Author Topic: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light  (Read 102872 times)

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #50 on: 08 October, 2012, 12:02:32 pm »
If it proves reliable, it'll be on my Xmas list

That's only about 15 days to test reliability then :)

I'm basing reliability on my Cyo, which, touch wood, has been fine for 2+ years of all weather use.

Eddington: 114 Miles

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #51 on: 08 October, 2012, 12:16:54 pm »
What I can't work out from the catalogue is whether B&M's T-lights are switchable - can you turn everything off, or do you have a choice only between day and night lighting?


I believe it has '0' 'T' and 'S' settings.  '0' is fully off, 'T' runs the DRLs and main beam at low intensity for "be seen" purposes and 'S' switches automatically between "be seen" and "see where you're going" mode according to ambient brightness and whether the dynamo's running.

So you can turn it off when parking the bike / on a railway platform / powering a USB charger / it's broad daylight

I've tried moving the switch on mine between T and S at various speeds and in varying levels of darkness and I've never been able to discern a difference. I think the DRLs take very little power so much above walking pace they're always on. I like them - a few people have commented that they're very noticeable.
I did a test when I got mine last year and I did notice a difference - something to do with how much light was thrown down on the road vs ahead. Can't remember exactly but I concluded it was best to leave it on S for my kind of riding.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


GraemeMcC

  • CaptainContours
Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #52 on: 08 October, 2012, 01:06:09 pm »
Gnarr!

Just recently bought another eDelux (red case) for the commute bike this time. If only I'd know earlier that 140 lux and daylight flashing was on offer... and for about the same cash.  ::-)

Anyone found any comparisons to the eDelux 80 lux output yet?
PBP 2011: 1234 km by Nr. 5678 in < 90 hrs. Most auspicious...

NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #53 on: 08 October, 2012, 01:24:01 pm »
140lux is just for the ebike version. The dynamo option gives a 60/90lux output AFAIK

Eddington: 114 Miles

Kim

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Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #54 on: 08 October, 2012, 01:32:24 pm »
That said, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable to molish a battery pack for the 140lux version, if you're happy with batteries...

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #55 on: 08 October, 2012, 03:19:32 pm »
The B+M Big Bang entry on their beam shot page shows what 140 lux looks like (lots).
They did suggest running the Big Bang off an e-Werk at one point (with a cache battery), so perhaps you could do the same with the e_Bike version of the Luxos

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #56 on: 08 October, 2012, 06:38:59 pm »
That said, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable to molish a battery pack for the 140lux version, if you're happy with batteries...
Hmmm. I wonder how many amps it draws.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Kim

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Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #57 on: 08 October, 2012, 06:44:33 pm »
That said, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable to molish a battery pack for the 140lux version, if you're happy with batteries...
Hmmm. I wonder how many amps it draws.

Not very much at quite a high voltage, I suspect.  As that's usually how e-bike flatteries are molished.  I expect the manual will reveal all in due course.

I'd guess the power consumption isn't going to be too ludicrous.  Maybe double that of the dynamo version?

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #58 on: 09 October, 2012, 01:15:30 pm »

They did suggest running the Big Bang off an e-Werk at one point (with a cache battery), ..............

Do you think this would work with the IQ Speeds ?
The reason for asking is that mine wouldn't work on "Hi" when I was coming down the Cat and Fiddle on Saturday's Audax. That's usually a symptom that the battery is low but they weren't. After a break at the finish, they worked OK on the way home and then remained on for ~40 hours as I tried to fully drain and recharge them.
I'm guessing that the cold got to them.

The battery consists of 5 round cells shrink-wrapped together.
Nominal Voltage; 6V, Nominal capacity; 4.1Ah, Max charge current; 1.2A, max discharge current; 4.1A.
The charger says 9V !


Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #59 on: 09 October, 2012, 07:22:11 pm »
I have a collection of 6V batteries of 2.2 to 4 4 Ah, & a couple of lights which work happily on that voltage but have battery indicators which don't understand that 6V does not mean 'going to die soon'. A little annoying. A BRIGHT (effective: doesn't have to be blinding overall, just puts plenty of light where it's needed) light which worked off 6V batteries without confusion would be nice.

I've wondered about the IQ Speed. But I'd like to see it in action before splashing out. And I'd like to see it fitted over fat handlebars, like the carbon ones on my Enigma.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #60 on: 09 November, 2012, 11:49:18 am »
Looks like these are finally becoming available. Star bike has the U model due in stock from Dec 10. I already have a new wheel, just waiting for a light now. Hopefully this will be my Christmas present :)

red marley

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #61 on: 11 January, 2013, 11:04:38 pm »
Has anyone actually got hold of one of these yet? I ordered one in October from Rose, but still haven't received it (predicted time was mid Jan I think).

NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #62 on: 12 January, 2013, 12:50:09 am »
Mine is on back order now til mid feb

Aushiker

  • Cyclist, bushwalker, phottographer (amaturer)
    • Aushiker: Bicycling and Hiking in Western Australia
Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #63 on: 12 January, 2013, 08:26:27 am »
I believe that the 179B has shipped to some people and one forum member at the Australian Cycling Forums apparently has a 179 U en-route to him.

Andrew

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #64 on: 13 January, 2013, 12:01:15 pm »
Has anyone actually got hold of one of these yet? I ordered one in October from Rose, but still haven't received it (predicted time was mid Jan I think).
Ditto for the first part - I ordered one in Oct from Rose - it arrived on Thursday.

All I've been able to do so far is to unbox it and read the instructions* The unit itself seems pretty good quality, a bit plasticky and not in the Supernova league, but I guess it'll be the weather resistance and the internal clever bits that count. The instructions describe it as changing the emphasis of the power usage according to road speed so that the LEDs which light up the road closer to the bike get more energy than the ones which throw light up the road when you drop below 15kph. It also has a boost facility which fires up the cache battery for extra light when you press the button; this apparently will give extra glow for about 15 minutes before the cache battery is drained. I guess the idea is to use it sparingly and allow the cache battery to regenerate in the meantime.

(Why do so many corporations save peanuts money on not getting native English speakers to proof read their translations of instructions? These aren't as bad as some Far East ones I've seen but they're not as clear as they should be, at least to my pedantic mindset.)

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #65 on: 13 January, 2013, 02:51:10 pm »
(Why do so many corporations save peanuts money on not getting native English speakers to proof read their translations of instructions? These aren't as bad as some Far East ones I've seen but they're not as clear as they should be, at least to my pedantic mindset.)

B&M is a rather small family owned business doing the almost impossible by manufacturing and developing in Europe. They must operate on a really tight budget, so it must be tempting to save money by doing the translation "in house".

Besides, it often very difficult for non-native English speakers who hasn't studied the language in depth, to discover their own faults. I am not talking about just grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, but about the "tone" of the language, like using the appropriate word: Rosebike once translated the wheel building tool "Spoke key" /"Spoke Wrench" as a "Screwing up key".

The native language syntax and idioms also easily creep into translations. Here in Denmark it is common to see such "in house" translations from small companies. Such translations often results in "Denglish", something that is not quite unlike English, where all the words are spelled right and without screaming grammatical errors, but where syntax, idioms, and tone are Danish in English disguise. I often see the same phenomenon in German-to-English translations from small companies making low profit things like bicycle equipment.
--
Regards

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #66 on: 13 January, 2013, 03:52:52 pm »
Well I take your point to a degree if B&M is actually a small company - because they are so well known, I had assumed they were quite a sizeable concern - and I fully understand how it happens but what baffles me is why it happens.

Don’t any of these companies have anyone who buys things from abroad and despairs at the instructions? Whenever I encounter this, I automatically think “OK, so you care so little for my custom that you can’t be bothered just to ask a customer in the UK “are our instructions OK?” To me, this kind of sloppy attention to detail goes with the mentality of “I don’t give a toss if we never build a relationship of trust with you; we’ve got your money now and we don’t care if you’re satisfied with our product or not." This fits with “we know our stuff is crap and you’ll never buy anything from us again so it doesn’t matter; there’s plenty more suckers out there we can foist our garbage on.” **

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the B&M stuff is bad in any way, just speaking generally that rubbish instructions risk giving a bad impression and are poor marketing.

** Ooooh, that feels better. Daily Mail rant over now!   ;D

Kim

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Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #67 on: 13 January, 2013, 04:35:52 pm »
I suspect it's a case of if your product's good enough or cheap enough, poor instructions aren't actually a problem.  Especially when people don't bother to read them anyway.

Look at pretty much every piece of consumer electronics produced in the far east over the last 20 years.


To pick a B&M example, there are, I think, about three actually important factoids in the IQ Cyo manual: The polarity of the wiring; the specification for running on DC and the correct behaviour of the Senso mode.  Most people are only going to be interested in one or two of these, and none are rendered unclear as a result of sloppy translation or bad typesetting.  The Cyo manual is Good Enough for something you only need to refer to during installation, and its inadequacies are overshadowed by an otherwise excellent product.

We have pretty low expectations for documentation, and I for one am delighted if it contains the information I'm looking for, whatever the language.


I'd also wonder what proportion of B&Ms sales are international.  I suspect the vast majority are domestic, or to the Netherlands (where presumably overly germanic English isn't a problem).

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #68 on: 13 January, 2013, 06:16:14 pm »
To get a really good technical translation you need, as a minimum, two people who are both subject matter experts, one of whom is a native speaker in the source language, and at least fluent enough in the target language to understand the finer nuances of idiom; the other a native speaker of the target language who is at least fluent enough in the source language to understand the finer nuances of idiom.   
And enough time to bounce each paragraph back and forwards between the two of them two or three times. 
Having worked in such a team I can tell you it is enormously satisfying when you get it right, but it is very very costly.

Equally, whilst technically competent, professional translation agencies are invariably not subject matter experts and the results they produce are IME quite poor.

Anyway, PloddinPedros detailed review awaited with interest....

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #69 on: 13 January, 2013, 06:21:34 pm »
... Rosebike once translated the wheel building tool "Spoke key" /"Spoke Wrench" as a "Screwing up key". ...

That could be seen as being entirely appropriate. ;D
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #70 on: 13 January, 2013, 09:13:01 pm »
Also awaiting Pedros review...

(Before I press 'buy now')

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #71 on: 13 January, 2013, 09:29:22 pm »
I expect these translations have been produced by professional translation agencies, but their translators are German (or Danish, etc) and although they can produce something grammatically correct, they don't have an ear for the style or, to use interested's word, the "tone" of English. Some translation agencies will employ proofreaders who are native speakers of the target language (I have done this) but obviously there remains the problem of not being familiar with the subject. It has to be said that sometimes the firms needing the translations don't help themselves, for instance asking for captions to be translated without supplying the illustrations they relate to, and translation agency practices are often geared to speed (largely because that is what customers demand) rather than quality, such as splitting chapters between translators.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #72 on: 13 January, 2013, 09:50:02 pm »
Was just going to get another Cyo but might hold my horses and see how this turns out. Looks like it could be a good 'un.

Then again I don't currently charge things so maybe I don't need that feature, I'm sure I could find a reason to charge things though to justify getting one  :-\

The boost mode and the chaining beam of light based on speed look pretty nifty.
Miles cycled 2014 = 3551.5 (Target 7300 :()
Miles cycled 2013 = 6141.4
Miles cycled 2012 = 4038.1

red marley

Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #73 on: 16 January, 2013, 09:36:34 pm »
OK, the good news is that mine has arrived today.

The bad news that I am having trouble fitting it to my bike. The following is going to show up my ignorance of these things, but here goes anyway...

The light comes with a fork crown mounting bracket which needs to sit between the front brake and the fork being pinned by the bolt that normally attaches the brake to the fork. The problem I have is that this bolt is currently exactly the correct length to make contact with the threaded recessed nut that sits 'in' the rear side of the fork. If I add the 5mm or so of the mounting bracket, the bolt can no longer reach. Worse still, the ring that sits between the fork and frame would interfere with the mounting bracket unless I added about 4mm of spacers to hold the bracket away from the frame. There are currently no spacers in my setup to remove to give me any extra length. So the bolt is upwards of 1cm short of its ideal length if I want to use the supplied mounting bracket.

So what options do I have? Do front brakes come with different bolt lengths? Would it be too dangerous to remove the gnarled nut that holds the spring in place? Are there alternative mounting brackets that are used to avoid this problem? Googling doesn't turn up anything obvious to me other than scary things like drilling into forks.

Apologies for the awkward explanation, but it strikes me this must be quite a common problem and I would have thought one that have an obvious solution I have missed.

BTW, the light itself looks great so far.


LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: NEW - Busch & Muller Luxos Front Light
« Reply #74 on: 16 January, 2013, 09:40:19 pm »
The Allen nut comes in different lengths. It is unlikely that you are using the longest.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...