Scilly Suffolk
Über Member
I needed some powerful lighting for the Dunwich Dynamo: rural East Anglia in the middle of the night is no place for the usual "be seen" blinker that does in urban settings. Being on a budget, a Far Eastern manufactured torch with a bike mount seemed a likely choice: the likes of Hope et al are just too expensive for me.
I can't remember where I learned of Torchy The Battery Boy, but I'm glad I did: there is a great deal of choice out there and very little objective information about quality and performance. Torchy not only puts a selection of torches up against "proper" bike lights, but also has had batteries and chargers tested for safety and efficiency.
In short, you can have better performance than many of the big brands' offerings for less than half the price. Your major concern should be with the safety of the batteries and chargers: not surprisingly, quality varies widely and a CE Approved mark is no guarantee.
Torchy also retails on eBay as big_f_d_d (something he is quite candid about and acknowledges the potential conflict of interest) and I decided on a pair of Q5 with 18650 batteries and charger which he sells for a penny shy of £40. I prefer a twin set-up (as I have at the rear) for redundancy, versatility and because being slightly unusual it is more attention grabbing.
Not being able to buy them until the week leading up to the DD, I asked if he could post them 1st class at my expense: he did post them as requested, but didn't charge me!
As well as the torches you get two solid, rotatable handlebar mounts with rubber shims so they are suitable for standard and oversized bars: I had mine slung under the bars and they didn't budge once over some pretty ropey roads.
Although they come with 18650 batteries (and adaptor sleeves), you also get holders for three AAA batteries with gives you options for extended stints away from a charger. The batteries took a good six hours or so to fully charge: the lights on the charger changing from red to green when finished.
I mostly rode with the lights on low power (steady not flashing), with one zoomed in and one zoomed out (zooming both in when traffic approached); depending on conditions I switched one, or sometimes, both on to full power. I switched them on around nine o'clock and off once it was good and light and they were both still going strong.
As to performance, I was able to ride at full speed in complete darkness and riders in front were alerted to my presence by the beam (on low): I couldn't ask for much more.
All told, I am more than happy with both the product and service.
I can't remember where I learned of Torchy The Battery Boy, but I'm glad I did: there is a great deal of choice out there and very little objective information about quality and performance. Torchy not only puts a selection of torches up against "proper" bike lights, but also has had batteries and chargers tested for safety and efficiency.
In short, you can have better performance than many of the big brands' offerings for less than half the price. Your major concern should be with the safety of the batteries and chargers: not surprisingly, quality varies widely and a CE Approved mark is no guarantee.
Torchy also retails on eBay as big_f_d_d (something he is quite candid about and acknowledges the potential conflict of interest) and I decided on a pair of Q5 with 18650 batteries and charger which he sells for a penny shy of £40. I prefer a twin set-up (as I have at the rear) for redundancy, versatility and because being slightly unusual it is more attention grabbing.
Not being able to buy them until the week leading up to the DD, I asked if he could post them 1st class at my expense: he did post them as requested, but didn't charge me!
As well as the torches you get two solid, rotatable handlebar mounts with rubber shims so they are suitable for standard and oversized bars: I had mine slung under the bars and they didn't budge once over some pretty ropey roads.
Although they come with 18650 batteries (and adaptor sleeves), you also get holders for three AAA batteries with gives you options for extended stints away from a charger. The batteries took a good six hours or so to fully charge: the lights on the charger changing from red to green when finished.
I mostly rode with the lights on low power (steady not flashing), with one zoomed in and one zoomed out (zooming both in when traffic approached); depending on conditions I switched one, or sometimes, both on to full power. I switched them on around nine o'clock and off once it was good and light and they were both still going strong.
As to performance, I was able to ride at full speed in complete darkness and riders in front were alerted to my presence by the beam (on low): I couldn't ask for much more.
All told, I am more than happy with both the product and service.
