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HawksTech CREE XML 3x T6 LED 4200Lm Cycle light

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Morning,

I've just ordered one of these 3 LED bicycle lights after seeing some great reviews and youtube video of the light in action .

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HawksTech-4200Lm-Bicycle-Headlamp-Charger/dp/B00HQX...

This will be my first foray into decent output bicycle lights.

Does anyone else have one and care to comment on them.
If the build quality is good I can't believe the price Sub £20 quid.

M

 Bob 22 Jan 2015
In reply to MGC:

No experience of that model but Cree are one of the main LED manufacturers and their units are used by many other manufacturers - Hope for example state that the LED units are Cree. The main thing with the cheaper units seems to be the batteries and charger, some people have definite problems with them (where "problems" include spontaneous combustion whilst charging!), I wouldn't leave them charging unattended for example. Other than that, for £20 you can't go wrong.
 jethro kiernan 22 Jan 2015
In reply to MGC:

Had a single cree unit, from amazon and Its done 2 years winter duty and no problems, I dont leave it charging unattended though as I have heard the stories
 gethin_allen 22 Jan 2015
In reply to MGC:

Exactly as above, I have a vaguely similar looking unit. The only things that are a bit rubbish are the fixing bracket and it could do with a lower power setting because even on low it is really very bright and I'd prefer to have the option on lower light to extend battery life.
 wilkesley 23 Jan 2015
In reply to MGC:

This looks identical to the one I bought from eBay. Mine is excellent. I tend to use it on one of the lower power modes for cycling. The high power mode is great for looking for animals in the fields when it's dark. The lamp doesn't get too hot even when run in full power mode. As has already been mentioned keep an eye on the battery when re-charging. I have had no problems with mine, but Chinese battery re-chargers can be dodgy.
In reply to MGC:

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Looking forward to mine arriving next week.

M
 nutme 23 Jan 2015
In reply to MGC:

Most of the times they will lie about the batteries capacity and Lm output.
LEDs used in this unit are:
http://www.cree.com/LED-Components-and-Modules/Products/XLamp/Discrete-Dire...

Maximum output is 1040 lm @ 10 W per one LED. 3 of those will output 3120 lm and consume 30 W. It's can't be as advertised 4200 lm. But 3120 lm is very unlikely as well. For few reasons. First of all those LEDs get very hot operating at full power. Given where are 3 of them you could boil water with all the heat radiated by them.
Another problem is to source 3.1 V at 9 A. That's quite a lot of power. If they are not lying and power bank is 8.4v 6400mAh. That would mean that it would work for 2 hours before fully depleting battery. However stabilization in cheap flashlights is very bad and sometimes it will lose 25% on it.

Those sellers understand that numbers they are providing is very difficult to test and proof them wrong at home unless you are engineer in electronics or remember physics lessons from school.

As for the battery it's a bit easier to test. Many modern chargers will show how much power they have put in to the cells. But even without equipment it's obvious that 8.4V 6400mAh Li-ion pack is 4 cells 18650 with two pairs connected in parallel. That means cells used must be 3200 mAh 18650. One cell like that in China cost around £3.50 at the moment if buying in bulk. So either seller is loosing money selling this set or lying.

...

Even said that it's an absolute bargain for money. I would just recommend to look after o-rings and make sure they don't leak and it will last.
In reply to wilkesley:

Morning ,

I took delivery of my new light yesterday.
The build quality looks very good - no issues at all with construction . It's also a little smaller than I imagined.
The light itself is devastatingly bright, I reckon I'll have to run this in low power mode too as it one of the brightest lights I've ever seen.

Recommended for anyone wanting a sub £20 high output light.



M
 wbo 29 Jan 2015
In reply to MGC: Dang, I paid £60 for something that looks very similar. But even for that I am very happy with mine.

In reply to MGC:

News flash !

These lights have now dropped in price.

£14.50 + £2.99 shipping = 17.49 total

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HawksTech-4200Lm-Bicycle-Headlamp-Charger/dp/B00HQX...

:-D

M

 John Kelly 01 Feb 2015
In reply to MGC:

aarg - i paid nearly £19 with postage - tried it out yesterday, happy
also ran to failure on low power 3.5 hrs in house,
In reply to John Kelly:

> aarg - i paid nearly £19 with postage - tried it out yesterday, happy

> also ran to failure on low power 3.5 hrs in house,

Right I was expecting that sort of burn time on low.

Brilliant light though eh ?

M
 ChrisJD 01 Feb 2015
In reply to MGC:

Just be careful with the battery pack - there have been many instances of packs at the cheaper end of the light market catching fire during and after charging.
 John Kelly 01 Feb 2015
In reply to MGC:

great lamp

I won't be setting off with it as my only source of light but the intensity is amazing - my normal fair is petzl xp which now looks very mean (trust it implicitly though)
In reply to John Kelly:

> great lamp

> I won't be setting off with it as my only source of light but the intensity is amazing - my normal fair is petzl xp which now looks very mean (trust it implicitly though)

I also wont be relying on it as my only source of light.
I always carry a Alpkit Manta head torch as well, looks very weak in comparison.

M
In reply to ChrisJD:

> Just be careful with the battery pack - there have been many instances of packs at the cheaper end of the light market catching fire during and after charging.

This has been mentioned before , I'll keep and eye on it when recharging .

Thanks

M

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