CycleBeam(TM 1200 Lumen Dual LED Bike Light with Remote Control, Long vs. Short Beams | Tycho 1200

In general:Aside from having no charging instructions in the box, I think it's the best bike light there is. Some may not like that the two buttons (one for high beam, and one for low beam) on the remote operate differently, but I love that because it insures that you cannot easily turn off both beams at once while riding. I love being able to run with the low beam on, then momentarily do flash-mode with the high beam with a double click, and then a single click to turn it back off, and no risk of turning off the low beam since you'd have to hold that button, the other one, down for about three seconds to do that. I think this is a deliberate design feature for safety reasons.CONS:It did however suddenly shut itself off and stop working twice now, I think possibly due to static electricity from my fingers maybe zapping it a little when I touched it. Both times it happened was on the first day I used it, but never again. To cure the problem, just unplug the battery, plug it back in, and it will work perfect again. This has not happened after those two times, and I've used it a lot since with no problems.Battery life & charging :I love it !!! To get a full charge, keep it on the charger after the flashing green light turns to solid green, and then for at least two or three hours more. I've verified with a volt meter that it continues to charge during the solid green until the battery voltage reaches about 8.35. At the moment the flashing green changes to solid green the battery will show only 7.9 or 8.0 volts. When the charger is flashing blue, the battery is really low and it should change to flashing green after an hour or two, then spend a few hours flashing green, then it'll go to solid green and after about three more hours it's topped out at 8.35 Volts. On high beam, the battery will last a over two and a half hours, and on low beam at a low setting, it will run for several hours, like five or six, easy. This battery is also the protected type. When it's low enough, it will shut itself off and show zero volts at the plug until it's charged at least until the charger light goes to flashing green. Only then will it turn back on and show 7 volts or so on the plug, and then you can make it turn the light back on again - but not for long. The battery LED's show three green lights at a full charge, which eventually drops to one solid green light, and finally, one flashing green light. At that point (flashing) you still have over a half hour on the lowest intensity before the battery shuts off. But personally, I suggest charging as soon as it goes to one solid green light and not wait for it to flash, even though the low(est) beam will run for another hour and a half on one green light before starts flashing. That draws the battery down so low I doubt it's good for it.Performance :I love this light because it has a little processor inside that adjusts the LED current as battery voltage goes down, so that brightness stays EXACTLY the same on every different setting, right up until it dies - and the battery indicator LED's on the back give you lots of warning about battery condition before it dies on you. The high beam is aimed higher than the low one of course, and I like being able to use the remote to switch from high to low as I please. The high beam has two brightness settings. Hit the bright button once, and it comes on at the brightest. One more click, and it dims a little. One more click, and it goes off. A double click, and if it was off, it flashes the high beam rapidly, and once more click turns it back off. ( I use this when approaching intersections in the daytime. ) If it was already turned on when you double clicked it, then a single click sets it back to constant-on in whichever brightness setting you had it set on. The dim button works different. Hold it down for two or three seconds, and it will come back on AT WHATEVER BRIGHTNESS SETTING you had it set on when you last turned it off. Continued single clicks after that will cycle it through three intensity settings for the low beam LED, but single clicks will not turn it off, like the high beam will do. The low beam back won't turn back off until you hold it down for two seconds. The low beam also goes into a rapid flash mode when you double click it, and a single click returns it to whatever brightness setting it was already on. Any combination of high and low beam settings can be used at once, and the battery has no trouble running both beams on high together for at least an hour and a half or so. ( I've been testing.) I've also done a heat test by leaving both beams on the brightest setting for a long time to see how hot it would get, and it wasn't all that bad. If you grab it with some finger pressure while it's about as hot as it ever gets, you'll surely let go within a half a second or so, but NOT with burned skin. This thing isn't a safety hazard in my opinion. You won't burn yourself with it by accident with it.Oh yeah, this thing is REALLY bright too. But it's also quite tame on the lowest setting of the low beam, and can be very pedestrian friendly when you want it to be.One real gripe :I wish they'd built in some LED's to indicate which beam is on, and on what intensity level. During twilight hours you may no be able to tell which one is on, or how bright, like you can when it's really dark. As it is now, the battery indicator lights come on whenever a beam is on, and you can see that even in the daytime, but battery condition is all you get. Sometimes (only at dusk) I have to put my hand in front of it to see if both beams are on together by accident, since I don't usually run them both at once.

This light is trying hard and has some good qualities but it is not good enough to justify the price. It has some strange quirks that tell me the CycleBeam team rushed this product out the door without really testing it yet. I'll report my initial observations below. Since I just got it, I can't comment on longevity, however, based on initial impressions the light does feel to be well made using high quality materials.Turning the light on:The light has two power buttons one for each LED. That's great, you would expect that. But, you wouldn't expect in order to turn the flood light on/off you have to press and hold the button for a few seconds, but to turn on the Spot light, you just quick press it's button, it will then cycle to low and then off with each press, where as the flood light will cycle through H/M/L. Also the Spot light has two power levels while the Flood light has three. This isn't a show stopper, but it is annoying when you have to stop and think each time you want to turn the light on which logic you have to use to do it.To charge the battery:Officially, I don't know how to charge the battery. The owners manual tells you to go to the web page to download the latest manual, and the web page tells you it's manual page is down for maintenance. I noticed that the light comes with a handy USB adapter that has both a USB A and Micro B jacks. I took a chance and plugged the battery into the adapter and the adapter into a USB port. A green light started blinking so I assume the battery is now charging. Depending on what your USB source is, this could limit your charge current to 500ma at 5v (2.5w). That would put the charge time in the neighborhood of 14 hours if the battery was fully depleted. That's a long time if you are planning on using this as a daily commuter light. Also, if you lost the USB adapter, you can no longer charge it.Performance:The two beams definitely have a different pattern (spot/flood) so they met their claim there. At close range the spot light is aimed a bit higher than the flood which is good. Out on the road the beam is wide enough to illuminate the road without much for the sides of the road. It throws light far enough ahead that it would work fine for a road bike going down hill. I would imagine, but didn't test, that this light would be less blinding to on coming traffic on the road with this beam. I think I would want a little more side illumination if this was a primary light for mountain biking. An additional helmet light would be a must for the trails.Power:The light draws 1.7 amps with both beams on full power. This should last a solid two hours with the provided battery pack. As for output I would estimate this light is reasonably close to the claimed 1200 lumens. It is just bit dimmer than my Gemini DUO which claims 1500 lumens.Battery pack:It is well built and coated in a protective rubber. I wouldn't call it waterproof but I bet it will handle the rain just fine. The pouch that straps it to your bike is also very sturdy and comes with two velcro strips to attach it. The power cable has a thread locking cap to keep you connected while riding. I would expect no issues with the cable coming undone on even the roughest trail.Remote:The remote is pretty big, and comes with large spread out buttons. This is probably so you could still operate it with some pretty thick gloves on. Unfortunately, this also means you can't reach all of the buttons with your thumb, unless you take your hands off the bar. That seems to defeat the purpose. Also the remote is only attached to the bars at one end, the other end just kinda flops around. This is probably ok on a road bike, but would be useless on the trails. Some additional zip ties or electrical tape is a must.Conclusion:Overall this isn't a bad light, it just has too many quirks for the price. If this was a $50 light, then I would be very happy with it. but for the current price of $80 I expected a bit more of a polished product that included it's own charger.