Planet Bike Alias vs L&M Solo
 

Looking at buying one of these two lights and potentially both.

The first is the PLanet Bike Alias 15watt for $75
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

The other is the Light & Motion Solo 13 watt for $100
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

I am interested in others opinions on these two lights especially if anyone has had the chance to compare the two of them. Riding in rain is not a big issue for me as I live in Phoenix AZ and since we don't get much rain I don't ride in it.

Thanks

I ride with a Solo. It's a pretty solid light, very dependable. I have had no problems in the rain.

The light pattern is decent enough, I can see OK in a heavily forested area. It's not like daytime, but good enough since I know the trail.

The thing that annoys me is I have more than one bike, and it is a bit of a pain to move that frame-mounted battery and snake the light cable every time I switch bikes. I'm looking for something more portable for this "dark season."

Even though the solo doesn't have that sweet l&m custom aluminium reflector, I'd go for it. Plus the exposed bulb is kinda shakey on the alias.

I run a solo logic mv. It's top notch gear, for what it is, but it's overpriced.
As a rule I don't care much for Planet Bike's quality.

All that said, if the PB light takes an easily obtainable replacement lamp,and given that it comes with the intellicharger, it's probably a better deal, even if it only lasts half as long as the L&M, before breaking irreparably.

I have the Alias 10w, and it's fine. Looking to upgrade to the 15w bulb, the one drawback is that it's not bright enough...

Well I decided to go with the Planet Bike light. The cheap part of me won out as I got it for $75 and then had a 15% off Nasbar coupon. They actually changed the 50% off to only 40% off this morning but I got them to still sell it to me at the 50% off price over the phone. Once I get it I will post a review of how bright it is since there aren't much for reviews of that light on here.

How do you like your light?

My solo died on me last week. One year and 10 days old.

Battery is toast. L&M sells the batteries for $80. Ridiculous!!

My LBS is trying to get it warranted... We'll see, I don't have high hopes as they only offer a 90-day batt warranty.

Despite the battery issue, it was a good light when it was working. Like I said above, it doesn't light up the night like day (or like some of the HIDs I see)... But it's good enough.

Any chance you ran it quite dead? NiMH batteries can sometimes have a cell reverse polarity when this happens, which makes them abruptly dead. Just an idea what may have happened.

No chance... I had fully charged it the last day it worked, and it worked great. I ran it about 45 minutes or so. Popped it on the charger before I hit the sack. The next morning, when I got to the head of the path I ride, I pushed the "on" button. Nothing. Nada.

So unless my charger somehow decided to become a DIScharger, that wouldn't be the reason.

Good idea, tho.

My LBS thinks its the connection on the top of the battery. Unfortunately, it's not servicable.

would it be a switch or bulb problem?

How did you like the Solo when it worked?

Nope, the light head works great with other batteries :)

I liked it. It's "just enough" light to make commuting possible on a dark forest MUP. Not light-up-the-night like their HIDs, but it's also 1/4 the cost. The Solo is totally weatherproof, from what I could tell. The connections seal well, and I had no problems riding in driving rain. The mount system is nice; quick to mount/dismount, and the light head pops off with no tools (if you like to flip your bike upside down to work on it like I do, this is great).

It's the least amount of light I'd want on my commute, which takes me through some forested areas with no light. I would prefer a little more light, but as I said, the Solo is "just enough."