Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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geomannie
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Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by geomannie »

Has anyone tried the Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light from Planet X? The spec looks good for the price, with the possible exception of of limited battery life on full power.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIJOHUBB/ ... -600-front

Thanks
geomannie
pwa
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by pwa »

Sounds like a tiny battery for a high powered lamp.
AndyK
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by AndyK »

pwa wrote:Sounds like a tiny battery for a high powered lamp.

It's the same battery and similar spec to my old Lezyne light, so it should be OK. I used to get up to 3 hours through judicious switching between low-beam and high-beam depending on conditions. And the advantage of using a 18650 battery is that you can easily carry a spare for longer journeys - and buy a new one fairly cheaply when the old battery gets towards the end of its life.

Having said that, the design of that Jobsworth looks a bit crude: it just blats all the power out in a big circle, with little attempt to shape the beam. I'd look at investing a little bit more.
rmurphy195
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by rmurphy195 »

Looks like just a torch with a rubber band to hold it onto the handlebars. I have a couple of these for emergencies, were much cheaper and have a much more rbust clamphttps://www.7dayshop.com/products/7dayshop-front-bike-cycle-light-and-hand-torch-high-power-3w-led-with-3-modes-and-bike-mount-blue-ring-wh2-7ds-ml-214blue
Brompton, Condor Heritage, creaky joints and thinning white (formerly grey) hair
""You know you're getting old when it's easier to ride a bike than to get on and off it" - quote from observant jogger !
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Sweep
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by Sweep »

If you can hold on I'd wait for the next Lidl bike thingy - their last 3 front lights have been very good - last two USB powered, one before that 4 AAs. They get me through a nightride. £12 or so, and a "free" back light.

The last 3 front's also use a very common mount, as used by Smart's Lunar lights and several others.
Sweep
thelawnet
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by thelawnet »

I'd rather assemble my own, have a look at https://18650.uk/ for (protected) 18650 cells (around £5/each for ones that won't blow up your house like Amazon/Ebay jobs) & charger (USB chargers are an option, around £10), and then Convoy S2+ (around £11-£12) or something like that with a bike mount.
thelawnet
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by thelawnet »

rmurphy195 wrote:Looks like just a torch with a rubber band to hold it onto the handlebars. I have a couple of these for emergencies, were much cheaper and have a much more rbust clamphttps://www.7dayshop.com/products/7dayshop-front-bike-cycle-light-and-hand-torch-high-power-3w-led-with-3-modes-and-bike-mount-blue-ring-wh2-7ds-ml-214blue


AA/AAA batteries aren't ideal really, the voltage drop is dreadful, 18650 (or other lithium sizes) is the way forward.
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Sweep
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by Sweep »

thelawnet wrote:
AA/AAA batteries aren't ideal really, the voltage drop is dreadful, 18650 (or other lithium sizes) is the way forward.


Well I usually ride with two fronts - but one usually off - if the batteries drop off on one (and they usually won't on a serious long or night ride as I will have precharged) I just switch the other on. Or clip a replacement cheap small but effective AA powered light onto the very same mount - fast. In extremis I may have to change some batteries but this is very rare. When the batteries eventually wear out, no need to send the light to landfill.
Sweep
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squeaker
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by squeaker »

Sweep wrote:If you can hold on I'd wait for the next Lidl bike thingy....

The last 3 front's also use a very common mount, as used by Smart's Lunar lights and several others.
Including B&M :)
"42"
thelawnet
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by thelawnet »

Sweep wrote:
thelawnet wrote:
AA/AAA batteries aren't ideal really, the voltage drop is dreadful, 18650 (or other lithium sizes) is the way forward.


Well I usually ride with two fronts - but one usually off - if the batteries drop off on one (and they usually won't on a serious long or night ride as I will have precharged) I just switch the other on. Or clip a replacement cheap small but effective AA powered light onto the very same mount - fast. In extremis I may have to change some batteries but this is very rare. When the batteries eventually wear out, no need to send the light to landfill.


Well the problem with the light I linked to is that it uses 3x1.2v 0.75 Ah (typical), as opposed to a single 18650 lithium cell which would be 3.6v and 2.8 Ah. That's 3.3x the battery life. NiMh compares very poorly to Lithium Ion, and alkaline is completely unsuitable for high drain applications.

Just for comparison, per cell:

AAA NiMh low self-drain 15g ~ 0.9Wh
AA NiMh low self-drain 30g ~2.3Wh
18650 Li 45g - ~10.8Wh

A few commodity, high-quality (branded, non-fake) 18650s and a light that accepts them directly will give you all-night lighting at a fraction of the bling systems costing £1000.
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Sweep
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by Sweep »

feel free to post links lawnet - may be interested.

You know folks who spend £1,000 on a front bike light?
Sweep
thelawnet
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Re: Jobsworth Hubble 600 Front light

Post by thelawnet »

Sweep wrote:feel free to post links lawnet - may be interested.

You know folks who spend £1,000 on a front bike light?


I don't, but they appear in the usual places

https://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/lights/lupine-betty-r14

In terms of generic lights basically you can check on 'flashlight' forums and there are people discussing 18650 torches for bikes.

There are different schools of thought, namely cheaper and more replaceable in the case of loss etc, or more expensive/better quality.

Also you can get bike-specific lights, which may have mount etc. and may have better beam profile.

Something like this is a bike-specific and takes commodity batteries and is not a cheapo exactly

https://www.fenixlighting.com/product/b ... ike-light/

This is much cheaper and is quite well-designed for a cheapo.

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/produc ... 09086.html

And you need to choose your colour and number of cells. I think there is some sort of warning that more cells means more heat so might not be a good idea to use it injusdiciously or for more than a few seconds if you have the high-power version (it's not designed to be idiot proof).

Any light that uses a proprietary battery is a bit of a scam, because nobody makes their own batteries (even laptop manufacturers use commodity cells linked together), it should be 18650 or nothing really.
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