Re: For those who believe in electricity

On 4/11/2025 5:52 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:

sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

>
A lot of people don't realize how vitally important the optics are in
bicycle lighting, especially in dynamo lights where you only have a few
watts of power to work with.
>

I’d of thought that the folks buying lights in the above price ranges would
do at least to some degree after all could just buy some cheap almost
disposable lights as some folks do! But they are choosing to buy expensive
lights.

Mr. Scharf's statement is correct. Optics are important, and not only for dynamo lights. I've been saying that for many, many years. It makes no sense to waste half of a headlight's output in directions that you never need to see.
I think only a small percentage of cyclists are aware of the importance of optics. I think almost all cyclists get their "education" (such as it is) from product advertisements. And ever since white LEDs began their rapid rise in lumen output, lumen counts have been the almost exclusive message in advertisements.
That's led to nonsense like lights for road bikes that blind oncoming road users, or otherwise waste lumens shooting them skyward. We've even seen arguments in this discussion group, long and furious, that one _must_ have a simplistic perfectly round headlight beam, because otherwise a road rider would be sure to run into a low hanging branch and injure his head.
(Yes, really. And apparently those making that argument were not joking. Go figure.)
--
- Frank Krygowski