cygolite expilion experience
 

Which Cygolite Expilion should I get for my Brompton (both front and tail)?

Thought about getting a hub dynamo at first, but cost too much.

I've got the 410 (front) but I use it only during the day as a daytime running light (solid). Seems to work as advertised. I don't ride at night, so I've no experience there. Quality is good and it dosen't bounce around on the handlebar.

i've got the lezyne superdrive and an extra 3100mA battery from kallies customs. i love it. it's small and cheaper than the cygolite.

check out mtbr.com for their light shootout

For $120 the Cygolite Expilion 500 USB is worth every penny. A Cygolite Expilion 350 USB might be a better deal at $80.

Cygolite Hotshot is a good rear light, very bright with a number of different flashing modes and USB rechargable.

I've got the 400 head light, plenty of light for me, as I'm not in a city with all the street lights. Illuminates the road pretty good.

I have used the 500 for the past month and the hotshot in the rear. Both are awesome lights for the money. The 500 puts out more then enough light when riding without streetlight and the flash pattern makes you seen during dawn and dusk. I just returned it and ordered the 700 because I really like the expilion design and I was interested in trying out the 2in1 flash patter on the newer 600 and 700 expilions.

I just got the Expilion 600 yesterday. First impression is very positive. Nice, rugged package, incredibly bright, lots of modes to choose from, bike mount works great. I paid $120 at my LBS but I think it is available online for less. There is an Expilion 700 also. The700 is about $140.

Only negative I can think of is that replacement batteries need to be purhased from Cygolite. It is a 18650 Li ion but it is molded into a proprietary holder.

There's a new Cygolite product coming onto the market at REI, the Metro 420 at 5 watts and 420 lumens. Price is supposed to be very competitive. From now on, I think light manufacturers will begin to state the wattage on all lights.

If my understanding is correct (and it might not be), lumens is the preferred measure for expressing light performance. Lumens is a measure of the light output in the visible spectrum. Watts is just the DC power going into the light and does not include the inefficiency of converting DC power to light output nor the fact that some of the light output may be outside the visible spectrum.

Maybe that's why they are now disclosing both lumens and watts. I'll have to ask the engineer.

Lumens is actual total visible light output whereas Watts is power consumed by the bulb, which is only indirectly related to light output depending on the bulb's efficiency. An ordinary incandescent lamp is quite inefficient and puts out a lot of its light in non-visible infrared light. A quartz halogen lamp moves much of the infrared into the visible so puts out more light for a given Wattage. LEDs are much better yet.

After using the 700 a few times it is a great upgrade over the 500 and its light output on boost is comparable to the Magicshine MJ880 I have used. I prefer the one piece design over the MS external battery. I also paid $124 shipped for the 700 which saved me $30 from the $150 I had originally paid for the 500 a month ago.

Not to digress, but I think a sidewall generator like the Dymotec 6 is a relatively inexpensive substitute for a hub dynamo. That way, you'll have more lighting options.

Thanks -- does the 600 come with a helmet mount? The cygolite website says that it doesn't, but amazon says it does.

No helmet mount on the 600. I think the 700 comes with a helmet mount.

I have a 700 on the way from Amazon, $119 and free shipping. Includes bar and helmet mounts.

I have a 200 lumen Pace, which appears to be the predecessor to the Expilion series. (Maybe they just renamed the product line, because they look the same and use the same batteries)

I've found 200 lumens to be the minimum I like to be able to see by. I'm ganging it up with a second 200 lumen flashlight now, and 400 lumens is an amount of light that I find I like. I may eventually plunk down for a 400 or greater light. I'm doing a lot of night riding and it will be a worthwhile investment I think.

This new slate of lights from Cygolite looks promising. I'm anxious to hear comparisons between the Metro 420 and the 600/700. Right now, I'm leaning toward the 600.

Current owners: Please share your thoughts on the beam patterns of your respective models. As I recall, a relatively narrow pattern was one of the drawbacks of last year's Expilion line.

Good stuff, folks. Keep the reviews coming.

The 600 is my first light that is designed for biking. Previously I was using two Ultrafire 200-lumen flashlights from DX. Compared to the flashlights, the beam of the 600 is very broad. I had aimed the flashlights in slightly different directions to broaden their light pattern, but the 600 is even broader.

If I'm going to spend anywhere near $100, I would want the most lumens and interchangeable battery capability. As far as beam, the sharp turns seem to be the limiting factor. The sharper the turn, the more the beam spread becomes an issue. Rather than delve on that, I would think that a headlight on the helmet is the practical answer.

You can now get the ExpiliOn 600 for $100 on Amazon. I have the 350 series and it's been a good light though I since put it on my wife's bike for her to use as flasher because I went with a different set of lights. But the ExpiliOn does use a self contained rechargeable and replaceable battery pack, you can buy an extra battery and use it as back if you wanted. So there's no need to try to figure out where to mount a separate battery and the wire to it.

I know that Cygolite is pretty darn accurate in their reported lumens and battery life expectancy. I also know some companies particularly Magicshine way over rate their lumens. My Cygolite Mitycross 480 is brighter then Magicshines last years 1200 lumen light, my friend has one and we compared.

But for under $100 you can't go wrong with the Cygolite ExpiliOn 600. I also really like the Phillips Saferide 80 light. This thing puts out more useful light then expensive 1000 lumen lights because Phillip used their motorcycle and car light technology in it and it cast a flat beam instead of wasting lighting energy lighting up a top of a tree. But this light does cost more but far less then other 1000 lumen lights.

Here's a pretty decent beam comparison: http://www.modernbike.com/light-comp...singleshotplus AND: http://reviews.mtbr.com/2012-bike-lights-shootout

I received my Cygolite Expilion 700 from Amazon ($119 and I ordered it before sales tax was collected in CA) and used it twice so far. It is very bright but what impresses me the most is that it floods wide angles better than previous Expillion models. It is a very nice self contained light.

Wow. Me too. Just got mine from Amazon yesterday and took it for a ride last night. It's replacing my 8 year old Light&Motion HID light which has (had?) a similar lumen rating. It's 2/3 the size and less than 1/4 the weight of just the NiMH battery for the old HID light, which was something like $350 at the the time. And it's significantly brighter and with a fairly wide uniform beam. I used to like the HID light because it was fairly hot in the center and had wide low level illumination. Even though the Expilion is brighter in the middle than the HID light, if I could shape the beam I would sacrifice some of the side intensity and make the center even brighter.

That was with the light on the bars. I want to try it mounted to my helmet and see how well that works.

It has 5 steady modes. Walking, which is really very feeble, then Med, High, Boost, and low, in that order. The difference going between Med and High and High and Boost isn't that much visually, but according to the spex has a rather dramatic effect on run times. Low is pretty dim, maybe OK for riding very slowly or in well lit areas. I have not yet verified the run times.

So far, the only place I have found spare batteries for it is the Cygolite website.

What type of batteries does it use? 18650 Li-ion types are the most common, and these can be bought from countless vendors on ebay. Both of my LED lights use them. If it is the same type, make sure you buy the protected type, and get 3100maH as these are the longest lasting available. Panasonic is the most reliable manufacturer from Japan, the *fire types are Chinese and while they work, you never know what you'll get.