I just mounted this light to my helmet, and thought I would put it to the test tonight.
There is a dirt/gravel path that follows a creek in my neighborhood is usually way too dark for me to ride on at night, so I took my coker for a spin down the trail. I have only dealt with cheap lights before, so this light I just got seemed amazing! The light was really bright, and had a pretty good width to it. I was able to ride quite fast down the trail and prepare for all the bumps, drips, and obstacles down the trail. I ended up doing about 7 miles tonight and it seems like this light will be great to have on my commutes when it starts getting dark out early at night.
I just wanted to share my excitement over being able to ride worry free at night now since I will actually be able to see where I am going. Night riding is quite fun!
Night riding is awesome, especially when at a park with match lights and no one else around. It’s how i overcame my fear of speeding on my coker which got me my speed record.
Do I see a separate battery pack connected to the light with a wire? How is that working out, any issues with the wire asserting itself just at the most inconvenient time?
It was around 150 dollars. I looked around and read a lot of reviews before making the purchase and it seems like the best light for its price range.
The helmet attachment will probably work best with long narrow openings (like seen on most Giro helmets), but depending on how wide the openings are it might work as well. You can always call Cygolite during normal business hours and they are really helpful. The one downside of this setup is that the helmet attachment was extra…I had to order it from Cygolite over the phone.
REI actually has this light on sale for 110 dollars or so on their website…but it is the version of this light that takes 8 hours to charge instead of the model I have which takes 4 hours to charge.
I will try to post some pics of how it looks on my helmet and maybe I can get a shot of how bright it is somehow.
It works fine, I haven’t had any problems with it yet. I put the battery in my backpack/camelback or on my frame when I am biking. It is a really tight connection.
Here’s a single-beam variety that I’ve used…Old Thread. It is also brighter than most LED lamps, but probably not as bright at the two beam variety. I found the uni-mounted light highlighted the upcoming topography well.
i got it on sale (20% off) at http://www.rei.com (b/c I had a 20% off to spend)
It doesn’t look like the have the dualcross 300 model anymore, but there is an even better sale(~115 dollars) for the 200 model (same light power, just takes 8 hours to charge instead of 4). http://www.rei.com/search?vcat=REI_SEARCH&query=cygolite
and I forget how much the helmet mount was from cygolite, but it wasn’t much.
Avoid the 8 hour chargers. They’re “dumb” chargers that are based on a timer and a trickle charge. They can overcharge and damage the battery.
The 4 hour charges and other “smart” fast chargers monitor the charge rate and the state of the battery charge. They’re smart enough to turn off when the battery is fully charged.
I had a NiteRider light that used a “dumb” charger. I had it charging overnight. The home power went out overnight then came back on. The charger reset and ended up overcharging the battery. The battery was ruined. The “dumb” charger fried the battery. A smart charger would not have fried the battery.
If you’re getting a $120+ light system, splurge the extra $30 or so for the smart charger. The reliability and convenience of the smart charger is very worth it. Consider the extra cost of the smart charger as insurance for the battery pack.
