Commuting - Nightrider NR10 headlight. What do you think?

I'm looking to augment my current lighting system; my Planet Bike 10 watt light's battery is dying and only holding enough charge to get through one commute. I just saw the Nightrider system on Nashbar for $15 and thought it would be an affordable way to add some beam to my current system. Can anyone who's had experience with it recommend it?

I'm looking to augment my current lighting system; my Planet Bike 10 watt light's battery is dying and only holding enough charge to get through one commute. I just saw the Nightrider system on Nashbar for $15 and thought it would be an affordable way to add some beam to my current system. Can anyone who's had experience with it recommend it?

It's okay but not anything special. I had the Fazer that is similar to it and was not too impressed. It is a very good idea to have 2 light sources when you commute so I'd suggest you get something like the NR10 as a back up. But...

Let's address the problem you are having with your Planet Bike light. You can easily replace the battery on your system. Battery Space (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=470) carries all kinds of battery packs for relatively cheap. Yours is a 3.8 Ah battery which isn't going to be that expensive to replace. Even a 5 Ah battery is only going to cost you $30. All you need to do is wire the connections...not hard at all.

If you want more bang for your buck, you could replace the battery with a 7.2V battery. You'll just about double the light output of your lamp (shorten's the life a little). If you light has a voltage controller, I'm not sure how that will work but it's worth a look. Battery space sells the 7.2V packs too...as well as bulbs.

I would suggest you look at a smarter charger too. That's probably what killed your battery...unless the pack is pretty old.

Maybe I'm not following your question, but IMO, if you run the two lights at the same time, you won't be able to tell whether the Niterider is on or off. If you just intend to use the NR as a backup to the PB, be aware that they're not in the same league. I have both (though my PB is a 15W). The NR makes a decent "be seen" light on lit city streets, and can be used as a flashlight for looking around in the garage, but its light output is a tiny fraction of the PB's.

I guess I was overly optimistic about and inexpensive light option. Money is tight these day and I was looking for the easy (cheap) way out. My initial plan was to have the batterystore.com build an identical 5 cell pack and I would move the leeds over from my old pack, wrap it in heat shrink tubing and replace--total cost, about $30 like you said. It didn't occur to me to change the charger-I'll look into that. I also thought about over volting the existing bulb but was worried about shortening its (already 3 to 4 year long lifespan-I feel like I'm already on borrowed time). Thanks for the tip on replacement bulbs as well, I haven't been able to find an exact replacement, instead I'd likely have to buy a new system which seems like such a waste. I'll probably order the pack and possibly a bulb this weekend and let you know how it turns out next week.

Thanks for the advice.

What kind of lamp is it? Many bike shops that carry NiteRider can get the replacement bulbs, which are MR-11 6V bulbs, 10, 15, or 20 watts. It seems like a lot of halogen lighting systems use the same style of bulb. I got the 15W bulb from my LBS for $7. Also, if there's a Batteries Plus locally, they will be able to re-build the battery. It might even be cheaper than batteryspace. They re-built a $250 laptop battery for me (9 cell) for $35 back in 2000 or so.

I run a NiteRider Classic Plus Dual Beam Halogen, 12 watts burns for 3 hours 10 minutes, 20 watts for 2 hours, and 32 watts for 1 hour 20 minutes, charges in 2.5 hours, sweet light and works great too :) Thanks goes out to all the Bike Forum members for helping me pick out a light ;) :)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/stumpyspic/myssbike001-1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/stumpyspic/niteriderclassicplus001.jpg