Oh, man. I went for a ride last night with both the Ixon IQ and my older gen Phillips Saferide from Amazon. I am completely torn about which one I like better.

Phillips Saferide (though this an updated v1 version from amazon):
- I can see why "Saving Hawaii" likes it - it's like riding behind a curtain of light.
- The color temperature (or spectrum) and brightness is very very good in lighting up the road in front of you - details on the road surface are very visible, it's a bright cheery color - you know how their are beamshots online that light things up way more than the light actually does in person? Well this light actually lights up the road just like the beam shot looks like. This is the only light (other than a combination of a Seca 900 and a Seca 1400, which is insanely expensive and completely blinds any oncoming traffic) I've used that does that. (On a side note, the light in color and such is almost exactly the same as my older Cyo)
- The drawback of this is that it has more of a "riding in a tunnel" effect than the Ixon IQ does. You can't see outside the main beam of the light as well
- Beam pattern is basically a large square of light out in front of you
- The beam is much, much wider than the older Cyo, though not quite as wide as the Ixon IQ
- One small drawback in the beam pattern is there is a bit of a gap in front of the wheels that doesn't get much light. It's a non-issue at high speeds, but annoying at lower speeds like when I was riding briefly on a sidewalk next to a major road in order to get to the bike trail. Not a huge deal, just an annoyance.
- Battery life continues to appear craptastic. With older AA's, when I pulled into my driveway at the end of my ride the light switched into "permanent lower power" mode. This wasn't a problem with the Ixon IQ, which has never hit "switch into low power mode" at all.
- Light construction is a lot sturdier than I had expected from reading the reviews. Mine is basically the same as the Ixon IQ, the rubber plug on the back of mine that covers the usb port seems firmly attached and in no danger of getting lost.

Ixon IQ Premium:
- I would characterize it as a light that lets you see the road without realizing it's on.
- Details on the road surface are definitely not as visible as they are with the Saferide. However, this was never a realistic problem for me (I never missed seeing something I wish I had seen), and it comes with a different benefit - it affects your peripheral and night vision less. With the Saferide, I felt like I was biking forward into what my bike light was lighting up very well. With the Ixon IQ, I felt like the road was just visible at night somehow and I was hardly even using a light. (When you turn it off, suddenly the road goes black, and you realize the light was definitely lighting it up, turn it back on and it's not as obvious that the light is on, but "somehow" you can magically see the road surface again).
- It's like - have you ever ridden in the city, and found that you didn't really need a light to see by to bike around? The Ixon IQ is better at creating that effect - you can see what you need, and you're not as much in a tunnel from the light. Whereas the Phillips is better at a "anything in the beam is like biking in daylight" effect - the drawback being you can't see outside the beam as well.
- For sharp turns, the Ixon Iq was better and left me feeling more comfortable. It was a combination of a wider beam, and better peripheral and night vision outside of the beam. I tried this crossing back and forth across a road, and in a parking lot without any lights (though the moon was out). With the Ixon Iq I felt comfortable making pretty sharp turns, with the Phillips my turns were noteable slower as I didn't want to turn into anything that was outside where the light was lighting up. Neither was a huge issue, but the Ixon IQ was more comfortable.
- The battery life appears very good. The light never went into low power, it just keeps on working and working.
- Running the light on "low" was interesting - it's very dim on low, but it made my peripherial vision even better and still lit up the bike trail "enough" while I was biking along.
- The color temperature - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the color spectrum lit up by the light - in my opinion could be better. It has a purplish hue to it, and it's slightly weird on the eyes. The Saferide has a more "daylight" color spectrum.

The bottom line is - I just didn't find a winner. They're both better than any other battery lights I've tried for road riding (as I mentioned, a combination of a Seca 900 and Seca 1400 was my ideal light, except for it's cost, need to have 2 lights, and being absolutely blinding to anyone coming towards you). As I was starting to like the Phillips more towards the end of my ride because of it's brighter, cheerier color temperature, I pulled into my driveway and the light switched into low power mode - reminding me how stressful it can be to be biking with a light that doesn't really have enough battery life.

If the Phillips Saferide had better battery life (like just 3 hours, I don't actually need 4-5 hours), I would say it won. But it didn't. If the Ixon IQ's led had a better spectrum of light that wasn't a little on the purplish side, I would say it won - but it doesn't. So I'm torn - it's a tie for me.

I have been motivated to order the v2 version of the Saferide from overseas, and see how well that one works.

Things I found the same:
- Solidness of light construction. In the models I have, they both seem pretty solid to me. On my Saferide the plastic piece covering the usb port seems firmly attached.
- Beam Pattern - ignoring color temperature / spectrum, I don't agree with the other review that was linked to that claimed the Saferide's beam is "much better". I say it's a draw. The Ixon IQ has a more triangle beam, the Saferide has a more square beam. The Ixon IQ has a very, very slightly less consistency in light distribution in it's beam pattern, by a very small margin it's not quite as consistent as the Saferide is, but the Saferide has slightly distracting light being thrown out outside the main beam that the Ixon IQ doesn't have, and the beam isn't quite as wide. In my opinion, it's purely a matter of taste, they both have good beams.

I'll write more when I get my Saferide v2 model, and I get more of a chance to use both, and test out what the battery life is like on the v2 model. If anyone has any thoughts from personal experience, please feel free to post. :-)