In the Netherlands many people use these kinds of detachable bike lights. I've never came across soldered batteries in the dozen or so I've replaced batteries for. Not always cheaper, but just tossing the whole thing seems like such a waste.
There are also dynamo powered LED lights which only provide light while riding the bike, and about a minute afterwards (I assume from an internal capacitor). They are not detachable but why would that be necessary? From what I can tell they also don't require regular replacement.
These are fine for bike commuters, and I’ve had them before. But they are in general not fine for recreational bicyclists; these people would gladly pay a hundred dollars for a new tire to shave off three watts and are not about to add any unnecessary human-powered accessories.
An exception is bikepackers, who may prize reliability and runtime over brightness and weight. But then the dynamo we're talking about is $200-$400 and that's not including the light.
I remember my mum telling me about going climbing in the 1960s with people who would saw the handle off their toothbrush to save 10g or so in their backpack.
Seems a little performative to me, that's about the weight of all the raindrops on your jacket.
esquire_900 · · focus · HN ↗
Well done!
cubefox · · focus · HN ↗
kccqzy · · focus · HN ↗
bootlooped · · focus · HN ↗
ErroneousBosh · · focus · HN ↗
Seems a little performative to me, that's about the weight of all the raindrops on your jacket.