many Glentress riders think they need more light to ride spooky woods than they had driving there? it’s a piss easy bit of pedally motorway, any half decent helmet mounted light is all you need.

Yep, the P7 is amazing – I know I didn’t believe it was ‘really’ possible to be that good, so cheap, until I bought one though.

Bunch of my m8’s are flogging their ‘proper’ bike lights on ebay and buying P7’s instead.

for those still living in the dark ages: http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/mountain_bike_lights_review_led.html

Yep, mines been a revelation. Contrary to reports I haven’t needed to change the battery once either. Im using a Hope HID on my helmet and a 2 stage P7 on the bars. I switch the P7 onto low setting for climbing/bimbling along and whack it on full power for downhills and or anything technical. It was fine after 3 hours on tuesday night, still plenty bright in the high setting.

“GW – Member

Why do so many Glentress riders think they need more light to ride spooky woods than they had driving there? it’s a piss easy bit of pedally motorway, any half decent helmet mounted light is all you need.”

Come on GW pull up a seat lets talk through your agression, dont tell me….. you only ride natural trails on a singlespeed with a davy lamp fixed on your climbing helmet do you? 😉

😆

Nice write up of mtb-britain

aren’t you better off with the p7 c-bin version now though?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623

why is the c-bin better, Im thinking of ordering another and will get one of those if they are?

I thought it was accepted that the c-bin was the older less bright technology?

Is it?

I am only just reading up about it now, and a search on the candle power forums doesn’t seem to clarify it much.

No hang on, I think you’re right just had a look back through some P7 threads.

This is the one I’ve got which seems to be the popular choice and uses a c-bin http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12325
think its a bit smaller that the one you linked to?

I was saying this back in Nov when I got mine.
Hope my rantings helped switch a few people on to this cheap source of decent lights.
I believe all of the P7’s a re currently ‘C’ bin LED’s, & that the ‘D’ bins are not yet available.

Took my P7 (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623) out last night for the first time and it really is great. I was using a Fenix L2D on my helmet before but it’s now redundant!
A friend has made an excellent custom helmet light using 3 x Cree Q5 leds and a Lithium polymer model battery. We did a comparison and he thought that although both output about the same brightness the P7 had a much better pool of light.

I’m very happy with it.

cracking little lights 🙂

is anyone offering a ‘bottle battery’ kit for it yet?

just ordered a 2mode as a head light. I was umming and ah-ing, but some strongbow gave me pikey courage and I went for it….

DrP

2 mode p7 😀

Are these lights ok as a helmet light or are they a bit floody? Got some Airbike lights but I need something with a better spot I think.

SF

It’s the same light as inside the Airbike unit (I know, I have both). Great bit of kit the P7 torch for very little money, but for something solely for your head when you’ve already got an Airbike Light on your bars, get a Cree R2 torch, such as this, or a pair of these perhaps instead. The R2 is the same as Hope use in their Vision 4 light (only 4 of them), they’re great as a Spot and they penetrate a VERY long way, though are quite a tight beam compared to a P7. The Q5 is similar, only about 5% less bright, but the Q5 torch I have linked to is tiny and weighs so little, you could run 2 happily on your lid and it would still be lighter than a P7!

Damn – so many choices now on these lights. Do I do for something very small and cheap or a bit bigger and more powerful ????????

@ there prices do all the options, it’ll still work out cheaper than eventhe most basic bike specific system.

z1ppy – well I already have an old Lumi system that I have rebuilt into a LED system for the bars so just looking for something to go on the head now !

Rob,
Where did you get that bracket from for the P7? I have mary bars like you.

Steelfan, looks like this one

I use this one

Biffer – Member

z1ppy – well I already have an old Lumi system that I have rebuilt into a LED system for the bars so just looking for something to go on the head now !

If I were you, I’d mount the Lumi/Led system you’ve made on your lid, and buy a P7 torch and mount it on the bars. This would in my opinion be a practically unbeatable combination. Nice flood on the bars, a more spotty system on your head, superb!

Can you use two AA batteries or does it have to be 18650 (not certain what they are?)

Has to use an 18650

MUCH better option IMO anyway. Better technology, more power and runtime for its weight (You’d need 3 AA’s for the same voltage and capacity, which would weigh about 100g, an 18650 weighs 50g).

18650 cells should definitely be viewed as an advantage over AA’s anyway.

my “Keep it simple” bar mount:

picked up the bar mount during the CRC flood sale, three tie wraps and job done, it works a treat! 🙂

has to be 18650 – they’re pretty much an extended CR2 cell. They do have a history of being explosive though!

AA’s won’t work unless you wire up some sort of holder that wires them in parallel and gives a 3.5V supply (or whatever it is).

So, 3 1.2V AA’s wired in parallel would do it, but you’d need to modify the torch itself.

And they’re plenty bright.

So, 3 1.2V AA’s wired in parallel would do it, but you’d need to modify the torch itself.

Eh?

You mean in SERIES pk ripper. Parallel would just give you 1.2V but with 3 times the capacity.

MrNutt, what bar clamp is that?

Looks effective if not a touch basic at least!

see, my engineering degree was worth it! I meant series. Probably.

something like this:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=30162

would probably do the trick?

WHY make your own mount, when you can get a simple and perfectly usable one from DX for $1.90????????????????????

cheap mount

Ive been using and selling these for years and the only issue is that if you have oversize bars, then you have to use a zip-tie because the bolts too short.

well I bought two mounts drom DX, neither were the one that you’ve shown and they were both made of cheese! I bought the mount that I’ve used for £1.00 inc P&P in the CRC flood sale, it does the job!

thats WHY 😛

My stepbrother asks me earlier “have you got a decent torch I can borrow, mine is crap” as he was trying to fix something in the shed in the dark.

Gave him my P7 torch to use.

Gives it me back later saying “christ, that thing is ridiculous, where the hell did you get it from?”

😆

My dummy cell should be available soon to fit the P7, only requiring a cable and for you to drill a hole in the side of your torch.

Cheers, Rich

Turboferret