maximushq2

Hi everyone I could use some advice. I have a Niterider HID light with a helmet and bar mount. Currently I have it on the bar. The Niterider hid is nice, but I could use more light when I am on trails in the woods. I found and ordered a niterider dual hid kit which basically splits the connection from the battery and includes a niterider hid headlamp, the splitter cable, and the bar mount for $195. With this I would have to run off the same battery and bar mount both of them. I get 5+ hours with one HID lamp which is probably more than twice the run time that I need so I figured this would be a good option. Also I believe my niterider bulb to be a 12 watt hid not the 13.5 watts that I have seen on some newer niterider bulbs.

I received the dual hid kit from ups today, but the hid bulb was cracked inside in two spots due to very poor packaging. I bought it from pricepoint and the hid headlamp was in a plastic bag just sitting on the bottom of the box with nothing at all to protect it. There was some crushed up paper above it in the box but this did nothing to protect the bottom of the box. I am returning it, but am starting to wonder if this is the best option to go with in my case. I would basically like to DOUBLE the light output I have now with my one Niterider hid without totally breaking the bank. Is there a better option out there that I haven't seen for approximately $200. High end LED lights are nice, but the prices seem crazy right now. For instance the Lupine Wilma light with 420, 830, and 1400= lumens would be awesome, but the prices are more than I would like to spend seeing how I already spent 350+ for the Niterider albeit two years ago.

I also ordered a planet bike super flash and luckily that survived shipping and I am quite happy with it. Thanks

MountainMiker

Well...this isn't for high-end LEDs, but Next-Gen LEDs. They are called "Cree Editions." Have you considered those? Basically, you can get 4 Cree Edition flashlights, that use 2X Rechargeable CR123 batteries. These ought to pump out 140-150 lumens. So get four of them, and mount them in pairs on your bar. Roughly adds about 600 lumens. Might run you $100-$150. Much sturdier than HID, much cheaper, and you won't ever have to replace the bulbs. They will last about 15-20 years under normal use.

https://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.901

or if you wanted to mount three together as one super light, and mount another set of three together for two triple stacks, you get roughly 900 lumens!

DanteB

Have you checked out the new LED lights from Niterider? https://www.niterider.com/bike.shtml

cyccommute 

Check BatterySpace. I'd council against a splitter system using one battery. If something goes wrong with the battery, you now have two useless lights instead of one. Also, if you have one light on the bike and one on you, how are you going to connect the two lights and still be able to stand up when you need to? I can envision catching the long cable on a tree branch in the middle of the forest and you going one way and your bike going the other

You probably won't be too pleased with mixing LED and HID either. Different spectrums, different light pattern, different light output.

MountainMiker

says the Road Train off its Tracks

Grun

those are way overpriced for a Cree setup

maximushq2

Ok thanks for all the info and ideas. I see your point cyccommute on a split system reliability on one battery. I would have only used them on the bar that way, because like you pointed out it wouldn't be the best idea to connect one on the head at the same time as the bar lol. Can anyone give me more info on why led and hid aren't a good match or even pictures of LED and HID together or links. This is the first I have heard that, but never had the need to look into it before now. Right now I am leaning towards a second niterider hid such as the one Pete Fagerlin pointed out at Jenson, BUT I do have a question as to what the real difference between the Niterider Enduro hid and the Niterider Rage 06 is as both are the same price at Jenson. It seems to me the Rage 06 might be better as it offers a bar and helmet mount plus has the LEDS built in which aren't that bright I realize, but I have gotten some use out of them on my current Niterider hid light. Runtime seems similar on both as far as I can see.

When I bought mine there weren't so many different version of the niterider hid to figure out lol. If I get a second Niterider hid the best option I am sure is to use one on the bar and one on the helmet and with seperate batteries I will avoid clotheslining myself as would happen with the dual head option I thought of earlier. Also one other benefit of getting a second Niterider HID is that the charger, mounts, wiring, etc. are interchangeable so I am leaning towards the Nitrider HID option. But I haven't made any decisions yet and would welcome any more suggestions. Thank you everyone I have checked all the links you guys gave me too and appreciate the time you took to reply to this thread.

Zero_Enigma

The Planet Bike Superflash will survive being shipped even in a normal envelope. I bought mine in the local MEC and my Superflash has been dropped (by accident) while riding on asphalt as I was trying to access something in my jersey. Fallen off the backpack ~4ft on hard concrete. Unclipped as I was trying to pull something out of the backpack and bounced down a flight of stairs in the basement, hitting the metal shelving, bounced off the wall, then dropped hard on the concrete basement floor while the unit was still on. Once again I say all this was not done on purpose but purely by accident as it can happen to anyone. Having said all that the Superflash has survived and works like new and turns on each time. It's rather built strong to take a hit if you need it. I tend to baby my stuff as much as I can but as much as yo try to take care of your stuff sometimes an accident may happen. In my case it was the Superflash and it held up.

cyccommute 

The LED technology is changing so fast that it hard to keep up. I've seen some of the LEDs in action (I own a couple that are 3 years old) and the less expensive LEDs are just going to be washed out by the HID...same thing happens with halogen/HID... which means you are carrying an extra light for weight training For example, the Niterider MiNewt is a great little light. It puts out adequate light equal to 15 to 20 W of halogen. An HID puts out much more and would just swallow the light from the LED. The new Lupine LEDs seem much brighter and could probably compete with the HID but at around $1000 a pop, they are out of my price range.

Let the LED technology mature a little. The price might come down.

The Niterider might be the best option however, in practice, I seldom swap batteries or lamps around. My helmet light stays on my helmet and the bar lights stay on the bar. I swap them from bike to bike but hardly ever use them interchangeably. My connectors are all the same however but I've built my system over the years from various parts.

Good luck.

notzofast

Vist your local marine and boat store, or check with eBay. You need a handheld marine light. A projector basically with battery inside of it. Weights about a lb. Good thing, delivers concentrated light up to several miles.

You should be able to find one that you could mount, if not find some sort of mount. Such as in between aero bars, or something fancier on handle bars.

Grun

https://www.goldengadgets.com/product...roducts_id=356

maximushq2

Ok thanks again everyone. I haven't had a second of free time this week to spend on looking over my options. Sorry to vent here, but this is the worst week of my life as my Golden Retriever was hit by a car and sustained serious injuries and to complicate matters I have injured my shoulder now which I am going to see about in a few days at a specialist in this area. Seems to be a rotator cuff injury, so who knows if I will be able to ride soon. I have just been riding on my Schwinn recumbent indoor exercise bike for the past week to keep in shape b/c there is no chance to injure my shoulder more on that. Add to that getting stuck at my work because my relief called off all week and a horrible case of diarrhea and well you get the point that this was not a good week for me. The only good news is that my Golden Retriever survived although he sustained a broken rib and collapsed lobe in one lung.

Grun

sucks about the doggie
so uh... you should get a cree led light of some sort
BEST bang for you buck!
and very functional

MountainMiker

yep sucks about your dog

maximushq2

Thanks, the dog is just fine now and you wouldn't realize he was even hit by a car by looking at him now. I know this isn't the place to discuss doggie stuff, but I would recommend anyone who has one of those retractable dog leashes to get rid of it. It was part of the cause of the dog getting loose and then hit. Also the retractable leash contributed to a serious shoulder injury to me. While walking him the dog saw something he wanted really bad and I didn't realize he started running as I was looking the other way and once the end of the leash ran out then that caused a rotator cuff tear in my left shoulder. The dog is only 65lbs and I wouldn't have thought it was possible as I am 6'1" 205lbs and could bench press 300lbs before the rotator cuff tear, but it didn't matter how much I could bench press as the long distance of the leash, the dog running full bore, me not being prepared for the jolt, caused my arm to snap out to the side and did the damage. With a short leash this wouldn't have happened. I learned my lesson.

The dog getting hit was actually a separate incident and I wasn't walking him at that time my friend was. The long leash somehow caught on a wheelbarrow in the back yard causing it to tip over scaring the dog. The dog ran my friend somehow let go of the leash and the flying retractable leash actually then hit and knocked over the garbage can, thus scaring the poor doggie more. At that point the dog ran into the side yard where the retractable leash that was chasing after him all the way got caught up in a plant which was then ripped out of the ground and dragged some ways scaring the pooch some more. You would think that would be enough for the leash to get hung up on, but after the bush getting ripped out and dragged, the leashed caught one of those solar powered lights that was in the ground along the side of the driveway and actually broke the light at the stem. Then the dog had enough I guess and left the yard headed towards the road where unfortunately he was hit. These events would have almost been comical if the dog had not been hit by the car in the end. I am thankful that my dog is doing so well now.

I will probably wait until next year to buy a new light as I have to fix my shoulder first anyway and by then more led lights should be out. Thanks