Yes, you read that right — Lupine Lighting Systems in Germany has introduced the “Betty” lamp with a suggested retail of $1185. Seven Seoul P4 white LEDs convert 22 watts into 1400 lumens of light for up to eight hours. That’s twice the brightness of a standard 55 watt car headlight.
This light is marketed to night-time mountain bike trail riders, but the Wall Street Journal reports on Lloyd Chambers of Portola Valley, CA, who commutes with this ultrabright bad boy. The WSJ article also mentions Princeton Tec’s Switchback series of lights (which I’ll review here soon — excellent light!); CatEye’s new Single Shots (which I took a look at at Interbike — another decent light); and Light and Motion’s Stella (also seen at Interbike).
Lupine has traditionally done HID lights for mountain biking, but the Betty and its predecessor the Wilma represent a departure from the highly efficient HID technology as white LEDs have become brighter and more efficient. CygoLite is also abandoning HID as they move to ultrabright LEDs lights like their TridenX triple LED.
Via Book of Joe via Gizmodo. The U.S. distributor for Lupine Lights is Gretna Bikes.