Looking for any feedback on these 2 lights or anything someone feels is better for around $100-120. Use will be mostly on the roads to catch some rides early or late in the day. Any help appreciated. Thanks
I have the cygolite. I use it for commuting with no issues. Not much else to say other then it works fine.
Try a magicshine 900 on ebay right now for about $100 with shipping.
I’m doing a photo shoot in the dark for the NiteRider for a review I’ll post on TriSports university tomorrow.
I don’t like lights with seperate battery packs and a bunch of “stuff” all over your bike. That is one of the things that attracted me to the MINewt.250. charging is easy but takes some time (4.5 hours) but the charge lasts me for a few day’s commuting.
Perhaps the other boon is the mount, which swivels 90 degrees, so it can be mounted underneath aerobars as I have done. The light is out of the way and very unobtrusive. Again- to me, smaller is better.
Unfortunately I can’t offer an informed opinion/comparison to the Cygolite ExPilion 250 as I have not reviewed it yet.
My NiteRider review posts tomorrow. I throw a link up here tomorrow afternoon for anyone interested.
Thanks Tom! I will look for the review tomorrow.
As for the Majicshine I see that GeoMan halted sales due to the battery having issues so have ruled them out for now.
Fiddlesticks- the review is going up tomorrow Sir (11/17).
I have the mininewt. I use it for commuting and it works great, the big bonus for me is the mini usb charger is the same as my phone. (And most other smart phones). so I can use that to charge it at work if the battery gets low on my way in. I did that today actually,
edit:i meant to specify that i have the mininewt 150
I have the newt 250 and like it. I think that the Cygolite may be a bit smaller if the “actual size” adds are accurate. I think that the 250 is a a great light and is as good if not better than my Light and Motion 300 which has a separate battery pack. However the Light and Motion is easier to mount on handlebars that are oversized and I’ve had to resort to a helmet mount for the 250 which is kind of a pain as it is not a light light.
The Cygolite has a slightly nicer beam pattern than the Niterider. The Expilion has a battery that can be replaced, the Niterider does not. One light you may want to consider is the Princeton Tec Push . At about $50 it has a decent beam and is listed at 100 lumens.
Here is a link to a review of the NiteRider MiNewt.250 Cordless I just finished and posted:
http://university.tri-sports.com/2010/11/17/niterider-minewt-250-cordless-bike-light/
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As for the Majicshine I see that GeoMan halted sales due to the battery having issues so have ruled them out for now.
We own 3 of the MagicShine lights - one purchased from the US Importer last year and 2 of the new 900L 4 mode lights we bought on Ebay for $92 each shipped. I have used/recharged the orginal repeatedly since purchasing it last year and never seen an issue with the battery. We have also used both our old and new MagicShine lights side by side with (1) NiteRider miNewt X2’s (note one of them had to be replaced as it failed on the 3rd use a week after purchase last year) as well as a 2-year old Niterider MOAB HID. Sure the MagicShine is not as focused as the $600 MOAB HID, but the MagicShine sure did illuminate a mcuh wider swath of real estate and last week, one of the riders in a group passing in the opposite direction on multi-use trail was overheard saying - ‘wonder what lights they are using - they sure were bright!’