Bright Eyes Newly Upgraded and Fully Waterproof 1200 Lumen Rechargeable Mountain, Road Bike Headlight, 6400mAh Battery (Now 5+ Hours on Bright Beam). Free Diffuser Lens/TAILLIGHT

"WOW!" I have caught myself saying "wow" to myself at least THREE separate times now since purchasing this headlight last July. Let me explain. 1.) The first "wow" came when the light arrived. After charging the battery per manufacturer's recommendations, I plugged it in and tested it out in my living room - it felt like a car had pulled into my house!! Unbelievably bright for such a small light. Yes, the external battery pack is a bit clunky (I would have preferred it all to be one unit), but now that I see the light output, I can see why it needs a dedicated battery. This thing is BRIGHT!!! I bike to work every day (as well as biking to run errands around town), and cars *consistently* hesitate to pull out in front of me - I think most of them think I am a motorcycle at first glance, due to the surprisingly bright light. For $40, I consider this a great value. Over the past 6 months, I have biked in cold weather (down to the teens in degF), hot weather, pouring rain, driving wind, heavy fog, you name it - this light has handled it all like a champ. I always use the high setting (to be ultra conservative), and I've never had any trouble seeing what's in front of me on the road or feeling like others can see me. Compared to the old "two AA's" puny headlight I used to have, this thing provides WAY more light and makes me feel much safer. I love it. 2.) The second "wow" came when I first emailed customer support. Unfortunately, I was hit by a truck *the day before* this light arrived in the mail (if only I had bought it sooner! Might have helped prevent the accident, who knows). Thus I didn't get around to really using it until 4 months later, after Thanksgiving, once I healed from the wreck. At that time, I saw that a new battery holder had been developed, so I emailed Don asking if there was any way I could get the new one. He emailed me back 17 minutes later confirming that he would ship me a new battery holder that very day - for free! Sure enough, it arrived promptly and was an improvement over the previous version. Wow! 3.) The third "wow" came today, and is what prompted me to finally write this review. I have been using this light daily since Thanksgiving (so right at 6 months), and have been VERY happy with it. The only disappointment is that sometimes the battery would die sooner than I expected (i.e., after about 1.5 hours on high versus the advertised 3 hours). I charge the battery religiously every night when I park my bike, so I was certain that the battery was dying prematurely (I wasn't just forgetting to charge it). I emailed Don about it and he emailed me back 16 MINUTES LATER apologizing for the inconvenience, promising to send me a brand new battery for free right away (said I can keep the old one as a backup), and clarifying a few details about the battery performance. He pointed out that all of their advertising is careful to list the battery life as "up to" 3 hours, since there is some variation in battery manufacturing; anything from 2 to 3 hours on high is normal. But since mine was lasting less than 2 hours, it was considered a defect and covered by the 1-year warranty. Keep in mind that this is after 6 months of daily use, so who knows whether the battery decrease is really a defect or just normal wear and tear. Either way, Don didn't hesitate to send me a new one for free - all I had to do was send him one email asking nicely! :) Now, I realize that with such a glowing review, you may wonder about my motives. For the record, I paid full price for this light (after doing much research) and have not received any compensation beyond the replacement parts that I described above (and access to a really great headlight!). My only motivation for writing this is out of gratitude for the excellent product and excellent customer service provided by Don. I tend to be someone who reads lots of reviews but never takes the time to write them; Don has gone out of his way to earn a positive review from me, so here it is. :) While I'm writing, let me also mention that the red blinky taillight that comes with this headlight is also very good (I use it as my primary taillight). It uses *two* CR 2032 Lithium 3V coin batteries stacked on top of each other. To replace these batteries, you just wrangle the white plastic LED housing out of the red silicone band, and then pop off the back plastic cap (doesn't require any tools, just a fingernail). Replace the two batteries, then put everything back together. Very easy. In my experience, the blinky light gets dim after a couple months of consistent use, so I replace the batteries every month or two to keep them bright. One final note: at first I had trouble with the headlight slipping down when I went over bumps. At Don's suggestion, I wrapped some electrical tape around the handlebars and turned the last strip over (so the sticky side faced outward), then reattached the light. This has helped the light stay firmly in place for a few months now. TLDR: This light is awesome. The company is legit. Customer service is unparalleled. I'm a very happy customer. :) Thanks, Don!

I have had a number of bike lights over my 60 years of riding. None have been anywhere near perfect, but this light comes very close. Retired in Florida, during the summer I tend to go out for long rides, late at night. The sun is just to hot and oppressive here during summer days. I'm a retired electrical engineer and have “home brewed,” a number of lights to solve the problem of never having enough light. Lately I've been experimenting with LED MR11C bulbs, using a 12 volt battery. The battery is a sealed lead-acid affair and on the heavy side. Until recently, this was my best solution. Then came the Bright Eyes Bike Light. This light is amazing! I mounted it on my helmet, keeping my MR11C light on the handlebars for comparison. The MR11C uses about 4 watts of power, which is much better than the quartz halogen lights that preceded it, they used 10 and 20 watts. The Bright Eyes, data (my unit, with replacement battery): Setting Power Volts/Amps Time High 7.6 watts 8.18 @ 0.93 2 Hr 31 min. Medium 2.37 watts 8.18 @ 0.29 7 Hr 41 min. Low Not tested N/A N/A The Bright Eyes, when first turned on, is in the high power setting. Hitting the power button a second time puts it in the medium setting. Hitting it a third time puts it in the flashing setting. If one holds the power button down for a few seconds, there are two other modes: Low power and then S.O.S. I didn't bother with either of these. The promotional information states that the unit will operate “almost three hours,” on high. When I first received my unit, I tested it on high and it only went one hour and thirty-one minutes, hardly “three hours.” I wrote the vendor and they immediately offered to send me a replacement 8.4 V battery, suspecting that was the problem. Two days later, the replacement did arrive, and it was somewhat different from the original. It was encased in a rubber jacket and appeared more hardy. The original battery, once charged, measured 8.42 volts after a charge and a rest period. The newer unit measured 8.18 after a charge and rest. I was skeptical the newer battery would perform as well as the original, but the above data shows good performance. As tested, my unit does indeed run almost three hours, two hours and thirty-one minutes is closer to three hours than two, but it is a stretch. I would prefer it were promoted as a 2.5 hour light on high, that would be closer to the truth. However, the “almost” eight hours on medium is quite good. Medium still makes for a VERY bight light. The amazing thing is how much light this unit has on high. It is blinding! I can easily read signs 1000 feet (333 meters) away. This light qualifies as a Darth Vader light saber. I use caution when looking towards oncoming traffic, for fear of blinding them. Almost every night that I go out I have surprises. The first night, I had some folks in a pickup truck, stopped at an oncoming traffic light yelling questions about where I got such a light. The second night, I had an oncoming bicyclist pull over, he thought I was some sort of emergency vehicle or police vehicle. High beam, truly is. I've found that for normal riding, the medium setting is perfect. It has long battery life and is nearly as bright as the high setting. Things I would like to see changed: The light runs until the sensing unit in the battery shuts it down. In other words, there is no warning when the battery is finished, it just turns the light off. If the rider knows how long the battery can run before this happens, no problem, but if the state of charge isn't known, it could be a surprise. It would be especially dangerous if one were mountain biking and careening down a hill and the light decided it was finished. I've spent years racing mountain bikes and would be concerned this could be an issue in a 24 hour race, where racers go all night. I would have liked to have it at least go into flash mode for a few minutes before just shutting off. The charger has a quirk. Normally, it charges just fine. However, if one lets the battery run until it shuts down the charger will fail to sense when the charge cycle is complete. Usually, the battery recharges quickly enough, but doesn't seem to know when it has finished IF the battery was allowed to shut down. When this happens, I unplug the charger from the wall and the battery and then reconnect it and, shortly, it shows the charging cycle has finished. I don't believe there is any harm, the charger stays cool and it seems to be just an indicator problem, but it is a bit odd. Summary. Would I purchase another Bright Eyes? Yes, absolutely. In fact, I plan to, for my wife's bike. It is a fantastic light, certainly one of the brightest in it's price class. It gives off an impressive light and is far better than anything I've used in all my years of cycling. The vendor support is also without compare. I was impressed with the customer support and look forward to other products that may come along.

First off, let me start by stating that the light is very bright, on high it really lights up the trail. It mounts quickly to the handlebars and there is enough wire on the light/battery to allow placing the battery in a seat pack if desired. However, it has some flaws. First, while there are small & large bands, the mount on the light itself is solid and is too narrow to fit fatter bars. It works, but a wider opening with spacers would be better for fat bars or when mounting over bar tape. Second, there is no side to side pivot (which is a flaw with many lights). When you cannot pivot the light, it points in the direction of the angle of your bars. If your bars are not perfectly perpendicular to the trail, your light is pointing off to the side which reduces visibility directly in front of you. To amplify the issue, even if your bars are perfect, you have no way to direct the light to the side when you want to, in order to not blind oncoming riders or when there is a bend in the trail, and no way to point the light at the middle of the trail when mounted off center. You can tilt the light down/up as needed to avoid blinding people, but a pivot is a necessity for a bike light, in my opinion. The battery does not seem that great to me. A couple days ago I fully charged it before a ride which started with 2 hours in daylight, battery unplugged. When it got dark, I plugged it in and it went dead within 90 minutes with a mix of high & medium, nowhere close to the "Up to 3 hours on high" that is claimed here or the "4 hours of discharge time on high mode" listed on the packaging. Luckily I had another light in my bag for the last few miles back home. It also loses its charge completely when not in use, even when disconnected from the light. I know batteries lose charge over time, but I have other rechargeable lights which hold a full charge for days. The cycling of high/low/strobe and high/medium/low/SOS/strobe is also annoying. When I am on the trail, I will change the brightness when approaching other trail users and it is irritating to have to flip through strobe to get back. This is a flaw with many lights, but worth noting. If the light allowed cycling between only the brightness levels, it would be a much better light. I very seldom use strobe mode, and let's be honest, how often is a person going to use SOS mode? The bonus tail light is decent and the head harness looks pretty good. I doubt I'll ever strap the light to my head to go for a run, but the bracket could easily be attached to a helmet if you don't mind cutting away the elastic straps. Overall, the light is very bright for the price and works well enough, but the lack of a pivot is a big design flaw. Battery life doesn't seem that great, maybe it will improve over time. *** UPDATE - November 6, 2014 - I contacted customer service regarding the battery life, they sent a replacement battery a couple weeks ago and performance is much improved. I fully charged the battery before a ride last Thursday and had the light on high for over an hour, I also left it plugged in (but off) for another couple hours while at dinner. On Monday I had it on high for around 80 minutes still on that Thursday charge. Last night (still on last Thursday's charge) I had it on a mix low and high for about 75 minutes before the switch went from green to red. The light was on high at the time, and as I had a backup light in my pocket, I left it on high. It took 15 minutes to get home and the light made it all the way to my garage door, it shut off 1 second before I put my foot down, near perfect timing! The seller also sent a wide angle lens which works great to spread the light out across the trail. It does reduce the brightness somewhat, but without comparing side by side on a dark trail, it is hard to tell how much difference there is. With the new battery providing the advertised run time, I raised my rating from 3 to 4 stars. The lack of a side to side pivot and the rigid one size mount that doesn't fit well on fatter bars account for the lost 1 star.

NOV 2015 EDIT: I've been using this light just about every single day since June of 2014, both day and night, on my commutes and nighttime rides. It hasn't failed me yet. Zero problems. I don't often write reviews. But I feel this seller deserves a little support. The customer service and the product fly far above the rest. I was hesitant to buy these seeing that there are some on the market that sell for 100+ dollars and claim to have the same brightness, so I was weary of cheap Chinese knock-offs and put off getting one. That was until I injured myself crashing into a "yard sale" sign somebody kindly left in the bike lane one night. My then current light was too dim to pick it up until I was right on top of it, and it was on a section of road devoid of street lights. One big bump and a steaming mad cyclist later, I jumped on Amazon for the brightest light I could find. Here I am. The light itself feels of high quality, heavy metal housing and crystal clear glass lens. Surprising for something around 40 bucks. It lives up to its 1200 lumen designation. Now, I have no way of measuring if this light actually pushes 1200 lumen but I am also not that picky. All you need to know is that this light is BRIGHT. So bright in fact that it reflects off street lights a quarter of a mile away in the bright Las Vegas summer sun. At night, heck even during the day, I fear I am blinding on coming road users. I tend to tilt it down or hit the dim selection when approaching peds or at a stop light out of respect for other road users. It's MORE than enough light to see far in front of you at night. Sometimes I am caught off guard when the green light turns red to indicate a low battery, but I can usually get another hour out of it once I click it to a lower setting and the light turns green again. Even on low, it's brighter than most lights. 3 modes. Bright, dim, and flashing. Hold the button down 5 secs or so and you get 5 modes. Bright, dim, dimmer, flashing, and flashing S.O.S. (great for when stranded on a desert island) The flashing mode is a little too overwhelming and distracting especially when it reflects off my brake cables and other handlebar furniture and I only use it in emergency's when I absolutely MUST be seen, or during the day when the bright sun slightly dims it down, I flip it on for an added bit of safety and piece of mind. Why not use it at all times when I can plug the battery in and charge while I work? As a bonus, you get a head strap and a rear dual led light. Not the brightest light in the pack, but quite handy if you accidentally stay out past your bed time and just need something to be seen with (and to avoid a ticket from the cops) to get home. I sometimes use these cheap lights as give always for ninja or phantom cyclists who are out in all black without even a single reflector asking to get rear ended. The seller is what sets this light apart from everybody else. Great correspondence and numerous follow ups. Not follow ups that beg for a good review and that you buy more of their products, follow ups that radiate genuine interest and concern if you are enjoying what you bought and if there is any concerns or questions regarding the light or if I may need additional parts etc. They also listen to the customer, and offer to replace anything that people have said broke or wore out like rubber bands and seals or Velcro straps if need be. True customer service. What every store should strive for. Brick and mortar or online. The original battery mount fell apart rather quickly, and the seller sent me another more robust one, within a couple days of emailing him about the issue. This seller deserves your service. You wont be disappointed.

WOW! I am definitely impressed with this light, as well as the FREE tail light it comes with. When I compared it side by side with the lights I already have, there literally is NO competition. Not even CLOSE! 1200 Lumens is almost embarrassingly bright; I feel like I will be offending people with this light lol that's how bright it is. My eyes still have those blinky things you get when you see flash from a camera. It has several settings too; my old light has only 2: constant and flash. This new light has like 5 different settings if you push and hold the power button for 3 seconds and then you can just push it once to get through each setting. It is also water proof, which is awesome. It also comes with a headband that you can attach the light to, if you like to ride that way, or if you like taking early-morning/late-night jogs or hikes. I have no idea how I'd wear it on my head since I have an afro lol, but I guess if I were wearing a hat, I could wear it around that. Be kind of weird to see an afro split into 4 sections from the band lol. I should also mention that if you ride vintage French (I ride a Peugeot Vitus 181 Course road bike, circa 1981) this light will fit your bike too (as you know, older Peugeot models before the mid-80s tend to have weird measurements). With my old light, I had to tweak it to make it fit. The back light will fit around my seat post as well, nice and snug with no issue, although I attach it to my panniers since I use those instead of my back pack much of the time. But it's nice to know since I did test it. It has an external battery pack, but it is completely necessary to get a light this bright in this price range. There are other lights out there that are probably this bright, but it won't be this inexpensive; you will be looking at around $100-$200 for one. I love that it's rechargeable, I love that it's easy to install and remove, and most importantly, I love that it's so bright that I don't feel I need to worry as much about whether other cars will see me or not. I feel very confident now. There are parts of the streets that I ride where there is no bike lane, and so I'm forced to ride along with traffic. This light makes me feel more comfortable doing that, coupled with the reflectors on my panniers as well as my reflector vest. I'm even more visible than before. But now, I can also see better too. If you are parking your bike outside for any reason, definitely remove this light and any other removable accessories that don't require tools. This one would definitely be a hot item that will go missing if you don't. As far as overnight storage, I store mine in my apartment, so no worries there. Consider doing so if you can. As for the back light, it is also very bright, you can remove the red silicone cover and the little white seal on the back if you ever end up needing to change out the battery, which it takes a clock type of battery. These can be found on Amazon as well as at your local Wal-Mart for cheap. Slide the red cover back on once you're done. I also decided to go ahead and grab the extra battery pack for $15.99, also here on Amazon. It's worth it if you want to make sure you're never out and tend to ride longer and don't want to come up short. This one will stay on for up to 6 hours on medium brightness, 3 hours on the brightest setting. So it's good to have. Anyway, I highly, HIGHLY recommend this light, if you ride at night, whether it's occasionally or on the regular, whether you ride on the streets or on dark trails. This light will get the job done and then some. Whenever I get a gas scooter, I plan to figure out away to put this one on it as well lol. The flash mode can also help with making street lights change faster too, there are some laggy street lights near my house and I always use the flash to make it change faster. Completely worth the money, you won't find a better one for this price. There are cheaper ones that claim to be like this light, but they are imitations, always better to buy straight from the source, spend the extra $10-$20 for something that works and is actually reliable.

Background: I purchased two of these on August 20 and received them about a week later. As of today, October 30, these lights have each been used approximately 24 times for commutes that average a little over 20 miles round trip. The lights are used for about 70 minutes a day. About half of the trip is along a timbered river bottom that is void of light. This morning one of the lights died for the second time and will remain dead, so I figure I have enough experience with them in order to provide a fair review. Issue: One of the two lights has worked consistently without problems. The second light made it about 17 commutes before beginning to shut itself off. At first I could jiggle the cord at the base of the lantern and get it to turn back on. A ride or two later it remained dead, jiggle or no. While I realize the seller of this item would have gladly made it right, I needed the light the next morning, didn’t want to wait, and hated the long cord anyway. I took it apart, cut the cord to less than a foot, and soldered the connection back up. The resoldering fixed the connection issue I was having at the base of the lamp, and I was able to ride unhindered until today when the light went black about a third of the way into my commute. It wasn’t much of an inconvenience since I had learned over the course of prior commutes that when the battery dies, it dies immediately. For this reason I keep a backup, albeit much dimmer, light attached to the bike. Pros: 1. This light is very, very bright. Expect oncoming pedestrians and bikes to shade their eyes unless you have it pointed a little off trail. On a flat trail under canopy of trees I have more than 150 yards of illumination. 2. It has good dispersion so that you have a decent amount of view outside of the direct beam. 3. This light is cheap. You would be hard pressed to find a brighter light at this price. 4. It is easy to attach to the bike. It can be put on and taken off in 10-20 seconds. Cons: 1. It needs charged daily if you use it for more than an hour on the high beam. 2. When the battery dies, it does with no warning. It tells you this in the instructions. A backup battery is a good idea. It seems like an even better idea the first time your light goes out in the middle of nowhere and you don’t have one. 3. Make sure the charger is plugged into the wall. Failure to plug it into the wall while having it plugged into the battery will give the illusion of a fully charged battery (green led lit on the charger). 4. The cord is way too long. Chances are you will need to tie a length of it into a bundle in order to make it shorter – regardless of where you store the battery in relationship to the lamp. 5. I felt the need to keep a cheap, dimmer, backup light attached to the bike just in case. Ancillaries: One of the two “free” rear blinkies is still going strong. The other began shutting itself off about two weeks after purchase. This happened after hitting bumps in the road. Once it was switched from slow blink to fast blink it seemed to remain on longer, and we were normally able to make it about halfway to our destination before it needed to be turned back on. While it adds another light to help improve visibility, it is far from reliable and will very rarely make it all the way to the destination without turning itself off. Since it was offered as a “free” with purchase taillight, I will not say that I am disappointed with it being how it is. Opinion of product and seller: I have not asked the seller to do anything about the dead lamp since I chose to cut wire and resolder instead of simply using the warranty. This review is based entirely on my perception of the product, and should not be associated with the seller, who has approached others who have had issues and has made them whole. For this reason, I should make clear I will not change my rating even with a product replacement, as I believe that getting a working unit on the first try is still a bit of the roll of the dice. That said, I am of the impression that anyone with a faulty light on the first try will eventually end up with a working unit via seller diligence. Overall, I am happy with this purchase because it is a bright light at a low price. With a backup battery it is consistent enough for regular rides in the dark. I would recommend this product to a friend. I would not hesitate to purchase another one of these lights from this seller.

I've had this light for five years now and it's about time I gave it and the company the five star review they so very much deserve. First of all, it's very bright. Very, very, very bright. You will be able to see and also very important - you will be SEEN. The mounting system is super easy to use and works excellent to not only quickly install the light but to hold it firmly in place. I cannot say enough about the rechargeable battery system, this is a huge bonus in such a powerful light at this price point. You truly cannot go wrong with this light, I use it on my vintage beach cruiser for navigating the often streetlight-less streets of my coastal community of Ocean Beach in San Diego. Lot's of narrow streets and tons of intersections many of them blind with a lot of drivers doing the old California Roll. I really feel so much safer having this light on my ride vs lights I have had in the past at because not only can I see really well since it casts a broad and BRIGHT light but once again - I can be SEEN - which is really the overriding concern around here. Due to my satisfaction with the with this fantastic bike light I am going to purchase their rear bike light as well as the new updated version of this product for another ride of mine. As I extol the quality (BRIGHT! BRIGHT! BRIGHT!), durability (FIVE YEARS!) and usefulness (SEEING AND BEING SEEN!) of this light I would be quite remiss if I did not mention the OUTSTANDING customer service I have received from Bright Eyes. After five years, I somehow misplaced my charger. On the off chance I could purchase a replacement from Bright Eyes I contacted the company. I received a very prompt reply from their customer service department and not two days later a replacement charger was in my mailbox - free of charge! This above and beyond customer service is what makes a customer for life, and that I am! So super appreciative of Bright Eyes for helping me out and for making an OUTSTANDING product!!! Thanks Bright Eyes!

Compared to my CygoLight 800 Lumens LED light ($250), this Bright Eyes 1200 Lumens light seems twice as bright when seen side-by-side on the road in front of you. Also, customer service provided personally by Don was excellent. I had it delivered to an Amazon locker and it arrived in only a couple of days. Compared to other lights with more power or multiple LED's, I decided on this one because, for the brightness, it uses less power and has the longest run time on a 4400mAh power supply. Pro's U.S. (Nevada) Based Company. (Mfg in China, however, to keep costs down of course.) Shipped by Amazon. (Fast delivery.) Extremely Bright light. Battery pouch is extremely well built with two velcro straps instead of just one. The battery pack itself has a full 2mm thick rubber enclosure. In contrast, the LingsFire battery pack (that I also purchased) has a cheap plastic wrap and only one velcro strap. Battery pack, 4400mAh, lasts a little over 2 hours on high setting. This is a bit longer than my CyglLight 800 which has a run time of only 1-1/2 hours. Supposed to be water resistant. (I haven't tested this, but others have.) Con's The run time is not close to the 3 hours advertised. I've gotten up to 2 hours 10 minutes run time on the highest setting, then the red warning light comes on, then after another 5 minutes the light just turns off abruptly. 2-1/4 hours total. The time that remains after the red warning light comes on is not consistent, but it's assumed to be about 10 or 15 minutes. I can only trust this battery pack for a full 2 hours. Spotlight type beam does not provide a wide setting. (see wide angle lens, below) The power cord from Battery Pack or from the Light itself could be about 10 inches longer. When I attach the light to my helmet, the cord barely reaches down my back to the battery pack in my jersey pouch. On the other hand, when attached to the handlebars, there is a lot of extra cord needing to be tucked away. Some people recommend the diffusion lens sold here on Amazon (the "Wide Angle Lens for MagicShine"). I haven't tried it yet; however, here are the answers to my question about whether it reduces the brightness ... http://www.amazon.com/reduce-brightness-light-1200-lumens/forum/Fx1GL2KZ89SNP9O/Tx3HEC06OFW57F8/1/ref=cm_cd_naredir?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B004WLCLQY&cdItems=25&store=generic Customer Service My battery pack only lasted less than 2 hours so I contacted the seller and he shipped a replacement battery pack right away. (It still only lasts 2-1/4 hours on high.) Mounting To Handle Bars I wrapped black electrician's tape a few times around to thicken the bar. Then purchased from the hardware store a 1/4 inch thick rubber sheet from which I cut a piece to place under the curved part of the light mount. This fits tightly but allows me to adjust the beam up or down. It also allows me to adjust horizontally side-to-side a little (5 or 10 degrees). The light is very secure, it does not vibrate, shake, or move. Mounting To Helmet I cut the elastic straps and attached the square plastic forehead mount to my helmet using a velcro strap. The helmet mount allows me to see the road better when navigating tight turns down the steep hills. The downside is when the road is dusty or foggy - the beam reflects against the particles and partly obstructs my vision. But it's manageable. Recharging Although it's never happened to anyone I know, after reading about the dangers of rechargeable batteries in general, I no longer charge the batteries in the garage. I do it in the kitchen where there is a smoke detector alarm, just in case. --- UPDATE I tried the diffusion wide-angle lens and it spreads the beam over a wider area horizontally. The brightness is reduced from about 1200 to about 900 lumens. I prefer full strength without the wide-angle which, when mounted to my helmet, works very well.