Review of Cygolite Night Rover Xtra 16W NiMH Dual Beam Bike Light

Cygolite Night Rover Xtra 16W NiMH Dual Beam Bike Light
By: Cygo Lite
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Bargain price for a light that won't let you down

On: 2008-02-14

I bought my Cygolite Night Rover light over at REI for $75.

This bike light feels more like a motorcycle headlight... its so bright! It has a both a directed and a wide beam which lights up more of whats in front of you. Its enough to ride on a trail in complete darkness, but you might wish you also had a helmet light for turns.

As far as helping you be seen while on the road, the light is so bright that not only will drivers notice you from much farther away, but you have to be careful not to blind them with the light.

There are two problems that this light has, but in my opinion the low price makes up for these small imperfections. The battery only lasts two hours on the high setting, and it can overheat if you leave it on while not riding (theres a warning that comes with the light).

I've had this over 6 years.

On: 2008-01-11

It has served me well for road and moderate off-road riding. Of course my old one came out before NiMH batteries, so it has the larger, heavy Ni-Cad water bottle battery. The new ones battery is about half the size and much lighter. My battery still lasts close to 2 hours on low beam, high beam lasts nearly half as long, and both beams, I just dont use both beams any more because of the short run time. This still isnt bad considering how old and used the battery is. I contacted Cygo-Lite about replacing the battery with a NiMH (the Ni-Cad is no longer available) and found the cable connecters are compatible and I can even use my original charger. The problem is, the new battery plus shipping would cost nearly as much as buying a whole new system from Amazon! So, maybe Ill do that when this one dies. Speaking of that, it looks like the battery will be the first to eventually go; the cables and connecters are still good, the light housing is still like new, even the bulbs are still original (I keep expecting one to burn out, but it hasnt happened yet). One feature I like that is hard to find on other brands and even on other Cygos is the low beam and high beam are at slightly different angles. So, the low wide angle beam will shine fairly close to the front of the bike and, when needed, the spot angle brighter high beam will shine further down the road or path, allowing higher speed. I dont use the high beam much, to preserve battery power and keep drivers from flashing their high-beams at me, and the low beam is sufficiant for most riding. One improvement I would like to see is larger switches to make it easier to operate the lights when wearing gloves. Other than that, theres not much else to find fault with. With the new battery that is now included, and larger switches, I would give it 5 stars!

Brilliant

On: 2007-01-10

5 years of no charge and it carries about 2hrs on high--no problem. They comment on their bat. and its great. My vista bat. are stone dead (after 5 y of no charge)

OK product

On: 2006-12-14

I use this product to commute to work everyday and it works ok. I really expected more, but it is just ok. The main problem that I have is that the power does not last very long- about 1 1/2 hours.