I'll dump this onto the current discussion: a very nice high/low beam dyno headlight that is *very* bright is the BM IQ XL, a step up in brightness and in price from the X. I've got very bad night vision, and this is the first dynamo light I've used (and I also used an early-gen K-Lite at 1200 lumens) that is entirely sufficient off road at night, at least, on Conservancy District ditchbank/acequia/irrigation roads versus 3' wide footpaths threatening to tip you into an irrigation ditch, and twisty singletrack, tho' with the slower speeds of singletrack I'd bet it would work there, too.
B&M advertise 300 lux on Low and only 250 on High, but I think that's because on Low the light is more focused on a given pattern in front of you, while on High it just sprays out there. In any event, on High it is wonderful, and on Low it is almost good enough, only it doesn't throw *quite* far enough. The one bigger complaint is that the switching is computer controlled: daytime default is auto on in daylight mode; you have to press and hold switch for 5 seconds to turn off; and at night, when you're in High and slow to a walking speed, as when you have to cross a stile, it automatically switches back to Low. I say, bring back mechanical toggle switches. The smaller complaint is that the light is bulky; the good news is that B&M sell very good bar mount clamps. Still, with a wide 42 cm (at hoods) Maes Parallel on my dirt road bike, with the IQ XL bar mount, the remote swtich, and the Spurcycle bell, there's not enough room for the Cateye-like mount for my auxiliary Fenix headlight (also supremely bright, and used while stopped at intersections and as a night time repair torch) that has to go onto a fork leg rack boss mount. On Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 5:48 PM Kesler Roberts <[email protected]> wrote: > Resurrecting this old thread - wondering about experiences with the Beacon > 2. Is the low beam a reasonable compromise for not blinding oncoming > traffic. I just tranferred my B&M light to my wife's bike and am > shopping.... I really like the idea of getting the charging function > without extra wiring > > > On Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 9:12:58 PM UTC-4 Luke Hendrickson wrote: > >> That light is gorgeous however that was my concern, too: beam pattern. I >> prefer the more European beam pattern of either the Son Edelux or the Busch >> + Mueller IQ-X (B+M makes the mirror for the Edelux, too). More American >> lights with their conical beams… not to my taste and seemingly very >> inefficient. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgttMBF_M71cmTnrwE3ER%2BGBiEHhd-b%3DMk2wo12U0Sdfpw%40mail.gmail.com.
