Just a heads up for anyone considering buying a light from China. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has placed heavy restrictions on the transport of lithium ion batteries. I ordered 2 lights from China and both packages were rejected by customs security checks, there is a chance they could get through but it’s a real spin of the roulette wheel.
I believe @JeffV and myself both ran into that issue. Our lights ended up being shipped on the slow boat from China (literally…there’s a reason that’s a saying). I think mine took ~3 weeks to get here, Jeff’s was the better part of a month or so.
Note, the batteries and headlamp do not need to come from same supplier.
The LEDs seem to be bomb proof. Only the batteries are in question. I think someone mentioned the top are Panasonic or something. That was a while ago though.
The batteries are groupings of 18650 cells, named after their dimensions in mm — 18 mm x 65 mm.
Dx.com didn’t seem to offer different shipping methods that I noticed. I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of re-ordering.
@JeffV, you’re right about the Panasonic, much better than the generic Chinese ones, the other big issue is with generic chargers that can be prone to over charging the batteries, regardless of the protection circuits on the cells. Apparently there are also cheap knock off Cree LED’s showing up in lights that specifically state Cree XM-L T6 or U2 in the description.
If you’re willing to piece together a kit from different suppliers you can have an amazing light with excellent burn time and durability with no risk of explosions. For half the price of the brand name lights.
I had the same experience with the same light from DX.com. It took an extra 2-3 weeks because they tried to send it by air, it was rejected and had to be rerouted by boat. Unfortunately DX doesn’t offer different shipping options, otherwise I could have selected boat to begin with and saved some time.
It’s a really great light though for only $30.
P.s. I never leave the battery unattended when charging.
I’m happy with mine so far, and got mine in 2 days from amazon.ca, well worth the extra cost and guaranteed that it will arrive. There’s no way you’re going to get a light from China in 2 days, it will very likely get rejected by customs.
It gets sent back to the shipper, only ground shipping (boat from China) will clear for sure, and you’re looking at up to 5 weeks delivery time. I got a refund and purchased one that ships from Canada
mine didn’t come with a head strap, I just used the helmet mount from my old light. It’s pretty easy to come up with something just unscrew the original mount and screw on anything you want. Heard of people using gopro mounts pretty easily.
I have one like this for mine; Helmet mount. Added some velcro to the bottom of the mount and top of my helmet to make it extra secure with less wobbles.
Not sure I have a best way… I cut the headband on one side and then pass the strap through the vents in the helmet and use the adjustment buckle to tighten it so it will not move. The elasticity of the strap helps with that.
Some use a Velcro strap instead.
The plastic light mount ends up sitting on top of the helmet instead of on the forehead where it would sit if the head mount was used as intended but it works well and the vertical angle of the beam is adjustable.
If you’re looking to get a light quicker, the Planet Bike Blaze 500 and 600 lights at MEC aren’t super expensive - $50 and $67. A pretty basic helmet mount is another $5.
Got to say I’m pretty happy with my Chinese light. It’s plenty bright and lasts long enough for any night ride I’ve done to date. My battery is much better sealed than the one in the video.
One of the wires on mine had a bad connection, I emailed the company and they sent me another, no questions asked, no returns necessary. Now I have 2 lights.