Well because of earlier help on this forum and some research-
I have decided to get a Cygolite light.

I have narrowed it down to:

1- Night Rover Nimh Extra lowest price so far 85.-incl. s/h from CityShop

2- Night Explorer Nicad lowest price so far 78-

I will be using the light to commute in cold weather (Buffalo,N.Y.)
and want to spend around 100-

Any info. from those that have owned either light would be appreciated...as wouldinfo.
on better prices

T

I have the Dual Explorer NiCad (10W,15W,25W) bought last September. Very happy with it, I've used it in cold nights down to 25F with no problems. The switch went bad on me last month, but I sent it back to CygoLite for a repair under warranty, and now works just fine.
Performance wise, is very powerful and bright, even at 10W, which is enough for most road conditions.
Corsaire

I would go with the Night Rover Nimh Extra. Better battery less headaches. I have just recently talked to a Cygolite CSR. He said the NiCad has been discontinued from their line up Their could be a few still floating around out there. I received great customer assistance from Cygolite. The first time I called they said "I'll get right back to you" I was like oh boy! I'll get a call back 2 days later. To my amazement I got a call back in 5 minutes

The Night Rover has served me well through some very bitterly cold nights. Should be good pick for the Buffalo area.

My light Night Rover Nicad Extra I got 2 years of service from this battery 7 to 12 hours a week 365. I have just recently switched over to the Nimh. Get NiMH.

Their toggle switches (for dual light) are cheap garbage! Like Corsair, I have used a CygoLite for a few months and the toggle switch is troublesome. I'd rather not send the light back, so I'm gonna check with them about maybe just sending me a better switch.

But other than that, I like the light you get for the money. A switch is cheap to replace even if I have to get one myself.

Cygolite Night Rover Nimh Extra for $90 at Performance. (It's out of stock until next week, however.)
https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=4320

There's a 20% on-line coupon for purchases over $100. Good until 12-17-04. Sign up for Ebates and get a few more bucks off. If you're planning on making a lot of purchases in the coming year, sign up for TeamPerformance and save another 10%.
https://www.bikeforums.net/foo/79389-20-off-orders-over-100-performance-ends-dec-17-a.html

I bought the Night Rover Nicad Extra a year ago. One of my smarter purchases. You might want to get yourself a cheap timer when recharging so you don't forget and fry your battery. I don't mind the long recharge time--just leave it overnight.

Plenty of light and long burn time for for the present...but in a year or two, led technology should come up to speed. That'll be my next purchase!

Hey, (at the risk of jacking this thread into a switch discussion) I've got a switch problem too. I can't get it to go into double mode without keeping my thumb on the switch. I think I might have my father-in-law (retired electrical engineer) see if he can take it apart and fix it.

Other than that, it's been a good light.

What about Cygolite Nitros?

I have seen them as low as $98- on the web

I have been unable to find any ratings or reviews on them

I have been happy with my Night Rover, enough to buy a "backup" system. The switch failed on my first system, and they offered to sell me a new case, included a new switch, for a modest fee. The battery life is short if both bulbs are used. So, I installed a ten watt bulb, and use it by itself, and get about two good hours per charge. For whatever reason, a ten watt bulb in the Night Rover case seems brighter than one might expect.

Agreed. This is what I do.

This is the type of problem I'm having. I have to jiggle and flick the switch button to get the light to continue burning. I took the housing apart and noticed that if I bend the wires a certain way, the light will stay on. This tells me the connections within the switch are probably poor, because moving the wires back and forth, or just squeezing the switch body yields different results. I don't think you can repair the switch itself because it looks like the thing would be destroyed if you tried to pry it apart. But, I imagine a replacement of similar size could be easily found and soldered to the same connections as the original.

I should add, that once the light is lit, it stays lit, so that's not a problem. It just sometimes takes a bit of fiddling to get the thing switched on.

I bought the Cygolite dual beam 6W last month and have been happy with it. I'm so non-techno, I forgot what kind of battery Nicad or Nimh. But it is working fine. However, I also noticed the switches seemed like crap. They were loose and difficult to work from the start. Have to take off gloves to operate. I hope they don't give out.

I guess I'm the lucky one. Two years of service from the Cygolite with no problems with the switches. (Knock on wood!) Even wearing buckskin mitts I have no problems operating it.

That has been my experience with it too - with one exception – After one year, the switch is starting to go, sometimes it does not click to the next setting. I talked to the Co and they will fix it if I send it to them. I don't want to do without it right now so I am looking for a replacement switch I can solder in on my own.

I talked to them already - they will not sell me a switch. If I find any at an electronics store - I'll let you know where to get one.

I have the night rover as well. The switches are C.R.A.P. I have seen .75 cent flashlights with the same, if not better switches. They have the same design. I have had to disassemble mine and bend the tabs out a couple times already to make them make contact.

I am happy with the lights from a lighting and battery life point of view. I just think for the money they should have used a better switch. i may end up making my own handlebar switch if these continue to cause trouble.

I don't know how long a run time you want, but both of those lights will only run for about 3 hours on low and 1 1/2 hours on both beams. There is a Cygo model that has 16 watts of light (10watt spot and 6watt flood) that will run for 6 hours on low and 2 hours on high called the Rover NiMh Xtra. The regular Rover NiMh (the one your looking at) has only 12 watts total of lighting while the Explorer NiCad had 25watts total; so as you can see the NiMh Xtra would have wattage that is in between the two your looking at with double the battery run time!

I have the least expensive Cygolight, the Metro, and their switches are very solid. I've been using this light for a year now and have never had a problem with the switches and they still feel like new-even after being rained hard on! A friend of mine has the same light (Metro) and he tours across the western United States in all sorts of weather and his switches are also fine. So I'm very happy with the quality and I only paid $48.

Maybe that's why they put the switch in the battery on their Z-force HID models? They got tired of all the crap switches on their other models!

I bought my Night Rover XTRA NiMH in October. Have used it on average 4 days a week for commuting. A typical duty cycle for me now in December is 1.5 hrs of mixed low-beam and both-beam opeation, then charge for 12.5 hours. I'm happy with the light so far, trouble-free. Coldest temp I've used it at is 28 degrees, yeah, I know, that's not cold by Buffalo standards but didn't notice any performance drop off at that temp. The light switches do have a 'cheap' feel to them but they work fine and are easy to operate with a glove. The beams have plenty of side spill to illuminate stuff on the side of the road as well as straight ahead. On a dark paved bike trail with both beams I have full confidence to ride 20mph.