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Added Lighting - Clearwater or Denali

Cycl2day

Cycl2day

Cycl2day
Looking for increased lighting for my 2013 GS. Most importantly, while I know being seen is critical, I am interested in these light more to illuminate the road better so I can see more at night. I once used Denali D2's and did not think they were very good for what I want. I thought the Clearwater Glenda or Darla's might be the thing to do as they are easy to mount and look to be great lights. But then I read about the new Denali D4 2.0 set up. Anyone have experience with these?

2013 R1200GS (LC)
previous rides 2007 R1200R & 2002 R1150R
 
Clearwater Ericas are programmable and very good a night. Also, make you more visible in daylight.

4-views.jpg
 
No knock against Clearwater lights, they are well made, but they are just way too expensive for me. There are many alternatives at 1/4 the price. As far as dimming goes, I never dim my lights, I simply installed lights that are the brightness I want at all times. YMMV of course.
 
I have/had five sets on Denali lites and a set of Clearwater Darlas. Both companies make good stuff. I do think the on/off button on the Denalis is a bit cheap, but bang for the buck goes to Denali. The Darlas are much brighter in day light, but not enough to make a difference in conspicuity.
 
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Clearwater lights are good, but pricey. I have the Darla on my F800GT, but only because the previous owner bought them. The bracket on one side and the light on the other side, had the paint flake off resulting in corrosion to the underlying metal. And no, there were only less than 2000 miles on the bike when I bought it, so it wasn't like they had seen a lot of use. To their credit, Clearwater replaced both the bracket and light...but only after pressing the issue. For the cost of Clearwater lights, there should've been no issue IMHO.

I'd look at ADVMonster lights. They are extremely popular on the ADVRider forum. I've used their Model 30 lights on two previous bikes with no issue. High quality, lots of light...and low price...$40. Customer service is great too. If I was to replace my Clearwater Darlas, I'd probably buy the Model 55.
Light Performance

Beam (degrees): Combispot - 7 degree primary beam provides maximum distance while the spill created by the custom reflector provides the width of a flood light. This is a do it all light.

Light output (lumens): 3000

Color Temperature (kelvin): 5000

Usable Light (feet/meters): 1500/457, Spot that deer, dog, animal/obstacle long before you need to stop.
Click to expand...

I did a comparison on my last bike with another owner who had the Denali lights (previous versions). It was like night and day. I could see no justification for the additional cost of the Denali lights, especially when they were clearly less bright.


Chris
 
azgman said:
As far as dimming goes, I never dim my lights, I simply installed lights that are the brightness I want at all times. YMMV of course.
Click to expand...

If they are dimmable, they can be the brightness you want on low beam and brighter when you're using the high beam...
 
daboo said:
Clearwater lights are good, but pricey.

I'd look at ADVMonster lights. They are extremely popular on the ADVRider forum. I've used their Model 30 lights on two previous bikes with no issue. High quality, lots of light...and low price...$40. Customer service is great too. If I was to replace my Clearwater Darlas, I'd probably buy the Model 55.

Chris
Click to expand...

+1
I have clearwater Darla's on my 14 RT which are great and a set of glenda's on my F650 Dakar. Both are solid but have had great luck with a pair of the Model 30's mentioned above on my "01 RT. Brightness in the daytime is what I seek (I try to avoid night riding at all costs). Try a pair. They are a fraction of the price and perform well.
 
I have run Clearwaters I've run Denalis and I've run Motolights all are great my two cents is if you can afford the Clearwaters I would go with the Clearwaters Denali's are a close second and work well. both are bright for daytime conspicuously and there is nothing better than the yellow amber lenses in the Clearwaters for daytime. The Denalis are now available with amber lens. For lighting up the night you would need to move up to brighter lights in either line up.
 
2016 R1200RT lights

bmwdean said:
My 77-year-old eyes work fine at night with my Clearwater Ericas shining the way.

4-views.jpg
Click to expand...

Same here partner. I have 74 year old eyes that need all the help they can get at night. Clearwater Ericas on my 2016 R1200RTW and brighter replacement bulbs for low & high beam as well as a Clearwater billy led auxiliary tail light. I also have a Triumph ThruxtonR that I have the Denali D2's on. No comparison between the D2's and the Ericas for night riding on backroads.
 
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JWMcDonald said:
If the sun's up (cloudless or cloudy) my LED hibeam is on with Clearwater Darla at 100%...
Click to expand...
If I did what you are suggesting, I'd have 13,400 lumens shining in everyone's eyes. That's blinding. :(

I had another rider pass me on the other side of my lane without any warning at all. I decided to turn on my highbeams to just show a little irritation at him. (I know, not a very forgiving attitude...) He switched sides of the lane to get out of the light. I switched to stay behind him. He finally switched into the lane next to ours to escape.

Point is, you have no idea how blinding that is. It isn't just being seen. It might also keep another driver from seeing a pedestrian or whatever in the seconds after you pass. It's dangerous.

Chris
 
Regarding the brightness of Clearwater lights, I do not use high beams in the day except for warning cars at intersections that I am here and please do not pull out before me. Even more powerful is the Clearwater strobe feature that can be linked to the horn. That is, when you see a car at an intersection that looks like he or she might not see you and pull out, press the horn and the Clearwater's high beams strobe fast. That really has been effective for me in stopping cars that might pull out. Coupled with my Stebel horn, which replaced the wimpy toot-toot stock horn, it really announces my presence and has stopped pull-out cars for me.
 
I used the Clearwater lights on the last few RT's - Darlas. Clearwater lights are definitely expensive and I've never regretted the purchase. I was able to listen to the founder of Clearwater - Glenn Stansky - on an Adventure Rider Radio podcast and he explained why the lights are pricey - or more explained what they do to make sure that their product is a well-made, reliable product and the problems with some of the other products on the market. Nothing against Denali - I'm sure they are a quality alternative to Clearwater - but listening to the podcast may explain some of the issues you may get with other lights.

Have 'junk' LED's on my DR650 - use them more as a "hey I'm here" light - and the beam that they cast is useless in the dark.
 
Having had "junk" LED lights on my other bikes for many miles, and Clearwater Darlas on this bike...there's no question in my mind. I'll go with the "junk" any day.

Chris
 
Denali DR1 lights and the EZCAN interface do everything the Clearwater lights can do at half the cost. Plus they have a nice strobe feature triggered by the high beam switch.
 
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