Supernova Airstream II vs Lupine SL Mono vs Fenix BC26R-D vs Lupine Neo

[@LupineLights]

Schöner Vergleich

[@KOL630]

Hi what do you think of the Airstream? It looks as if there is hardly any light emitted from it in this video but their website it looks bright? 😢

[@torstenfrank1856]

What you show with a beam comparison and how you show it is always a difficult question. So it's important to only compare inside the same conditions and with the same methodology. Mine indeed is difficult for the Airstream but it nevertheless shows you _more_ about the light in context to other manufacturers offerings as the light comparisons of Supernova on their site. Also naturally, Supernova did chose a setting which mustn't induce any doubt about any of their lights by the casual visitor of their site. Which is only fair to expect. As such, you see how they cleverly chose a rather narrow old town lane which is also rising. Giving any beam hitting it the most optimum "canvas" to illuminate it. I wouldn't call it misleading per se - I think you can get an idea of at least the brightness level you can expect within their product range. But it already fails to convey the vast differences in width of the beams of say, a B54 Pro vs the Airstream II. Conversely my very wide field of view shows everything you look at from your bike - also to the sides. And in that range of - also peripheral - view you would want, the Airstream is indeed by far the most compromised little illumination field. If you see it real life with your own eyes it looks quite a bit better. But so does all the other lights. Summary: I can't recommend getting the Airstream II if you actually want to really see stuff ahead of you and ride mostly in unilluminated areas w/o street lights etc. It still is a wonderfully crafted light with some nice features. It will also illuminate the road ahead of you quite decently. But for my eye the beam can't compete with any high class light of the recent years.

[@KOL630]

@@torstenfrank1856 hey, thanks very much for your comprehensive and very detailed reply. Really appreciated 😊 🙏🏻

[@rdx913]

I'm considering some of these lights too. Have you considered MagicShine (specifically the RN1500 or EVO1700) or Outbound Lighting? Those are also some favorites and offer wide beams too. The EVO1700 in particular allows you to choose between a shorter, wider beam and a longer, narrower beam.

[@torstenfrank1856]

Hi - both brands and their lights are for sure very interesting, too. And maybe I try to get my hands on some of those lights in the future also - sure would like to. For Outbound Lighting I struggle a bit with their concepts or rather the lack of data they provide. On the one side they seem to be really invested in making good lights, do stuff a bit differently and are passionate about it - even write the odd blog article about lighting basics. But then on the other hand they leave the visitor of their website in the dark (pun intended) about what kind of lumens (with all caveats such values come with) you can expect from the lights at all - and for how long. They just state run times for their adaptive, high and medium modes… but what should I expect from those? Is adaptive really cool or just another word for a quick drop off in brightness and if that is too steep and thus too dim for you then tough luck? 

All those runtimes are rather short, also. Which is because all their lights feature integrated batteries. Which is cool. But then again - that just means that for any serious use you _will_ need to use some other battery pack you have to source from somewhere else. Also I haven’t seen how those lights then look if you use them with a cable attached. They seem all made for pass-through charging, which is good and a necessity because of their design, but how are the connector plugs placed, how are they sealed - would they work at all when in the pouring rain? Certainly not if you use any old USB-C cable w/o special plugs and seals (like e.g. the cables custom made for the Lupine SL Mono or the Gloworm lights).

 If they would show these data and provide a concept how an all-night or bikepacking external powering could look like and function in adverse weather those could be very interesting.

 Next - MagicShine. Very intersting price point and with the newest lights they switched to USB-C chargeable batteries which can also work as an USB-C powerbank for other devices. That’s cool. The connection to the lamp heads still seem to be those AC-round plugs like e.g. also Supernova uses (and basically any charger for external hard drives etc but nothing else at all on or around bikes). 

Most of their lamp heads don’t appeal to me either in looks or volume. I’m not impressed at all by rows and rows of LEDs, big lampheads and super high lumen numbers. I want elegant, compact lightheads with a good beam - bright enough but only so bright you can get much runtime out of the batteries you bring. 
 And to be fair - they also have such smaller lights. Again, aesthetically they would need to grow on me but some might be not just a real good value but also a real good light on an absolute point of view. 

 Funnily enough I only learned about the EVO 1700 through your comment and by searching for it. As it is not shown on the German MagicShine.de site but only e.g. on the Austrian one. And it can’t have anything to do with this light not being StVZO compliant since there are also lots of such lights available and listed on the German site. The EVO 1700 It is interesting - but I don’t find any mentioning of it being able to pass-through charged by an external battery pack. If not, this would limit it’s use cases for me just as a commuting or training ride light. And for such a use case and me residing in Germany I would always choose an offically StVZO compliant light. Which the Evo 1700 is not despite featureing high and low beam settings. Haven't looked more closely on the other handlebar mounted integrated options of Magicshine yet. They offer quite the range, it seems.

[@rdx913]

@@torstenfrank1856 The EVO 1700 does indeed have past thru charging. My hesitancy with past-thru charging is two-fold: (1) the durability of cables, as you mention and (2) the outsized degradation of the battery when you use this feature. This latter point is even more important for lights that don't have removable batteries, such as the EVO 1700. "I’m not impressed at all by rows and rows of LEDs, big lampheads and super high lumen numbers. I want elegant, compact lightheads with a good beam - bright enough but only so bright you can get much runtime out of the batteries you bring." I 1000% agree with your comment. Beam quality and "measured brightness under the curve" (with runtimes) is what is important. Here, it seems as if runtimes of normal flashlights greatly surpass that of bike lights. For instance, a Wurkkos TS22 uses a single 5100mah 21700 battery, is 163g with battery, can be used as a powerbank, has passthru charging, has a very wide and good looking beam and is tested to be able to hold a very constant 1700 lumens for two entire hours (or a constant 550 lumens for six hours). These are measured, not stated lumens. That being said, it's wide beam may not be appropriate for road riding. But I am thinking that the EVO 1700 (with both beams) and the TS22 (head mounted) may be the most versatile setup for mixed condition riding for me.