Lidl cycling/other & Camping gear stuff

[Pastychomper]

I'm glad the info was of use. Sweep, the short answer is no, there's no easy way to tell what mode it's in.

From a quick test involving the kitchen light, the auto mode fades between levels over a second or two so I doubt you'd notice the change if you were busy watching the road. Squeaker, it gets brighter as the ambient light dims, which is what I'd generally choose in the sticks. It doesn't switch it off altogether.

I have a torch with a one-button control and found I quickly got used to counting through its 3 modes, so in practise this one will probably be a minor annoyance. Turning the brightness up in manual mode means clicking through "off," which would reset the mental count, but the general rule is either remember the setting or press it and see. Maybe not something to start when approaching an awkward bend.

I agree the packaging was no help. I've found in the past that Lidl staff were happy for me to open boxes to check manuals, but even that's not an option with these thoroughly-sealed plastic packs.

[mercalia]

so the auto mode the default one when you switch it on? that would make sense? any way Lidl have no one but them selves to blame as it dont say auto/manual on the pack but just auto?

" a pair of NiMH AAs would give the same Wh while being easily replaceable" well not tru I think their battery version that used 4 AA's ( I used their 2400mah rechargeables ) gave the same runs times as the lithium light

I have no problems with the switch they seems quite solid to me, certainly my battey version that has the same button still going strong.

[Sweep]

Thanks for the extra info pasty.

I think I'll get one.

I thoroughly hate the idea of anything automatic in such a thing so I think my plan would be to "spike"/tape over the sensor. This I assume will turn the auto mode into another full power mode. My mind will be able to handle that far better. Of course it should have had a separate switch to put auto on and off but that would be hoping for too much.

Thanks again.

[james01]

I agree about silly unwanted auto functions, luckily this one goes to manual mode by simply pressing the button twice.
First impressions of this 50 lux light compared with their 40 lux which I bought a couple of years ago are that it is noticeably a bit brighter, nearly as good as my Cyo dynamo lamp. The rear lamp is now rechargeable instead of 2 AAAs and is remarkably lightweight - shame it doesn't have a flash mode. For the money this is an excellent lighting outfit.
I'm hoping they've improved water resistance, the old model suffered from heavy rain ingress on both front and rear lamps. And is it just me , or do the plastic fittings and brackets have a slightly cheap and nasty feel compared with the previous model?

[mercalia]

I agree about silly unwanted auto functions, luckily this one goes to manual mode by simply pressing the button twice.
First impressions of this 50 lux light compared with their 40 lux which I bought a couple of years ago are that it is noticeably a bit brighter, nearly as good as my Cyo dynamo lamp. The rear lamp is now rechargeable instead of 2 AAAs and is remarkably lightweight - shame it doesn't have a flash mode. For the money this is an excellent lighting outfit.
I'm hoping they've improved water resistance, the old model suffered from heavy rain ingress on both front and rear lamps. And is it just me , or do the plastic fittings and brackets have a slightly cheap and nasty feel compared with the previous model?

since you have been using them for some time how has the battery held up over rechargeing? as we all know they lose capacity over time and recharging. its a shame they didnt increase the mah of the battery, as the increase from 40 to 50 must mean less time?

[james01]

[quotesince you have been using them for some time how has the battery held up over rechargeing? as we all know they lose capacity over time and recharging. its a shame they didnt increase the mah of the battery, as the increase from 40 to 50 must mean less time?[/quote]

I'm mostly a dynamo user so don't use these rechargeables much, but I've not noticed any capacity loss yet. In case of an extended night ride I've tested it with a mobile phone battery pack from a pound shop which gave 2 hours extra on full power and still running.

[squeaker]

its a shame they didnt increase the mah of the battery, as the increase from 40 to 50 must mean less time?

Or a more efficient led has been used?

[Sweep]

Thanks to pasty and james for the extra info.

Picked one up.

A bit of exploration and very pleased.

For the benefit of others:

The auto function isn't a problem as it is the mode which comes on on the first press and is indicated by a green light. After that it is a simple step through manual high, medium, low, off, back to auto.

Re the mount, the front, as with the last battery one is pretty damn close to the mount used by the Smart Lunar battery range, as in here:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/smart-lunar-25- ... 7996704302

which is handy as I have several of those. Available in various powers, all of course come with a mount, and the .lower power ones in particular can often be picked up cheap. They also have a flash mode and so are good in town, the Lidl then available to snap on the same mount* if you hit the lanes. I also picked up a light similar to the smart Lunar in TK Maxx recently, branded Duracell. Cost £7. The front end is maybe inferior to a smart but I bought it for the rear end which holds the 2xAAs as one of my Smart ones had broken. That mount too is compatible. *.

* above - the fit for the Lidl light on the Smart mount is a bit tight, but it does work, including the "lock-on" function.

So all in all, although I haven't ride tested it yet the front seems very good, After my experience with the last Lidl battery front I habve have every faith in German beam patterns. have plenty of mounts to fit on various bikes/for spares and am quietly confident of being able to source new spares if I need them.

The rear light doesn't use the same mount as the last battery rear, but, wonder of wonders, I have discovered that it will slot into the standard cateye rear light mount as used in the rack mount, this:

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cateye-Rear-Ra ... gJX0fD_BwE

and the clothing clip mount which can be used on bags but which I use on my seatpack:

https://www.evanscycles.com/cateye-c-1- ... gIdNvD_BwE

Very handy. I may even leave this Lidl rear clipped to my rear rack when parked in town, at least in the dry. It is very small and light and would be a bit of a fiddle for someone to remove. And if they did I could live with it. Or I may leave it permanently on my seatpack, apart from when charging it of course.

So, all in all - well pleased.

With my Anker powerbank and my £1.80 Ikea USB to AA battery charger, plus these lights which can be charged up in the tent from a powerbank if need be, I have virtually decided to give up the complications of powering up powerbanks and lights from a dynamo on tour.

Thanks again folks. Modern cycling can be so simple, and cheap, if you don't weaken under the marketing onslaught

PS - anyone who has/gets one, pay attention to the small print in the instructions about charging the batteries for the first time.

[mercalia]

The beam pattern is very similar to the battery one Sweep, maybe a bit better defined.

re the new rear light does it have a prism beam splitter that splits the led beam left and right as did the previous battery one - why I think it is a nice rear light, bright as well

what i did notice the rear light runs for 5-6 hrs while the front 9+ in low mode. They should have used batteries that gave the same performance?

"PS - anyone who has/gets one, pay attention to the small print in the instructions about charging the batteries for the first time."

whats the gist of that?

[David9694]

I tried the Crivit floor pump; the Presta chuck snapped and fell apart in my hand (honest guv). There’s a 4 page user guide with a service address so I’ll see if hey’ll send a replacement chuck.
The intensive cleaning stuff worked well. Pleased to see the workstand I bought a couple of years ago still there - it’s not light but i’m Pleased with mine.

[Sweep]

re the new rear light does it have a prism beam splitter that splits the led beam left and right as did the previous battery one - why I think it is a nice rear light, bright as well

"PS - anyone who has/gets one, pay attention to the small print in the instructions about charging the batteries for the first time."

whats the gist of that?

Don't know about beam splitting, not sure I understand, never noticed.

Agree that the old rear is a surprisingly nice light, though I wouldn't trust it in much rain.

The fine print on the new one on battery charging is to do with giving the batteries an extra long first charge, disregarding the normal indication that they are fully charged. Standard advice for these sorts of batteries I think.

[mercalia]

well if you look at the battery rear lamp it dont just beam the light backwards but also to ether side at the same brightness - if there wasnt some kind of prism (or multiple leds) that wouldnt happen as leds are more or less directional? you can actually see it in the red cover in the middle, an indent,feels like an arrow head or wedge, simlple but clever? if you want water proofness you could always wrap some cling film around it?

[squeaker]

Squeaker, it gets brighter as the ambient light dims, which is what I'd generally choose in the sticks. It doesn't switch it off altogether.

Hmmm, just wondering if you could use it as an auto-dimming main beam (if you stuck a simple forward facing prism on the light sensor)... Some experimentation called for

[Sweep]

Re a question I may have been asked by mercalia privately about the possibility of taking the new front USB light apart so that the rechargeable battery could be replaced, I did have a brief tinker over the weekend.

It does actually have two screws on the bottom which seemed to suggest that it would come apart (though I would have expected more than 2 if there were any) but on loosening them I could see no signs of the body starting to come apart so I did them up again. Perhaps they are "fakes" to give an impression of quality or something to do with internal power contacts.

I suspect that like most stuff these days they are "snapped" together, though I know that you can get plastic leverage thinks to gently non destructively get into some "snap-together" stuff.

[mercalia]

I see its camping gear from Sunday 8th

some nice picnic rugs - I bought some thing similar from Ebay to use in my tent and an interesting 5000mah power bank with built in solar charger - what do people think of that? and some camping mats with back rest

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/Non-Food-Offers.htm?id=592&week=2