Garfield Cat

The headlight series Ranger comes in 1200 and 1400 lumens. Then there's the tail light series Hypershot comes in 250 and 350.

https://cygolite.com/product/

Koyote

My brightest tail lights don’t put out anywhere near that much light… And they are plenty bright. I Wonder if 250 lm or 350 lm might be overkill - blinding for motorists.

The real advantage of such high output lights is the ability to set them to a lower setting and get long run times.

noglider 

Those headlights look excellent. When are they going to make lights with German style beams? That's the only thing I wish for from Cygolite.

I don't know how bright my Cygolite Hotshot SL is. It might be 50 lumens. I don't know what it looks like from a car. I guess I should have someone ride my bike while I drive a car in the rain at night. My wife has ridden behind me and finds my light to be much too bright, in any mode. But there might be situations where having 200 lumens on the back is a good thing.

unterhausen

all of cygolite's headlights have a fresnel lens, which does have a very good cutoff. Sometimes I forget that and it surprises me.

bpcyclist

My hotshot 150 is probably too bright as it is. I cannot even imagine how unhappy the drivers behind a 350-lumen taillight are going to be...

znomit

My hotshot 150 and 200(pro) are crazy bright for night riding. Good to see they added a dimming function for one of the flash modes.

mrv 

Howdy - anyone know of a way to find out what kind of lithium batteries CYGOLITE is using?
I have a METRO 350 (I think). I've had it for a few years. Works great. Of the 3~4 headlights I have, this is the only one that turns on when I plug in an external battery - in other words when it's cold and the internal battery is only going to last about 20~30 minutes, I can plug in a 10,000 mAh external battery and night-ride for a couple hours.
My SERFAS lights are just not really that good. I am not going to buy another one. The batteries just don't seem to have much longevity to them.

I'm interested in a brighter light, and keep my 350 as a back up. I do a bit of dirt road riding in the winter and spotting pot holes well in advance is nice on speedy downhills.....
also - any comments regarding CATEYE lights would be interesting to me. I do not have any but they've been around forever.
ciao.

bpcyclist

It's possible you have the Metro 360, which uses a Li Ion battery. Not sure if that is exactly what you were asking. I do not know the battery mfr., if that is what you meant.

Well, as I've said before, I use two Cygolites (Metro Pro 1100 on helmet, Trion 1300 on bars) and like them both, but they are certainly not StVZO lights, that is for sure. That said, Santa Claus has decided to bring me the Outbound Lighting Road Edition headlight. I am very excited, despite the fact that it is much more expensive than the German alternative. The Ixon Space looks like a terrific light, but I keep hearing negative things about the mount and the last thing I need is mount issues. I have owned lights with lousy mounts and I am done with that.

Not sure what I am going to do now with this what is likely to be much more effective headlight in the arsenal. I do really feel like having a helmet light adds to my safety, so will probably keep that. But if the Outbound is as good as it appears to be, the other two lights may hit the shelf for the time being. More to follow...

a1penguin

Bright rear blinky lights are good for daytime riding.

unterhausen

daytime is why I might be interested in these lights. I think even some of the lesser Hotshots are too bright on full power at night

Koyote

That's how I use mine, since I don't ride at night. But I still think that these might cross the line from 'getting attention' to 'blinding motorists.' Though I would happily use one of these lights in steady beam mode on a medium intensity setting.

jadocs

I used to think the same thing until I actually tested it in the daylight, under the sun, outside, at distance. Drivers sit up higher than where your light is mounted and cyclists are also off to the side of the road.

People often come up with crazy theories based on their observation in very close proximity, direct line of sight and often time indoors to boot.

Koyote

I guess it's easier to assume things than to simply ask a person about his or her experience.

unterhausen

driver's vision is adapted to the dark at night. That's when a light can be too bright. A friend has one of the extremely bright Dinotte taillights, and it's noticeable in daylight, but hardly blinding or even painful to look at. I have problems with bright lights and I can sit right behind him without issue. I you are riding in fast traffic on a bright day, I'd rather have that light than one that is comfortable to look at in the dark.

bpcyclist

Some of the Dinotte headlights (the XML6 is a reported 3200 lumens output) are just way too bright to use in any kind of human-inhabited environment, in my opinion. I have a 1300-lumen Cygolite headlight that I have to basically aim down at the ground in order not to blind others and make people very angry. I've had cars flash their brights on multiple occasions, before I just gave up and started aiming it pretty much straight down. This of course, makes it far less helpful, since there ends up being no throw. This is what got me interested in the German approach and I will be receiving from Santa Claus a nice, new Outbound Lighting Road Edition headlight soon. It has the best beam pattern I have personally seen, better even than the very good Ixon Space (just my take). If you haven't looked at a headlight with a good cutoff, you might just do some googling or go to the Outbound site--they have a nice video where you can compare cutoff and non-cutoff lights.

That said, I still cannot imagine using more than about 200 lumens on a taillight. My Hotshot 150 is probably borderline too bright as it is. I would never get something brighter because I think that will do much more harm than good.

Miele Man

I was going to get either the CygoLite Centauri or Trident because I liked the service I got with my Rover II, wanted to continue with CygoLite, figured that the 1700 or 1300 lumens would give me a longer run time with a lower setting, and I wanted an external battery pack I could keep under mt jacket during really cold winter rides. No according to the page in the OP those lights are no longer made. Bummer that.

Cheers

bpcyclist

Yep--it seems like they are going the way of the more compact, single-LED source for some reason. Must have done some kind of market research that sent them that way...

Miele Man

I don't know the why of but I did get an email from Cygolite stating that both the Centauri and Trident are kaput. I sent a reply asking if they have any external battery pack lights.

I looked a few other lights online but see that most of them are USB charged and don't even come with an external wall plug battery charger. I wonder how does one charge such a light if one doesn't have access to a USB port?

Edit. I see another reply from Cygolite. They said that they've gone away from external battery packs for reasons of compactness and lightness. I say, Pity that.

Cheers

bpcyclist

Yeah, amen to that, Miele Man. Very thankful that I take good care of my stuff and I still have a well-functioning Trion 1300 with its robust wall charger. That light blows my more compact Metro Pro 1100 (USB charging) completely out of the water in terms of performance.

My Christmas Gift to me from Sandy Claws is the Outbound Lighting Road Edition. Comes with wall charger, battery back and carrier, and the rather large and ample lamp itself. It's spendy at $215, but I tell you, to me, right now, if you are looking at a powerful light with a nice cutoff so you don't have to aim it down at the ground in order not to pi** people off, this this is about as good as it currently gets. You might want to look into it. Well reviewed. Made by an auto light designer in Chicago.

Miele Man

Would you provide a link to that light?

Thanks

bpcyclist

Here you are! https://www.outboundlighting.com/pro...-road-edition/

Miele Man

Thanks.

noglider 

I saw these somewhere else, maybe facebook. They look darned good.

srode1

If the new higher power lights like their 1200 and 1400 will run while an external battery pack is plugged into the USB charging port, they would be of interest to me. I have a 1300 trident that uses their proprietary connection battery which is fairly expensive. Having less than 4 or more hours of run time on high is useless to me.