# Dinotte lights, worth the money?



## kiwisimon (Oct 30, 2002)

Looking at getting a high output AA battery powered headlight. Currently run with Cateye and Niterider rechargeable lights but with an extended night ride (8 hours of unlit rural road) on the horizon I am looking for a battery system that I can just swap out the cell batteries as they fade out. Are Dinottes worth all that money or are there other good alternatives out there. Is anyone using the Cateye HL-EL530 light? cheers KS.


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## commutenow (Sep 26, 2004)

They are worth the money and they are bright and I feel like I am seen by cars. I really like mine.


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## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*every penny*

They are worth every penny. I have a 600L headlight, a 200R and a 400R tail light. I've been commuting and doing ultra events with them for 3 years. They work perfectly every single time, have full run time as advertised, create great light, and their batteries are all interchangeable (among Li series). have 4, 4x batteries and 3 chargers, bought at separate times, and they all work together. Some light companies change things every 6 months, and nothing is compatible. You can find good headlight/tail light packages on the Dinotte website. As good as the headlights are, the tail lights are the most incredible -- the 400R is highly visible from over a mile away. Drivers constantly pull up next to me and tell me they thought I was a cop. I can't say enough good things about them. Can you tell?


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## cpcritter (Sep 24, 2008)

800L headlight and 200AA taillight, yep worth it. I had the AA headlight and wanted more light for bad weather city street commuting so I upgraded. The AA headlight was good, the 800L is all I will ever need for virtually every weather condition. I commuted in fog today without any issues.


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## VaughnA (Jun 3, 2003)

I've got a pair of 200L headlights that I use for mountain biking. Excellent quality, bombproof, great light and excellent service from dinotte. I've got some homebuilts but I ALWAYS have one of my dinottes with me in case my homebrew fails, I know the dinottes will work.


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## mrbubbles (Jul 1, 2007)

They are not worth the money. You can get a MagicShine for $80+ at geoman, it's as bright as a Dinotte 600L for one-fifth of the cost.


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## kdiehl (Feb 19, 2007)

Another vote for Dinotte. I have 200L and 600L headlights and 140L tail light. I am completely pleased with all three.


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## Blue CheeseHead (Jul 14, 2008)

I have a Dinotte 200L. It is a fine light, but it will run 2 hours max on 4-AA batteries when on high, so you will need to tote some additional batteries. A couple of months ago I purchased a pair of AY-UP lights. They are WAY brighter at 360 lumens each and the 3 hour Lithion Ion Batteries have lasted at least 4 hours! The pair come with two 3 hour batteries and one 6 hour battery. You can buy extra batteries as well. While one 6 hour battery might last for 8 hours, if you bought one more so that you had two 6 hour batteries and two 3 hour batteries you would be well covered. Yes, the system is more expensive, but I think you can get a 2008 closeout kit like I did with 2 lights and 3 batteries, charger and all the mounting stuff shipped to you from Australia for $375 or so (It arrived in Wisconsin in about a week). Two Dinotte's with batteries, charger & etc run about $300. It is well worth the $75 difference to go with the Ay-Ups.

Oh, you can specify difference light patterns for the lights. I have a wider pattern for the bar lights and a nice spot for the helmet. Build quality is every bit as nice as the Dinotte if not better. (Really)


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## zpl (May 7, 2007)

I think if you do some searches on this site you'll find the Dinotte lights are very highly regarded. I'm another 200L owner who absolutely loves his. 

Scott


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## kiwisimon (Oct 30, 2002)

going to pull the trigger on Dinotte just due to the standard battery sizing.


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## mrbubbles (Jul 1, 2007)

If you haven't bought the Dinotte 200L yet, I still highly recommend the Magic Shine, it cost less than the Dinotte and brighter.

What dinotte 200L would look like.









A Magicshine.


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## llama31 (Jan 13, 2006)

I have a 120 lumen headlight from Dinotte that is about 3 or 4 years old. It has worked great. The run time isn't great (a little over an hour on high), but it's easy to switch batteries.

I'm coveting another Dinotte light and will probably order one sometime this fall.


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## brentster (Jul 12, 2007)

90 day warranty on the Magicshine. Doesn't lunch meat last longer than that?


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## JaeP (Mar 12, 2002)

*From a sister site*

If you're a DIY type of guy . . . I found this on their sister site. Pretty interesting stuff.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=368896


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## Gregory Taylor (Mar 29, 2002)

kiwisimon said:


> Looking at getting a high output AA battery powered headlight. Currently run with Cateye and Niterider rechargeable lights but with an extended night ride (8 hours of unlit rural road) on the horizon I am looking for a battery system that I can just swap out the cell batteries as they fade out. Are Dinottes worth all that money or are there other good alternatives out there. Is anyone using the Cateye HL-EL530 light? cheers KS.


I have the 140R taillight, and it is worth every penny. It is cop-car bright, so I never worry about not being seen. That's a big deal when you are commuting on busy city streets. I have the rechargable AAA battery set up. The only criticism that I have of the light is that the batteries and charger are pretty generic (they look like they came from Radio Shack) and could probably be purchased more cheaply elsewhere. The light itself and the mounts are first rate.


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## brentster (Jul 12, 2007)

Nearly everyone in our group rides uses this $25 masterpiece. I'm sure there are some better ones but the Planet Bike is great.


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## OperaLover (Jan 20, 2002)

Yes! Warranty and customer service is also awesome.


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## cpcritter (Sep 24, 2008)

Gregory Taylor said:


> I have the rechargable AAA battery set up. The only criticism that I have of the light is that the batteries and charger are pretty generic (they look like they came from Radio Shack) and could probably be purchased more cheaply elsewhere.
> 
> 
> > That was Dinotte's intention. The LED's far out live multipe batteries. So Dinotte's philosophy was to offer a high quality long life light with a battery that was non-exclusive or generic, as you put it. That way you have a huge variety sources and options to get batteries or chargers and are not requirded to go back to Denotte. I think this gets mentioned at the below link:
> ...


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## zpl (May 7, 2007)

When I bought my Dinotte (AA version) there was an option to buy it without the cheap charger. Instead I picked up a high quality battery charger and NiMH batteries. I highly recommend the La Crosse chargers, like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Techno...4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1257012118&sr=8-4

Scott


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## Cervelo-er (Apr 10, 2004)

brentster said:


> 90 day warranty on the Magicshine. Doesn't lunch meat last longer than that?


I don't eat lunchmeat, but I am considering chewing on this light.

$125 with two batterys and the e-bay guy has 10+ in stock and offers a 6 month warranty.

Looks like a great setup for my winter commuting and at that price I can keep a spare battery and charger at work.


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## JohnnyTooBad (Apr 5, 2004)

+1 on the magicshine and a PB Superflash tail light. Stupid bright.


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## Cervelo-er (Apr 10, 2004)

Just ordered a MagicShine...will post a review when I get it. Got it from the Illinois seller on E-Bay. $84.95 + $8.00 s/h.


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## kiwisimon (Oct 30, 2002)

thanks for the input folks. ordered the Dinotte 200L and Planet Bike Superflash. Hopefully these keep the cars off me this winter.


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## GeoManGear (Jul 3, 2007)

JohnnyTooBad said:


> +1 on the magicshine and a PB Superflash tail light. Stupid bright.


In addition to the Magicshine 900 that we sell, we are working on a super bright tail light.

Geo


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## cpcritter (Sep 24, 2008)

GeoManGear said:


> In addition to the Magicshine 900 that we sell, we are working on a super bright tail light.
> 
> Geo



I drove my normal commute route last Friday night and had the opportunity to see a couple bikes coming out of downtown. They both had decent headlights but the tail lights were a barely marginal. To this point I have only found a couple Dinotte tail lights that seem to be bright enough to draw the needed attention. The throw away $20 to $30 lights don't do the job. I didn't realize how bad they were until I saw those bike on the road.

I look forward to companies grabbing some of the bright tail light market share. Maybe this will push out some of the inferior products that provide people with a false sense of security.


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## Tweezak (Dec 6, 2008)

Blue CheeseHead said:


> I have a Dinotte 200L. It is a fine light, but it will run 2 hours max on 4-AA batteries when on high, so you will need to tote some additional batteries. A couple of months ago I purchased a pair of AY-UP lights. They are WAY brighter at 360 lumens each and the 3 hour Lithion Ion Batteries have lasted at least 4 hours! The pair come with two 3 hour batteries and one 6 hour battery. You can buy extra batteries as well. While one 6 hour battery might last for 8 hours, if you bought one more so that you had two 6 hour batteries and two 3 hour batteries you would be well covered. Yes, the system is more expensive, but I think you can get a 2008 closeout kit like I did with 2 lights and 3 batteries, charger and all the mounting stuff shipped to you from Australia for $375 or so (It arrived in Wisconsin in about a week). Two Dinotte's with batteries, charger & etc run about $300. It is well worth the $75 difference to go with the Ay-Ups.
> 
> Oh, you can specify difference light patterns for the lights. I have a wider pattern for the bar lights and a nice spot for the helmet. Build quality is every bit as nice as the Dinotte if not better. (Really)


I'm running Ayups on the bars and a Dinotte 200L-AAS on my helmet. I didn't buy the charger that came with the Dinotte because I already had one. I think your short burn times might be related to the quality of AA NiMH batteries you are using with the Dinotte. I did a lot of battery research and chose Sanyo 2700mAh batteries. These have consistently high output and actually achieve their stated amp-hour rating whereas many other batteries fall way short of what they claim. Amazon has the Sanyos for a reasonable price. Note: these are not hybrid batteries like the Eneloops. Hybrid batteries have excellent shelf life characteristics but shorter burn times. The 2700s will not stay charged as long while stored but will burn longer under use.

Also, get a good charger. I got the LaCrosse charger and I give it a lot of credit for making my batteries last a long time. It is more complicated than some other chargers but it does a great job of testing and refreshing batteries. You can also control the current so as not to charge/discharge too fast and damage your batteries.

You are spot on with the Ayup though...fantastic lights! 

LaCrosse Charger
http://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technology-BC-9009-AlphaPower-Battery/dp/B00077AA5Q
Sanyo 2700 Batteries
http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-NiMH-Rechargeable-Batteries-4-Pack/dp/B000IV413S


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## pmf (Feb 23, 2004)

Got mine on Friday. I ordered it Tuesday afternoon from geoman. Pretty fast service. It did not come with a helmet mount, which is fine because I wanted to mount it to my bars. Its a little bigger than my wife's Cygolyte Mitycross 350, but not much bigger. Has three brightness and two flashing settings. Came with an extension cord to make the cord longer (for a helmet mount?) and two rubber o-rings to mount it on bars (one for thicker bars and one for thinner I guess). There has been some grumbling about the o-ring mount. Mine was easy to use and my experience with o-rings is that they're simple and work really well. I had Sigma Sport computers mounted on my bikes for years with o-rings and they never failed. The battery package is a little funky. I bought a velcro strap for a couple of bucks at the local hobby store to suppliment it. Fits great through the loops on ther pack. It could use an owners manual, but the piece of paper was sufficient. 

For $94 (light + shipping), this thing is a real deal so far. I've gone through several Niterider systems to the point that I will not buy those over priced P'sOS anymore. I've never had any lighting system that lasted more than three seasons. I bought my wife the Cygolyte before I found out about these things. Its brighter than my wife's Cygolyte, but not almost 3 times brighter. I'd guess the output is closer to 500 lumens, but its still super bright and I look forward to annoying night time joggers on the MUT that I commute in and out on. 

I hope, not just for myself, but for all of us that these lights turn out to be long lasting. They're just some batteries, a charger and a light -- how can these systems possibly cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars to make? Its not like this is a boutique industry with a few buyers. I think we've all been getting ripped off long enough.


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## GeoManGear (Jul 3, 2007)

Thank you, good points!

Geo


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

*another MagicShine customer*

Mine arrived last night (ordered last Wednesday from GeoManGear). Installed easily, though I haven't settled finally on battery placement. Looks wicked bright, but tonight's ride home will be the first real-use test.

The switching arrangement seems less than ideal for my use. Much of my commute route has good street lighting, with occasional dark stretches, so my usual practice is to keep a light on a low or medium setting, and switch up to high when necessary. On this light the function order is high, medium, low, flash*, code**, off, so to go from low to high you have to click four times, and the light will briefly go off before it goes on high. The switch operates smoothly and quickly, so it may be no problem in practice.

* the flash mode is a very fast flicker -- probably very attention-grabbing, especially at this brightness level.

**supposed to flash a morse-code sequence for "SOS" 

I will report further. Thanks for the prompt service, GeoMan.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

*MagicShine first report*

Worked fine last night. I like the beam pattern: a good bright central spot with diffuse edges, and significant scatter well beyond that. Reflective road signs a hundred feet away lit up like Las Vegas even with the beam pointed well down. Even the low power setting would be enough to ride safely on a dark road at 14-15 mph. With the high beam I saw quite adequately at 20+.


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## Cervelo-er (Apr 10, 2004)

*More MagicShine happiness*



JCavilia said:


> Worked fine last night. I like the beam pattern: a good bright central spot with diffuse edges, and significant scatter well beyond that. Reflective road signs a hundred feet away lit up like Las Vegas even with the beam pointed well down. Even the low power setting would be enough to ride safely on a dark road at 14-15 mph. With the high beam I saw quite adequately at 20+.


Put in my first week with it (got it off the Illinois E-bayer when GeoMan was out).

Battery lasted Mon-Thurs, 1.5 hrs per day, with a mix of hi-beam and flash depending on conditions.

It's extremely bright, easy to change the aim when mounted, easy to operate, etc.

Not much to say really. It works great and is relatively cheap.

I'll be commuting with it thru rain and cold all winter. Will see how it holds up.


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## mechBgon (Sep 28, 2009)

GeoManGear said:


> In addition to the Magicshine 900 that we sell, we are working on a super bright tail light.
> 
> Geo


Please resist the urge to make them strobe at 8-12Hz using an off-the-shelf circuit. Slower flash rates _a la_ DiNotte would be good.

A super-low-power steady-burn setting would also be useful when the rider is on a multi-user path and doesn't want to nuke everyone's night vision. This is one hassle with the DiNotte 140 and 400-series taillights, their lowest-power mode is still massive overkill on an MUP.


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