General Cycling Discussion - Cygolite Z-Force NiMH Review

So I've had this light for a few months now and overall I'm pretty impressed with it.

Pros: It's a sub $300.00 dollar light if you shop around and then get performance to pricematch it. Run time in the cold(35F) falls to about 3.5hrs versus the advertised 4hrs. In warmer weather 50-60 I have gotten every bit of the 4 hours out of my battery. Charge time has happened in as quick as 3 hours but normally stays around 4 hours. The mounting kit for the handlebar is easy to mount with a 10 degree swivel, it's also durable. The light itself is tough (I flipped my bike on it when I wrecked) and there is plenty of cord from the battery to the light. The velcro strap for the battery is big enough to fit around the beefiest bars. Consider the downtube on my Kona Hoss. The light it produces is well spread and shows you everything you can imagine. Cars even stop for me thinking I am something other than a bicycle.

Cons: The light takes upto 15 seconds to turn on reach full illumination. The light gets extremely hot, and if air does not filter through the light it has turned off. The on/off switch is on the battery which can be a pain to reach if you're trying to turn it on mid ride. The low-battery light is also on the battery, so rarely do you realize it's going dead until it's dead. It has about 15 minutes of light left when you notice the light getting weaker. My only other complaint was no helmet mount, but this issue has been resolved and one has been released.

Overall this is a great light for commuting, trail riding, or liesurely riding. I like it alot and think that I couldn't have found more bang for the buck.

i also use a cygolite. not the z-force, the model escapes me now. i really love the quality lighting. my pro's and con's are the same as yours are.

i just returned my light because one of the on/off switches wouldn't catch. i called cygolite, and the guy who answered the phone says 'dude, just take some needlenose pliers and bend the metal contact' >> i couldn't believe it. i did it and screwed it up even more. i just sent the unit back to them so they could fix it.

I'll follow up when i see the result of this fix. (unit was used for one full season)

my only complaint is that they do not make a wider mount, so if you run the newer thicker handlebars (road) it doesn't fit. i have thin bars, but my buddy has wider bars and had to rig it with heavy gauge wire to make it clamp around the bar.

my unit has the water bottle style battery. i have the low light indicator on the light itself, and it is useful.

I need it for ~ 40 minutes during early morning rides in the spring and fall, so i can get many rides out of a single charge.

i called cygolite, and the guy who answered the phone says 'dude, just take some needlenose pliers and bend the metal contact' >> i couldn't believe it. i did it and screwed it up even more. i just sent the unit back to them so they could fix it.


Was this guys name John? I've called 4 times and its the same guy every time. Does he run the whole show? I will say he was helpful for my battery problem.

A lot of lighting companies are pretty small and only have 1-2 people who regularly take calls. I know when I call light and motion I always get the same 2 people and they're real nice and friendly about stuff. But I've never heard of em telling a customer to "bend the contacts" to fix anything. Sounds kind of irresponsible.

yeah it was john. he was really nice though. I called back a couple of days later after the 'needlenose plier' incident and i said "first thing i want to say is, this is the best light i've ever used" >> i'm sure it will be fixed well.