Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - light confusion

after commuting a few nights with a weak blinkie headlamp, i'm ready to move up to a 'real' headlite without breaking the bank. been reading the forums and trying to figure out the best option.

right now i'm looking at two different niteriders, same price, but can't figure out which would be a better option for commuting. main difference seems to be the type of battery: li-ion vs. nimh. anyone here who can shed some light or offer some wisdom on the diff -- i'd greatly appreciate it.

here's what i'm looking at:

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?sku=24411

vs.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?sku=26298

I'm not sure how much research you've done, but many would agree here that you can't beat using a good LED flashlight instead of a bicycle specific light. I would suggest a Fenix L2D Premium Q5 over either of those NR lights.

or you can get 2 fenix flash lights that from my understanding take aa batteries and would give you doulbe the light out put of these

or get a dinotte 200l for 30 bucks more, again takes aa batteries and last for hours.

personally don't have either but do a search they are highly recomended.

Even the "C" cell, Task Force Flashlight, from Lowes, throws far more usable light, and a mount can be made for less than $10. The light itself is $30.

I have two, and they throw an awesome amount of light.

Neither of those Niterider models is going to put out enough light for you to see in dark areas of your commute. Pitiful amount of light for the money.

You would be much better off with the Fenix L2D Q5 flashlight. It will put out more than twice as much light on turbo and last two hours if you get good 2700 mah rechargeable batteries. At the same intensity of the Niterider's maximum output it will last as long as they do. Do a search on Fenix and you can get tons of information on helmet and bar mounts and rechargers and rechargeable batteries.

Another best option would be the AA version of the Dinotte 200.

I agree that neither of those two will put out much light. I have the mini-USB. Nice light, but pretty dim by today's standards. Bought it to try out, and now it's ended up on my son's tricycle (he loves it along with his superflash!).

You could mod the two NiteRider lights with better LED's and double your light output while keeping runtime the same, but that may be more effort than you're willing to put into it.

I have the Fenix L2D Q5's - really like them. The Dinotte 200L is also very nice, and on sale right now (w/o batteries, but you'd want to get your own anyway).

Nice way to go would be a Dinotte 400L - they are also on sale right now, but it will put you in $209 territory. 2 Li-ion batteries though, for a total of 5 hours runtime on high.