I was going through perfomrancebike.com and i saw lights that were teenie for like 600 dollars, WTF.

like this one

it doesnt make sense

That's odd, you can get a niterider HID with the same amount of lighting time for $100 less.

Light weight and long running time.

L&M are pricey anyways...

Really light weight, small size, really bright, five hour run time (six on lower power).

That's what it costs for these things together.

There are others as well. See e.g. Lupine's web site for high-end bike lights.

Whether that sort of money makes any sense depends entirely on your mileage. To me it does not, but some bikers here will settle for nothing else than the best commercially available product, regardless of price. Others say they can build the equivalent or better with a fraction of the cost themselves. It all depends.

--J

That's more than my bike costs.

Heh, heh, heh. Even a flashlight today might have a computer chip in it.

it says out of stock, gee, people really pay that big money on that? i cycled several times at night both in and out of civilized areas and i´ve never encountered any problem, the eyes get used to the dark soon. although it would be really nice to have lights on your bike, this is just too much. i would instead get a air zone bike horn, if i should see something suspicious crawling ahead just push it and scare the sh¡t out of whatever that might be wandering at night or harbouring ill intentions. that should be quite scary, a big blast out of nowhere!

I have an LED flash light, really nice one ( 50$ probably less i dont know) and i have found a way to mount it, TAPE works great, i have to get a bike light though becuase it is very temporary.

If you ride long distances at night in poor conditions, and if you can afford it, the light may be worth it. The light weight and compact battery size means you can use your bottle cages for water, not batteries.

As to quality, I have an HID, but not a $600 one. It greatly increases visability--is that a smudge in the pavement, or a pothole? Is that black ice or water? The HID also lights up the area above the path, so I can avoid low-hanging branches. Vars also give me more room since I got the HID.

Is it worth it for everyone? No. But it helps keep me safe.Spending an additional $400 on a light is far more valuable to me than an upgrade to Ultegra or Campy components.

Yes and no... while the light and battery together seem to be a nice system, they are in fact propriatary, so that any replacements or repairs will also be as costly.

I have a NR digital pro-12 system and paid around $300 for it new, I am now faced with having to replace the $159 battery, when there are clearly power sources available for much much less, that deliver the same capacity. But because of the mount and connection, I am somewhat screwed. (although in reality I will probably forgo the cool "waterbottle" mount and just put a bunch of NiMH in a bag, at 1/4 the price).

So while really great lighting is a good thing, getting locked into a specific "limited release" system sucks.

You really need to get into an HID light to be able to go for four hours and have that much light. It's not just about power it's about run time. Some of us need four hour runtimes. No halogen off the shelf will do that and be as bright as a 10 watt HID. Unless you have a very big heavy battery. The repair for my Nightrider Blowtorch was free. Now it's three years old. It will still go four hours and 10 min. Unless I kill the battery or damage it myself it will still be free to repair it. Niterider even pays return shipping

Did you call nightrider and talk to them about it? They don't want emails. It may depend on if you maintained the battery properly. If you actually price out the exact replacement batteries (if you go Nimh or Nicad) you need and make a housing and then buy or build the new charger you need, because you now have different batteries it may not be cheaper. I priced it once, it was about the same. It may be more, they pay less for parts than you do.

If you go lead acid then yes, much cheaper, but heavier and bigger, but reliable.

Do you mean, It doesn't make sense for you? It may not.

Top of the line bike lights are $900 not $600.

What something is worth is subjective, it’s different for everyone.

The guy who wins the National 24 hour mountain bike races, probably feels he "needs" the $900 light. For what he does with it he's right. He wins.
If you have sturdy tires and don't ride at night much, you get what you think YOU "need". I "wanted" to get a powerful light that would go longer than four hours this year, I kept running out of time all year. So I moved up from my $400 light to the $900 one. It gets 175 miles a week and saves me from a lot of flat tires at midnight. I can see the tiniest pieces of glass in the road just like daytime. I go around them.

If you ride long enough, and often enough, under the right conditions eventually you want a powerful light.

That does not mean YOU "need" one.

Don't get me wrong I love my Nightrider Blowtorch. It has served me well for a long time.

That particular L&M light has a Lithium Ion battery, it's lighter weight than the Nightriders and it will run longer on the 10 w setting. The Nightrider will go as long, but on a lower power. The L&M Li-Ion battery is about half the weight of the NR NiMH.

L&M says 13.5 watts on high Nightrider says 12 ? I can't tell. They vary depending on how old the light is. I have seen both, but not side by side. The only thing obvious to me was the weight.

I think they make the sales copy hard to understand on purpose. ? So that we, the consumer, can not really compare things properly. I guess you sell more lights that way.

By the way, How well do your Li-I batteries for the NR tailight work in the cold ?

Don't forget the degradation of eyesight that age brings. My night vision is not as good as it was a few years ago. I currently have a 15 watt halogen light, but have decided that I should probably shell out the bucks for an HID system. During the winter, I commute home every day in the dark and I just don't feel safe, especially when riding fast. Testosterone may be preventing me from riding slower. Hazards just come up too quick and oncoming headlights are a real problem.

The new niterider flamethrower is supposed to get up to 6 hours. Which is equivalent to the L&M ultra. Saving 350 grams isn't worth the cost to me, I'm not a weight weenie. Plus, I can shave 350 grams just going to the bathroom before each ride.
That said, I'm not sure about NR, but L&M has great service. I wrecked last night and they're sending out an extra bulb, mount, and baseplate for me.
I use 8 AA nimh's on my NR, charge it once every 2 weeks (1 hr or so a day). Lithium-ion's keep their voltage real well in the cold though.

Thanks.

That's a very valid point.

If it's dark long enough on a dark stretch my eyes adjust eventually. But, in changing levels of light such as in and out of street lights quickly, or into a dark underpass at high speed, my eyes don't seem to adjust as fast. And yes, oncoming headlights are a lot harder to deal with than they were.

The powerful light evens this effect out quite a bit.

I don't want to face the fact that I'm falling apart, cut it out !!

Wow. So, 2many, how about a link to your lights?

I answered my own question. You've got the Lupine, do you? Drool...

I didn't see anything about L&M when I was looking a little more than two years ago. If I had seen this system, I would have been tempted, $900 or no.

https://www.gretnabikes.com/product.a...d=69&cat_ind=7

HID lighting is like crack cocaine. After a hit there's no going back.

When my lights go (it'll be a while, hopefully), I'm fully prepared to knock over a gas station to get my fix...

I do........(wiping drool off of shirt).......you understand !!

It's the only one where I can go just as fast as during the day with paper thin tires in the dark and see EVERYTHING. Or full speed off road....I love my Nightrider Blowtorch, but this SO much better !

I found the reviews on mountain bike review ..

https://www.mtbreview.com/

This is the Lupine product line up , go to the home page and explore the sight, read it all and you will buy...

https://www.lupine.de/en/produkte/produkte.php



I emailed the winner of the 24 hour mtb races. He was kind enough to reply to a stranger. Read the reviews, basically it's the best $900 upgrade he's made.

BEFORE you read the reviews. get all your credit cards out of the house and be SURE you can't get them.
I put mine on the credit card about two months before Christmas, brilliant!

I spent a year telling myself I did not really need this light. I should have bought it last year. Call the gas station first and tell them to prepare for a full attack. If you are married, prepare to be single. My HID light support group meets Wednesday nights at 7:00......

I am a kindred sufferer, 2ManyBikes!

2ManyBikes, I assume your HID light support group meets at a later hour during the summer? (blue moon)

It's so good to know there are others. It's nice to hear from you.

For some reason if the summer meetings are after dark, they are not well attended.

Next Wednesday......Egg Nog and holiday cookies.....7:00 sharp..

Happy Holidays all !