what do you think of cygolite?
 

What kind of advice does anyone have on the cygolite rover XTRA head light? I need a new light. My charger melted onto my old viewpoint connector this morning!

thanks!!

I use one its a good cheap light.

My use of The Rover 3 years. I commute/ride in darkness around 300 plus days a year,
The down side of this light are the switches. I fiddle around with them and now they work great.

I like mine. No complaints except the battery takes up a bottle cage.

Thanks! Anybody else? Other suggestions?

You can fix your old Veiwpoint by rewiring the connections or by getting a new battery pack even. Check out a store called batteries plus for help. It will be cheaper and it work better than new.

I have the cheapest Cygolite called the Metro, and I also commute and use it probably 200 days...or actually nights out of the year for the last 3 years and have had no issues with the unit even after being rained upon, the switches still work great too.

Actually I was able to separate the charger from the battery connection, so now I only need a charger. I am having trouble locating one, my charger output is 7.25VDC/500mA and the connector is a male type tube that inserts intot the battery connector. Any suggestions? thanks again

The Cygolite Night Rover Xtra NiMH was relatively cheap ($70 on sale) but that cheapness is showing in the design.
After one year:
-The rubber power inlet grommet fell apart (new one sent for free)
-The switches are problematic (I first re-bent for better contact, but switch still arced, went dead. removed metal contact plates and sanded and bent, works OK, but hard to remove/replace parts in casing)
-The unit is not weather sealed, so water can get in and cause corrision, resulting in bad switches
-The battery unit seal dry rotted and the top of housing is loose and not longer waterproof (reseal with RTV needed). Noted that grey 'water bottle' case is quite a bit larger than batteries. I may repackage to save space.

Al

I like them so far. Lost the little nut that tightens the Handlebar mount down and the rubber gromit on the light fell apart. A pair of replacements were sent for free for both things. I just sent the battery in last week as it stoped holding a charge. I think my kids played with the charger plug and removed the rappid/smart charger for the NiMH battery. I should know this week if I still feel the same when I find out about my battery. All in all a good company to deal with.

I use a Rover Cygolight on my handlebars and a Niterider Digital on a helmet mount. The nightrider's beam is longer and brighter. I've only used both lights in the rain a couple of times, but the Cygolight takes on water and turns dim. $200 for niterider and $60 for Cygolight. I'll probably use a cheap headlight next time it rains on the handlebars, and save the Cygolight. I am happy with the Cygolight, but the Niterider is definately a better quality lighting system.

Thanks for the feedback!

Can't disagree that (hopefully) if you spent $200 for a lighting system it should be better then a $70 dollar one. But so far my cheapo $48 Cygo has had none of the problems the others have listed and mine is 3 years old and used about 160 days out of the year; the rubber grommet, and the switches still work great, it's even been in a couple of rains and no issues there either.

I have two of the cygolite nightrover extra systems that i run together. It gives me 32 watts with all lamps (4) on. This provides very good illumination. One light isn't bad but i ride out into the black countryside on unpaved roads and i like to see all of the obstructions. One system just barely does that.

In town it is plenty of light. There is ONE MAJOR PROBLEM with these lights. To say that the switches are awful would be an understatement. They are cheap slide switches like you find on a 50 cent flashlight. What this means is that eventually they will quit making contact. You have to pop off the plastic switch covers and do a bunch of fiddling with the tabs to get them to make contact properly again. It can be a real headache!

I picked up both of my systems cheap on ebay and have around $100 in the whole deal. NOt bad for 32 watts of light! So for value I give them 4 stars out of 5.

For relaibility, i give them 1 star out of 5.

I have the Night Rover Xtra Nimh on my Centurion. Works great. I love the runtime, since I have a longer commute. I only need one water bottle anyway, so mounting the battery in the seat tube cage worked out well for me.

Cygolite rules! I bought a Nite Rover NiMH Xtra from them. One of the bulbs burned out on the first day. I assume it was cracked during shipment. I called them and they shipped a free replacement on the same day. I hadn't yet sent in the warranty card or anything!

Since then the light has been great! I like having two bulbs for redundancy and control of how much juice I'm using. On bulb makes me visible. Two bulbs light the way on dark streets. In the dark of winter I use it about an hour a day. One charge lasts about a week. It has proven itself rugged and waterproof.

Go for it!