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Home > Product Reviews > Lights > Lumicycle Nimh 2000 Reviews

Lumicycle Nimh 2000

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Lumicycle Nimh 2000
More about Lumicycle

Average Rating: 5 out of 5
No. of Reviews: 17
RRP: £139.99
Year: 2001

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Description: Nimh battery powered 2 light system. CNC minimalist lamp units with re-usable zip-tie fixings over-volted to silly levels of brightness. Bottle type or velcro bag battery. UK manufacture and design. Choice of charger type. Mail order only.

REVIEWS

1 to 10 of 17 reviews, to post a review you need to be a member - Join now.Page: 1 2

Dean Taylor

Posted: 15/02/01

'Light, bright and British. (surely an oxymoron).'

Strengths:
> Easy to fit.
> With 'intelligent' charger (extra £20) gives very easy, fuss-free charging.
> So bright, you're almost cheating.
> It's fun to watch nocturnal insects frying on your 35 watt (over volted to 42!) portable supernova.
> Outrageous burn-time.
>Easy to use 'Tandy' type switches.

Weaknesses:
> Garden shed engineered feel to the zip-tie fixings.
> Could have a better logo (hey, I'll do one, some fools even pay me to do that kind of tom-foolery).

Overall:
A great, British piece of sensibly priced engineering. I bought a 12w spot, 20w flood and 35w spot to cover all occasions (spare bulbs are only £7) and have not been let down. Much brighter and longer burning than my old BLT explorer from which I pilfered yet another spare bulb. Buy direct from their site - www.lumicycle.co.uk.

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		100%

Overall Rating

100%

peter watson

Posted: 17/12/01

'VERY GOOD LIGHTS, BEST VALUE AVAILABLE?'

Strengths:
Light, Easy to move between bikes with bottle battery.
As bright as you will need.
Very good, flexible (as in fix how and where you like) fixing using releasable zip-ties.
Its the dogs on the road, and very good off road.
Many bulbs available.

Weaknesses:
No indicator of how much time is left.
If you use one lamp, you have a bit of lead and a plug hanging loose.
Oncoming cars on singletrack road think you are much further away than you actually are!
Its still expensive for a torch.

Overall:
Probably the best value system available, cost less than if you bought the parts and made it yourself.
(which you could do but the lamp units wont be as nice unless you have access to a machine shop!).
12W spot is great on its own on the road at 25mph and lasts nearly 4h, 20W spot and you can go faster down hill (you have to be able to spot potholes).
20W flood and 12Wspot great for off road, floods the trail with light. They are like mini search lights and you can send beams across fields and light up the trees on the other side!
I am going to get a 10W bulb to give 5hours of night road riding(taking it easy downhill)!
NOTE: Actual wattages more than stated due to overvolting, 12W is actually 14W, 20W is 24W.

Performance		100%
Reliability		80%
Value		80%

Overall Rating

87%

Don Keycock

Posted: 09/02/02

'THE ONLY 'REAL' LIGHT YOU WILL EVER NEED'

Strengths:
BRIGHT!!!!
Fast trickle charger
Long burn time
Compact lamp units
Cars pull in to give way to you on narrow lanes!! - they think the light is so bright it must be another car! :)

Weaknesses:
Bag straps work loose - (fixed with old toe straps)
Cable ties a bit naff

Overall:
I use these every day for commuting - they are excellent! Use for a couple of hours a day and charge over night - easy. 12W is ample for most road use, flick on the 20W for pitch black country lanes etc. Fast charger definitely worth the extra if you want to use them every day.

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		100%

Overall Rating

100%

Russ Gunn

Posted: 28/02/02

'ALSO...AND AFTER USING FOR A FEW MORE MONTHS...'

Strengths:
Power

Weaknesses:
Grip on bar when wet. Battery bag ruining my frame.

Overall:
They really are powerful but found out now, after a few months use, that they don't really grip the bar when wet. Can be knocked out of position easily and when on a fast night time DH and that's not good!

The real pain though is the fact that the battery pack has sanded away a 1cm spot on the paintwork of my frame where I attach it and my bike is brand new. Don't worry Lumicycle I'm not one of those who frequently sues or claims for compensation. The battery bag is therefore a little rough and the nodule inside causing the rubbing isn't helping either. May need to soften it with some material on the contact side of the bag. Lumicycle charge £6.99 for replacement bulbs which is fine but you can save yourself £2.00 a bulb if you buy them from Office World.

Performance		80%
Reliability		80%
Value		80%

Overall Rating

80%

Jon Lunn

Posted: 06/03/02

'EXCELLENT'

Strengths:
Very bright - white light
Long burn time
Lightweight and compact
Dead simple and well built
Charging regime better than NICADs

Weaknesses:
None so far (apart from c.180 squids with fast charger...but still the best value I have come across)

Overall:
Buy.. you won't regret it.

Far better than Cateye ABS in my opinion.... (mine went back to the shop)

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		80%

Overall Rating

93%

Ian Humphreys

Posted: 14/04/02

'FAB'

Strengths:
Light, bright and excellent burn time.

Weaknesses:
Zip ties... These is fine if you are not removing and refitting all the time. I have modified my old Nightsun quick releases to fit. Now I can fit and remove them quickly knowing that I have a very firm fit.

Overall:
Compared with my Nightsuns the light is much whiter, has a much better burn time, the Nightsuns where old, and is much lighter. I bought the rapid charger so that I did not need to worry about charge times. The information with the products is brief but to the point. I opted for the frame bag rather than the water bottle battery. The first couple of times I was not getting it attached properly so therefore I had it rattling around a bit. This has now been sorted and I have no problems. I do not see the value of having one switch. The switching on the back of each lamp works just fine. I have labelled them up so that I know which lamp is which.

I am using the standard 12 spot 20 flood but will look to try a 20 mid instead of the flood. Overall these are just FAB. They are light, very bright and look to be engineered to provide many years of service.

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		100%

Overall Rating

100%

Matthew Gould

Posted: 30/04/02

'A TOP LIGHT AT A GREAT PRICE'

Strengths:
I was impressed by the complete freedom of choice over what watt bulbs to include, battery type, mounting it is all up to you. Plus it is just as easy to change bits on it with all spare parts available to buy and they also have a rear LED light to run off the same system, but I have not used this myself.

The lights are very bright, I run a 35W and 20W both spots. The 35W is magnificent and is approaching the brightness of normal beam car headlamps, but it does burn up a lot of juice. The 20W I find fine unless going at speed on unlight roads.

The price is very competetive too and the system is compact.

Weaknesses:
As with most people I am not keen on the ties, they are cheap looking but moreover they can be fiddly to position with the rubber strips and without can move about.

Overall:
I like these lights very much and am glad I decided in the end to purchase them. Just a shame about those ties...

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		100%

Overall Rating

100%

Frosty Boy

Posted: 17/09/02

'GET THE LUMICYCLES'

Strengths:
Bright, light, shiny & black. Proper field quality switches. Smart charger is the Way.

Weaknesses:
The zip ties. The lights are in a different orientation every time you put them on the bars. Also, Lumicycle warn you never to use the 35W when stationary, it can set fire to things. Heh heh.

Overall:
Bring on the winter, baby.

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		80%

Overall Rating

93%

Ian Armstrong

Posted: 17/01/03

'BETTER THAN CARROTS FOR SEEING IN THE DARK!'

Strengths:
Bright
Lightweight
Bright
British
Bright

Weaknesses:
Zip ties a bit cheap
Battery bag straps rub the frame

Overall:
Never have I enjoyed being out in the dark so much. It's so much fun. Why didn't I do this years ago! Standard 12W spot and 20W flood combo is all you'll need.
OK, the zip ties look a bit cheap n nasty, but they work well enough. The battery bag also has a nasty habit of rubbing your paint away - especially if you ride in the mud - and who doesn't at this time of the year. The normal charger makes charging a bit hit and miss and if you forget to switch it off you WILL fry the battery - pay the extra and get a fast charger - it'll save you money in the long run!!

Performance		100%
Reliability		100%
Value		80%

Overall Rating

93%

his hollyness serge the second

Posted: 06/02/03

'GOOD BASIC SYSTEM BUT COULD BE SO MUCH BETTER'

Strengths:
The real strength of this system is the battery, for the money you won't find a better deal, It is light and has great burn times. available in single or double light sets, but recommend the double it allows a long lasting duller, maybe 12w light to be used on road and less technical trail sections. Then when needed the other light, I recommend the 35watt can be used for those more challanging parts, or for blinding any possible mugger on a dark path.

Weaknesses:
There are areas that these lights really let themselves down. The Atachment system that they come with are reusable zip-ties. these offer no way of angling the light and I found they often came loose or moved if the cable pulled on the light,s. This problem has now been addressed as you can buy bolt on brackets, these are excellent and at only a few pounds each, i feel should be included in the system to start with.
The battery bag is one of the hardest i have used, the straps are to wide for the clasps and even when cut and sealed to points are still difficult to feed through, also the bag has a habbit of sliding to the back of the frame and if not enough cable has been pulled out, pulling the connector out of the light. All these problems would be solved with the bottle battery. I surgest this option.

Overall:
These are wonderful lights. i found the 20 watt flood to weedy for my likeing, but the 12 watt perfect for road. Changing the bulbs is very easy and with a bit of pre-planning the right combo for any ride length can be acheived.
I feel that the bolt on brackets should be with teh system in the first place and that a little bit of work needs to be done on the battery bag, velcro would be so much easier on a cold night. but all these problems can be solved or lived with.
These lights offer great value, and with the right spec of bulbs are fantastic on even the darkest and most technical trail.