Nachoman

I've always heard and understood that DiNotte has the best and brightest rear light. But does the new the Cygolite Hypershot 350 now claim that title?
For what it's worth, the DiNotte Quad Red is listed as 200 lumens, while the Hypershot is listed as 350 lumens.
For group rides, I was banned from using my old DiNotte (I think it was the 190L). My posse said it was offensively bright. So I gave it away to my son.
But for my solo rides, the brighter the better. So I'm considering both.
.
https://cygolite.com/product/hypershot-350-usb/
https://store.dinottelighting.com/20...ight-p177.aspx

scubaman

Hmmm, maybe! Dinotte says its 2020 "Quad RED replaces the DiNotte 300R and 400R...The Quad RED is as bright as the 400R lights and significantly brighter than the older 300R, the older 140R lights and the Quad RED lights manufactured before 2017." In turn, they say their 400R - I think no longer a current offering - was rated at 300 lumens, while their "daytime red" - ditto - was 400+ lumens.

If the Cygolite Hypershot 350 is similarly bright, yay! It's certainly more affordable. And it looks like the Cygolite uses a "hard seatpost mount", which I hope makes it more likely to stay pointed in the right direction. Dinotte has always had good mounts, whereas many/most other rear lights don't.

I remain a dedicated Dinotte customer. As others have also reported, drivers - including cops - comment regularly to thank me for using my Dinotte rear lights. And they're MUSA, and repairable/rebuildable.

adamrice 

I've got the Hypershot 350. I've never seen a DiNotte, so I can't compare. It is certainly bright. The controls are annoying: you've got one button that controls power and blink mode, and another that controls blink frequency: this gives you a ridiculous number of permutations. I think three modes would suffice: steady-on, seizure, and polite. Perhaps with intensity settings instead of frequency.

The mount is very similar to a Planet Bike Superflash (might be compatible, now that I think about it): the light housing has a clip that you could hook onto your jersey, and which fits into a slide-on bracket.

For my commuter, I use a Light & Motion Vya Pro taillight, which has exactly one mode. It's a great light, but its battery life is about 5 hours, and my long weekend rides exceed that.

Bassmanbob

I love my Dinotte Quad Red and don't go on a ride without it. I'm not familiar with the Crygolite

adamrice 

One other thing I'll mention about the Hypershot (which is true for a lot of lights): the lenses really concentrate the light when viewed directly on-axis, and brightness falls off very quickly off-axis (if you look carefully at the photos online, you can see vertical grooves in the lenses—I believe that's what does it). I don't know how much of a consideration that is. Looks like the DiNotte lights do not use this kind of lensing.

Koyote

Looks like you could buy three of the Cygolite Hypershot 350 lights for price of a single Dinotte Quad Red.

mrv 

Does the Cygolite hyper shot turn on while charging?
I don’t tour or commute enough to justify a dyno hub.
but I want to upgrade to USB chargeable lights that work while charging.
I've settled on a Light Motion pro vis 1000 for a front light.
I’ve read the hyper shot will also.
if anyone can confirm I’d appreciate it.

gios

I'm wondering which of the two has the higher mAh battery.

Koyote

Most rechargeable lights will not run while being charged.

That info is tough to find, even though it would be pretty useful. You can sort of estimate it (or compare it) by looking at lumens and run times.

Clyde1820

Have a couple of the new HyperShot 350's myself. They do have one button to flip modes (steady, pulse, flicker, etc). On steady mode, at least, the other button can be used to alter the intensity (brightest --> dimmest). On the flashing modes, that other button can alter the speed of the pulse/flash. You might find that on such rides with others that dimming the steady mode will work, but you can always adjust to a brighter mode or flashing/pulsing mode when you're solo.

Nice lights. In the "right" mode and intensity, they don't need to be overpowering all the time.

adamrice 

It uses the lights to indicate charge state (charging/fully charged). You can't use it as a normal light while charging, AFAICT. Depending on the mode it's in, you can get very long runtime out of it. More than a long day's ride.

Clyde1820

Just checked it (the HyperShot 350).

Powered-on, I set it to the mode I want. Then, plugged into USB for charging. Stays in the in-use mode I had selected. I can then power-off the light, in which case it reverts to the charging-up light pattern (dim, to indicate whether charging or charged). I can also power-up the light, in which case I get to select a mode and continue on.

Uncertain whether it's gaining or losing charge, when on but being charged via USB, but I'd assume it's continuing to charge, even if not quite keeping up with the in-use power draw. Probably need to get CygoLite to answer that one. It'd be nice if the charging were so aggressive that it could ultimately top-off the charge even if in a fairly bright lighting mode on a ride.

Koyote

I'd bet that it's not charging when it's plugged-in but the light is running.

Since you've got one, can you give me a bit of input? I'm thinking about buying the Hotshot 350, and using it on a dimmer setting to get a loooong runtime. I'm tired of my Cygolite 150lm light running out on long rides when set to steady, so I figure a more powerful light may give the same brightness for a longer time. I know Cygolite has runtimes at their website, but I've learned to not trust those. Have you got an opinion, since you've got one of these lights?

mrv 

Thank you so much!
I had read on bike stack exchange maybe that it would turn on while being charged. But the post was old ish.
Cygolite does not say one way or another on the website.
I have a really old Cygolite Metro 360 that will shine while plugged into my 10Ah pack via USB.
Light & Motion offers external charging while in use on a few front but not tail lights.

I’m after a little insurance for those long touring days that go wrong. And I don’t get to stop when planned. Those are the best treks!
thanks again!

mrv 

? what’s “AFAICT”?
I’m not familiar with that acronym.

unterhausen

as far as I can tell, it stands for "as far as I can tell"

mrv