Since the days are getting shorter and evening rides are in the dusk/after nightfall, I was looking for a halogen light in the $100-$150 range. The roads are mostly suburban with some well-lit stretches, some unlit paved roads and unlit bike paths. After some searching in the forum and googling, I have "narrowed" my choices to the following:

- Jet lites i6 (15w): $165. Seems to get very good reviews at mtbr.com, but getting a perfect 5.0/5.0 on nearly all their models and their banner ads in the review pages make me a bit wary.
- L&M Solo (13w): Around $100 for the low-end model. General feedback seems to be that these are well made and supported.
- Niterider Trail Rat 2 (10w): I can get this for around $80 from a friendly LBS. Should be a good model from what I have read, but does not seem to rate as highly as the two above. It may also be a bit heavier.
- Sigma Sport Evo + Evo X Pro (15w): Around $85. Seems to be a good one, but I cannot find too many reviews re: quality
- Planet Bike Alias Sport (15w): Around $100. Good reviews on mtbr.com. Not much in the forum re: these.

Any thoughts on which one would be the best based on personal experience or anecdotal evidence, etc? Thanks in advance.

I only recommend AGAINST the NR Digital Evolution 8-15w. Fuel gauge keeps breaking causing the light to dim when there is still plenty of juice in the battery. Light has been back to factory twice, each time for over 3 weeks. Not what you want in a primary light.

I beleive that the Viewpoint EVO is on sale at performance. This has both a 10W and a 20W in your budget. If you have a long commute, I would obtain a second charger.

The Niterider Trail Rat is a reliable light, but if you can afford the 15watts v. the 10w, you'll be much happier in the long run. Plus, if you do ever decide to do offroad night riding, 15watts is what you'd want as a minimum.

While I've never used a Jet light personally, I've contacted them many times on behalf of customers when I used to work in LBS, and they offered far and away the best customer service of all the light companies. Oh, and I was always calling for spare/replacement parts, never for repairs.

No offense intended, but I disagree- while more light can be nice, on occasion, it isn't by any means a necessity. We've had some great rides (downhills flat out), limited in no way by inadequate lighting, running lights that were less than ten watts. Actually, we've had some great rides on the old c-cell battery lights that were available 15 years ago. At the risk of overstating this, there is no minimum wattage necessary to be safe for nighttime trail riding. You may have to slow down with a tiny light, but you can still ride. And too much light, when you can't always control the direction in which you're pointing it, can be hard on approaching riders and other trail users, spoiling their night vision and endangering them.

When commuting, lots of light is nice as a way of getting yourself noticed. But 10 watts does the job, for me, very nicely, thank you very much.

I have a L&M Solo, and have been very pleased. The battery is compact and has reasonably good life, the light is tough and well constructed, and the price is closer to right, in my estimation.

I was thinking of buying one of those $200 - $400 HID rechargeable systems, but from what you're saying, I will just be wasting my money, and that my $10 C-cell halogen lamp will suffice just fine.

I have a 10W CygoLite, and while it does illuminate the road for me, I don't like the water-bottle-sized battery. There doesn't seem to be any alternative if you're looking for illumination and not just a bright light to warn oncoming traffic, be it cycle or cage.

Jet's are great lights if you can afford em.
Otherwise, I'd take the solo over the trailrat. I like l&m's lamp heads cause they're adjustable in every direction. NR's looks a bit sleeker though.

My commute takes me mostly along unlit rural roads, which is why I've been considering a full size headlight system like the ones Nightsun and Light&Motion produce. Recommendations?

That's why I always wear a helmet light and use it as my primary light. I can look into corners and deflect the light from other trail users so as not to blind them.

I think it's a question of how gadget oriented you are, and whether you feel you have to have the very best of everything. I have a long standing habit of getting by with the best quality I can buy, without worrying about getting the newest, or most powerful, or coolest, etc. Wasting your money? Only you can decide if its a waste of money for you.

Offroad, as posited by Harlemgirl, the minimum you need is 15 watts? Then what have I been doing for 15 years with far less wattage? Think of all those great rides I would have missed, waiting around until I could afford 15-25 watts? And I never, ever thought "Damn, if only I'd had the 15 watt light, then I could have run this trail." Hell, I've ridden down 6 mile-long canyon access roads with a failing headlamp (Petzl Micro, two double A's) and been fine.

As with cars, if you don't have enough lighting to buy you the reaction time neccessary to avoid the thing in your path, then slow down a little bit. I'm not racing when I'm riding at night, and I'm really not outriding my cone of illumination.

My Solo came with a helmet mount, and I've yet to try it. As the days are getting shorter it's probably time.

Steve

I've used Niterider for ages and have always like them. The 6 volt systems are bright and relatively inexpensive. I'd shy away from the digitals however since they seem to have lots of problems. I got an old classic 12 volt system last year at a swap meet and was very impressed with the brightness and length of burn on the lights.

Personally, I prefer lights without much more than an on/off switch since a simple system is less likely to fail in the middle of the night. If you are willing to do a little DIY you can overvolt all of these systems to make them a little bit brighter.

I am thinking about replacing my cobbled together system with a new Jet system. All the HID systems look good but just the replacement bulb is horribly expensive!

Try it. The difference is night and day

Well, granted I have lousy vision, but I still say most folks I know prefer a minimum of 15 watts. I started out with a 6w Vistalite, so sure, you can do it with less light or even no light, but I found it alot more fun with more light.

It also depends where you're riding, too. Most of my nightriding has been in WA, OR, and BC. No light necessary for climbing up the logging roads, but the singletrack trails in the mostly dense forests are dark in the day time, let alone the night.

Helmet is the way to go offroad. As dumb as it seems, legally in many states the light has to be on the bike. I had a customer who was hit by a car. The driver was cited, but he also got a ticket b/c he had a helmet light instead of a bar light.

I just got the ViewPoint™ EVO Dual Headlight System last week....

I run the 10w light all the time, I turn on the 20w light very seldom, but I gotta tell ya, I luv the lights when they are both ON.

Reason I run just the 10w light is to save battery power.
I run both lights in heavy traffic or very dark areas.

I got my set on sale at the Performance Store for about 119.00 Great Buy!
Small NiMH Battery.

https://www.performancebike.com/produ...50/40_1599.jpg

I really like my L&M Solo. I find the 13 watts sufficient for riding fast even in pitch black rainy conditions. My favorite aspect of the light is that it is one of the few that you can adjust the beam from flood to spot by twising the housing (like a maglite) to meet your needs.

I've been using both a dual beam and helmet mounted system I picked up from LaserEdge. Mine are the older NiCad versions, he's building up NIMH now. He runs stuff off on EBay also.

That I will, the time is coming soon.

You don't post any information about how long you want the light to run.

This is just as important as how powerful it is. It can change the price a lot or a little. Narrow this down first. If you will be riding in the cold you may have to buy more run time than you need in the warm weather.

Get a light with an automatic charger.

If it does not say this in the ad copy it probably does not have one. This means that If you do not have an automatic charger, you have to time your charge or you can damage your battery.. If the battery is half full you need to charge it half way. A major pain, no reason to get a light without an automatic charger. There are plenty that have them now.

If the run time is long enough, and it has an automatic charger get the most powerful light that your budget will allow. There is absolutely no such thing as too much light.

If you are torn between a couple of similar lights, maybe the battery type will help make the decision.

Li-ion best
NiMh very good
Nicad almost as good as NiMh
Lead acid fine battery but heavy and big.

Then ask around about quality or look for reviews.

This light has everything. But no well known brand name. I would risk my money on it.

https://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=1367

Re: Duration: Sorry. I realized that after I posted. Ride times are around 20 minutes to 1/2 hour at the most.

Re: automatic charger. Do you mean a trickle charger?

Thanks for the input.

slvoid,

I was leaning toward Jet Lites too. However, when I looked at the light beam distribution photographs at mtbr for Jet Lites' M6 and L&M Solo, which are comparable lights in a similar price range (the latter in its full logic form), I notice that the M6 is very intense and much whiter compared to the Solo; however, the Solo seems to illuminate just as well and picks up details on the periphery a lot better than the M6. Of course, it is hard to say from one picture...

Images here (warning: large):
Jet Lites M6: https://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/lights...beam_hirez.jpg
L&M Solo: https://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/lights...beam_hirez.jpg

I use the Cygo-Lite 16w Night Rover Xtra (Nimh). It's a 10w-6w dual setup. I like it alot, and get about 5-6 hours of runtime on the 6w alone. Airbomb has them for $80.

Well, I just ordered the Nitehawk 10W rechargeable for $35 from Performance (Less than $30 after 20% off coupon). I will give it a try and see if it meets my needs. If not, I can order a more expensive model. I would hate to spend 10 times that price if the Nitehawk meets my needs. I also ordered some illuminated arm bands and another tailight. That will give me one steady tailight and one blinkie, plus a reflector. When I add on my bike reflectors and my reflective pannier and ankle bands, I'll probably end up looking like a friggin x-mas tree!

I got a HID headlamp and a 4500 mAH NiMH rechargable bottle battery with charger from batteryspace for about $170. I had to fashion a bracket (bent piece of aluminum) and wire it up. I put in a switch but you could get by with just plugging the battery in.

Just bringing it up; if you're already looking at spending > $150 for a halogen, HID is a great step up. Runtime is great on this too.