# Roxim RX5 -Anyone Have One?



## BrianMc (Jan 5, 2010)

Interesting road light here.

Anyone have one? Does it look reasonably rugged, with enough heat sink, and a bright enough beam? Does the premium one show well from the side at night with those corner LEDs?

Circa $100 US and self contained, a very interesting road light :thumbsup:.


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## BritOnTour (Feb 17, 2011)

Interesting design. So where in USA can you get it? Or is it a Taiwan import?


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## whs (Jun 25, 2007)

BrianMc said:


> Interesting road light here.
> 
> Anyone have one? Does it look reasonably rugged, with enough heat sink, and a bright enough beam? Does the premium one show well from the side at night with those corner LEDs?
> 
> Circa $100 US and self contained, a very interesting road light :thumbsup:.


I forgot to add a link on my website for gallery 2 that Vienna made about a month ago, he has the Roxim RX5 and from the beamshots I don't like its beam at all.

See:

http://photozou.jp/photo/list/214524/4445699

and for the other album and a discussion of the beam patterns see:

http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/koplampen_accu_afkapping_en.html#vienna


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## BrianMc (Jan 5, 2010)

When something seems too good...it usually is. The Phillips does some whoop a$$ on it.

Not enough lumens to say much about the beam shape really. It might be a good reflector donor in the cheaper 'S' version based on the (longer exposure?) Video of its beam. Somethig for the DIY forum.

Thanks guys. :thumbsup:


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## whs (Jun 25, 2007)

BrianMc said:


> When something seems too good...it usually is. The Phillips does some whoop a$$ on it.
> 
> Not enough lumens to say much about the beam shape really. It might be a good reflector donor in the cheaper 'S' version based on the (longer exposure?) Video of its beam. Somethig for the DIY forum.
> 
> Thanks guys. :thumbsup:


The RS3 might be a much better donor, but all in all, yes, the Philips LBL is the one to beat in LED lamps.

Btw., what most people don't realize, is how much work a reflector design for cutoff is. I hear people complaining the LBL is too expensive, but nobody comes anywhere close to it at the moment. The design of such a reflector can take months or longer, to fine tune (width, length, light distribution), to try to get the lux rating high (the importance of that is not a 'fairy tale' as Supernova claims, not, it's important for throw). I'd like to see more competition, and it will happen, but slowly.

The QL-269 seems much better than the RX5 as an experimenting lamp as you could take its lower beam (2 LED cores of the MC-E) and drive it at the full current of 0.7A instead of about 0.35A. Still, it will almost certainly not get close to the LBL...


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## Bikelight (Jul 11, 2011)

BrianMc said:


> Anyone have one? Does it look reasonably rugged, with enough heat sink, and a bright enough beam? Does the premium one show well from the side at night with those corner LEDs?
> 
> Circa $100 US and self contained, a very interesting road light :thumbsup:.


 I got RX5R in one month ago!!

I try to estimate the battery burning time so I turn on the light at home (without airstream) to test the battery burning time, I touch the light head, it's warm, and in the buttom of the bracket slot, you can see the aluminum alloy heatsink. I probe the temperature around 50 degree after 2 hour burning !! :madmax: :madmax:

Is the RX5 is bright enough? I think it depends. I had ride with RX5R without street light, I can keep 40KM/H without any fear. Compare to the light with 2 LED like Philips LBL, the RX5 comsume half of energy, so the brightness maybe half to LBL but 2 times of run time compare to LBL!! 
RX5 should compare to IXON IQ. LS740 PAVA
LBL should compare to dual IXON IQ SPEED.

Another point is human physiology, the pupil is very smart to adapt to the night evironment. Most important is light distribution must be very smooth on the road, and avoid the hot spot. Hot spot will let you feel outside of hotspot is very dark. If you have any question, just refer to car head light.

When you see the bike light photo that take in the night. I think there have some point need to check:
1. have any small spot over exposure? if it is, it means, when you use the light on the road, you will not comfortable.:eekster::eekster:
2. Is the bright-dark edge (cut-off) is the most brightness in the light distribution? this area should take most far distance, if the picture display from 0 - 40 M, the best light is 40M and 4M is the same bright feeling to your eyes, but that will be very difficult to achieve.
3. if you still have any probelm about the bike light, refer to car headlight design and beam distribuation.

By the way, the RX5 corner light distribution is not effect from the DRL, the 5 mm LED only for be seen purpose.:nono::nono:


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## Magnum9 (Jun 8, 2011)

If the beam on the RX5 is anything like the RS3 it is very sensitive to aiming height. In those beam shots it looks to be aimed far too high. If it was aimed correctly the entire area would be illuminated without any light on the vertical surface at the end of the test zone.


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## whs (Jun 25, 2007)

Magnum9 said:


> If the beam on the RX5 is anything like the RS3 it is very sensitive to aiming height. In those beam shots it looks to be aimed far too high. If it was aimed correctly the entire area would be illuminated without any light on the vertical surface at the end of the test zone.


Do you mean the beamshot by Vienna? It depends how far you want the lamp to illuminate the road. For all lamps with cutoff, the precise angle to set it at is critical! I suppose you are right, that the RX5 shold have been aimed lower, but these things are not easy, I mean, for all lamps you need to set the angle differently. I suppose Vienna aimed the lamps all such that the cutoff could be seen on the house. THis is good, gives a lot of information, but I guess the beamshape could be better shown with a lower aimed lamp. For the LBL for example, the aim seems about right as that lamp can/should be aimed to light up the road to about 70m.

I will ask Vienna about this.


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## Magnum9 (Jun 8, 2011)

The Roxim lights don't illuminate as far down the road as other lights but when aimed correctly will give a good even narrow beam coverage. If you try and get them to go further by aiming higher you just get a spot way out in front with not much brightness at all.


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## piast9 (Nov 20, 2011)

I have recently bought this light. The illumination is superb. The light beam reaches is shaped in a way that provides both great illumination that starts right in the point where front wheel rolls on the surface up to the distance far away to comfortable ride at full speed in pitch-dark places. 

Unfortunately there are some drawbacks. The handlebar bracket is a joke. It has the hand-tighten band around the handlebar which I can't tighten enough to stop the lamp from tilting down when riding on rough surface. I have unpainted aluminium handlebar - maybe on painted or carbon fiber bars it hold better.

The mounting bracket provides the ability to aim the lamp left or right which is nice but it also should be more rigid, it can be moved by delicate pushing with one finger. On top of that the QR mechanism is very wobbly and the lamp with 4 AA batteries is quite heavy. It causes rattling and the light beam shakes like crazy when you ride on the rough. It seems that the mounting is the same for RX5 and RS3 lamps. It may work with RS3 which is lighter.

And the last thing. There isn't a single word in the manual if the lamp is splash- or waterproof or not. The way in which the battery cover is made suggests that it rather isn't. There's no seal around its edges. Well, the possible moisture in the battery compartment isn't that bad but also the switch on top of the lamp doesn't seem to have any seals... Well, I'll see how it works when I got caught by rain or snow...

To sum up: RX5 is a lamp with excellent light beam design but many mechanical drawbacks.


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