Yoshi

I live in New York City and often find myself riding at night. Most areas of NYC are as bright at night as they are during the day, there are some areas that get pretty dark. As such I'd like to invest in a headlight, but I don't want to spend too much money since it's not something I'll need everyday. Does anyone have any strong opinions about the Nighthawk Raptor 10w? It's on sale at performance bike for $40, which makes it quite attractive, and I doubt I'd need anything stronger than 10w in NYC anyway.

rprzynosch

The light is good and very bright. The down side is the SLA battery is pretty heavy compared to newer battery styles. I would recommend getting a steel water bottle cage as my aluminum one broke on my mountain bike from carrying the battery under the duress of single track riding.
-Rob

Alphie

Ditto, the water bottle cage advice. I've broken 2 (admittedly cheap) alloy cages with my battery over the course of 8 months. Got a hd alloy cage on there now with a SS model on order. Most stress on the cage seems to come from removing and replacing the battery. Currently I park my bike near an electrical outlet.

Regarding the light, the Nighthawk model I have came with 10 and 20w lights, I currently run the 20w. The 10 puts out a good amount of light, but when meeting oncoming cars, the 20w doesn't "washout" as badly.

supcom

Don't let the switch unit get wet. It will stop working until it dries out. I've had two separate cables do this. I now tie a plastic bag around the switch if it's going to rain.