Take the advertised number of Lumens with a big pinch of salt. You will see ludicrous numbers given for a lot of lights you can buy. A typical 5W Cree can give max about 700 lumens, yet you will see claims of thousands of lumens for a lamp with that LED. Then you will see lamps made of clusters of many 5W Cree LEDs and claims of tens of thousands of lumens. When you think about the amount of heat generated in that small space, there's no way those LEDs would even give their rated intensity.True enough - I've not been on this forum long and already I am able to sort the wheat from the chaff (or maybe the salt from the vinegar?).
Anyway, back to the original posting - obviously most just use the 'light output' from the controller for ...... lighting. So guess what, I think I'll follow the wise and do the same.
AliExpress seems the most likely source (and I've scoured the site a number of times - but you get crossed eyes after a while) but I am a little cautious about which choice of light to go for in that I know that many of the cheap Cree LED lights have a very untidy beam pattern that can be disconcerning/annoying for other road users (and I know this is less of an issue for off-road use).
So if anyone can either give a recommendation or pointer (with links please) to a front light with a decent beam pattern, I'd be very grateful (and I'll not be going for the Busch and Muller type either - I'm a pensioner after all ).
Getting a decent front light is the first goal and then a good rear red light that will fit snugly on the pannier rack also.
Thanks in advance
Have a look for LED lamps with Cree XHP70. These are single LEDs capable of 4,000 lumens and they are higher voltage than standard LEDs. I saw some good lamps when I was looking late last year with these LEDs, but the sale didn't go through.
The technology is changing so fast now, I expect people will correct me with even better examples...