Agree that's a weakness. They don't last forever. Many of the B&M lights have a 5 year warranty. I have had one replaced by the retailer under warranty.

I may very well be wrong, and/or perhaps their more expensive lights are manufactured in US, but none of my Niterider lights were manufactured here. They are an american company however.

Edit: Per Niterider's website: "We are a US based company and we are proud that we design, engineer, test and assemble our leading lights at our San Diego based facility."

So I guess I was right and wrong.

I have 6 Dinette lights that are fine after 8 years.

Love my T-6 Led head lights now 4 years old

Throw away 200 lumen light for $1.99
 

If you live in an area served by the 99-cent-only store chain (CA, NV, AZ) or a dollar store carrying Momentum Brand products a new 200 lumen flashlight just showed up this week. It uses the same very bright chip-on-board LED technology used in taillights like the $25 Blitzu Cyborg 168T. It runs on 3 AAA batteries which are included in the package. Most lights that run on 3 AAA or AA batteries can be DIY modified to run on one 18650 Li-ion battery so this has potential for DIY experimenters. It's not really a throw away light as you can change batteries but if the plastic case breaks, 2 bucks is cheap enough to toss the light. It fits securely in the $1 holder mentioned in reply #14 to this post. It is bright compared to the 100 and 168 lumen tail lights I have so I believe the 200 lumen claim on the package. Don't look at it straight on.

Weighs 49 grams (2 oz) with batteries and the dimensions are roughly 160 mm by 25 mm
(6.25" X 1"). The COB part of the light is 6 cm X 1 cm and has 12 LEDs embedded in the COB. It is not shaped like a standard flashlight so that makes it better for use as a bike light. I'll post links to some pictures as soon as I can find the camera connector to download two pictures. I just keep getting amazed at how prices for the COB based lights keeps falling.
Momentum Brands product # 60-693167

What's not so great? Comes in white light only and does not flash. Most of the light goes straight ahead but the plastic case lights up pretty well so it would be somewhat visible from the side at night. The case comes in a variety of colors.

Pictures of this light: http://s629.photobucket.com/user/veg...?sort=3&page=1

Cygolite and NiteRider make rear lights at 150 lumens for $50 or less.

We've had this conversation before. You and I don't value the same things in lights.

I value Bright Strobe Lights with a Long Run Time. That's me.

More right than wrong.

I have had Cygolite and NiteRider and both good lights. Judging by all the feedback, including being flashed by drivers, to the comments how bright or obnoxious they are and the many who have asked what kind of lights I have since switching to Dinotte, I am glad to have paid the extra $. I never received any such feedback with either the Cygolite & Niterider lights I had. IMHO cannot put a price tag on visibility.

Did you have the cygo or niterider 150? Or did you have the 30/50/80 lumens versions? The brighter cygo and NR were only released in the last couple of months.

The cygo and NR 150's are $50 or less, whereas dinotte quad red is 200 lumens but costs $189.

We Test Lights | Hotshot Pro 150 Test and Review

Dont know about the NR.

Mine were over a year old and I purchased the Dinette lights about 4-months ago.

You had a solas 30 lumens. Not really much comparison between a 30 lumens and 200 lumens.

Try the 150 lumens. They close the gap at a quarter of the cost, or less.

I am very happy with my Dinotte so no point in trying anything else, especially since it is rated at 50 more lumens than the new Cyclogite. If I were in the market for a replacement and if money was an issue, the Cyclogite would be my choice.

why are rear lights per lumen seemingly more expensive than headlights per lumen? eg. couldn't you mount a rearward facing headlight and just paste a red colored gel over the 'glass' (from eg. here: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...watchbook.html ) and get a similar effect?

I tried a red lens...It Knocked down the Brightness way too much to be effective at a Great distance,

Great resources.

For your purposes, spending much more than the $20 a Cree light from Amazon would cost you is wasted money. That includes a number of cheap "been seen (but not really)" lights you can by from any number of sources.

I've spent a lot of money on lights over the years and, on a cost/performance basis, the Cree above is the best value. I've bought small Princeton Tech lights for $70 that aren't a 10th as good and I have a Cygo Explion 800 that cost me $135 (REI dividend) that not quite as good.

For less than $20, the light works and even if something goes wrong with it, you aren't out much money. Can't say the same for a lot of other lights.

I own 4 or 5 of those cree's at last count. It is a terrific light, with more than adequate brightness.

Hooking it up to the bike however, is less than ideal. It attaches to the handlebar with a rubber loop and has a bit of soft, slick rubber/felt material under the light. As a result, it's tough to keep the light in place. I solved the problem to a degree by DIYing some double sided tape under the mount. It's relatively secure now.

The battery poses additional issues. I attach it under the stem, but it's not quite as secure as it could be, as it attaches with a velcro strap battery in what appears to be a low quality polyester faux cloth pouch. A second problem with the battery is that it's a pack of four batteries and the wires are super thin and there is a tiny amount of solder. I've only had one battery fail but just be careful handling the battery pack.

The light works well however, offering decent brightness in low beam and above adequate brightness with high and flash. I use a diffuser lens which reduces brightness a bit to give a wider beam.

If the attachment were a bit more secure and if a bit more care were used in constructing the battery pack, I could recommend the light. As it stands, not really.

I'd opt for a niterider metro based upon the testing in the link above. The lights actually meet the lumens rating whereas you "only" get about 300 lumens with the cree.

I'm not a fan of the o-ring mount either but I never had a problem with it holding even on 25.4mm handlebars. I did change to a different mount because I use my lights on 5 different bikes and swapping from bike to bike was just too cumbersome.

The wiring on the battery pack isn't any different from other batteries I've used in the past. Yes, the actual conducting wire is very thin but the thin wire is armored with a thick plastic coating. I haven't had a wire break on several batteries over about 10 years of use.

None of the battery pack cases have been of that poor a quality in my experience. I've had about a dozen different batteries and the case have all been thick and well constructed. The Velcro straps have held up very well when I use them. I have moved most of my batteries to cases that fit in the water bottle cage rather than then use the provided cases for convenience. I use 2 lights on the handlebars so rather than line up batteries on the frame or bars, I put them in a single case.

To each his own. Personally, I find most of the Cree lights to be too much of a flood light to begin with. I prefer a narrower more intense beam.

While the advertised output is way over what the light is capable of outputting, you are severely underestimating the output. On low, the light puts out about 300 lumens. On high, the lights put out about 700 lumens and are on a par with the Niterider. The output can be a little variable but all of my Magicshine knockoffs are brighter than my Cygolite Expillion 800 which has a claimed output of 800 lumens.

The main point, however, is that for 20% to to 15% of the cost of a Cygolite or a Niterider Metro, you have a very good light with minor flaws. In my case, I have 3 very good lights with minor flaws and I'm still less than half the retail price of the Cygolite.

If you check some reviews and do some reading you can get some decent chinese "cree" lights. They all have some sort of issues, minor or otherwise, but different setups can yield different results. If you want a genuine cree emitter, that becomes more difficult because in the past year or two many of the cheap lights now have cree knockoff "Latticebright" or other forms of imitation, but even so they can perform fine, although with a sometimes unpleasant blue light color. Its worth checking out a number of these before you decide on one, they can be great affordable bright lights.

Edit: I have only tried a number of these with the seperate battery pack, I am leary of the cheap all in ones.

There's no problem with the light falling off, it just doesn't stay in place on handlebars with a smooth surface. It tilts up or down as you hit bumps and it became annoying shifting it back in place mid ride. I have an easy fix for it, but a clamp would be far more secure.

I haven't had a wire break; the solder is the weak point.

The case isn't horrible. However, it doesn't seal the batteries so I don't want to use them when it's raining. Also, the velcro strap doesn't secure the battery in place. It slides around--not a problem functionally, just annoying. It's just another reminder that it's a cheap light and battery.

It's definitely safer to get a wider beam and wider range of vision. The narrow beam is overkill imo.

Only the cygo metro meets it's lumens ratings. The expillion does not. See the testing site linked.

There are minor flaws, but there are multiple minor flaws, which in combination make it as valuable as it's price, which is not much. You can't use it in the rain, you have to be very careful handling it, lest the wire disconnect at the solder point, and unless you DIY the attachments, you are forever nudging both the light and battery pack into place.

I would definitely go for a cygo metro probably a 700. It has a clamp, no exposed battery, no cheap wires, it basically solves all of the problems associated with the cree.

Also, there is a warranty.

Fortunately, only 1 of my cree's has been damaged but I have to be careful with the lights and constantly have to check for the placement of the light and battery. All of my lights are still working however so I can't justify another purchase right now.

A bit of friction tape, a rubber shim or even a bit of old inner tube under the clamp will solve the problem. Most clamps need a rubber shim under them to fit the bars and keep the light from moving. I'm no fan of the o-ring mount but even the clamps I use...which are much more positive...require something under them to keep the clamp in place.

Basically, it's not a deal killer.

I've not had a problem with the solder point and I've had a lot of batteries for the Magicshine clones. I'm not sure how you even inspect the solder point without disturbing the casing around the battery pack. My batteries are all shrink wrapped and the wiring is under the shrink wrap. I wouldn't expose the solder points anyway as the wrapping provide a level of strain relief to keep the wires from being pulled off.

The velcro attached battery pack is a common method for even expensive lights. You pay 5 times as much and the pack will still slide around.

I put my battery packs in other containers because trying to attach two battery packs to the handlebars is difficult. The new container provides weather protection that the standard battery lacks. Given the difference in cost, I'm willing to spend a little money on a compromise.

That's only your opinion as is whether or not a wider beam is "safer". A wider beam means less light per square meter. A narrower beam has more illumination over a smaller area and allows me to see obstacles that I might run into better.

But, as I said above, it's not like the LED lights available are tight spot lights. Even the tightest ones I've found have a beam angle of 25° to 35°, which classifies them as flood lights.


That's shaving things a bit too thin. The Expilion puts out 98% of the light that is claimed. That's not a "failure". It's, at worst, a slight variance and, quite possible, within the variance of the measurement.

What you are missing is a very large flaw in the Cygolite Metro (and similar) lights...the cost. At almost $80 retail, most people can afford to buy only one of them. I've been riding in the dark for more than 35 years and I would never depend on only one headlamp. Stuff happens and a single light can leave you in the dark.

There's also a matter of the run time for the Cygolite Metro 700 which is only about 80 minutes. We are quickly reaching a time when you need lights going to and coming back from work. If you ride the average 10 to 12 mile one-way mileage that I see for most people on Bike Forums, that's just outside of the ability of the 700 to handle for a round trip. If you forget to charge it up at work, it's back to leaving you in the dark.

As for a warranty, too much is made of that. I've had multiple lights over my 35+ years of night time riding and I've never had to make a warranty claim. Even the cheap Cree lights have never failed me. But, for $20, warranties aren't worth the price of postage. If something goes wrong with my lights, I'll just get another one. LEDs are changing anyway so it will probably be an upgrade...which is another problem with expensive lights. Replacement as the technology changes is costly.

Why do you write such long replies without bothering to read what's quoted? I DIY'ed a fix, but it's annoying. And it's not a viable solution if you want to switch up lights and try different ones.


I've only had one fail, but I'm very careful with all of them now. Construction is poor. You get what you pay for, which is super thin wires, the bare minimum of solder, and batteries exposed to the elements.

Take a look at the cygolite metro. No velcro attached battery pack there. Niterider has similar. It's an outdated, antiquated design. An internal battery with the headlight attached by clamp is a superior design, solving all of the flaws of the cree chinese.

Yeah, but a hassle for those who don't want to bother. The cost doesn't figure in the time required to shop and wait for the extra bits. Not to mention the time required for extra assembly.

Not to mention the extra wait time of a month plus waiting on your light from china.


Likewise, your opinion is also just that. The cree lights are not that powerful. Take a look at the measurements. You're too lazy to bother because you'd be proven wrong about your lumens claims for the cree.

The diffuser I use not only casts a wider beam but one which is rectangular: the circular beam and hotspot are not as useful as a wider, rectangular light. I don't need to see the birds flying above or the leaves on top of the trees; I need to see the homeless mentally ill guy jumping out from the bushes after taking a 1 or a 2 mindlessly walking into the bike trail.

Again, visit the website I linked. You are certainly misquoting numbers. But then again, given your penchant for not even reading the posts you quote, it's not a surprise.

Deliberate obfuscation. The metro's are well under $80 street price; you are quoting list, and it's very easy to find cygo metro's far under. In order to get the best price for the cree chinese, you have to wait out a 7 day auction + the long slow boat from china, maybe another month on top of that.

Some people aren't willing to wait a month and a half on a light, even if it saves them money (short term).

Also, the cygo metro meets it's lumens rating; the cree chinese does not. Not by a long shot.

That's why I double up with a flashlight attached to my helmet as backup. Everyone should have a directional lamp as well as a handlebar mount light to make your presence more easily known to drivers, when absolutely necessary.

Also, use a lower setting not full brightness. Have you thought about that? You might not need the full 700 lumens.

Speak for yourself. I had a cree chinese fail within the first few uses. A warranty would have made a difference. Maybe only $20, but it's still a difference. I've had multiple chinese lights fail, which is why I don't buy them anymore.

Please don't try to extrapolate out to the gen pop based upon a sample of 1.

Dollar store light opened up to see innards
 

Here is a picture of the $2 200 lumen light disassembled 200 Lumen 2 Dollar Light by vegastriker43 | Photobucket to see what makes it up and if it would run on a single 18650 Li-ion battery. It snaps apart easily. I can see moving the COB to a cheapie red dollar store light from my spare parts box and ending up with a very inexpensive red light that will run for many hours on a single rechargeable battery.

I own a couple of the under $30 Chinese 1 to 5 CREE LED bike headlights (light, battery, charger) . I agree that the o-ring attachment allows the larger 5 CREE light to slip but that is easily overcome to make the light stable. I carry the 8800 mAh battery pack in a 20 oz Gatorade bottle with the top cut off. It fits snugly in a water bottle holder. My larger 12000 mAh battery is too large to fit in a water bottle holder though. I strongly disagree with the statement somebody made that these lights regularly overheat and self destruct. The reason the lights are made out of sturdy aluminum rather than lighter plastic is that the light case acts as the heatsink. Even if these lights don't last as long as your expensive American lights just look at the Nightrider battery replacements to show why I don't buy them. The simple one cell battery equivalent to a 18650 battery is $25, the 6 cell, 7800 mAh battery is $179, and the 11,600 mAh battery is $220. That's not light plus battery but just the battery. I get sufficient runtime out of the Chinese battery packs and my oldest is now 2 years old with no decrease in performance that I can observe.

You certainly don't have to wait weeks to get a bright headlight for under $20 such as this 2X XML-T6 CREE headlamp from a California based US seller on eBay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Bike-600...0AAOSwIzNXPWbw If I ordered it today, it would be shipped on Monday and be in my mailbox by the middle of next week. I buy a lot of stuff directly from China and most of it arrives in about 14 days. This one is probably close to 2000 lumens based upon having 2 T6 LEDs.