mechBgon

Thanks for the tips. I'll make sure to get a heavy duty reflector bracket :)

mechBgon -- I'm looking more for a show-me-the-road lighting system. I have a Cateye LED light (Power OptiCube) now that I bought last year. However, it is only bright enough to help me be seen. I use a Cateye L1000 on the rear. It appears that I'll need to "rig" something up if possible to get it to mount on my Kwing flat-top bars.

I'd like to obtain a mid-level headlight to show the roadway for those rides when I am out at dark trying to get home. I have no desire to have the "best" but something mid-level (under $300 ... and $200 or under is ideal).

But, it is the flat-top bars that seem to be my main issue currently. Any suggestions?

The HID light from batteryspace.com is bar mount and $199.00 bit it won't fit your bars. There may be no "see the road" type lights that will fit those bars for that price. Unless you want to make your own bracket. That's not hard to do.

But a $185 HID helmet light from batteryspace will do the job. Along with other helmet mount lights.

Would these show me the ground pretty well at night or no?

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=2228

And if not is there something sub $100 anyone could recommend?

Thanks

That will probably work but you have to buy a battery system. I bought this for myself and my son. It bailed me out once when my helmet light battery died. Trade off cost for heavier SLA battery. Remember to use the Nashbar 10% code listed so often here.
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...%20Nite%20Hawk

As mentioned you need to add a battery to make that work. The batteries are linked to that page. The first one I went was $69.00 the others are less I think. You are around the $100 mark. That light will show the ground, but you need to consider run time, that changes the battery and the price just as much as power. The run times on the batteries are shown on the battery page.

I love these roll-your-own lights and DIY mods. Wish I had the drive to make one. But I'm lazy. I know my limitations. My version of DIY usuallys involves zip-ties or black electrical tape.

So last autumn I bought a nightrider nr-20 digital on eBay for $65. The remote-on switch was malfunctioning and even though it was perfectly usable with the built-in on/off switch -- I sent it back to nightrider and they fixed it. They charged me the standard $20 lifetime service fee.

This light is so bright it puts everything that's not HID to shame. I can light up the road 100 feet ahead of me, and have mistaken other cyclists reflectors for bike lights due to the brightness of my nr20. It came with a battery pack and digital charger as well as a helmet mount. Sometimes I'll even use it on overcast days - it helps ensure I'm being seen by motorists.

Good luck! Bike lights rule.

PS. I also have a bunch of LED lights, including one that uses a 3 watt luxeon emitter. IMHO the LED lights don't cast as anywhere near as broad or bright a beam as the nr20.

Hey folks: I am going to need a new headlight at some point this season for my commuting. My old Performance 10W(12?) light is into it's 4th year and I ride all year. I am looking at the Cateye dualshot($175)or tripleshot($200) VS the batteryspaces HID($185):
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...odID=1395&HS=1

Here's some recent advice from a pro Cateye Doubleshot rider. This is from a mnt biker (not commuter):

.....It's 2, 3-watt luxon LEDs, with a NiMh battery
(with a thermocouple, and a dT/dt smart charger - that's the best (but most
expensive) way to know if a battery is fully charged in case you where
wondering). It runs for 5.5-6 hours on a 3-hour charge. The battery straps
to the frame or stem or in your pocket (doesn't take a bottle cage). I've
run it head to head with an L&M HID and, well it's hard to compare
brightness, but the HID isn't overwhelmingly better. I'd say the HID is a
wider beam, but the Doubleshot is brighter in the center (when it's really
dark you can see farther away with the Cateye). The Cateye runs MUCH cooler
than any incandescent or HID light out there (cateye isn't even warm after
running for 4 hours, a 20w halogen you might burn yourself if you touched
the housing), the LEDs last forever (HID bulbs are very expensive and
turning the light on and off quickly shortens the life, halogens burn out
seemingly at the worst times - when you first turn them on, the LEDs in the
doubleshot would last upwards of 17 years if run for 8 hours a day). The
doubleshot uses the same mounting bracket as the LD-300 and 500 lights, and
comes with a helmet mount (and extension cable). It's got locking connectors
that are great.....

Any other thoughts on these 2 systems. I went to Eddy's to compare but no Cateyes.
http://eddys.com/page.cfm?PageID=493
Seems the tripleshot is often compared to a 20W Halogen which(according to Eddys pix) is somewhat close to a HID. Thanks Charlie

Just bought the Exposure Enduro Turbo and this uses two 5W luxions. I ride off road and Have only done one offroad jaunt with them so far and on this ride they were up to the standard of the affordable HID's that I was looking at.

The Exposure for this year has has the Turbo feature. Put it this way- Last year I used 2x10w halogens. On the low setting with the exposure It was as good as the 2x10w. on the intermediate setting it was good enough to really hammer on. On the turbo setting- WOW.

Still have a bit of setting up to get the best out of the lamp- but anyone dismissing Luxion LED's as not powerful enough- Think again

http://www.use1.com/exposure/dealers...eb_dealers.php

Question on the TrailTech Eclipse HID Bar Mount Bike Light with Smart Charger and waterproof cable

Can the 4Ah battery pack in case be attached to top tube? (instead of bars)
It looks like a lot of extra cabling, can this be installed with good wire managment, so there are no loose cable and/or multiple wraps to take up slack?
With a clean install, can it be easily removed and replaced?
I would buy this to replace the Cygolite NiteRover xtra (10x6w halogen) - Anyone used both and can say the TrailTech is much better?
Al

It look as if the small compartment on the front of the bag can store extra cable. It looks just like my camera bag from the front. I attach that to the stem, bars, top tube, head tube, etc. with large pieces of velcro used as straps. You can attach anything to anything with a little though. I would attach that to my top tube and rivet or sew or just wrap the whole thing in a big wide piece of velcro. No problem.

Somewhere I have beam photos of my 15 watt halogen light and my 10 watt HID light. I'll start looking for them.

On the first post in this thread there ia a group of links a little way from the top. They all go to beam comparison photos. You can figure out the power of any light you want from these links.
Click on the link under "courtesy of 2manybikes". on the left is a list of albums, click on "bike light photos"
double click on a thumbnail to get a full size photo. The photos are captioned right in the photo.

There is a 10w HID and a 15 watt halogen, and a few others. The HID is better.

I just attached a Whelen TIR 3 Ultra to the rear rack. Brightest thing I've ever seen. Daylight bright. It was a few dollars cheaper then the NOVA at http://www.strobesnmore.com/ . Runs fine on 9 volts. So far 6 hours.

I've removed the LD1000, but I'm still keeping an LD500 for backup.

In that link is a light called the USE Exposure. This is actually the Race version of the lamp and is an old model. I have the new Enduro Turbo. Longer battery life and a more powerful light. The Race is good for anyone road or trail riding but for those of us that ride offroad then a lot more powerful light is required. That is where the Enduro comes in. Instead of two Floods- it has a spot and a flood. It also has a longer battery life. This year the lamp has been upgraded and instead of just two power setting of Low and high- This year the Turbo Enduro has low- high and Turbo. The turbo does eat battery life but is a more powerful light than the old model without the turbo.

http://www.use1.com/exposure/product...race/index.php

To take all these comparisons into perspective you have to have the latest data. In this case- it is not the latest data. The only way to check to see if a lamp is good enough for you- is to try it. Saves you spending a fortune on advertising hype that does not evolve into the quality of lamp you want. And even the beam comparisons do not give you the true comparison of trying a lamp.

Very few of us will be doing 6 hour night rides- at 40mph downhill across rutted tracks. Last year I did 6 hours at sensible downhill speeds and I just used a twin 10w halogen. Completely adequate for riding- but not for comfort. I could have done with better lighting and that was where a helmet lamp came in. If you want the benefit of my experience then a GOOD floodlamp to light up 25 ft in front of the bike and Top quality Helmet lamp would be my choice now. Mind you- the exposure Enduro Turbo is fantastic and the 8 hour battery life just about covers my needs for a 6 hour ride. Contrary to what the comparison tests would lead you to believe.

I got my Nashbar Brilliant II (5-LED) today.
I took some pics, including one taken about 25 feet across a room at ISO 800, 1/6 sec f/3.5 to try to make it comparable to slvoid's image strip. It looks like it comes in about equivalent to somewhere around a 5 watt halogen.
Here's the Nashbar page for the light
Here's my gallery page with slvoid's strip and mine. Also there are two outdoors pics, one with my trailtech HID but that makes the LED look pretty pathetic.

COOL! :beer: I know it has a ton of strobe modes, any comments on those? Are the motorists terrified? :D

Also, can you show some photos of how it can be attached to stuff, and how you attached yours? Here's a thread showing how I hooked up my Nova to my rack:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=202062

Pics of it in daylight from 100, 200 and 300 paces at 4x zoom would be interesting too, since the first photos in that thread were shot under those conditions too. PICS, we must have PICS!!! :) A photo of its beam pattern against a wall, too!

I also just noticed the Whelen can be bought in a vertical style, which could be very useful since it would put the mounting holes over-under.

Any impressions on the Cateye HL-EL530? It runs off 4 AA batteries and they claim it's 50% brighter than the the HL-EL500. It's not up in the comparison chart yet but from the front page they say 1500 candlepower.

http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/327

RECOMENDATIONS PLEASE I'm not sure I can afford any of these options, but I would like an HID bike light. Here are the best prices I saw with a quick scan of the net (not counting ebay bids). I've read reviews and looked at beam comparisons until extreme dizziness set in. What do you folks (having experience with these lights) think of the following options (all NiMH and HID):

JetLite HID Blast - $375
Light & Motion ARC HID - $329
Lume Lighting Strada (slow charger) - $280
Nightpro Extreme - $299
Niterider Rage (LED/HID) - $420
Edison anything - forget about it

I need 3 hours (maybe more) of light for a snowy commute (32 miles R.T.) . I do not think Lion is worth the cost or potential problems with cold weather. I like the LED combo of the niterider, but $400+ ...yikes. Charging time is not important...I've got all night. Does Cygolite make any HIDs? HID is important to ride 25 mph+ if possible as much of my commute is in the country with some long hills. I'm not sure a LED would be enough to avoid the deer in time. All of this may prove academic with no budget. This will be my first winter commuting...right now I start my mornings with a hiking headlamp and handheld LED flashlight. This mostly makes me visible to other cars as the mornings are not fully dark. I've only got a few weeks tops before it's too dark for this setup. Thanks...

Go to Batteryspace for a 185-195 HID light and battery. That's your best price.

Also The Nightrider Enduro is on sale severala places at the moment. Pricepoint, JensonUSA

And finally Performance currently has the Topeak Moonshine HID on sale.

If you can't swing the HID - check back and get recommendations for one of the newer LED's or perhaps a halogen.

If I am getting Li-ion (not sure I want it for New England cold) at this price, what is the resulting sacrifice in quality of the remaining components. Anything over $100 had better last a long time.

That looks like good competition.

The run time shown is not enough for my commute.

MY Li-Ion battery gives me about full run time in the winter in Rhode Island. I have not used it below about 10 degrees F. It just has not been any colder when I was riding. The insulation on a water bottle battery can have an effect too.

Even alkaline batteries that really work bad in the cold will work fine if you keep them warm. I've done it in the past by putting the battery pack under my clothing while riding. 98.6 is great for batteries. Any type of battery can be made to work this way.

There is an owner report somewhere in these forums for both of the inexpensive batteryspace.coM HID lights. I don't remember if they mention the cold. Search the forums.

$100 lights are entry level lights.

Charging time is important. If you get home at 6:00 pm and have to leave at 6:00am for work, you only have 12 hours to charge your light. Many of the overnight charger lights take that long or even 14 hours for a full charge. You may have much longer, but think about it when purchasing. To get three hours in the cold you need to include extra time for a flat or something else. I would go with 4 hours for a three hour commute. Cygolight does not seem to sell their HID anymore.. The batteryspace lights are less $$ anyway. They will give you your 4 hours. And of course less in the cold.

The only thing on the market today that will give you 4 hours, bright light, and be close to your budget will be HID right now that's where the marketplace is. You can build your own Halogen light for less than $100.oo that will do that. You may have to get a huge SLA battery to do that. They can be insulated and have a chemical hand warmer put inside the insulation. I have not tried that myself, but maybe others here have?

As you alread have seen, you will get light recomendations from others that do not have the run time you need. If you need three hours in the cold buy a four hour light.

Has anyone gotten one of these? The mounting system and battery look fine, but do they perform as advertised and are you sacrificing anything important compared to, say, the L&M ARC?

There are a couple of owners in the forums that gave repots on the lights. Try searching the forums. One is very recent.

I dont know much about lights, I started commuting in the summer and it has always been bright in the morning, but now its getting dark and need something.
The streets around here are very dark. Would this be a good one for people to see me?
http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/263

People will probably see you but you may want to see the road. Those type of LED lights are much closer to $200 than $100.

Question 1 - I like the idea of the Niterider Rage with built in LED technology. It would be very useful to use just LED flashing lights when only visibility is needed. Would it be better to use a separate LED light and stick with straight HID? What is the LED light included in the Rage comparable to for stand alone versions? What other manufacturers produce a combo HID/LED light? Thanks.

Question 2 - Does anyone carry a charger to work every day? How heavy/bulky is it? How much does a second charger cost? This way I could pay less for battery power and recharge my headlight at work. Any thoughts?

A couple of good questions.

I have not see the Nightrider auxiliary LED's in the dark, so I don't know about that. But here's my 2 cents worth on the other things. I ride long rides in the dark a lot, and I like having one HID light and another small backup LED with it's own power. If you forget to charge the main light or if something breaks, you have a complete other lighting system. Also with a small separate light it's handy for a flat tire or to see something else on the bike, looking in your bag in the dark, etc. You can also mount one on your helmet, that is great for other things and looking at something way off to the side.
I have one that fits my helmet , and I use it to put bikes on a car rack in the dark etc.

Bike light chargers are not very big, it's easy to take one to work. Most of the light makers list the prices of extra chargers and spare parts on their web sites, I know Nightrider does.

Lupine, And Supernova make Halogen or HID and LED combos, but they are higher priced than the Nightriders. Both have good web sites.

Thanks 2manybikes. I do carry a very small LED flashlight now (my primary light at present) and will continue to do so if and when I can afford HID as a backup and for changing flats etc. I don't have much room left on my handlebars, so I'm tempted to get something that incorporates a front blinky into a headlight. I've noticed that Lupine anything is well beyond my price range. Supernova is a new one for me, but I'm just beginning to research all of this.

Also....... once my Nightrider did not start well about 40 miles from home. I finally got it started but I thought I was in for a long lousy ride. Also one time I just forgot to charge it and It just ran out about 20 miles from home. Oops ! :o Not fun.

Supernova may be more than Lupine.