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IQ reflector changes: Influence on beam shape and artefacts

B&M's IQ reflector versions: Influence on beam shape and artefacts

Update 2013-12-16: When I first made this page in 2010, I had listed 3 versions of the IQ reflector. But then it seemed after more forum perusing, that this was wrong, that there were only 2 versions, and shortly after that I 'fixed' this page. But actually it was correct, there were indeed 3 versions (perhaps even more?). The 3rd version was made probably after the 2nd version with the 5 sections in the centre, it's hard to tell without doing archeology by perusing forums for old postings and looking for pictures of Cyos and Edeluxes, which I'm not going to do, but it makes sense because Edeluxes only seemed to get a reflector with matte sides at the end of 2009. In any event, I added back the 3rd version, which I have in a recent 2013 Edelux for example. This version looks the same as the original one, with 4 sections in the centre but sides are matte. But the Edelux-2013 does have a hotspot, far more noticeable than anything in the Edelux-2008, so is the reflector different in shape/curvature from the 2008 reflector? That would explain the noticeable hotspot (or perhaps it's caused by the LED being aimed slightly differently or because the LED is much brighter than in 2008? I will do some checks) To conclude, I found a picture of a "Idworx edelux+" (see for example "http://www.sintchristophorus.nl/test-idworx-easy-rohler-evo/", direct link to the picture here) which supposedly uses a modified reflector for more near field light. That's exactly what the Cyo's 5 section reflector did, and the 2013 Edelux does not have light as close to the bike as I've seen on beamshots of the Cyo 60, so I'd guess it's in between the beamshape of the original Edelux and the Cyo-60 from late 2008 onwards. This edelux+ looks to have the 5 section reflector in Cyos from late 2008 onwards, so I'm guessing Idworx just did a reflector swap of Edelux + Cyo reflector.

Note: Pictures are taken from the links below, I will add my own pictures in due course.

B&M's IQ reflector which is used in the B&M IQ Fly, IQ Cyo, Ixon IQ (battery powered headlamp), Ixon IQ speed (battery powered headlamp) and Schmidt Edelux, exists in at least 2 versions, about which there's a fair amount of information on the IBC forum (mtb-news.de):

The following thread discusses the reflector change from page 14 starting with the post by 'Piktogramm' on 15 Jan. 2009: http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?t=300140&page=14.

But look here: http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?p=5410373#post5410373, the posting by 'mwulf' from 20 Dec. 2008 already shows a 5 section reflector with matte sides.

So the versions I know of are these:

  1. The one used up to ca. December 2008, as used in the Edelux that I have. You can identify it by looking at the sections in the reflector: 4 in the middle, and 2 sides. Those 2 sides are shiny like the rest of the reflector.

    Picture is from an Ixon IQ speed headlamp
  2. The one from ca. end of 2008 to now (late 2010). This has 5 sections in the middle, and 2 sides. Those 2 sides are matte which removes the swirly pattern near the front wheel. From reports in German forums it seems as if this has been used in the Edelux only from end of 2009 onwards. Update 2013-12-16: It could be that people thought the reflector was the same as in the Cyo, especially because of the matte sides, but possibly the reflector was not the 5 section reflector, but the 4 section reflector with matte sides, see below.

    Picture is from an Ixon IQ speed headlamp
  3. 2013-12-16: Another version with 4 sections in the middle, which looks like the original 2008 reflector, but with sides that are matte. Perhaps this was the only reflector used in the Edelux after the original version, it would make sense as I don't think I've ever seen pictures of an Edelux with the 5 section reflector except recently the 'Edelux+' (I have seen pictures of Cyos with 5 section reflector, and the Cyo RT that I tested had one as well). From the hotspot it seems this reflector is different not just in matte sides, because in the original Edelux there's just about no trace of any hotspot.

Pictures showing the different beam patterns side-by-side:


These pictures were taken with an Ixon IQ speed headlamp

You can see in these pictures that the newer reflector gives more light close to the front wheel, but there is a noticeable hotspot with various artefacts in the centre, so for me the Edelux is not as good any more as the first version (that same hotspot annoyed me a lot and was very distracting in the Cyo RT).

As the 5 section version of the IQ reflector was already used in December 2008, this may mean (if B&M used the newer reflector in the Cyo-R at that time too) that a Cyo-R (Nahfeld) may have been a good lamp for just a few months after which it presumably has the same beam shape the Cyo-RT has now.

Note: I wrote the following on the main page before I did my recent test of the Cyo RT:

Busch en Müller IQ Cyo: Available since early October 2008. This is an improvement on the IQ Fly. Especially the version with 'Nahfeld-Ausleuchtung' looks perfect for those who don't want to cycle very fast in the dark, and don't want to spend more money on an Edelux or E3. See the website of the manufacturer. I don't like the fact that B&M makes 4 different versions of both the standard and Nahfeld version (update Aug. 2010: Now 5, with the daylight running-light versions, so 10 Cyo versions in total), and I don't particularly like the style (plastic housing + aluminium cooler for the LED sticking out). Both lamps give a little less light than an Edelux. I'm probably not going to test these lamps as what they can do is pretty obvious: Both lamps give almost as much light as the Edelux, the Cyo sport has the same beam pattern but slightly less bright, the Cyo-Nahfeld has a beam pattern with close-field light so there's no dark spot in front of the wheel, resulting in half the brightness of the beam further away. Update Aug. 2010: After seeing the Philips (battery powered) lamp and how much brighter it appears despite a not so large increase in (claimed) light output, I'm considering testing the Cyo Nahfeld too see how much darker it is than an Edelux...

The above text did change a bit over the 2 years it was on my main bicycle lighting web page (until August 2010), but in particular the comment that the Cyo-R would be great for people who don't like to ride as fast as I do at night, was made in Autumn 2008. This was perhaps correct before ca. December 2008, with the original IQ reflector, but I'm not sure how good/bad the near-field beam really was then, perhaps it was also rubbish? From my test it is clear that pictures can be very misleading, e.g. the Cyo beamshot B&M's website, more so than I thought originally.

That pictures do not tell the whole story is also the reason why in my first post on this subject in the forum of 'Fiets' (20 Sept. 2007, which was really a concept for my bicycle lighting pages which came a year later) I stated that the opinion of cyclists are necessary to give readers an impression of how good or bad a lamp is. So it's hard to say how good/bad a Cyo-R was before the reflector change, but it hardly matters any more (because even if those old Cyo-Rs were good, you can't buy them any more...).

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