I wish your other post did not get deleted. I am very interested in this setup instead of going with a L&M HID light. This setup around $400 seems very good. I like the dual part of it - when I went I my first group night ride I really paid attention to what others had. Some had HID, some LED and some Halogen. HID was best, but I was suprised at the others being very good. Some mounted on head and some mounted on bike - I saw upsides to both. This solves that. A little more gear and complexity, but oh well.

Yep. One reason I really wanted the L&M ARC LiIon setup ($600+) was due to the great light output, long burn times, and relatively light weight. However......in an ideal world, you'll still want a headlamp, and therefore will be spending even more money. This is where the setup I went with starts to make sense. I will fully agree that while just having the one HID light is pretty much all the light you may need, if that light should happen to crap out halfway into a ride, and you're 25 miles from home in 23 degree weather in the dark....life is going to start to suck quite a bit.

Which is why I'm very happy that the light output on the Double/Triple setup is pretty good. Not the lightest setup in comparison to others, but I get over 3 hours of run time, and I don't care about the added weight.

The first ride or two with both lights, I was somewhat disappointed. It turns out the batteries take a few cycles to really fully charge and work to their optimum levels. Now that both batteries are "broken in", I get a very bright, white light.

The Triple Shot is a much better "short range" light; it has two flood lights, and one spot light. So...you get really good light spread, which helps on those dark, deserted roads. You can ride down the middle of the lane, and the entire road is lit.

The Double Shot is a spot light, and has quite a range on it. It offers some light spill off to the sides, but not nearly as much as the Triple. The DS has two spot lights, and even by itself you'd be hard-pressed to outrun the beam of light it throws down.

With both lights combined, you get the best of both worlds....the short-range flood light, along with the long range spotlight that you can aim.....SO, bombing around a turn at 30 mph, you can "look ahead" rather than having to wait for the light to play catch-up around the turn.

After using the dual-light setup, I would not go back to a single light setup.

Zipp it!!!

It was already turned down to 11W so I just pointed it to my right. Funny thing was we were on a brightly lit section of the MUP w/ streetlights everywhere so I thought my light would have less of an impact to on-coming cyclists.

I really like my L&M HID. It is better than halogens, although the amount 'better' is not really proportional to the price difference. --More like 25% brighter for 3x the cost. That being said, I feel cars see me much better. With regard to a backup light, I think that the HID is much less likely to fail during the ride. Unlike halogen, there is no filament to burn out. HID is an arc lamp. My understanding is that the failure mode for HID is that it does not ignite. So as long as you aren't trying to turn it on/off/on during the ride, it shouldn't just go out during the ride unless the battery dies. That being said, I keep a CatEye LED light in my pocket during my 5:30 AM rides. It ain't great, but I could get home with it if I had to.

Yeah, this is a big problem with HIDs, and the Ontario cops want them banned for this reason. At the right level, it's like high-beams in the eyes, and this is not safe to other bike riders or cars. They've already banned them on ricers (it was just great to get blinded by a $1400 1994 Honda with a $2000 HID system).

Knog toads are bright enough with 5 white LEDs.

http://www.knogusa.com/images/toad_small.jpg

They last a long time on one set of batteries and are very light, waterproof and last 6,000 hours. ~$32.

Not if you need to see the winter road.

This is an email I got from a fellow Club member, we both have been commuting to work in the heavy snow fall.

"Hi B, I've got a bit of light envy. I've got a LED that's great for being seen, but not so hot for illuminating the road. I wiped out this morning after hitting a bit of uneven icy stuff that I hadn't noticed. I'm quite glad there was no traffic on the road when it happened. No injuries, but I was a bit cranky after the ride.

The seemingly constant wind is a pain.

Have a good weekend

Reid"

I know during my ride to work I have to pick and chose my path between the icy ruts, and pot holes in the snow well in advance. I'm glad I have an HID to see these with or I would be crashing more often as well.

:roflmao:

>>Yeah, this is a big problem with HIDs, and the Ontario cops want them banned for this reason<<

Yet another police force with WAAAAYYYYYY too little real crime to focus on. I wonder why you don't hear these complaints from law enforcement here in the NY Metro area? Oh, yes, that's right, they're busy ENFORCING THE LAW.

Oh please please God save us from the HID Bicycle Light Menace. After that we can tackle the lesser problems of drunk drivers, text messaging teens and road rage.