# Outbound Lighting -- DETOUR Road/Gravel Light --- Discussion



## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

We've teased it long enough, we've finalized things well enough, that we think finally time to openly talk about it.

Still another 1.5-2 months (As of March 2022) till we can actually start shipping since we have to prioritize Evo and Hangover production in our PCB scheduling since we are out of those thanks to the IC chip shortage and needing to tweak the boards to work with different IC's. Though our hard parts are finalized, things have been tested, the beam pattern tweaked to perfection, and production has started on those parts. So with that in mind... Ta daahhhh!

*DETOUR*




























The design brief for this was pretty simple. Take the Road Edition that many people loved, and make it wireless. We have decided to target this as our "middle of the range" light for road/gravel bikes. Meaning that it has a single 21700 Samsung 50E 5000mAh battery instead of an 18650 that's found in Hangover, or double 21700 cells that's found in Evo. Runtime is around 2 hours on high, 3 hours on adaptive. Lumen levels is around 1100-1200 which is actually less than our outgoing Road Edition, however improvements in the beam pattern control, efficiency, and being able to have the freedom to design the light around the reflector itself rather than the shell like in Road Edition, means that we have a MUCH better beam pattern and more throw. The light carpet improvement is truly one that you have to see in person to believe, pictures aren't capturing what a tremendously huge difference it is.

Here are some photos comparing the new Detour to the Road Edition:


















As you can see, MUCH wider field of view, and a lot more lit up in front of the bike near the tire. The photo might make it look a slightly bit blown out near the leading edge, but rest assured in person the effect is not noticeable. In fact part of our delays to launching this product was because of two tweaks we needed to make to the reflector to perfect that beam pattern for a truly seamless riding experience. 

Even though it is technically two different beams blended together, much like a lot of stvzo compliant cutoff beam pattern lights out there, I've been absolutely obsessive about making sure that the distribution on the ground is nearly perfect. Nothing annoys me more whether on a bike or in a car then having weird artifacts or dead zones in a beam pattern.

Same USB-C quick charging, same USB-C cables, same pass-through performance as all our other lights. It also uses our quick release mounting mechanism that we've been successfully utilizing on the Trail Evo and constantly making improvements to. We know that there are a lot of weird aero bars and strange handlebars coming out in the market so we have invested in a new Formlabs Fuse 1 SLS printer so that we can bring more custom mounting solutions in house. As we build up those mounts we'll launch them on the site. 

For those with bike computers, we have a modified version of the quick release mounting shoe that has the gopro adapter built into it, so that can mount Detour underneath your bike computer while still using the quick release function. Evo is a bit too heavy for the mount so we've only sent that to customers who specifically requested, but it's perfect for Detour.

*We are anticipating we'll launch this in late May 2022 or Early June. *

We are NOT doing a pre-order, nor wanting to do a big ole surprise drop like we did with Evo because we are pretty much out of the original Road Editions right now so we are fine with letting everyone know this is coming. Instead we have a signup list where you'll be emailed as soon as it's available for purchase. 

Head over to the product page, read some more deets, and sign up to be notified when it launches!











Detour Bike Light


Designed & assembled in the USA. Wide, perfectly even cutoff beam pattern that doesn't blinding oncoming riders, pedestrians or traffic while still being seen.




www.outboundlighting.com


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## Bassmantweed (Nov 10, 2019)

Huge fan of your products. I have the evo and by the end of this winter it’s all I used on my night rides. I started with this on my bars and a niterider pro 2200 on my helmet. I started leaving the niterider at home as it just wasn’t needed. 

what is the benefit of this life over the evo? Just smaller and lighter?


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Bassmantweed said:


> Huge fan of your products. I have the evo and by the end of this winter it’s all I used on my night rides. I started with this on my bars and a niterider pro 2200 on my helmet. I started leaving the niterider at home as it just wasn’t needed.
> 
> what is the benefit of this life over the evo? Just smaller and lighter?


The cutoff beam pattern for road/gravel use. So you won’t blind oncoming traffic, pedestrians, etc. 

Guess I didn’t exactly make that too clear.  e we are still working on some new graphics and stuff.


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## MRMOLE (May 31, 2011)

Outbound said:


> The design brief for this was pretty simple. Take the Road Edition that many people loved, and make it wireless. We have decided to target this as our "middle of the range" light for road/gravel bikes. Meaning that it has a single 21700 Samsung 50E 5000mAh battery instead of an 18650 that's found in Hangover, or double 21700 cells that's found in Evo. Runtime is around 2 hours on high, 3 hours on adaptive. Lumen levels is around 1100-1200 which is actually less than our outgoing Road Edition, however improvements in the beam pattern control, efficiency, and being able to have the freedom to design the light around the reflector itself rather than the shell like in Road Edition, means that we have a MUCH better beam pattern and more throw. The light carpet improvement is truly one that you have to see in person to believe, pictures aren't capturing what a tremendously huge difference it is.


All sounds good, considering I never use max. output on my current "Road Edition" 1100-1200 lumens with a beam improvement should be more than enough. Any idea when the runtime charts will be added? Juicy post!!!
Mole


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## MOBH (Nov 25, 2017)

Outbound said:


> We've teased it long enough, we've finalized things well enough, that we think finally time to openly talk about it.
> 
> Still another 1.5-2 months (As of March 2022) till we can actually start shipping since we have to prioritize Evo and Hangover production in our PCB scheduling since we are out of those thanks to the IC chip shortage and needing to tweak the boards to work with different IC's. Though our hard parts are finalized, things have been tested, the beam pattern tweaked to perfection, and production has started on those parts. So with that in mind... Ta daahhhh!
> 
> ...


Brilliant. Thank you. Been waiting for the thread and cannot wait to buy and compare to my Road edition.


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## Simplydown (Oct 17, 2020)

Really looking forward to getting my hands on one of these! Any chance you could design a 3d printable 10mm adapter for this light that would allow it to attach to fork crown dynamo light mounts?


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## MOBH (Nov 25, 2017)

Simplydown said:


> Really looking forward to getting my hands on one of these! Any chance you could design a 3d printable 10mm adapter for this light that would allow it to attach to fork crown dynamo light mounts?


That is a good idea: I have a dynamo lighting bracket on the fork on a couple of bikes and if I could mount the Detour on that…


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Simplydown said:


> Really looking forward to getting my hands on one of these! Any chance you could design a 3d printable 10mm adapter for this light that would allow it to attach to fork crown dynamo light mounts?


We just whipped one up, will test print it next week. 

If there are some other oddball mounts we should look into, let us know! We are mostly just MTB guys who are used to round bars.


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## wschruba (Apr 13, 2012)

@Outbound if I were interested in the gopro QR mount, can/how can one be acquired?


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## Simplydown (Oct 17, 2020)

Outbound said:


> We just whipped one up, will test print it next week.
> 
> If there are some other oddball mounts we should look into, let us know! We are mostly just MTB guys who are used to round bars.


Man, that's some super speedy work right there. I was expecting to see something in a few months, not a few hours! You guys rock. 😀


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

wschruba said:


> @Outbound if I were interested in the gopro QR mount, can/how can one be acquired?


We'll have it on the site once Detour is launched. Though now that Detour is "out there" and at least in sign-up stage, I guess I can get it on the site soon. Just need to source a nice bolt to include with it. The typical thumbscrew that comes with gopro accessories usually isn't enough torque to really hold it tight since it's just two flat surfaces (that's why we moved to serrated mating surfaces on the Quick Release angle adjustment for example). 

Main thing we wanted to avoid is people buying it to put Evo on it. It can work, if you really torque the ever living crap out of it, but Evo is just simply too heavy for that style of mounting. Will have to put a large disclaimer on the page.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Simplydown said:


> Man, that's some super speedy work right there. I was expecting to see something in a few months, not a few hours! You guys rock. 😀


We really love our new Fuse 1 SLS printer. It was a VERY big investment, but it's paying off in spades for things like this. Typically we'd design something, print it on our SLA printer to validate it, then if we wanted to do larger mass production for the end-user, either have to invest in tooling which is a 2-3 month process, or if small enough (like the Evo cable managers) then can use 3d printing houses such as Jawstec or Hubs.com to have a couple hundred made, but it is expensive in 10-50 part range and still takes 2-3 weeks to arrive.

However this new SLS printer gives us professional quality, and lets us set any minimum. We are using it a lot now for tooling jigs for our production, prototypes of new product development, and will be expanding the various custom mounts and such. The main goal is to be able to have bespoke mounts for weird applications that we'll only sell like a couple dozen of, but in our mind if it takes a few hours to design and test print, then a day to print 20-30 mounts, and that's the key to helping sell an additional 20-30 lights, then that's a no-brainer. Basically the same thing the guys at raceware are doing (and they do a great job) but bespoke for our own lights.

Here is a pic of some of the production related stuff we use the printer for. New cartestian robot to accurately dispense all the thermal grease on all the shells. We have 20 trays now with a laser cut peice of sheet metal that we can drop the printed locating jigs into, and be able to grease 25 shells within a minute or less. Using the printed jigs lets us start this production process cheaper and more flexibility in the future as well.










It is these kind of investments we are making to try and move away from "hand made bespoke lights" to be able to effectively scale without having to hire a massive team and to keep our prices competitive with overseas stuff. We'll never be as cheap since our biggest cost (literally 75% the cost) is the PCB assembly and to have the performance and optical control we are known for, can't cheap out on that. Battery makes up another 6-8% of the cost, and of course don't want to cheap out on that. So what we can improve on is our overall quality and production speed via automation.


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## Stahr_Nut (Nov 7, 2006)

Outbound said:


> For those with bike computers, we have a modified version of the quick release mounting shoe that has the gopro adapter built into it, so that can mount Detour underneath your bike computer while still using the quick release function. Evo is a bit too heavy for the mount so we've only sent that to customers who specifically requested, but it's perfect for Detour.


I'm not quite following this. Are talking about hanging it from the underside of an out front type of Garmin/Wahoo mount so the light would be mounted upside down? If that's the case how does the beam cutoff feature work?


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Stahr_Nut said:


> I'm not quite following this. Are talking about hanging it from the underside of an out front type of Garmin/Wahoo mount so the light would be mounted upside down? If that's the case how does the beam cutoff feature work?


Not the greatest pics here, but mounted on a PNW stem. Tom has the Garmin stuff at his place in WA. Hope this clears it up.


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## firebanex (Jan 29, 2021)

Looks like exactly what I need for mounting this under the kedge out front mount I have on my road bike. I'm excited for the Detour. Been using the hangover, trail, or trail evo for my DRL's in the summer depending on which bike I'm on. All work fine, but the mounting is a bit strange on the hangover and the trail and evo are just over kill for a DRL.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Had a good time at Sea Otter talking about detour to a lot of folks. The NSMB guys got a few pics (along with a ton of other gorgeous ones) in this article: NSMB.com - Deniz' Excellent Adventure to Sea Otter


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## bblluurrgg (9 mo ago)

I've been waiting to order the Detour since I read about it in January, really looking forward to it! I know the challenges of supply chains/production of electronics right now, as I own my own small electronics company in an unrelated field. But I hope this light can be ready by the time I'm going on my first bikepacking trip soon. 

I'm thinking the fork crown mount you mentioned above might work best for me, but do you think mounting it lower on the bike than the optics were designed for will noticeably affect the beam throw? I'm assuming it'll put more light close to the bike and less of it farther down the road, but maybe it wouldn't be enough to really matter.


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## wschruba (Apr 13, 2012)

bblluurrgg said:


> I've been waiting to order the Detour since I read about it in January, really looking forward to it! I know the challenges of supply chains/production of electronics right now, as I own my own small electronics company in an unrelated field. But I hope this light can be ready by the time I'm going on my first bikepacking trip soon.
> 
> I'm thinking the fork crown mount you mentioned above might work best for me, but do you think mounting it lower on the bike than the optics were designed for will noticeably affect the beam throw? I'm assuming it'll put more light close to the bike and less of it farther down the road, but maybe it wouldn't be enough to really matter.


Probably not a big deal, but more difficult to aim. We deal with that problem with dynamo lights. Mounted at/next to the tire is fine, but it takes 5 minutes of futzing to get the setup correct.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

bblluurrgg said:


> I'm thinking the fork crown mount you mentioned above might work best for me, but do you think mounting it lower on the bike than the optics were designed for will noticeably affect the beam throw? I'm assuming it'll put more light close to the bike and less of it farther down the road, but maybe it wouldn't be enough to really matter.


Shouldn't really matter. While the light was designed to work on the handlebars (roughly 1 meter off the ground) it should still be a smooth and even light field even mounted just a bit lower. Now if you were trying to mount it off the wheel center or something odd like that, then yes it wouldn't work as functioned, but you'll be alright.


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## roadster dave (Aug 9, 2014)

It would be very cool to put a 1/4-20 thread in the back of the quick release mount for those that want some added options for hard mounting.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

roadster dave said:


> It would be very cool to put a 1/4-20 thread in the back of the quick release mount for those that want some added options for hard mounting.


Unfortunately no room for a threaded insert of that size between the battery and the edge of the shoe. We’ll have a gopro adapter that works with the quick release that launches at the same time as Detour. So should be able to integrate that into any unique situations easily.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Got our 5000 units of hard parts in yesterday! Finally. We are now just waiting on our first batch of PCBAs to get run through and we can finally get rolling.

Have a new piece of automation coming in as well, an automated soldering machine that will help with the battery and pcb soldering to be absolutely perfect every time and increase our throughput substantially for Detour, Evo and our future products.


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## firebanex (Jan 29, 2021)

I am excited!


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Nice little blurb on bicycling.com of one of our Pre-Production units that was run during the Unbound race last weekend.









All the Latest Gear from This Weekends Unbound Gravel


We Got up Close and Personal with Bikes from the 200 and 350XL Races, and Other Gravel Gear Rolling around Emporia.




www.bicycling.com


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Tom is down at our PCBA supplier this week before Bentonville banging out the minor production issues and ironing those out. Our automated soldering machine showed up last week, and we've been greasing our Detour top shells all day, and have over 1000 of them at the ready.

Most likely going to do a soft launch here in a few days, and start shipping lights hopefully end of next week or early the following.


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## MRMOLE (May 31, 2011)

Outbound said:


> Most likely going to do a soft launch here in a few days, and start shipping lights hopefully end of next week or early the following.


Thanks for the update. Clicked to be notified on your site. Thinking this light may be the bicycle light high point of the year (not so much the 9000 lumen Race Face light bar).
Mole


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Alright guys, going to do a soft release here. Website is open to purchase and will be shipping in the next two weeks. We have all the parts greased, boxes folded, manuals stuffed, and just waiting on PCBA stuff. Ran into some more minor issues that are just frustrating but we absolutely want them 100% complete before rolling into a launch. Not wanting this to be like when we launched Hangover, haha.

Really appreciate the patience, and really can't wait to finally get this rolling!









Detour Bike Light


Designed & assembled in the USA. Wide, perfectly even cutoff beam pattern that doesn't blinding oncoming riders, pedestrians or traffic while still being seen.




www.outboundlighting.com





We are just letting you guys know, and those that signed up on the email list. We'll be doing a full on launch with media blitz and all that when we are actually shipping to our first customers.


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## rooie (Nov 3, 2020)

a $258 light with shipping and taxes included for europeans, phew. Was looking forward to it but that's a bit rich, unfortunately :/ For those not having to pay that much, I'm sure this light knocks it out of the park!


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## Simplydown (Oct 17, 2020)

Yesssss! Order placed. Hopefully I'll have it in time for my August trip 🥳


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## MRMOLE (May 31, 2011)

Thanks Matt! Really looking forward to the detour. Lately I've been revisiting a lot of my test lights that would be considered competition for the detour so should have relatively fresh impressions for comparison. Placed my order, can't wait!!!!
Mole


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## dhill456 (Nov 20, 2008)

Does the GoPro adapter come with the light? I did not see the GoPro adapter on your website.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

rooie said:


> a $258 light with shipping and taxes included for europeans, phew. Was looking forward to it but that's a bit rich, unfortunately :/ For those not having to pay that much, I'm sure this light knocks it out of the park!


Yep, unfortunately just no way around taxes and duties these days. Used to be able to fly under the radar a bit, but now we gotta play with the big boys. 

Now that our production has been able to scale with the investments of a new robotic systems and the warehouse space, we are hoping to actually be ahead of inventory, and can start investing in 3PL systems in the EU to expand our presence there.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

dhill456 said:


> Does the GoPro adapter come with the light? I did not see the GoPro adapter on your website.


Just the standard quick release with 31.8 and 35mm bars comes with the light. The GoPro (officially have to say Action Camera mount) one is here: Outbound Lighting -- Quick Release Action Camera Mount — Outbound Lighting


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## firebanex (Jan 29, 2021)

Annnndddd time to spend some money.


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## A.Argo (6 mo ago)

I love this kind of beam, very useful in any situation.










I have read constant current so no PMW problems on this light, and I like that too a lot.
I really appreciate with the runtime graph which highlights an excellent Total lumen output data.
1.8h in high is very good performance.











I would have preferred aluminum as a material of the case, but I understand that the choice fell on a synthetic material.

I was almost certainly not good looking for this information on the site, so I write here to ask for some details:
1) 
CREE XD16 led but there are different variant of this led, which model is present here?
What data of
Ra
R9
CCT
DUV

2)
Another important information I would like to know would be that of the max throw. 

3)
is the firmware customizable?

Thank you very much.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

A.Argo said:


> I would have preferred aluminum as a material of the case, but I understand that the choice fell on a synthetic material.
> 
> I was almost certainly not good looking for this information on the site, so I write here to ask for some details:
> 1)
> ...


Thanks for the questions! Hopefully my answers don't sound too arrogant, but here we go. 

Regarding the aluminum, I am assuming you believe this to be the superior material because of a higher thermal conductivity number? I've explained it in the past on the other products (that use magnesium), but the thermal conductivity of a material is only one part of the thermodynamic equation. When we look at the problem as a whole, the heat generator (The LED), the vias to the PCBA, the PCB material, the copper vias, the thermal grease, the actual substrate material itself (thermally conductive plastic vs aluminum in this case), the surface area of the heat sink, and finally the actual convection rate of the air, we'll find that the actual greatest bottleneck is the convection rate of the air stream at low airspeeds (under 20mph for example). 

So basically no matter how incredibly efficient the heat sink material might be (even if we used copper for example) the actual temperature of the LED, which is what we ultimately care about, won't decrease because the bottleneck is how effectively we can remove the heat via convection off the surface of the material. The only way to counter that is by increasing the surface area of the heat sink or increase the airspeed. 

So instead of a small aluminum heatsink, we use a large thermally conductive housing with the fins placed into the airstream to increase the surface area. This means that we aren't bound to the conventional materials of aluminum which constrains how we can produce the light. Instead we can focus on the really cool materials that have a lower thermal conductivity because in the entire thermodynamic equation, it's not a bottleneck. Plus the heat generation rate of the LED is low enough (600 lumens per LED, spread part across the light) that we aren't overwhelming the material. 

One other benefit of the thermally conductive plastics is that it significantly reduces the "how hot the light is" feel. The actual surface temperature is the same, but because the thermal conductivity is lower, when you pick up the light it takes longer for the heat to transfer to your hands. So the light ultimately doesn't "feel" as hot as an equivalent magnesium or aluminum based light, which is an unintended side effect, but a positive one from a customer perspective. 

-----------------

The LED is a 5700K, 80CRI standard bin XD16. 

The other specifics are pretty irrelevant due to the selection of components from a distribution of LED's that we'll recieve from CREE, as well as the fact that the light shifts when it hits the reflector and passes through the polycarbonate lens, so the color specifics will be slightly different than what's on a datasheet. 

These are the same LED's that we've been using in Trail Evo and recently switched Hangover to these LEDs as well (tweaked the optic to optimize it as well), and people seem to love it.

----------------

Firmware is not customizable.


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## A.Argo (6 mo ago)

thanks, 
your explanation was very comprehensive.
I really appreciated your long examination of the material.
I guess you did a study on heat dissipation, so I don't question the dissipation capacity, in fact it was not my intention to make a criticism.
from the web I am very appreciative of your products.

I answer your question:
I prefer aluminum because I prefer metal objects.
Mine is just a preference, just my point of view. I think that a metal is more durable than a synthetic material that tends to deteriorate over time and with atmospheric agents; in short, aluminum gives me a premium feeling.

Thanks for the information on led tech spec.
5700k is cold but certainly less than the 6500k often found on bike headlights.
generally very cold LEDs are chosen because they have a better performance lumen/watt.
However, I prefer neutral white LEDs with HiCRi and small DUV, possibly with a good value of R9 because it allows to better discriminate shadows and depth by increasing the contrast.
currently the LEDs with these characteristics have also significantly improved the lumen / watt performance, the nichia 519a have excellent performance, the gt-fc both 40 and 60 give really excellent both performance and light quality and have high CRI> 90 and very good R9 value.

congratulations on your products.
they're very interesting.
the new quick release system is also very nice.

talking to the builders is a privilege.

nice to meet you.
I hope to read the news about your products again and sorry for my English.


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## zapotec (Jul 21, 2020)

As a person working with thermoplastics a.k.a "plastics", OutBound is employed highly advanced thermoplastics which is rarely seen in the bike light industries, so that’s good for pushing the boundaries in the bike light market. They open up a broad range of new opportunities for “thermal management” which can act as metal alternative as traditional heat removal applications.

I can’t speak what thermoplastics which Outbound use, since I am only familiar with SLS/MJF based nylon powder.

The main benefits is, thermoplastics is more *lightweight* which is appreciated by weight weenies since the main market of this light is swift roadies.



> aluminum gives me a premium feeling.


For metal equivalent of lightweight material, magnesium is quite common, some fork body and pedal already used them, Trail Evo bike light which developed earlier is also using magnesium as main casing, *resulting the most lightweight 2x21700 equipped bike light* as for I writing this, compared with other 2x21700 bike light in the market such as Ravemen PR2400, Magicshine RN3000 and Moon Rigel Max, thanks to magnesium.



> I think that a metal is more durable than a synthetic material that tends to deteriorate over time a


Not all thermoplastics created equal, the mostly deteriorating over time usually ABS plastics exposed by sunlight and outdoor. Every industrial thermoplastics is have specific characteristics depending the material, e.g very durable with sunlight, not brittle in the freezing condition, flame retardants, some of them even more expensive than metal.


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## big9block (5 mo ago)

Hi guys, what is the status of the Detour light? I placed my order nearly a month ago and it hasn't shipped. When I placed the order, the product page said shipping date would be in July.

Currently, the web page says orders placed _now _will ship in "Early August". It says the light is in full production. 

For an order placed about a month ago, what is the _realistic _shipping timeline going to be?


Thanks 



Outbound said:


> Alright guys, going to do a soft release here. Website is open to purchase and will be shipping in the next two weeks. We have all the parts greased, boxes folded, manuals stuffed, and just waiting on PCBA stuff. Ran into some more minor issues that are just frustrating but we absolutely want them 100% complete before rolling into a launch. Not wanting this to be like when we launched Hangover, haha.
> 
> Really appreciate the patience, and really can't wait to finally get this rolling!
> 
> ...


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## bblluurrgg (9 mo ago)

big9block said:


> Hi guys, what is the status of the Detour light? I placed my order nearly a month ago and it hasn't shipped. When I placed the order, the product page said shipping date would be in July.
> 
> Currently, the web page says orders placed _now _will ship in "Early August". It says the light is in full production.
> 
> ...


Outbound sent an email on July 15th about production issues which were causing a delay - perhaps check your spam folder if you didn't see it. The email says they're planning to start shipping right about now ("first week of August").


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

We are hoping we can start running parts through our production line on Monday now. It honestly feels like this thing is cursed from the development standpoint. Hard parts took some tuning for the reflector to be just right, but we got that all squared away and finished up 2 months ago as you saw, and was ready to roll. 

Lots of unforseen issues in our PCB that we could have patched and shipped, but we want to do things right for long term stability. Anyone remember the original hangover issues? The whine that I literally couldn't hear because I'm hard of hearing? 😅 Or the original die cast aluminum Evo mounts? We always know there will be something, but man between global part supply problems, constant redesigns because of the inability to secure large quantities of drivers that we need, and then finding strange things happening in testing, it's been a ride.

Here is a blurb that Tom wrote out to customers asking for updates in the last day or so:

_



Short answer: we expect to start shipping orders on Monday and finish clearing out all existing orders on the books by Thursday. In slightly more detail: we finally got the new PCBs from our vendor after having to redo them to address a quality concern, then I spent 12 hours a day for 5 days straight through the weekend beating my head against the wall to address some unforeseen "features" of a new driver we ended up switching to because of parts supply issues, just last night I got through a second round of validation testing with the "final" firmware modifications and everything looks good, so I released production at our PCB vendor in Arizona, they're getting me the first few boards overnighted today so I'll have them tomorrow, I'll do additional sampling over the weekend and runtime testing, then the rest of the volume will start coming in Monday to HQ where we'll assemble, do more final testing, and start shipping them out the door. So if we don't have any more delays or problems, then we'll start shipping early next week and should be able to get enough through to clear out all orders on the books by Thursday, and this is why I hesitate to give finite dates for anything, because it's never just a matter of receiving stuff, slapping it together, and tossing it in a box. We are in the home stretch now!

Click to expand...

_I was looking back at some emails, and we had paid for the tooling for our hard parts 14 months ago.... thinking we could launch in late fall or early winter.... ha......ha.......ha........ Oyi.

However!

We got our new soldering robot online, and a box folding machine just arrived yesterday that I have gotten online and running. Have a cobot arm coming in a few weeks to be demonstrated by our friends at Promation to think about applications for it in the near future. 

If you want to see more of the robotics/printing/behind-the-scenes stuff going on at Outbound, can check out our TikTok (groan, i know):






TikTok







www.tiktok.com


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## big9block (5 mo ago)

bblluurrgg said:


> Outbound sent an email on July 15th about production issues which were causing a delay - perhaps check your spam folder if you didn't see it. The email says they're planning to start shipping right about now ("first week of August").


Thanks, I did not see that email.

As you can imagine, I am really, REALLY excited to get my light (I actually bought a couple; gonna give 1 to a family member)

I've never had a bike light with a horizontal cutoff. I rely on angling my headlights down (when road cycling) to not dazzle oncoming drivers.


I'm actually going to try the new Detour lights (for road cycling) on my next night time MTB ride. From the few photos I have seen thus far, the spread of light seems to be fantastic. If I need a 'fill' light, I'll use my helmet light.

When I MTB, I still angle lights down a bit, because in the rare instances I come upon another biker on the trail, if they have really bright light(s) it can really mess up my night vision, and I don't wanna be "that guy" who does it to other riders.


...I'm just super excited; probably more excited than I should be considering they are lights.  But since I ride at night at least 3 days per week, it's a big deal for me.


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## big9block (5 mo ago)

Outbound said:


> We are hoping we can start running parts through our production line on Monday now. It honestly feels like this thing is cursed from the development standpoint. Hard parts took some tuning for the reflector to be just right, but we got that all squared away and finished up 2 months ago as you saw, and was ready to roll.
> 
> Lots of unforseen issues in our PCB that we could have patched and shipped, but we want to do things right for long term stability. Anyone remember the original hangover issues? The whine that I literally couldn't hear because I'm hard of hearing? 😅 Or the original die cast aluminum Evo mounts? We always know there will be something, but man between global part supply problems, constant redesigns because of the inability to secure large quantities of drivers that we need, and then finding strange things happening in testing, it's been a ride.
> 
> ...


Ahh, I think I have gotten confused, because I have seen photos of (what looks like) finished Detour lights, here in this thread. I assumed the production line was up and running. Maybe those were test units, or maybe there are inner components that still need to be installed? You are open and honest with what's going on, but you mention technical terms (light components) that I don't understand. I see a photo of a Detour light, I assume it's totally finished. 

I haven't been this anxious for a bike light since back in the day, when I upgraded from a crappy incandescent light running on (2) C batteries, to a Nite Rider Firestorm (HID light). My current lights (when riding on the road) have black electrical tape over the top 1/3 of the light/lens, to block the stray light from dazzling drivers. I get flashed on the road every ride (and not the good kind of flash!)  if I let my 'regular' bike lights shine in a 360° pattern. I've seen it from a drivers perspective; it's pretty annoying. I'm not saying we need any laws or regulations in the U.S. to regulate bike lights, but we do need good lights such as Outbound's Detour so riders can see, be seen, and still be courteous to other riders (on the trail) and drivers (on the road)


P.S. - I didn't see that TikTok update because, well, it's Tik Tok!


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## MRMOLE (May 31, 2011)

Got a shipping confirmation for my Detour today!
Mole


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Yep! Got 220 boards in today, another 200 coming tomorrow, and hopefully yet another 200 boards on Wednesday and we can clear out our backlog.

Really happy with how these turned out. Wish I could get the front lens to be a little more crystal clear, having to clean them a lot with IPA before we assemble them, but just another item on a laundry list of improvements we'll make as we refine the product. 

Overall the beam pattern is perfect, the weight is super light, really happy with the feel of it, looking forward to hearing people's thoughts!



























If you haven't gotten a shipping notification, don't worry, we should be fully cleared through our backlog by Thursday or Friday.


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## firebanex (Jan 29, 2021)

No shipping confirmation for me yet.. but I did forget to order one for about two weeks after orders opened up.

Also misread IPA as well, IPA. instead of isopropyl alcohol.


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## lRaphl (May 26, 2007)

I love that "Top secret microchip" on the PCB!!


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## Hawg (6 mo ago)

Just got the chance to try it outside and honestly I'm a little disappointed. The Detour has a nice beam pattern but the intensity of the light is noticeably less than the Cygolite Metro Pro 1100 I had been using (both on highest mode). I was expecting a bit more from a light that advertises 1100-1200 lumens.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Hawg said:


> Just got the chance to try it outside and honestly I'm a little disappointed. The Detour has a nice beam pattern but the intensity of the light is noticeably less than the Cygolite Metro Pro 1100 I had been using (both on highest mode). I was expecting a bit more from a light that advertises 1100-1200 lumens.


This doesn't surprise me to hear honestly, similar reactions we had initially to Hangover and Evo. Have to remember that even though we are using similar lumens from the chips, we aren't going for peak intensity in the slightest. The overall goal of these beam patterns is homogenous illumination from the front of the tire to the cutoff top, as well as the smooth fill of the side-to-side. We have to utilize that light energy from something, and trying to balance that with the higher peak intensity for the center of the beam is the challenge. 

Just like with Evo, Hangover, or our old lights, we'll never win a light intensity contest when shined against a garage wall or something. But hopefully you'll get a chance to ride with it on a dark road, while not blinding oncoming riders and can re-evaluate your thoughts. Of course if you still aren't happy with it, can always talk to us and can return it within 30 days.


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## big9block (5 mo ago)

I have not gotten my Outbound Lighting Detours (yet) (Yes, I bought multiple lights!)

I have a tracking number and they are due to arrive tomorrow, Friday. (Today is Thursday 8/11/2022 for anyone reading this in the future. Hehehe)

I already have a nice long night ride planned out for tomorrow (when the lights arrive.) I will be bringing both Detours, along with some Nite Riders around the same range (1,000 and 1,200 lumens rating) And I have a couple inexpensive CeCo (Amazon) lights, again, 1,000 and 1,200 range.

I will be doing a comparison during my ride (so I probably won't get much of a RIDE in!) and I will try to take photos. However, taking photos at night is hard, especially when it's dark out but you have a very bright light source (bike headlights). It's right around a full moon, so maybe that will help. 🐺🌖


I don't think I'll be disappointed like the above poster is. I always ride with TWO headlights, day or night. At night, I bring a 3rd light in my jersey pocket as a backup. I'm a safety weirdo.  So with 2 Detours running, I expect to be able to see very well. The most important thing for me when purchasing was the HORIZONTAL CUTOFF. I am in the habit of manually pushing down my headlights when there are oncoming cars. (No matter the mounting system, there is usually a bit of slop - I like pushing them down to 'aim' it down for a few seconds, even though the lights are spewing glare/light out in a 360° cone.)

I've been flashed by car drivers plenty of times, with regular bike lights, because they emit light in a full circle. If the new Detour lights are at least as bright as my current lights, AND I can see the cutoff and don't get flashed, I'll consider it a success and big upgrade.


As far as pure lumen rating and brightness: My current lights have multiple settings. Old Nite Riders have 3 night settings, my other lights have 4 brightness settings. I NEVER use the BRIGHTEST setting on any of my lights, because 1) They are barely brighter than the second-brightest setting yet it 2) Burns through battery in under an hour.

Can't wait! Can't believe some guy got his light(s) before me, but oh well! At least you guys shipped 2nd day air


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## Simplydown (Oct 17, 2020)

Well I got my light mounted/adjusted and basement tests seem promising so far. I'm about to go out on a ride through some fast and empty country roads so it should be a good test on how it performs. I originally was going to mount it under my Garmin, but I don't think I trust my cheapo out front mount to hold the light without slipping so I am using the Outbound mount instead. My only gripe so far is there doesn't seem to be a way to switch between steady and flashing modes without turning off the light? I could do that on my Magicshine RN900 which is nice.


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## Hawg (6 mo ago)

Outbound said:


> This doesn't surprise me to hear honestly, similar reactions we had initially to Hangover and Evo. Have to remember that even though we are using similar lumens from the chips, we aren't going for peak intensity in the slightest. The overall goal of these beam patterns is homogenous illumination from the front of the tire to the cutoff top, as well as the smooth fill of the side-to-side. We have to utilize that light energy from something, and trying to balance that with the higher peak intensity for the center of the beam is the challenge.
> 
> Just like with Evo, Hangover, or our old lights, we'll never win a light intensity contest when shined against a garage wall or something. But hopefully you'll get a chance to ride with it on a dark road, while not blinding oncoming riders and can re-evaluate your thoughts. Of course if you still aren't happy with it, can always talk to us and can return it within 30 days.


Yea you're right I was being too negative. I just took it out on a local unlit MUP and loved it.


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## Simplydown (Oct 17, 2020)

Well I really enjoyed my first ride with the light. I think Outbound did a fantastic job with the beam pattern. The best part for me is that unlike my other lights there really isn't a defined hotspot that you feel compelled to stare at while riding down the road, just an even carpet of light (except for a minor band about 10ft in front of you). Medium was very comfortable riding along at 20-22mph. I could pick out road hazards about 5 seconds in advance at that speed and see signs way down the road. Low mode surprised me in how useable it is as a get home setting. It's not ideal but I could certainly ride 18-20mph in low as long as I was paying real close attention. I do wish there was a lower level day flash setting. For me it's a bit too bright. I had to turn off the flash well before sunset. I'll have to check it out again during the middle of the day and see if I feel the same way about it.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Thanks for the comments! We are definitely taking any suggestions for things like user interface, flash modes, etc since as you guys know, we iterate quick and willing to make changes if we hear enough chatter.

If you ordered a light you’ll most likely get a follow up email in a few weeks after it’s delivered requesting to post a review, though the sooner we can have verified reviewed the better! No one wants to buy a product with zero reviews. 

If you feel so inclined, can leave one directly in the product page itself!









Detour Bike Light


Designed & assembled in the USA. Wide, perfectly even cutoff beam pattern that doesn't blinding oncoming riders, pedestrians or traffic while still being seen.




www.outboundlighting.com


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## Hawg (6 mo ago)

Any tips on making micro-adjustments to the height of the light? I'm trying to adjust the light so that the top of beam is pretty much the same height as the light, but each notch up and down on the light (mount?) is too drastic. It wants to shift down like 20 inches (on the wall) when I need maybe 3 for it to not be too high.

NM just needed to adjust the mount itself


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## PCakes (5 mo ago)

So I got my Detour light a couple days ago, and I've managed to put it through the paces for 70 miles on a couple rides. My first ride left me pretty disappointed, but I gave it another ride and tried to think about why. I think some of the disappointment was due to the hype and wait, and some was getting used to a completely different type of light.

First this light is really awesome on dark roads - you get a really clear and wide view on medium. However that awesome wide scatter of light just gets washed out as soon as you turn on to a decently lit street. In that case the light has to go on high in order to get some decent pothole visibility at the front wheel, and then it feels like the flood type lights do better. The same goes for twilight hours... the light had to be on high and it wasn't super helpful.

The cutoff beam is a blessing and a curse. It's really nice on the straights for all the reasons it's advertised to be, but this light is blind in corners. As you lean into a turn the vertical scatter from a flood type light helps you see around the corner, but with a cutoff it's just black. I also found that there is a brightness bias to the right side of the light, making left turns darker than right turns. I'm guessing this is due to the two different lenses. All in all the bias is a pretty minor thing, but noticeable. Perhaps I turn more than a true roadie since I tend to ride a good amount of bike paths and rail trails on my road rides, but this was definitely worse than my previous light and probably why I about had it back in the box on day 1. 

In my opinion on the Low setting this is a "be seen" light, not a "see" light. So plan battery times around Medium or High.

I had hopes of using this for mtb too, but I think it's safe to say that's a no-go. It's specifically designed for the road so no fault there. I just hoped I could manage only one expensive bar light.

After last nights ride and knowing a bit more about what to expect, I think it's a keeper. It's a great light, with great construction, from what seems like a pretty great US company. I do feel like I had some pretty significant trade offs from my old "flashlight" lights, but I think it's still a better light. 

So my suggestions for you guys at Outbound Lighting (if they're worth anything):
Throw some light into the corners. Even if it's a flood mode without the cutoff, it might be nice for those windy trail sections between road sections. 
Maybe have a mode with a more focused beam for decently lit roads. In those scenarios I would've rather had a flood aimed down. 
Move the battery indicator to the front of the light. In the back, it can't be seen if it's GoPro mounted under a computer.
Keep breaking the mold and making great stuff! (but stop taking my money)


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## bblluurrgg (9 mo ago)

Well so far I'm happy with it. I think, like others, I may have hyped myself up to think it would be more into ridiculously bright territory, but that's not Outbound's fault - they've been very clear that that's not what it's designed to be. It's just easy to get hyped when you're waiting for something for a while. I was also comparing lumens on my current lights to those listed for the Detour, without really thinking about how the power would be spread out by the wider beam.

I wanted it for bikepacking, so I needed it to be both really good on city streets at night as well as unlit trails and gravel roads out in the middle of nowhere. So far it totally delivers on that. The battery life is good, and the ability to pass-through charge with a battery bank means I shouldn't ever have to worry about running out of light (I've had that happen and been forced to use flashing mode at night with other lights, which was really not ideal!).

The big carpet of light feels great. On streets I can not only see better but I think it makes me a lot more visible than my previous lights. For dark trails I'm able to tilt it up a bit without worrying about blinding cars. I have it mounted on a garmin combo mount with the gopro adapter, and I like how this puts the light body really far forward. Think I prefer this to the standard mount, which if used with a computer above it, would block the Detour's power button.

Question for Outbound: if you do, hypothetically, make any firmware changes, is it possible for us to update our lights via USB or would any changes only be included in units built after the update? A reviewer on the site suggested the ability to have higher output when powered from an external bank, which would be cool, but even aside from whether firmware is user-update-able, I guess this would require that the heat dissipation, LED output, etc. aren't already operating at their max.


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## MRMOLE (May 31, 2011)

The only reason I can see to buy this light is if your top priority is "cutoff beam/self-contained". Excellent mount once you get the vertical aim set, top quality fit and finish, excellent mode button function and familiar Outbound UI, excellent road specific beam pattern. Really the only thing I can come up with to complain about (as mentioned by several others here and in the Outbound site reviews) is its softer than expected output. I've only done one 35 mile ride with the light so far but after the first 20 miles of a very familiar route I realized the med. setting just wasn't enough nor was adaptive at this battery capacity level, which leaves high the only usable level for my old eyes (my eyes aren't the best so med. my be fine for some). Testing with my light meter was even worse than expected (effective beams make the most of available lumen output). I admit my bounce test measurement method favors more narrowly focused lights but IMO is a good representation of OTF light available. Taking that into consideration the corrected lumen numbers I got were High: 725 lumens, Med.: 290 lumens, and Low: 63 lumens which are all lower than I expected (initially and from my ride) but I attribute that to the Detour's effective beam pattern. I plan on doing some runtime test but won't publish any output charts unless I see major differences from those on the Outbound site (Usually very accurate).That's it for now but will post more if my opinion changes after a few more rides. Hope to see a lot more threads/opinions on the detour.
Mole


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

MRMOLE said:


> The only reason I can see to buy this light is if your top priority is "cutoff beam/self-contained". Excellent mount once you get the vertical aim set, top quality fit and finish, excellent mode button function and familiar Outbound UI, excellent road specific beam pattern. Really the only thing I can come up with to complain about (as mentioned by several others here and in the Outbound site reviews) is its softer than expected output.


Yep, the main reason we developed this was to get a sharp self-contained cutoff-beam light somewhere in the USA. The ones from other companies that use small facets on a TIR aren't effective because they are using a large LED die in a small TIR which just creates a vaguely shaped blob. Mostly focused Detour on gravel/bikepacking and suburban road commuting where there is a lot of dark areas and a need to see objects off to the side of the road to comfortably ride. 

The most frustrating thing when I tested out the different competitors from overseas (Supernova, B&M, Lupine, etc. we spent a LOT of money getting them, ha) was that yes, there was a sharp focused intensity, but the lack of width and the large holes of light from the front of the tire to the beam was not pleasant to ride behind. The beams themselves were pretty sloppy and left a lot of refinement to be desired. 

But because the field of view of a bike rider is so much larger than an automotive driver (think about what you are actually looking at while driving, a narrow -10* to +10* vertical, and around -30/+30* horizontal, vs while seated on a bike and riding) we have to spread that light out more to be more effective, and more importantly get that smooth even illumination from the front of the tire up to the main beam. Hopefully you get a chance to ride with some other cutoff beam headlights to see what I mean. That smooth illumination is what makes it "feel" like riding in daylight once your eyes have gotten used to the intensity, very hard to achieve and required a lot of rework.

Though will say, we are definitely using the full 1200-ish lumens. That "bounce test" as you know I hate because it isn't going to capture a lot of the spill light used to fill in the rest of the frame (because it's not focused and "bouncing" off the ceiling), if we were actually using 725 lumens we'd be able to have outrageous runtimes.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

bblluurrgg said:


> Question for Outbound: if you do, hypothetically, make any firmware changes, is it possible for us to update our lights via USB or would any changes only be included in units built after the update? A reviewer on the site suggested the ability to have higher output when powered from an external bank, which would be cool, but even aside from whether firmware is user-update-able, I guess this would require that the heat dissipation, LED output, etc. aren't already operating at their max.


We don't program via the USB. We program by flashing the chip itself on the PCB. So any firmware updates would have to be hot-swapped with us. 

Right now not planning any firmware updates immediately, still waiting to get more reviews from the 600-700 people who have gotten their Detours. We are already planning on some minor tooling changes, but that's mostly to improve our assembly process and reduce the amount of scrap during builds.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

PCakes said:


> So my suggestions for you guys at Outbound Lighting (if they're worth anything):
> Throw some light into the corners. Even if it's a flood mode without the cutoff, it might be nice for those windy trail sections between road sections.
> Maybe have a mode with a more focused beam for decently lit roads. In those scenarios I would've rather had a flood aimed down.
> Move the battery indicator to the front of the light. In the back, it can't be seen if it's GoPro mounted under a computer.
> Keep breaking the mold and making great stuff! (but stop taking my money)


You are experiencing the curse that motorcycle riders have had for years when it comes to automotive lighting.  

The modern solution in motorcycles is adaptive beams that turn on and fill in dark areas when it detects the bike is rotating, and some more modern bikes have pretty cool self-leveling headlights. These from JW Speaker set the standard about 6-8 years ago: Adaptive 2 Series LED Motorcycle Headlights – J.W. Speaker

For bikes, Busch & Mueller actually came up with a cool solution for those fancy e-bikes. Of course it costs $120 USD, and requires wiring into your e-bike battery, and doesn't include the headlight, but it is a nifty bike-centric solution for that cutoff beam problem: LEVAL - Busch + Müller EN

For the most part we can't just "throw light into the corners" because then you are negating the reason for having a cutoff, blinding oncoming traffic. Could we develop something that detects when it's gone past a certain angle, and starts illuminating an optic to "fill in that area"? Sure, but then going to have a much larger light, with a lot of extra cost only being utilized maybe 5% of your ride when you are actually leaned into a turn since you'd need a dedicated optic, LED, separate driver circuits, etc. 

If doing hard gravel riding where you are leaning hard into corners, the best suggestion will probably be to get a Hangover for the helmet and run that on low. When seeing oncoming traffic can just tilt your head down or to the side and won't be directly blinding them, but then can see those corners when you are leaning.

Good suggestion in the future for the status light placement. We won't be able to modify that quickly but something we'll have to keep in mind for a minor refresh.


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## big9block (5 mo ago)

PCakes said:


> So my suggestions for you guys at Outbound Lighting (if they're worth anything):
> Throw some light into the corners. Even if it's a flood mode without the cutoff, it might be nice for those windy trail sections between road sections.
> Maybe have a mode with a more focused beam for decently lit roads. In those scenarios I would've rather had a flood aimed down.
> Move the battery indicator to the front of the light. In the back, it can't be seen if it's GoPro mounted under a computer.
> Keep breaking the mold and making great stuff! (but stop taking my money)


Hi! Last night I was on my 3rd ride with two new Detours and was thinking about how wide the beam pattern is. And, I was thinking it is "TOO wide" (for a road ride.)

I have not taken any 'action photos' yet; just photos of the unboxing. But the beam pattern is very wide; on a normal-sized country road, the light covers both lanes, AND it covers several feet of both shoulders (grass/ditch area.) I was wondering to myself if that is TOO wide for a road light.

Now, for MTB, yes, having a wide beam is more important but (for me and my aging eyes) that is where a helmet light comes in to play; you shine light on where you are going to be next (next corner, etc.) But if you're doing gravel riding, or "trail sections between road sections" then you are probably a more unique case. Or at least not a pure road ride. Have you thought about using a Detour AND a light meant for MTB at the same time? I suppose that would be the "Evo".

If they made the Detour's beam pattern even wider, the effect would be to make it seem even less bright (since the light would be spread out even more).


[I hope I understood your comment the way you meant it. You said they should throw light into the corners, which I took as you wanting the beam pattern to be wider. ]


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## big9block (5 mo ago)

MRMOLE said:


> The only reason I can see to buy this light is if your top priority is "cutoff beam/self-contained". Excellent mount once you get the vertical aim set, top quality fit and finish, excellent mode button function and familiar Outbound UI, excellent road specific beam pattern. Really the only thing I can come up with to complain about (as mentioned by several others here and in the Outbound site reviews) is its softer than expected output. I've only done one 35 mile ride with the light so far but after the first 20 miles of a very familiar route I realized the med. setting just wasn't enough nor was adaptive at this battery capacity level, which leaves high the only usable level for my old eyes (my eyes aren't the best so med. my be fine for some). Testing with my light meter was even worse than expected (effective beams make the most of available lumen output). I admit my bounce test measurement method favors more narrowly focused lights but IMO is a good representation of OTF light available. Taking that into consideration the corrected lumen numbers I got were High: 725 lumens, Med.: 290 lumens, and Low: 63 lumens which are all lower than I expected (initially and from my ride) but I attribute that to the Detour's effective beam pattern. I plan on doing some runtime test but won't publish any output charts unless I see major differences from those on the Outbound site (Usually very accurate).That's it for now but will post more if my opinion changes after a few more rides. Hope to see a lot more threads/opinions on the detour.
> Mole


I don't have a light meter to measure the lumens so I will assume your figures are correct. 

I also have to deal with eyes that aren't the best (middle age + astigmatism.) Something I have done for a few years now is to always have 2 headlights on my bike at all times. I never found a bike headlight that was 'bright enough' to use by itself, even on its highest setting, so I started using two lights. Depending on which light model I was using at the time, using two of them at once usually let me run each at a medium-ish setting, extending runtime. 

Using 2 Detour lights at the same time doesn't address your concern about what the lumen output is. If High is 725 lumens, that's obviously less than 1,100. I'm sure it has something to do with how the light is measured, from where and how far away from the source. I am not an expert on that.


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## big9block (5 mo ago)

Here are some non-action shots of the Detour. The horizontal cut-off and the smooth beam pattern (pretty wide, actually) are the best features. I also like the build quality. The outer material is some type of soft-touch material (the difference in a cheap car interior vs. a nicer/luxury car interior. Hard plastic vs. soft-touch plastic.) The USB-C charging port is also great. It's well-protected and the rubber port plug (whatever it's called) fits really well and will definitely keep out most dust and water. I think the USB port and its cover will last a long time and not get 'worn-out' like many electronic devices.

Also, I have to agree with some other posters that the light isn't as bright as I thought it would be, but the beam is wider than I thought it would be. I think the perceived brightness might be because 1) it uses 2 LEDs (1 spot, 1 flood) and 2) has a very wide, uniform beam pattern. So, if you have X amount of light to work with, the more you spread it out, obviously it will 'appear' to be less intense. 

I would probably be the minority in saying this, especially for road cycling, but I wouldn't mind a next-gen Detour that would be slightly heavier, to accommodate 2 batteries instead of 1, and getting a bit more light output (if possible) [I think earlier in this thread, they said the road Detour model only has 1 battery compared to the Evo, which has 2 batteries, more LEDs and is heavier.

Finally, I have 2 Detours and have been running them both at the same time. I have used 2 headlights for many years now because of my eyesight👓; a single road light just never is enough for me, even if it's a really bright light. And any night MTB rides I use 2 handlebar lights plus a helmet light. I have mostly been using the Detours on Medium or the Adaptive brightness mode. So my review and opinion of the Detour is going to always be using 2 at the same time, which is probably not like most people who will only purchase a single light. 

Bottom Line: *Am I happy? Yes.* Now that I've got 3 night time rides with the Detour lights, *would I purchase them both again? Yes.* Am I happy to FINALLY have a bike light with a horizontal cutoff beam pattern that doesn't cause glare and 'dazzle' oncoming drivers? HECK YES! Like every single cyclist, I've got plenty of stories of rude and unsafe drivers. I've even been hit before. But I think "Share the Road" goes both ways, and if I can use bike lights that don't glare like a teenager's cheap HID headlight 'upgrade', then I will use those lights to make it a bit nicer for car drivers. *If they can see me and NOT be blinded and annoyed at me, it's safer for everyone on the road!*

P.S. - I had a CLOSE encounter with a few deer on my very first ride with the Detours. I haven't gone through the footage yet, but if I can figure out how to upload a video clip, I will. I know I was able to see the deer a split-second earlier than my other bike lights, because of the Detours' wide beam pattern. The deer got spooked as I approached, and crossed the road from my left to right. I put the brakes on hard, and missed them by only a handful of feet. At the time, it felt like only 6 feet, but the footage might show otherwise since it was dark and my adrenaline was pumping a bit since I was going downhill a bit fast. Hehe. 😎





  








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## MRMOLE (May 31, 2011)

big9block said:


> I don't have a light meter to measure the lumens so I will assume your figures are correct.
> 
> I also have to deal with eyes that aren't the best (middle age + astigmatism.) Something I have done for a few years now is to always have 2 headlights on my bike at all times. I never found a bike headlight that was 'bright enough' to use by itself, even on its highest setting, so I started using two lights. Depending on which light model I was using at the time, using two of them at once usually let me run each at a medium-ish setting, extending runtime.
> 
> Using 2 Detour lights at the same time doesn't address your concern about what the lumen output is. If High is 725 lumens, that's obviously less than 1,100. I'm sure it has something to do with how the light is measured, from where and how far away from the source. I am not an expert on that.


I use a bounce test (measure light reflected off a surface) with my light-meter which is definitely not the most accurate method for measuring total lumens especially for lights with very wide beams. While sphere testing traps/measures ALL the light no matter what the beam width I still prefer my method as it better indicated the light projected in front of the light unit over a usefully wide area. As a test I covered up the flood side of the detour and the spot only worked out to 425 lumens so assuming both emitters are the same and supplied with the same amount of current if it had 2 spot reflectors my results would have been 850 total lumens (closer to actual lumens produced IMO). These are just number measurements and don't take other factors like the Detour's excellent beam efficiency into consideration. I have my doubts but the Detour my actually produce 1100 lumens in a sphere (not sure how Outbound measures their lights). All that really matters is how the light works on the bike.
Mole


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

MRMOLE said:


> I use a bounce test (measure light reflected off a surface) with my light-meter which is definitely not the most accurate method for measuring total lumens especially for lights with very wide beams. While sphere testing traps/measures ALL the light no matter what the beam width I still prefer my method as it better indicated the light projected in front of the light unit over a usefully wide area. As a test I covered up the flood side of the detour and the spot only worked out to 425 lumens so assuming both emitters are the same and supplied with the same amount of current if it had 2 spot reflectors my results would have been 850 total lumens (closer to actual lumens produced IMO). These are just number measurements and don't take other factors like the Detour's excellent beam efficiency into consideration. I have my doubts but the Detour my actually produce 1100 lumens in a sphere (not sure how Outbound measures their lights). All that really matters is how the light works on the bike.
> Mole


We measure our lights based on the voltage and amps going to the chips and the datasheet. We wish it was 850 lumens because then could get longer runtimes. We are pushing 1100-1200 lumens from two XD16 chips being run around 550-600 lumens max.

There are some losses associated with the reflector and the lens, but like you alluded to, what really matters is how the light is projected onto the road.

Keep in mind that comparing lumens is only valid when comparing the exact same beam pattern. The reason why lumens was such a big deal back in the day was because every light was just a circular spot with slight differences in cone widths and “orange peel”. Occasionally would get a diffusing lens put on top.

So the race to try and one up each other with higher and higher lumen values started, and now have junk like “2500 boost max” which is just a circular flashlight that can output 2500 lumens for 3 minutes before it overheats and pulls back hard to have any semblance of battery life. Might win and sound impressive in a “bounce test” and get to put “2500 certified lumens!” All over the packaging, but how does that light perform over your entire 1.5 hour ride? Probably not great.

Can tell I get heated when it comes to lumens becomes a talking point. 😂 Especially since we put so much care and time into tuning the beam pattern to balance the entire field of view along with maximizing the battery life for most typical rides. We have to spend $20k a year on the optical development software (Lucidshape) to finely tune these reflectors and optics to maximize the lumens we do use.


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## PCakes (5 mo ago)

Yep, I think you understand the problem I was mentioning perfectly. I’ve always known that was a problem and have always run a bar light with a helmet light for mtb. It was usually manageable enough on the road with just a bar light since the turns aren’t as tight, but with the cutoff it seems to be worse. I know it comes with a lot of complications like you mentioned (circuitry, additional led, etc), but it would be pretty cool if there was a button that triggered a “high beam” with one push to switch between it and the mode you were in. Maybe a simpler compromise between most car headlights and the adaptive lights you mentioned. I could see myself just flicking high beams on when going into a windy bike path section and back off when on the road - similar to pointing the flashlight up or down like I did before. It’s just hard to do the up/down adjustment with the GoPro style mount and getting the cutoff aligned. Of course I’m dreaming of the perfect light here… not trying to take away from what you’ve done, because it is a great product for what it’s intended for. 



Outbound said:


> You are experiencing the curse that motorcycle riders have had for years when it comes to automotive lighting.
> 
> The modern solution in motorcycles is adaptive beams that turn on and fill in dark areas when it detects the bike is rotating, and some more modern bikes have pretty cool self-leveling headlights. These from JW Speaker set the standard about 6-8 years ago: Adaptive 2 Series LED Motorcycle Headlights – J.W. Speaker
> 
> ...


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## PCakes (5 mo ago)

Actually no, I was thinking a mode where the beam is taller not wider. Think about what that wide beam does as you lean your bike over in a turn. The wide axis (cutoff line) of the beam pulls off horizontal leaving a dark spot in your line of site above the cutoff. If the beam were circular (like previous lights) the top part of the circle (10 o’clock to 2 o’clock) tilts into that dark spot filling it in a bit. I think the simplest way to put my request is to have a a high beam/low beam toggle. As I mentioned in another post I know that’s complicated and likely drives cost and size up, but I’d go for it.




big9block said:


> [I hope I understood your comment the way you meant it. You said they should throw light into the corners, which I took as you wanting the beam pattern to be wider. ]


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## biking_tg (Dec 27, 2018)

PCakes said:


> but it would be pretty cool if there was a button that triggered a “high beam” with one push to switch between it and the mode you were in.


Outbound promised here in the forum a cutoff light with high beam for the (far) future (not before 2024ish). If you want to have it now, you need to spend either a ton of money for ready to use lights with external battery packs (Lupine SL AF, Lupine SL Nano AF, Lupine SL AX, Supernova M99 Mini Pro B54) or take one of the numerous e-bike lights with highbeam (Lupine, Supernova, Busch&Muller) and connect them to a suitable battery pack. But there is, with the exception of the Lezyne HB500 -which has a pretty narrow beam shape- no self contained light with high beam function.

There is actually not much competition towards the Outbound Detour either (meaning selfcontained, sufficient wide illumination): i'd say only the Lupine SL Mono (beam narrower) or Busch&Muller Ixon Space (also narrower beam), both allow charging while in use. And since i live in the land of StVZO regulations (which require bike lights to have a cut-off), i know the market quite well...


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

biking_tg said:


> Outbound promised here in the forum a cutoff light with high beam for the (far) future (not before 2024ish). If you want to have it now, you need to spend either a ton of money for ready to use lights with external battery packs (Lupine SL AF, Lupine SL Nano AF, Lupine SL AX, Supernova M99 Mini Pro B54) or take one of the numerous e-bike lights with highbeam (Lupine, Supernova, Busch&Muller) and connect them to a suitable battery pack. But there is, with the exception of the Lezyne HB500 -which has a pretty narrow beam shape- no self contained light with high beam function.
> 
> There is actually not much competition towards the Outbound Detour either (meaning selfcontained, sufficient wide illumination): i'd say only the Lupine SL Mono (beam narrower) or Busch&Muller Ixon Space (also narrower beam), both allow charging while in use. And since i live in the land of StVZO regulations (which require bike lights to have a cut-off), i know the market quite well...


Yep, I really do want to make a higher end "all-in-one" light. Originally I just wanted to do the typical low-beam-high-beam thing, however the more I talk to customers at shows and stuff, and answer emails about "what light should I buy", it really pushes me towards developing a great low beam light that can double as a Evo-like MTB light. 

Thinking two or 3 battery cells, like Evo, but a low beam optic that's great for commuting, riding the MUP, or the ride through town to get to the trail. Then when you arrive, can use the "high beam" when in reality its a beam just as good as Evo, so when people ask "I use a light for 25% riding on the road, and 75% on the trail" we can point to that.

There are some trick optics I need to develop to get that low beam performance but not in a snowshovel reflector that I may need to have someone help consult me on. As that is a bit beyond my scope as I've been trying, just haven't had a lot of time to really mess with it. 

But of course before we do that, we need to develop our remote solution, which what we have in mind is a lot more comprehensive than a typical on-off bluetooth like switch like others have. Think similar solutions to what wireless shifters are doing now, but combined with a small screen to give the actual readouts of runtime, pair lights so they can load balance and maintain a set runtime amount, etc. etc.

Again, all of this is in the future, we won't have a new light for at least another 8-12 months from now. Goal right now is to develop our current lights further to improve the quality, our sourcing and logistics, and of course more production capacity by reworking our designs for better DFM.


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## birdsarentreal (Oct 31, 2021)

My one request for all your lights(i've got the evo and hangover and love em), would be run time based charts that show how much time you gain with pass through charging, with X amount of charge power and some bike mountable battery. Or even giving max pass through charge input, and the draw of each light mode. 

Like i know you can't charge fast enough to run evo on high forever but i believe you can deplete a certain sized battery before it starts using internal, but pretty sure you can with low beam. I always try to talk friends into these things because they are rad, but then i have to google forever to find how long they'll run with pass through and find a random MTBR forum post somewhere. I think with this new gravel light the discussion is even more likely to be had, as there are plenty of events at night, or if you forget to charge the thing can you do passthrough on low and keep it rocking or whatever if you're using this as a commuter light.

Strongly considering this light for road use as i get flashed by drivers a TON using my evo so i stopped using it, and rightfully so even on low that thing is blinding, but not in any rush and would love the pass through run time data.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

I’ll try to get that pass through data soon, I’m sure Tom has it written down somewhere.

Tried to shoot some media this week, going to have a longer detailed tour of our building here soon. Right now reshooting some older videos such as what is a cutoff line:


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## Simplydown (Oct 17, 2020)

So, any chance you could produce an adapter that has a standard dynamo light mount instead of gopro fingers? Basically replacing the gopro fingers on the current adapter with a 10mm wide tab with a non threaded hole that takes a M6 bolt? Would be nice to have an easy way to mount this light on the fork crown. Thanks 😀


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## CuzinMike (Jul 6, 2010)

Received my Detour and did a quick first ride tonight on local bike paths, dirt roads, and a bit of easy singletrack. 

So far I'm very impressed. The beam pattern is much wider than I expected, and the overall illumination is far better for paved riding than anything else I've used. Granted, it was not sufficient on its own for twisty singletrack, but no bar light alone is, and that's not what this light was made for anyway. Still, I'd have no problem pairing the Detour with a helmet light for XC trail cruising. 

I ran the light on adaptive mode the whole time, and was showing 75% battery left after 1.5 hours. 

I have a feeling that this winter, which is prime riding season in Texas, is going to be a good one!


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## biking_tg (Dec 27, 2018)

@Outbound : since you refer to the >STVzO< on your webpage: the correct abbreviation is S*t*V*Z*O  (*St*rassen*v*erkehrs*z*ulassungs*o*rdnung; road traffic certification regulation; we germans have a faible for very long words )


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## Somerockenguy (3 mo ago)

I recently saw you guys released these, I've been running an EVO and hangover since last fall and love them. 

As I primarily ride MTB but dabble with road/gravel these caught my interest. I was kind of expecting them to have a remote feature. As someone who likes tech and hates clutter I'd be super interested in having a light controllable with ANT+. This would allow users to change setting and view battery on their Garmin or other device.


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## alee0729 (3 mo ago)

Distinctly non-mountain bike content ahead. Nothing about Bromptons are normal, including the light placement, but you work with what you can. For my NYC urban commuter, this is still fine. The Detour is excellent despite needing to be low mounted on my bike. A lot more hot spots obviously with the low mount, and definitely lose a bit of range, but still manages to cast a nice wide swath of light.

Detour itself is great. Only one real miss, and maybe a few areas for improvement...

No USB-C PD support means I can't use my laptop charger or phone charger to top off my light - I can only use the USB-A and older Quickcharge methods. This is probably the last year you can really get away with not having USB-C PD (esp. with future iPhones now destined to switch to USB-C, everyone will be using PD soon). Definitely suggest getting this on the roadmap - this is a big miss.
Action cam mount is clearly designed for an out front mount. Would be nice to see some sort of bottom mount. I guess it would have to be a shelf mount since the light should not be mounted upside, but it would open up a few different new places to mount with a better center of gravity. Given not all GoPro mounts are made equal, I had to really tighten the mount to keep it from tipping throughout the ride.
Charging port is fussy. Get that we need to seal against water intrusion, but feels like the safer bet would be to put the USB-C port on the back, and rely on the bicycle mount to cover/seal the port. Really no other way to mount the light without your brackets, so may as well make the most of that space.
ANT protocol for light control would be great. I use my phone as my bike computer/nav - a phone app for light control (or a set of libraries for 3rd party devs to access for cycling computer control) would be awesome. For instance, I use an app called Cadence for my bike computer. They added Garmin Varia radar support allowing me to see rear radar data on the display.
Overall though, this is good stuff. With darker rides coming for my commute with the upcoming time change, it looks like I got lucky, missed the long wait for the Detour's release and managed to find the best road light on the market and just get it and enjoy it right away. The Detour is way better than the LED throwers I have been living with. Easy to get wowed by a bright light, but even illumination is the real art.

Well done Outbound team!


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## Stahr_Nut (Nov 7, 2006)

I received my Detour a couple weeks ago and have had the opportunity to use it on two gravel rides and one MTB ride. I have a few questions for Outbound.

1. How come my light doesn't provide the nice even spread of light like the one you show in your original post in this thread? My beam pattern is sort of "blotchy" kind of like the photo in post #74 above by CuzinMike but even much more so. I carefully set it up in my basement with all the lights turned off to make sure I have it oriented and tilted per the instructions and I find it dumps a ton of light directly down on top of my front tire which seems like a waste to me and then has another hotspot about 30 feet or so out. I realize his light is mounted lower than most but the one photo in post #77 by alee0729 shows what I'm trying to describe about too much light being dumped down on my front wheel. I don't need that much light that close to me.
2. What material do you use for the lens? Whatever it is it seems too soft to me. Fall here can be a little moist which can often lead to getting some mud splatter on it, especially when riding with a group. After just three rides my lens is already starting to get scratched up.
3. I know it would impact runtime but have you ever considered adjusting the programming for adaptive mode so the brightness doesn't drop off quite so much? I get your theory and that theory seems to work okay when riding solo but when riding in a group with others that use lights putting out a constant 1200-1600 lumens the Detour quickly gets over powered and rendered close to useless among the stream of multiple lights. At a certain point I found myself relying more on the other guy's lights than my own.

As for a couple positive comments, I do like the form factor of this light and so far it seems to be the first light I've owned (including a Hangover) that actually delivers on its advertised runtimes.


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## MRMOLE (May 31, 2011)

Stahr_Nut said:


> 1. How come my light doesn't provide the nice even spread of light like the one you show in your original post in this thread?


Thanks for getting me to revisit the original post. Agree the beam doesn't look as smooth in actual use as this picture (at least with my example). Similarly comparing the pictures of the Detour and Focal Road doesn't accurately represent what I see with my examples as my Focal road has a much smoother beam and is so much more powerful (over 3 times the lux readings on my light meter).
Mole


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## alee0729 (3 mo ago)

Stahr_Nut said:


> How come my light doesn't provide the nice even spread of light like the one you show in your original post in this thread? My beam pattern is sort of "blotchy" kind of like the photo in post #74 above by CuzinMike but even much more so.


From what I can tell, there will always be 2 dark areas based on the light design. For me it is most pronounced when the light is at the highest setting. The two overlapping beams seem to be a thrower beam maybe 45-60 degrees wide for distance, and a flood beam that goes about 170 degrees and ends about 15-20 ft from your bike depending on how high it's mounted. The brightest area would be the 2 overlapping beams. Then assuming the 2 LEDs are well matched, the blue areas and the orange areas should be of equal brightness. And then the areas outside the beam pattern would taper into darkness.

Both lights are indirect - the LEDs are pointed down and then the reflector sets the shape of the beam. The way it's setup, I suspect the blotches are likely to be less pronounced if you angle the light up slightly (just a degree or two), but I need to experiment a bit more.


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## wschruba (Apr 13, 2012)

alee0729 said:


> Both lights are indirect - the LEDs are pointed down and then the reflector sets the shape of the beam. The way it's setup, I suspect the blotches are likely to be less pronounced if you angle the light up slightly (just a degree or two), but I need to experiment a bit more.


This hasn't been my experience with high-end (BuMM/SON/Supernova--in order of worst-to-best) generator lights; the fewer-but-greater-than-1 reflective sub-surfaces the light has, the more artifacts the beam will have. Brightness should be consistent from front-to-back of the beam (this is the aiming bit). The old BuMM 'high-end' incandescent models were essentially a smooth reflector, but only cast light in a fairly narrow swath...so it was smooth, and the only time you got weird brightness issues was when the light wasn't angled properly (as you noted). As the lights got more complex/reflectors got bigger with the advent of high-powered LEDs, the artifacts became unavoidable, since there was a literal crease in the reflector bowl. They still suffered from the issue of being aimed properly, but the artifacts never disappeared. Outbounds initial tethered lights have a _very_ complicated reflector bowl (not unlike Supernova's E99 Pure, which is--for all intents and purposes--a motorcycle lamp), which allows both smooth AND consistent brightness from front-to-back.

Those first generation models have the smallest example of that type of multi-face reflector I have ever personally seen; before that, the Supernova Pure series was the smallest, and it's roughly 2x the size for the smaller "mini" light, and 3x the size for the original model. My guess is there is a real limit to the smallest size you can manufacture such a reflector.

Unless they were pulling some really fancy witchery, I can't see any possible way that brightness wouldn't be brighter nearer rather than farther, due to overlapping fields of light. The kind of precision necessary to aim two lights to intersect in a precise area, and have them cast/secured into the same housing with no room for adjustment AND have a consistent field of illumination from front-to-back would be extraordinarily expensive. The current system is a less expensive way (not necessarily bad, but...) to achieve what their original light did...I can imagine that no matter what, a road product is an impossible design task for a bicycle--either the light is perfectly blended with an even beam and moderate throw, or it has artifacts/hotspots to make up for lack of near/far field illumination. Nobody on a bike wants to carry around a giant light/battery setup that you'd need to have you cake/eat it, too.

I was initially quite unhappy with the artifacts on modern LED generator lights when I initially started using them, but eventually made peace with them as something that just happens with them.

As far as aiming lights go, there's an expected height range the light is supposed to go in (the Brompton guy a few posts back alludes to this), but the hotspot (brightest horizontal portion) of the light should be just about dead level with the emitter when you point it directly at a wall. Pointing it down from that point will only make the light brighter (but hit the ground closer than you want), whereas pointing it up won't help you see any farther, since the hotspot is now past the horizon.


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## MRMOLE (May 31, 2011)

Some Detour info in this new thread. Also I noticed a review alert that The Sweet Cyclist youtube channel will release a full review 11/1 (will add a link when it come up).
Mole

road/cc beam comparison youtube video


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## firebanex (Jan 29, 2021)

While not a trail light, I took my Detour on a ride this evening just to see how it did. Result is as you might imagine, it's not a trail light but would be absolutely great for commuting in winter here. I felt zero guilt about having a good light while riding thru the urban bits of my ride. When riding, it's very difficult to see anything wrong with the beam. My eyes seem to blend it all together and it looks smooth to me.


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## alee0729 (3 mo ago)

Nice review here: 




I would have agreed with the reviewer on day 1 about the mount, but I've come to really appreciate the design of the mount.


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## hwhlee (2 mo ago)

Hi all - I don't do night time riding - would this be overkill for daytime use only ?


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## biking_tg (Dec 27, 2018)

hwhlee said:


> Hi all - I don't do night time riding - would this be overkill for daytime use only ?


Yes, it definitely would. The sophisticated beam engineering doesn't matter at all during daytime. But maybe you become a night/evening rider with this light...


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## MOBH (Nov 25, 2017)

Outbound said:


> We just whipped one up, will test print it next week.
> 
> If there are some other oddball mounts we should look into, let us know! We are mostly just MTB guys who are used to round bars.


That’s impressive. Is this fork crown mount available to buy?


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## MOBH (Nov 25, 2017)

I just bought a detour (already own the road edition) and, ouch, the custom duties and shipping were vicious. Hoping you are able to set up a UK distributer for the future.

I forgot to order two additional mounts: how can I pay for these without incurring additional international shipping costs?


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## MOBH (Nov 25, 2017)

Looking forward to a market beating rear light in the future (hopefully, not too many years distant…).


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## MOBH (Nov 25, 2017)

Outbound said:


> I’ll try to get that pass through data soon, I’m sure Tom has it written down somewhere.
> 
> Tried to shoot some media this week, going to have a longer detailed tour of our building here soon. Right now reshooting some older videos such as what is a cutoff line:



Interested in the pass through data.
Aware that you recommend QC 3.0 standard battery packs for pass through charging on the Detour but does it support QC 4.0 as on the Anker battery packs?


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## biking_tg (Dec 27, 2018)

@Outbound what is the max lux for the detour in high (@10 m) ? i am sure the information is somewhere hidden here, but i can't find it

regarding pass-through charging: i am looking for DC5521 to USB adaptors (the one for which you provided the link is not for sale in germany). What do i need to get the max pass through charge? An adaptor which can provide 5V/3A or something which can provide higher voltages? many thanks!

p.s.: impressive fast delivery, even for black friday sale. One day after ordering, the light went out and it will arrive tomorrow at its destination in germany, one week after ordering! +thumps up* Will do some fair comparisons (vs an Ixon Space/IQ-XE) and some unfair comparisons (Lupine SL AF, B&M IQ-XL)


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## alee0729 (3 mo ago)

biking_tg said:


> regarding pass-through charging: i am looking for DC5521 to USB adaptors (the one for which you provided the link is not for sale in germany). What do i need to get the max pass through charge? An adaptor which can provide 5V/3A or something which can provide higher voltages? many thanks!


I have only been able to get the light to charge with 5V/3A. Anything USB-C power delivery doesn't seem to work.


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## Neurotoxin (Apr 8, 2016)

Outbound said:


> Yep, I really do want to make a higher end "all-in-one" light. Originally I just wanted to do the typical low-beam-high-beam thing, however the more I talk to customers at shows and stuff, and answer emails about "what light should I buy", it really pushes me towards developing a great low beam light that can double as a Evo-like MTB light.
> 
> Thinking two or 3 battery cells, like Evo, but a low beam optic that's great for commuting, riding the MUP, or the ride through town to get to the trail. Then when you arrive, can use the "high beam" when in reality its a beam just as good as Evo, so when people ask "I use a light for 25% riding on the road, and 75% on the trail" we can point to that.
> 
> ...


Hi Matt and Tom,

What's the timeline for the release of this light-to-rule-all-lights? 😊


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Neurotoxin said:


> Hi Matt and Tom,
> 
> What's the timeline for the release of this light-to-rule-all-lights? 😊


At least a year. I still haven’t had time to develop the compact low beam optic I’ll need to come up with to make this work. Still feeling our options of actually outsourcing part of it to someone even more skilled than me, with very detailed direction on how the beam needs to perform. Or buy another software package and learn this next level of optical design myself…. Both very expensive options that will take a fair amount of time to master.


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## Neurotoxin (Apr 8, 2016)

Thanks Matt, I’ll patiently wait!


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## jmitchelltfo (5 mo ago)

Would anyone mind posting a picture of their detour light mounted to the fork crown? I run a bar mounted Jumbo Jammer for my commute so I would end up with the top of my bag being lit up if I ran a bar mount. I'm not sure if I need any additional mounts besides the GoPro version that Outbound sells, since I've only run smaller Lezyne lights on my bar or strapped directly to bags.


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## biking_tg (Dec 27, 2018)

jmitchelltfo said:


> Would anyone mind posting a picture of their detour light mounted to the fork crown?


check post #77 in this thread, a Detour on a Brompton folding bike. Mounted with an GoPro Mount to be attached at the fork crown.

Otherwise you could by one of those bar extenders or a k-edge mount, which will position the light 5-10 cm before the bar.


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## alee0729 (3 mo ago)

biking_tg said:


> check post #77 in this thread, a Detour on a Brompton folding bike. Mounted with an GoPro Mount to be attached at the fork crown.
> 
> Otherwise you could by one of those bar extenders or a k-edge mount, which will position the light 5-10 cm before the bar.


I will caution that after a few weeks with the light mounted there, I reconfigured to mount the light on the bars vs fork crown. I was definitely giving up a little too much throw having it so low. It made a huge difference - light definitely was designed to be mounted high.


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## HEMIjer (Jul 17, 2008)

Outbound said:


> eeling our options of actually outsourcing part of it to someone even more skilled than me, with very detailed direction on how the beam needs to perform. Or buy another software package and learn this next level of optical design myself…. Both very expensive options that will take a


Definitely appreciate a company that takes time to do things right on the engineering side vice throwing something out there and using customers as it testers. Keep up the good work/


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