Rear lamp: B&M Toplight mini plus
Beam shots
See the camera settings page for more on the setup and settings to make pictures of the beams of taillamps.
Out of a corner (showing how much light is cast upwards, forwards and to the sides) [ F3.9 & F1.8 ]:
Wallshot (showing the beam pattern):
Visibility from various angles (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°) [ 0.5m, zoom x3, F3.5, ISO80, 1/250s & 1/60s ]:
Comparing taillamps
Experiences
On the main page I wrote:
If the LED/LEDs are in that bit sticking out on top, then this is probably going to be another taillamp with annoying point source... Visibility will probably be poor then.
And of course as I expected, one of the LEDs shines without optic in a cone which is annoying and actually I could call it antisocial. The other LED shines in the reflector, similar to the Plateo but in the Plateo it's done much better where the whole reflector shines fairly uniformly.
B&M should know these lamps are annoying, they should know it's impossible to judge distance because of the point source. My sister visited some acquaintances recently (ca. 12 Sep.) who ride mopeds. They were talking about taillamps from bicycles, and how those with a point source were annoying because they couldn't judge distance at all! I'm not the only one who notices these things and B&M should know this.
Annoying for following traffic until which distance?: Very annoying, distance not yet tested, probably ≥25m
Visibility: Good.
Visibility by reflection: To be tested.
Ease of connecting wires: Good for 2.8mm plugs, there is no provision to connect bare wires.
When I measured on a 6V direct current source, the current was only ca. 16 mA. I need to check this for an alternating current source (dynamo) because 16 mA does not conform StVZO (the minimum according to StVZO is 0.3W at 6V, i.e. 50mA).
Design- and thus review considerations for taillamps
See Theory for taillamps.
Conclusion
18 gram of weight saving (compared to a Toplight line plus) is not of interest to me, the LED behind the reflector is ok (I will have to do some tests to find out how effective it is) but B&M should get another kick under their asses for the 2nd LED which shines directly in a cone into the eyes of following traffic. This is bad, and they should know that.
Not recommended.
Post script
This lamp has won a design prize ifdesign: B&M Toplight Mini plus but what is such a prize worth if they don't even consider its operation? This reminds in its pointlessness of the election of 'Bicycle of the year' here in the Netherlands. Manufacturers send in a bike, pay the comittee, and from one of those bikes the bike of the year gets chosen. Other good bicycles will therefore never become bike of the year. The comittee doesn't go out and look for all bicycles that are being sold in NL to choose the most interesting one... This is a good subject for my future 'fairy tale' page!
Last modified: Tue Feb 19 16:05:45 CET 2013
