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Interbike 2012: Lupine Betty Bike Light Hits 3600 Lumens, Leaves Spots in Our Eyes & Wallets

2013 Lupine Betty 3600 lumen mountain bike light
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2013 Lupine Betty 3600 lumen mountain bike light

No, it’s not quite that 12,000 lumen showstopper from Cygolite. But you can actually mount this up to your bike without a liquid cooling system.

Lupine’s updated Betty handlebar light did have to rework a few things to pump 1,000 extra lumens out of the LED bulbs though. Yes, you read that right, it’s a full one thousand lumens brighter than before, blazing the trail ahead with 3,600 lumens. Shown next to it is the 4-bulb Wilma, which jumps to 2,400 lumens (up from 1,500).

With the jump in light, the Betty’s Power Control Board had to be revised from a composite to copper because with all that additional output (aka: heat), it was melting things inside. To power all that glow, they have a new 17.5 amp/hour water bottle sized battery pack.

The Betty also now comes with a tiny wireless remote and has a new side mounting attachment point like the Piko, which makes the system a bit lower profile on the bike.

More new stuff, plus colors, below…

2013 Lupine Piko 900 lumen mountain bike light

The 2-bulb Piko jumps to 900 lumens (up from 750) and gets anodized red, violet, blue and “XTR gray” housing options. The standard kit for the Piko also now includes their Smart Core battery with power indicator light built in.

All models use Cree LED bulbs and are available in different outputs and degrees of illumination to suit your terrain and riding conditions.

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Greg J.
Greg J.
11 years ago

I wish BikeRumor offered more thoughtful reviews – referring to the lumens as CLAIMED and not assuming those are the actual results. Same goes for the crappy chinese made Lumintrek advertisement on the sidebar – 1600 lumens for 169.95…riiiiight.. most consumers don’t realize how much they are getting ripped off and all this cut/paste media coverage feeds it.

JimmyZ
JimmyZ
11 years ago

I would like to see the shape the light beam takes. I get dreams of tunnel vision after I ride at night with my magicshine. There has to be a better way to deal with this besides mounting lights on each side of my handlebar.

Bart
Bart
11 years ago

you say spots in wallets but dont mention pricing?

Brandon
Brandon
11 years ago

Why even get such a ridiculous light? What’s the point? Might as well just ride during the day. I have a 500 lumen light and turn it down a notch to give myself a challenge. If I leave it on 500, it feels too much like the daytime…

DeeEight
DeeEight
11 years ago

J… actually Lupine systems are consistently dead accurate in lumen ratings… its one of the reasons their lights are so damned expensive, and really, 3600 lumens from 7 LEDs is ridiculously easy to achieve. The DIY crowd on mtbr’s light forum routinely are building much stronger stuff, including some of them own companies which produce these lights commercially… but what they make for themselves… if they focuses them tighter you’d violate some FAA regulations if you aimed them at flying aircraft at night.

Without reading up which LED specifically they’re using, the Cree XM-L T-6 bin is capable of in excess of 1000 lumens EACH (at 85C operating temperature) when driven at 3 amps. 7 of those and that’s over 7k lumens. Drive them half way and well… lower temperatures inside the housing and 3600 lumens. The Cree XPG is just under 500 lumens at 1.5 amps, and the new XPG2 is 20% higher at the same amperage. There’s also now an even newer XML-U2 that is already appearing in fancy high-powered flashlights that’s about 10% better than the XML-T6 for the same power.

DeeEight
DeeEight
11 years ago

@Jimmy… you can order a flood lense for the magicshine 808s… it changes the 10° spot to a 10° x 30° flood and cuts down on the halo of light around the spot zone. They cost about $4 and you install them yourself in a couple minutes. It fits any of the 808 versions (the original SSC P7 ones, the XML equipped 808E or the new for 2013 808U).

myke
myke
11 years ago

Greg J. – 09/27/12 – 10:03pm
I wish BikeRumor offered more thoughtful reviews – referring to the lumens as CLAIMED and not assuming those are the actual results. Same goes for the crappy chinese made Lumintrek advertisement on the sidebar – 1600 lumens for 169.95…riiiiight.. most consumers don’t realize how much they are getting ripped off and all this cut/paste media coverage feeds it.
JimmyZ – 09/27/12 – 10:18pm
I would like to see the shape the light beam takes. I get dreams of tunnel vision after I ride at night with my magicshine. There has to be a better way to deal with this besides mounting lights on each side of my handlebar.

Greg, BR doesnt do that many reviews. this article was for product introductions. no where does BR state they have used these lights for review! Both of you guys need to do you own research and searching. if you had you would find out Lupine systems are almost always accurately represented spec wise.

Simon Syefigh
Simon Syefigh
11 years ago

“The bigger the number the better the light”

–Steve Salesman

“If you don’t have the most lumens in your ride group, your sex life will disappear and you may even find yourself arrested for perverted acts.”

–Vernon Virility

“The whole point of riding at night is to be able to show off technology which renders night-time irrelevant, and makes things brighter than the brightest day in summer.”

–Bill Bikerumor

Simon Syefigh
Simon Syefigh
11 years ago

Also, I’m very glad to see my hero DeeEight posting at BikeRumor. If there’s one Internet Personality (TM) who knows how to appear expert by using Google to research facts and regurgitate them as if he were the designer of every bike part ever made, it’s DeeEight. Truly, a hero for the ages!

JesseJ
JesseJ
11 years ago

@Brandon,
I have a job and when winter comes I cant ride during the daylight hours so products like this let me rip singletrack at daylight speeds in the middle of the night. I would love to just ride in the day but when I cant I have options.

Editz
Editz
11 years ago

Interesting stuff. Given that Lupine’s a German company, how do they not run afoul of StVZO light regulations with these monsters? I thought there were strict limits on brightness for urban bike lights?

MasCam
MasCam
11 years ago

I think you guys are missing the point. It is a quick product update from Interbike, NOT a review. They are just letting us all know that it exists.

Tony
Tony
11 years ago

These lights are seriously legit, I have the 3600lm Betty R9 on the handlebars, the 900lm Piko 3 on my helmet and a Piko mini max in my backpack for emergencies. You can’t do any better than these lights, period

@Bart: Betty R $1100-1200 depending on battery
Piko 3 – $365
Piko mini max $400

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