Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Operation Flamethrower

Several years ago when I began researching lights for night riding I was impressed by Lupine's commitment to interchangeability. You can use any of their lights with any of their batteries and cables. The ability to upgrade an existing light to the latest LED technology was another huge selling point and I just took advantage of their latest offering. Thanks to the excellent customer service from Bill at Gretna Bikes, the DIY upgrade kit showed up yesterday and the upgrade was complete in 5 minutes.

My old 830 Lumen Wilma light is now 1000 Lumens!

Lupine changes the color of their circuit boards to help keep the versions straight

How can these tiny LEDs be brighter than the larger ones on the older red circuit board?

Once the quick-change was done I headed to the dark basement for a test. My other light is another Wilma that hasn't been upgraded so I have the perfect comparison. The upgraded Wilma is noticeably brighter and has a hotter spot in the middle of the beam which will be perfect for use on the helmet. The upgraded lens is also 15 degrees but actually looks slightly narrower due to the intensity of the spot. I like to aim my helmet light just beyond the beam of my handlebar light so this combo will be killer.

Bring on the darkness!
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1 comment:

  1. JenyJoFebruary 4, 2010 at 9:13 AM

    i'll just ride behind you the whole time ;-) how's that!?!

    BooBoo is really looking forward to handing you water/food bottles, and making you pancakes in the middle of the night. he said he hopes you don't mind, but he wants to take a few laps with you -- he said he'd just curl up in one of your jersey pockets and nap all warm and cozy.

    you might want to enlarge your jersey pockets ;-)

    heheeheheh...

    jj

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