Winter is upon us. The days are short, the nights are dark and the year-round cyclist's thoughts turn to lighting. For the last couple of weeks, I've been using the Schmidt Edelux LED front light. I'm a bit of a lighting geek and I reckon tried just about everything but this light has me mightily impressed. The Edelux is a worthy successor my E6 halogen light which was for many riders for many years the gold standard in dynohub lighting.
I love dynohub lighting, no batteries to think about, it's simple and efficient, just switch it on. The drawbacks with the old E6 light were its tightly focussed beam pattern, the lack of a standlight and the need to change bulbs every hundred hours of use or so. I always seemed to burn out a bulb on a dark road on a rainy night in the middle of winter. So the Edelux, which addresses all of these problems, comes as a welcome development.
I first used the new light during the Oppy. Many of the others in the team were using Ayup lights, which have become something of a fad in Audax circles of late. Although everyone was raving about their Ayups, I reckon the Edelux was every bit their equal, minus the need to carry spare batteries.
The test of a good light is that you don't notice it, in the sense that it doesn't detract from your ride and that was how the long night of the Oppy went for me - there were plenty of other things to concern me! The beam on the Edelux is a lot wider than the E6, lighting up a good portion of the road. The standlight is a great addition, and runs for ages even after only a few wheel revolutions. The light is small and stylish. And I never have to worry about burned out bulbs again. Those few cyclists who use dynamo lights have waited a while for the lights to catch up with the LED battery lights, but the wait has been well worth it.
(If you found this post useful, you may also enjoy my more recent posts on the Son Delux hub and the Busch and Muller Seculite Plus Rear Light.)
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8 comments:
That light could be just what I've been looking for (I've been using the E6 for a few years, although most of my bulbs seem to last well over 100 hours unless I smash them somehow). Do you know where they're available?
I love this light and recommend it highly. I've just bought a rear light to go with it. The E6 is still a good light in my opinion - I still use it on my winter bike. But not having to worry about spare bulbs is a huge plus.
My only criticism would be a bit of light leakage to the sides caused by the shape of the reflector, which can be a bit distracting from time to time, but nothing is perfect.
Sorry, not sure where they're available. They're the sort of thing Abbotsford Cycle in Melbourne might have, or St Kilda Cycles.
Thanks Dave. I broke my "spare" E6 last November, I may just grab an Edelux to replace it.
I have since purchased the Edelux to be used with my Son dynamo hub. Problem is the light never seems to switch off despite whichever setting I have it on 1, S or 0. What may be going wrong here????
Very interesting - mine has the same problem too. I do not know what is causing the problem, but I leave my lights on all the time anyway.
There is nothing wrong with the light. There is a capictor in there that stores energy for your stops, regardless of the switch settings.
No, the standlight runs the light for a few minutes after the bike stops moving. The problem we are talking about is that the light won't switch of when the bike is moving, regardless of which position the switch is in. The light has three positions, on, auto and off. Apparently it's a fairly common problem. The cause and solution are a matter of debate.
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