Last winter I bought two lights; a Gemini 850 and a C and B Seen unit. The C & b was £40 all up with a four cell battery, whilst the Gemini was reduced in price from £140 down to £70. I bought this unit as I figured the battery would be better. In the end only the charger was better, so the C and B Seen unit is a steal.
The C & B battery lasts much, much longer than the Gemini unit. This is important when out alone in the woods at night. However, since the two brands share common parts, what do I use now? Well the head unit from the Gemini now goes on to my helmet, along with its' battery. The C & B battery goes onto the bike to power the... Gemini Olympia head unit I bought recently. You see whilst I'm a fan of the cheapness of C & B, the beam pattern of the light itself wasn't that good in the end. Central spot, dark bit then a bright perimeter. It didn't gel well with the Gemini, which is a more consistent beam. The charger for the C & B went into the bin.
It sounds an expensive way to get two lights? Nah. The whole C & B outfit cost less than a battery from Gemini, so I saved a bit there. The Olympia retails at over £200, but I just bought the head unit for £90. My whole system came in at around £200, which for 2650 Lumens is pretty good.
So, these days you don't need to be bound to any particular system from any particular manufacturer. You can pick 'n' mix the best bits, and end up with a decent system. I've gone a bit mad with the Gemini brand, so splashed out quite a bit but there's a new breed of Chinese lights out now [Solarstorm] that are dirt cheap; you just need to supply the battery.
The C & B battery lasts much, much longer than the Gemini unit. This is important when out alone in the woods at night. However, since the two brands share common parts, what do I use now? Well the head unit from the Gemini now goes on to my helmet, along with its' battery. The C & B battery goes onto the bike to power the... Gemini Olympia head unit I bought recently. You see whilst I'm a fan of the cheapness of C & B, the beam pattern of the light itself wasn't that good in the end. Central spot, dark bit then a bright perimeter. It didn't gel well with the Gemini, which is a more consistent beam. The charger for the C & B went into the bin.
It sounds an expensive way to get two lights? Nah. The whole C & B outfit cost less than a battery from Gemini, so I saved a bit there. The Olympia retails at over £200, but I just bought the head unit for £90. My whole system came in at around £200, which for 2650 Lumens is pretty good.
So, these days you don't need to be bound to any particular system from any particular manufacturer. You can pick 'n' mix the best bits, and end up with a decent system. I've gone a bit mad with the Gemini brand, so splashed out quite a bit but there's a new breed of Chinese lights out now [Solarstorm] that are dirt cheap; you just need to supply the battery.
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