rekmeyata

I haven't had any issues with my cover on my Expilion and mine is 2 or 3 years old; I don't mind it's a little difficult to push close but it has never popped open. My Phillips is difficult to open to but mostly because the little tab to lift it open is too small, but it too is not a beefy plug. I'm not rough with my gear so my stuff may last longer than the normal person. I went to my LBS today and looked at all the lights they had on display, and the covers all were a bit flimsy in nature including the NiteRider, but flimsy to who? Do I wish they were built better? You bet, but this is the world we live in today.

I read Amazon reviews too, and particularly to the complaints. One complaint was some didn't like the mount, really? I find that mount to be fantastic, it was easy to put on the bar, it tightens down securely without movement when riding, it's easy to remove the light from the bracket, and it's built pretty beefy for what it's holding. Another guy somehow pulled the plug out, the only way for that to happen if he pulled on it to hard or from the wrong way, but another guy gave the fix for this even though only a handful of people had an issue with this, the vast majority did not.

Anyway, here is the fix mentioned in Amazon:

The body of the unit is two pieces attached by three philips head screws. The front half is aluminum (contains the light). The black body is plastic. To remove the philips screws you will need a micro screw driver set. Not a cheap set because the srcews are in there pretty tight, you need the micro with the slightly larger handle for leverage. Remove the three screws and the two parts come apart easily. Be careful with the aluminum half as the circuit board is attached to charging port and will come out as one unit. I then reinserted the rubber usb cover and pulled the tab into the body (from the inside of the unit) using hemostats (you can use tweezers).

mrbubbles

Considering what's out there today. Cygolite is a brand I would never buy. Niterider and Light & Motion the same.

rekmeyata

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but I don't understand it! I know people personally and heard of those on several forums who owned all those brands including myself (except for the Niterider) and no one that I know hates this stuff. Even though I never owned Niterider I would buy it I needed to based on all the positives I've ever heard about it. There are certain models within each of those brands I wouldn't buy but not because their poorly made but they don't put out the light that I would feel to be adequate for my needs.

chaadster

I don't understand it, either! Yeah, I'm critical of some of the elements of my Expilion 700, but I don't hate it. I don't even dislike it enough to replace it. It's a good value, has been reliable, and for someone who might want extended run times (e.g. tourers), being able to swap batteries on the fly is pretty nice. It certainly deserves to be considered by anyone in the market for a light of this type, IMO.

chaadster

I dislike the Cygolite bar mount because there are no detents in the lateral aiming range, and it's too easy to inadvertently knock it out of position. It's not a big deal, but it is one of those details that separates the good from the best.

mrbubbles

Mainly because they're glorified flashlights, I've upgraded through P7, MCE, XML led flashlights as bike lights since 2009 and I still have spent less than a single 500 lumen setup from the name brands. I stopped using flashlights as bike lights last year because I've again upgraded everything I ride at night to dynamos. Folks who need extended runtimes shouldn't be considering battery lights unless they want dinky size brightness.

chaadster

I can think of a few 24hr racers who'd utterly disagree. Hell, I disagree!

mrbubbles

A few 24hr racers expedition style mtbrs have gone to the dynamo route. The 24hr battery crowd have spares, and if they race in loops, there's a charging station with spares. I personally do not like charging battery after experiencing the convenience of a no-charing setup.

But I digress, in this day and age, there's absolutely no reason to buy any lights by the name of "serfas" or "cygolite" for their asking price when other alternatives exist. My local shops want $100 plus tax (on sale price, below retail) for a Serfas True 500+, and I got something similar with no proprietary battery for $30 4 years ago.

daihard 

Agreed. Come to think of it, that's my other complaint about the Expillion 700 light. Lack of detents may be intended, in that you can fine-tune the direction of the light that way, but I believe the mount should have detents.

rekmeyata

Right, but the best cost $500 and more, and for me, and probably most other people here, spending $500 and more for a light doesn't make sense. But sure, if you want the best $1,200 light to along with your $15,000 best bike then by all means I understand why you would want such things.

I've never owned a light with detents so I'm so use to not having that feature it never comes to mind thus doesn't bother me.

chaadster

Wow, I've never met a real Cygolite fanboy before...awesome. Or not. Yeah, not.

rekmeyata

Say what? I'm not impressed by your childish outburst either!

Medic Zero

.


I tried the BikeBrightz. I really liked it except for two things:
1) the battery compartment, it's a royal pain in the rear to get the batteries out to swap them
2) it's not waterproof.

# 2 is a deal killer for me. If it was waterproof I'd still have it mounted and just be regularly grumbling about the PITA changing the batteries, but even though I often only contend with drizzly conditions, and have full fenders with large mudflaps, there's enough moisture getting on the light with it mounted on the downtube to cause it to stop functioning until it dries out. Given that its often wet day after day here, unfortunately the light is no good to me.

Fibre Flares are on my purchase list, either this paycheck or next, now that my commutes are in the dark again.

I have a helmet light, and I'd never go back to not having one (it's right up there with my Airzoundz and my mirror as indispensable safety equipment as far as I'm concerned), but I think that side visibility should be independent of the helmet light.

I like reflective tape:



but it requires a light hitting it to illuminate it. That pic is of my and my partner's commuter bikes (actually loaded up for a bed and breakfast short tour), lit up by my phone's camera flash. Hopefully, that is about how it looks when a cars headlights hit them, but you'll only get a second or two between the car and you that way. I hope the Fiber Flares will provide a little more stand off distance and work when a bright light isn't shining right at them.

The front wheel of my bike also has Lightweights on it. The other half of them are hidden under the pannier, I chose to do about half the wheel, three per spoke to create a moving reflection, I think this is more effective. Pro-tip: you can cut each individual Lightweight sticker in half and double the amount that come in a pack. I didn't even use half of the 86 that come in it.


I too would welcome more options in regard to side marker lights. I'm tempted by the Bike Glow, but I see a reviewer in Anchorage says it doesn't handle bumps or moisture well. In addition to definitely have to stand up to moisture, my commute is over awful roads with near continuous vibration for much of the route and constant intermittent impacts from rough seams in the road and degrading patches of asphalt.

Lieren

So after reading all of this, I ordered reflective straws for spokes, more "Nite Ize Spokelit" (these are the lights I had last year that mostly died after a year on Philly's mean streets, but man, are they visible when they are working--I found one laying about the house that was still strong and multiple people have commented upon it in the last week), and 27 feet of EL wire, which is the major component of the Bike Glow lights. Also Lightweights "Stealth Tape" and their flexible tape for clothing. I'm going to play around with mounting some old headlights as side lights on the trailer. I'll post pix when I have everything set up.

agent pombero

Get a helmet light. Buy the best you can afford. Your life depends on it, why be cheap? Get a 1500 + lumen pulser and take control of the streets.

fietsbob

Since I live 2 blocks from an International Shipping channel .

Port is green, Starboard is Green , Neither is seen from the stern.

noglider 

Huh? Both are green?

I'd like a link to that flexible reflective tape for clothing.

westrid_dad

Here is what I've used for my clothing (jacket, gloves, booties)

https://www.lightweights.org/shop/Lig...-Tape-100.html
https://www.lightweights.org/shop/Lig...d-Gear-60.html

I've ordered some items directly from their website, as well as picked up some things from REI (https://www.rei.com/product/808967/li...wer-reflectors)

fietsbob

OK dislexia strikes again.. I Fixed that,

red green was a funny TV show too.. https://www.redgreen.com/

rm -rf

I got a full size red Fibre Flare a couple of years ago. At night, I only ride when it's dry.

I don't think it's waterproof. Each end's silicon rubber boot just stretches over the end, and there's one AAA battery on each end. And I've had the clear light tube (it's a press fit) come loose from the battery end. It's never failed me, but the design is a little fragile.

Visibility:
I really like it.
I have it mounted on the rear seat stay. It's very visible from all directions, yet is not too bright to be a problem for a following bike rider. From it's shape, other riders have confused it with a glow stick, but it's brighter than one of those.

Even "aimed" into the sky at a 30 degree angle on my rear stay, it's just as bright from the back as it is if it's held vertically. A very non-directional light. The strip that holds the wire connecting both ends reflects more light out the side directly across from the wire strip, so about a 30-40 degree angle opposite the backing wire is about twice as bright.

I like the 360 degree visibility, but I really like the 6 inch length that glows. It's much easier for a driver to see how far away I am, since it's not a point source of blinking light.

It's bright for at least 5 or 6 hours on a set of two rechargeable AAA batteries. It'll get dimmer as the batteries discharge, so there's light for much longer than that. But I tend to recharge them pretty often.

Design
The boot just stretches over the end, and the solid clear tube with a wire backing just press fits into each end. (My unit has a metal clip over each end, and a AAA slides in there, instead of this usb model.)


There's a bright LED in each end, aimed down the solid plastic tube. You don't see the LEDs at all, just the glow of the plastic tube.

chaadster

FibreFlare say it is water resistant, suitable for rain and muck, but not to be submersed, and warrantied as such.

Medic Zero

Thanks for the excellent write up! I actually ordered one last night, I'll report back how it does. I picked the yellow full size one ("side light" model) and will be mounting it facing down from my top tube. I appreciate the insight into how long the battery life is too. At the same time I ordered some more rechargeable AA's, so I can maintain my current system of rotation. I will have to be a little more "on it" with always having some batteries charging or get another charger.

Medic Zero

Let's hope they are right! Bike Brightz said they are water resistant too, but they didn't hold up in not terribly wet conditions. Again, I'll report back soon either way. Oddly, the forecast is for cold and clear for the next week or so, but I probably won't receive it in the mail until around then anyway.

chaadster

Indeed! I did, too!

rm -rf

It uses AAA batteries,which charge pretty fast. I never really tried to see how long it would go before needing charging. I only ride once or twice a week in the dark, so I just charge the AAAs every couple of weeks.

That top tube mount might work pretty good on wet rides, since it's away from road spray and the ends are horizontal.

It'll light up your frame, water bottles, and the road.