Back when I used to do night riding, I had dynamo for the headlight. (mind you, this was back in the pre-LED days). As long as I kept moving, I kept seeing… and never needed to find replacement batteries or worry about the battery dying on me in the middle of my ride.
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Things have only gotten better. With LEDs the dynamo lights have shaped beams like car headlights so they illuminate evenly over long distances and don’t blind oncoming traffic; they’re as bright as I’d ever want a light to be and even pretty good while climbing a mountain at 6mph. Most dynamos now are built into the front hub so they don’t rub noisily on your tire, slow you down less, and last basically forever. You don’t need to carry spare halogen bulbs since LEDs don’t burn out. The lights have supercapacitors built in so they stay lit for a few minutes after you stop, so you remain visible while waiting for a light to change.
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Dynamo hubs are wonderful - silent, no tire wear, and unnoticeable drag. On my old recumbent, I have a Schmidt hub powering a halogen headlight, with a second one I can switch in if I’m going fast enough. I’m considering upgrading that to LED, but even the halogens are quite good, with optics putting a good beam on the road ahead.
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I stand corrected! It was a fine machine, agreed…I last managed to start mine up around 2005 or so. I may even still have it around somewhere, although the trackball buttons are broken, the (lead-acid) battery safely disposed of, and the power connector needs resoldering.
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And one which persists to this day! Every Mac with Firewire or Thunderbolt ports still supports Target Disk Mode.
Not on my Macbook. USB logo is uppermost.
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Umm - I don’t think so. I have plenty of USB 3 things and still do not own a USB-C cable - not a single device I have requires it. Maybe I’m not junking enough stuff and consuming enough new stuff.
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I have not cracked open any of my rechargeable bike lights, because they are weatherproof and I am not at all confident that I wouldn’t compromise the weather seals if I opened one up.
One of them has suffered many shocks and falls (because I keep dropping the light in handling it, not because I fall off my bike a lot) and finally has a part loose inside that rattles about if you shake it. I figure a wire will probably fail at some point due to the movement, and then I’ll open the light up and learn what’s inside it, and then I’ll have to figure out how to get a good weather seal when I put it back together…
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Regards, man. I didn’t at all mean to put that onus on you. It’s the designers choice to make it charge via USB - a standard that will eventually not be standard (see scsi, firewire, serial, etc) The world is going the way of rechargeable connections with soldered on batteries, that’s all I’m saying.
If you were to store those lights in a drawer (and I’m sure they are built well and weatherproof, sorry to suggest you crack them open, that’s my own compulsion to do, ha) but if you put them in a drawer for a few years and pull them out they will likely be useless and unchargeable. Not a criticism of something you like. But a battery replaceable unit, well stored, will last 25 or 50 years unused.
Example: I have a 1960s transistor radio. Still dials right up loud and great, just needs a lithium 9V to stay in good working order. If it was rechargeable, there’s zero chance the 1960s connector would still be usable and it likely would require a huge surgery of adapters, etc, to get playing.
I like USB for data transfer and device connection. Certainly better than SCSI and others. Plug and play is astounding. But to make it transfer power is shortsighted and makes any item it powers designed to not work in five years, tops. A nice solution is redundant systems that offer battery along with an internal battery, but that adds cost instead of saves cost, which is why you don’t see it integrated often.
All said with an appreciation for your gear that works nicely. I feel bad for individuals that have to argue for the company when it’s clear the decision is marketing based or to make a less robust product. Sure it wasn’t cheap, too. Bike accessories are a funny market. Curious if you’ll share the product company and model name? I might be wrong in being so critical of its lifespan.
Funny point about weather seal, too. I totally hear you. But I think those old SONY waterproof walkmans were still capable of being opened and serviced by the user. Apple really introduced the idea of sealed gear that we can’t open. That’s a bummer for us, too. I’d prefer buy one bike light and open it as often as I’d like, even if it’s weather sealed.
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Tell me about it - we just got a TV, and find that we can’t get it to send out audio in a form any of our existing amplifiers will accept and amplify (a line level voltage). It will send out digital audio over HDMI or some kind of optical link only.
RCA standard phonograph connector, 1940-2018ish, RIP, apparently.
I’ve used various lights over the years, but Planet Bike products are the ones I’ve been happiest with. I think the exact models I have aren’t in current production anymore, but they reliably make good stuff.
So far, the only USB-C things I have are my cell phone and my noise-cancelling headphones, and the headphones only operate as Bluetooth or analog, with the USB-C only for charging.
Yes, I too can highly recommend SON hub dynamos. Very efficient and durable. I have one in my recumbent (hi fellow laid back biker @GoatCheezInfrno ) and one in my Brompton folder. If combined with quality LED lights (I recommend Busch+Müller lights) and the wiring is properly done (SON has also very sturdy coaxial cables), you’ll basically never have any problems with your lights. I don’t even need to bother switching the lights on or off, since they do it automatically (through ambient light sensors). The technical development in this field in the last, say 10-15, years, has really been stunning.
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