Originally Posted by gear
Aside from telling you to stay away from Niterider (I had a real scarry ride down a steep hill in total darkness thanks to that system quitting when I most needed it, one of many problems I had with the system), The advice I'd like to give to anybody about purchasing a lighting system is this:
Lots of people are dissing Niterider and, to be honest, they deserve so of it for their Digital lights. However, I'm not suggesting the Niterider Digital stuff. The light I'm suggesting is their simplest model. I've used these same models for 15 years without issue...other than an very occasional bulb replacement which you'll have with any filament light. LEDs are different but I'm not convinced that they are up to filament lights just yet.
Please note also that I suggested 2 lights, not just one. I would never go out with only one headlight. It's one of the reasons I never made the switch to HID. I just can't afford that kind of cash outlay for 2 HID systems.
Originally Posted by gear
Do NOT let a high price tag deter you. I should have purchased the great and expensive (Lupine) lighting system I now use right from the start rather than pissing away money on multiple crappy lighting systems that didn't do the job and ended up being faulty.
I'll agree. However you don't need to spend the kind of money needed for the Lupine to get reliable lighting. I have 75W of forward light that I got for a fraction of the cost of the Lupine Edison system or any HID system.
Originally Posted by gear
By the way as part of your price comparison, don't forget that some lighting systems require mounting brackets (unlike Lupine), so if you want to quickly switch your lights to different bikes, add in the cost of extra mounting brackets. The price of those "inexpensive" systems tends to rise quite a bit when you do this.
At the kind of money that I'm seeing for Lupine
I can by dozens of mounts and still come out ahead. For the cost of the Wilma or Edison, I could afford 6 or 7 (or more) TrailRats. Let's be reasonable here. Ryanspeer says he has $150 to spend. He can get a pretty good light set for that. $700 is outside most people's price range.
Originally Posted by gear
Think about what would happen to the lights mounted with a fixed mount if you crash and how are you going to feel about removing and replacing the lights each time you lock up the bike outside. How the lights are mounted on a bike matters a lot.
Most all of the mounts are very rugged. I've used mine hard for a long time and had mounts wear out (not many) but I've never broken one in a crash. And the light comes off quickly when I need it to.
I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with your light choice, gear. The Lupine looks like a good product. I'm just saying that you can do almost as well for less cash. No offense meant.