Lupine is a German company who have been at the forefront of bike lights for many years. And when I mean forefront, I mean whole leagues ahead of the competition. Lupine are now being imported to the UK, and after the recent demise of my ‘modified’ Cateye Stadium (I built a working Cateye Stadium from the burned out wreckage of an original Stadium 1, but the glue and solder eventually gave up the ghost), I replaced it with a brand spanking Lupine Edison 5.
This is the second most expensive lamp in the Lupine range, but the Edison 10 simply has a double-sized battery (and so weighs and costs even more). First impressions are HOW SMALL !. It is about the same size complete, as a Cateye Stadium bulb and ballast only. The battery is about half the size of a Lumicycle battery. I find it easier to strap the battery pack to the stem, rather than the frame. The reason the battery is a bag type and not bottle type is that it is too small to fit in a bottle cage. The battery is smaller than a spare tube. Did I mention how small the battery is?
Obviously unless the battery is made from super-dense nuclear reactor leftovers, then it also must be silly light. And it is. 450g for the complete set.
Second impressions are that despite the diminutive size, this baby puts out car-type illumination. Definitely not less than a Cateye Stadium (Lupine claim exactly the same light output as a good car headlamp, and I’m not disputing).
So this is by far the best bike lamp made. Apart from one not so small statistic. They cost £450 after negotiating a discount (RRP £499)!
First things first… I did actually buy these lights with my own money, meaning that this is perhaps the first review from a paying customer you’ll have read. This makes the all important “HOW CAN THEY POSSIBLY COST SO MUCH?” question a bit more meaningful. Yes they are extraordinarily expensive, but so was the Stadium, which was £400 when it first came out. Further back in time the original Nightsuns cost a staggering £250, or even the £100 I paid for my first set of lead acid powered Vistalites. Looking back on those products they were far from high tech, and equivalents can be picked up for about a third of that price today.
The reason these lights cost 50% more than their peers, is the outrageous performance and the exceptional construction. Firstly performance. Compare the Edison 5’s vitals to those of its high-end competition:
Competitor # one - the Lumicycle Halide. The Edison has the same light output and burn time as the ‘lumi’ when on dipped beam. The Edison weighs half as much and still has the main beam option.
Competitor # two - the Cateye Stadium. Cateye’s claims for both burn time and the 84 watt halogen equivalent, involve a large proportion of wishful thinking with a smattering of poor arithmetic. The truth is that both these lamps put out the same amount of illumination for 2 ½ hours. But the Cateye weighs 1.3kg and the Lupine only 450g!
This lamp isn’t just a significant step forwards, it’s rewritten the rules.
Secondly construction. As you would rightly expect for £450, the construction is extremely professional. You may have heard that the lamp attaches with an O-ring, which is true, but this is a huge O-ring and by far the best mounting idea I’ve seen since Lumicycle’s cable tie clamp. All the system components are bespoke. No cobbled-together RS catalogue components here. A remote switch sits at your thumb and give visual cues of battery life and main beam via a series of LEDs built into the switch itself. You simply don’t get these type of features from anyone else. Also no other company offers dimmable single lamps, a ‘reserve tank’ in the battery, or run-flat protection to prevent damaging your expensive battery.
So how do Lupine manage what other manufacturers find impossible? Essentially they harness some very sophisticated technology to wring every last candlepower from what is remarkably only a 16 watt bulb. The first trick is to use a metal halide bulb, which typically emit 3 times as much illumination power per watt as a halogen lamp. But that doesn’t explain the vast reduction in weight compared to even other halide lamps. The difference is that Lupine employ their own bespoke electronics to fire the halide lamp, giving an extra significant increase over the standard firing circuit supplied with the bulb. Nobody else does this. At the same time Lupine built-in a unique high/low beam circuit, also the only halide lamp to be able to offer this.
All this trickery seriously reduces the current draw required, and further electronics in the ‘smart-switch’ regulate the battery voltage to prevent dimming during use and extend battery life. These circuits also prevent full battery drain, and monitor battery condition.
The end result is that the Lupine only requires a 40Wh battery to run at car-headlight brightness for 2 ½ hours, compared to the 50 or 60Wh batteries commonly specified. Then Lupine fit a wallet busting Li-Ion battery instead of the usual NiMH for further weight gains.
In case you still don’t believe the price, here’s an approximately breakdown if you fancied building a DIY equivalent:
And you’d still need lamp casings, leads and a battery bag.
(Or alternatively, halide headlamps for a Ford Focus are a £500 surcharge).
The only shame is that Lupine don’t make a ‘cheap’ Edison. A NiHM battery and a cheaper charger would still result in a world beating lamp, at maybe a £100 reduction in outlay.
The lamp fires up significantly quicker than a Stadium, and settles down to a piercing blue-white beam in about 3 seconds. Like most halides, the beam spread is very broad in order to fully utilise the immense illumination power on offer. This makes off-road riding very manageable, but also makes dipping for oncoming cars essential. (For the road a narrow beam version is also available, which must provide an incredible illumination distance). It goes without saying that there is more than enough light available.
Whereas halides don’t much like being switched on and off, the low/high beam switching is guaranteed not to damage the bulb. The low beam flickers a little, but is ideal for road sections, courtesy dipping, and conversing battery life. The bright blue LED on the remote is the finishing touch, emulating the main beam warning lamp in cars.
Lamp mounting is tool and bracket free, and rock solid. The O-ring fitting also facilitates ‘manual’ dipping and adjusting of the beam angle while underway. Unfortunately the remote mounting is nowhere near as friendly. Bits of self adhesive Velcro and dodgy straps are a distinct pain, but for a few quid you can get a specially manufactured plastic bracket from Lupine. Luckily the switch is illuminated so whenever it drifts off, at least you can find it in the dark. I am currently experimenting with plastic hose guides, or simply trapping the cable under the lamp’s own O-ring. These seem to work better than the supplied fittings. Apart from the exceptional price, the switch securing strap is the only niggle evident anywhere with this system.
I can’t say you have to buy this product, because I still live in the real world and understand just how much money £450 is, and just how unlikely most people are to justify that type of outlay. Without the price tag, the Lupine Edison 5 is the best bike lamp anywhere, ever. With the price tag it is simply another choice in the spectrum of high power lamps; from the £35 lead acid sets, to the top-end halides. As they say - “you get what you pay for”. Is the Edison 5 worth 12 times a budget lead acid set ? NO. Is the Edison worth 50% more than a Cateye Stadium? YES.
So if you are considering ‘big league’ lighting then you should seriously consider the Edison 5. If you are in the middle-range I’d seriously look at Lupine’s equally excellent halogen lamps such as the Pasubio. If £200+ still sounds seriously expensive then simply carry on enjoying your night riding, with whatever you use !
Kevin Hodgson
January 2004
Last Updated 13-01-2004
You can contact me at:
To return Home click here: www.OffroadAdventures-Online.com
All pages and content Copyright © 1999 - 2004 James Murnaghan or their respective authors. All rights reserved.
No content of this web-site may be used in whole or in part, without the express permission of The Editor.