# Serfas TSL-500 True 500 Lumen Headlight



## skyflying1 (Aug 6, 2008)

I saw this at my LBS and witnessed its power! I'm impressed however I cannot find and reviews with pictures of the beam spread. I'm thinking of purchasing two of these units for my night rides in the back streets and trails. I like the fact theat it's all in one. The battery is in the unit and the price is where I like it ($150.00).

Does anyone out there have this unit? 
If so can you post some night photos up as I can see what type of beam this unit puts out. Thank you guys in advance. Link at the bottom if your curious. 

Serfas TSL-500


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## csledd281 (Aug 21, 2009)

I just purchased this light because I was also impressed by it when I found it in my LBS. cant' wait to use it!


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## billbanshee (Mar 13, 2009)

im trying to decide between this and nightrider 600 the replacable battery has me thinking serfas at the moment


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## Bicycleez (Jul 30, 2004)

I just got one of these last Friday. I've been on 2 rides with it so far.
I bought it to put on the bars to supplement my DX torch on my helmet.

2 of these would be plenty to ride with. The DX torch on my helmet has less power than the 500 has and I do just fine.

The modes are easy to scroll through and it turns on in full bright mode.

It charges pretty quickly with the USB/120v charger.

The battery looks like a typical 18650 with a cover on it.

I got mine from The Big River for $120 shipped.


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## jbardwel (Oct 27, 2011)

*the big river*



Bicycleez said:


> I just got one of these last Friday. I've been on 2 rides with it so far.
> I bought it to put on the bars to supplement my DX torch on my helmet.
> 
> 2 of these would be plenty to ride with. The DX torch on my helmet has less power than the 500 has and I do just fine.
> ...


your got at TSL_500 from The Big River for $120 shippped, can you give me a website address, I cant find it, also have you verified that the battery you guess it uses "
The battery looks like a typical 18650 with a cover on it."
works? they are way cheaper than the $30 batteries from Serfas


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## Ziemas (Apr 11, 2005)

jbardwel said:


> your got at TSL_500 from The Big River for $120 shippped, can you give me a website address, I cant find it, also have you verified that the battery you guess it uses "
> The battery looks like a typical 18650 with a cover on it."
> works? they are way cheaper than the $30 batteries from Serfas


I think he means Amazon. They are now $130.

Amazon.com: Serfas True 500 Usb Headlight (Black, One): Sports & Outdoors


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## Bicycleez (Jul 30, 2004)

Ziemas said:


> I think he means Amazon. They are now $130.
> 
> Amazon.com: Serfas True 500 Usb Headlight (Black, One): Sports & Outdoors


^Yep.

The battery looks like an 18650, but there is a special case it is in. You can't just put an 18650 in the light.


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## jbardwel (Oct 27, 2011)

*serfas*

Thanks for the replies, I ordered one from Amazon and they are now $130, and I now can see from the battery case online that one cant just plop in the bare battery. Can't wait to check it out, hope it is reliable, I have gone through about 15 princeton tec EOS bikes, though my Jetlite is still going strong after about 7 years!


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## skidad (May 23, 2005)

Saw one of these just the other day. Cute lite and bright. 

I agree it's nice that you can change the battery quickly and carry spares but it would have been even better if you could put in any old 18650 and not the proprietary Serfas battery pack with MSRP of $30.


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## Ziemas (Apr 11, 2005)

The new Lezyne Super Drive takes a standard 18650 battery, and uses an XML emitter. It might be a good choice if you are looking for something with an easily and cheaply replaceable battery.


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## jbardwel (Oct 27, 2011)

*reviews?*



Ziemas said:


> The new Lezyne Super Drive takes a standard 18650 battery, and uses an XML emitter. It might be a good choice if you are looking for something with an easily and cheaply replaceable battery.


Any reviews out there? have you got one? it is the superdrive right, not the power drive that goes with a 18650? It doesnt come with a helmet mount, but other than that looks good!


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## skidad (May 23, 2005)

Ziemas said:


> The new Lezyne Super Drive takes a standard 18650 battery, and uses an XML emitter. It might be a good choice if you are looking for something with an easily and cheaply replaceable battery.


SWEET...are you sure? It does look like you might be correct. I have a bunch of these batteries so I would like to try this light.

LED Lights


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## skidad (May 23, 2005)

jbardwel said:


> Any reviews out there? have you got one? it is the superdrive right, not the power drive that goes with a 18650? It doesnt come with a helmet mount, but other than that looks good!


These are JUST coming out as far as I know and probably no one has them yet....except Francois :thumbsup:. Pretty sure he's got the new Lezyne's for testing in the shootout.


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## Ziemas (Apr 11, 2005)

skidad said:


> SWEET...are you sure? It does look like you might be correct. I have a bunch of these batteries so I would like to try this light.
> 
> LED Lights


100% positive. I called Lezyne and talked to Mike, their engineer. He was very informative. I got the impression that a lot of thought went into these lights.


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## skidad (May 23, 2005)

Ok, I talked to Mike at Lyzene also and he assured me the Super Drive does take standard 18650 batteries. He said just make sure they are a high quality protected cell (plenty of crappy 18650's out there). I have a bunch of AW 2900mAh batteries so no issues. He said the AW's may also give a longer run time than what they rate the lite with using the standard 2400 mAh that comes with the light. 

Also interesting is the Lyzezne Super Drive 50 lux rating is the same as the higher Night Rider rated (hmmmm) MiNewt 600 on the MTBR lux test (the Serfas TSL500 is less @ 43 lux). So at least same or better power, quick change non proprietary battery and $40 cheaper than either of the other 2. No brainer for me and I think Lyzene has a winner here for a small self contained light...

My new Super Drive has already shipped from Lyzene:thumbsup:


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## nixternal (Oct 9, 2011)

Emailed Lezyne asking if they are going to do a helmet mount for these lights. That would be the only thing holding me back from purchasing a set of lights (probably a 400 & a 300, or 2 400's or 2 300s. Or maybe even add a third light for commuting with the super small 150). I could probably get away with using an o-ring too.


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## Ziemas (Apr 11, 2005)

nixternal said:


> Emailed Lezyne asking if they are going to do a helmet mount for these lights. That would be the only thing holding me back from purchasing a set of lights (probably a 400 & a 300, or 2 400's or 2 300s. Or maybe even add a third light for commuting with the super small 150). I could probably get away with using an o-ring too.


I asked and they said that they had one in the works, but couldn't offer anything concrete regarding when they would be available.


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## walrus (Feb 13, 2004)

cambriabike has the Lezyne Super Drive for $99 and with the code SCARY20 they are 20% off through October 31st 

That's $79, just ordered one!

20% off code applies to everything at the store


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## skidad (May 23, 2005)

walrus said:


> cambriabike has them for $99 and with the code SCARY20 they are 20% off through October 31st
> 
> That's $79, just ordered one!


Great price...thanks for the heads up. Maybe I'll pick up a second one for that price

I was impulsive and paid the full $109 + shipping from Lyzene:blush:


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## betweenrides (Oct 19, 2010)

nixternal said:


> Emailed Lezyne asking if they are going to do a helmet mount for these lights. That would be the only thing holding me back from purchasing a set of lights (probably a 400 & a 300, or 2 400's or 2 300s. Or maybe even add a third light for commuting with the super small 150). I could probably get away with using an o-ring too.


The supplied mounts are removable, so no reason you couldn't attached this light to your helmet using a Twofish Lockblock is there? With the discount listed above from Cambria, this looks like a good deal.


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## Blurider24 (Jul 30, 2008)

Thank you Betweenrides and Walrus for pointing out the discount code to Cambria and noting that Cambria had the SuperDrive! I've been looking at buying a new light for the past 6 or so months now and this just sealed the deal for me  I truly appreciate it folks!

--------------
EDIT
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Update 11/09/11: Ordered 10/31, cancelled on 11/7


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## walrus (Feb 13, 2004)

I got an email from cambriabike saying the Lezyne Super Drive is backordered, It was listed as in stock when I ordered it. Then I posted the deal here and I guess they sold a lot of them. Luckily I'm in no hurry and can wait for this good deal.


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## Ziemas (Apr 11, 2005)

Does anyone know of a US webshop, aside from Lezyne itself, that has the Power Drive in stock?


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## skidad (May 23, 2005)

Got my new Super Drive from Lyzene...Nice little lite and lightweight. 

Approx. 18mm diameter smooth refelctor with a pretty deep set LED which throws a very smooth but fairly tight beam. Probably awesome for a commuter bike. Power I would say is excellent (I have 2 superb 500+ lumen single 18650 torches to compare it to) with a nice color white beam. I only used it so far on my road commute to the trails last night where it was great IMO. (Sorry, once I hit the trails bigger lumen lights took over). I will test it on trails another time. The clamp held just fine for the 2 hour ride and the lamphead itself is securley held to the mount but easy to remove. USB plug cover works well and the overall finish is pretty nice (I got light gray color). It would have been really sweet if the power button glowed when the light was turned on. 

The supplied 18650 battery is larger than my other 18650 batteries and just barely fit the charger I have. Of course you don't need a seperate charger as you can charge the battery in the light itself with the supplied USB cable. 18650 batteries can vary in size a bit and the guy at Lyzene said they designed the light to handle about any size. Some torches will not accept all 18650 batteries as an FYI. On the bottom of the light is a nice little graphic indicating which way to insert the battery. I will try to do a full power battery run test very soon on the Lyzene supplied 2400mAh battery and my own AW 2900mAh and 3100mAh Callies Kustoms batteries and check back.


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## Ziemas (Apr 11, 2005)

skidad said:


> Got my new Super Drive from Lyzene...Nice little lite and lightweight.
> 
> Approx. 18mm diameter smooth refelctor with a pretty deep set LED which throws a very smooth but fairly tight beam. Probably awesome for a commuter bike. Power I would say is excellent (I have 2 superb 500+ lumen single 18650 torches to compare it to) with a nice color white beam. I only used it so far on my road commute to the trails last night where it was great IMO. (Sorry, once I hit the trails bigger lumen lights took over). I will test it on trails another time. The clamp held just fine for the 2 hour ride and the lamphead itself is securley held to the mount but easy to remove. USB plug cover works well and the overall finish is pretty nice (I got light gray color). It would have been really sweet if the power button glowed when the light was turned on.
> 
> The supplied 18650 battery is larger than my other 18650 batteries and just barely fit the charger I have. Of course you don't need a seperate charger as you can charge the battery in the light itself with the supplied USB cable. 18650 batteries can vary in size a bit and the guy at Lyzene said they designed the light to handle about any size. Some torches will not accept all 18650 batteries as an FYI. On the bottom of the light is a nice little graphic indicating which way to insert the battery. I will try to do a full power battery run test very soon on the Lyzene supplied 2400mAh battery and my own AW 2900mAh and 3100mAh Callies Kustoms batteries and check back.


Excellent, thanks! Does it accept flat top cells like the AW?


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## Tim-H (Mar 20, 2010)

skidad said:


> Approx. 18mm diameter smooth refelctor with a pretty deep set LED which throws a very smooth but fairly tight beam


I ordered one from Cambria, they said it's on backorder for about a week or two.

I think your description is exactly what I was thinking it would be. Would be nice if it were less focused but I think it will make a great helmet spot to supplement my Trinewt on the bars.

Shouldn't be too hard to mount it to a helmet really. At the very least, there's always foam tape and zip ties.

I thought about spending a little extra for the minewt 600 because it has a wider beam. Being able to swap in new batteries with the Lyzene, and being able to pick it up for $90 shipped really made me keep my order.


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## skidad (May 23, 2005)

*ZebraLight SC600 and Spark SL6(S)-800CW*



Tim-H said:


> I ordered one from Cambria, they said it's on backorder for about a week or two.
> 
> I think your description is exactly what I was thinking it would be. Would be nice if it were less focused but I think it will make a great helmet spot to supplement my Trinewt on the bars.
> 
> ...


How about another option(s). These are both torches that hold a single 18650 battery, have an honest 500 lumens on high with 5 minute super modes to 750 and 800 lumens respectively. ZebraLight SC600 and the Spark SL6(S)-800CW. The ZebraLight has a 21mm orange peel reflector and the Spark has a 24mm orange peel reflector with deeper set LED. Both are amazing power house lights that are easy to use and mount with a TwoFish Cycleblock. The Spark also comes with a frosted diffusor lens which swaps in seconds and produces a beautiful flood beam. *Both are superior to the new Lyzene* and throw a longer and wider beam. (I have all 3) All are priced pretty close together and if you already have 18650 batteries and a charger these are very high quality torches worth a look IMO.. ZebraLight is very small and stout and actually heavier than the slightly longer Spark. Very different looks and love em both!!!

*ZebraLight SC600 review * Zebralight SC600 (1x18650, XM-L) Review: RUNTIME, BEAMSHOTS, comparisons & more!

*Spark SL6-800CW review *(the new SL6S version has a single button only which I bought) Spark SL6 800CW (XM-L T6, 2xCR123A/1x18650) Review: RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOTS, and more!


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## skidad (May 23, 2005)

Some battery run times for the Lyzene Power Drive. Just a note...when the battery runs low to approx 15% the Power Drive drops to it's lowest setting and will blink every 1 minute until it finally expires.

*Supplied 2400mAh Lyzene battery*..._1 hour and 36 minutes on high_ before it kicked down to low. It then ran for another 35 minutes at this setting before going out.

*Callies Kustoms 3100mAh Panasonic battery*..._1 hour and 46 minutes on high_ before kicking down to low. It then ran another 3 hours (yes, 3 freaking hours on low) before I finally shut the light off and went to bed. Amazing.

I may retest with the Lyzene battery again and I also have some AW 2900mAh batteries I could try also. The bottom line is Lyzene said the light would run 1.5 hrs on high and that proved to be right on the mark and then some. With the higher capacity battery it's even better.

Also, during the first test I was running the light standing verticle on it's tail cap with no cooling. After 30 minutes the entire body was quite hot so I ran a fan to cool it for the remainder of the testing. Real world where you would actually be moving I see no issues. The light does contain a thermal control if it gets to hot.


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