PB Alias or Cygolite Metro/Rover



J

Joshua Senecal

Guest
Hi All,

I recently picked up a used Trek 1200 and am looking to outfit it with a
light so I cam commute to work. After looking at all the options out
there (and in this newsgroup archive) I think I'm going to have to bite
the bullet and spend a little more money on something better than an LED
light--I like the size and battery life, but all the LED lights that
I've seen just aren't that bright and I need to see the road in front of
me.

Right now I'm considering either the PlanetBike Alias (Handlebar mount)
or the Cygolite Metro/Rover.

Will someone please share their opinions on these two lights: strengths,
weaknesses, ease of use/mounting/removal, cost/ease of getting
replacement parts, etc? How do they compare to each other?

Or is there anything else I should consider other than these two lights?
The roads I ride are generally adequately lit, but it gets dark between
the streetlights, and the roads and bike lanes are not always clear of
debris.

From the specs I like the look of both lights. The Alias seems like it
will be plenty bright and easy to mount on my handlebars, but I don't
like the battery (or the $99 replacement cost--cheaper to buy a whole
new system at Nashbar). The Metro/Rover light seems to be fine too, but
I'm concerned that it'll be more of a bear to mount on my
handlebars--it's wider than the Alias, and I don't have that much room.
Also, it looks like it'll be more of a chore to mount it and remove it
(and mount it and remove it and....)

Any advice?

Thanks!

-Josh Senecal

If you reply by e-mail remove the spam breaker from my e-mail address.
 
I have a Cygolight NightRover I picked up from Performancebike about a month
ago.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=17645&subcategory_ID=4320
It was $70, less a 20% coupon, less 10% for the performance club.

I've been using it for ~22 mile commutes home at night. For that it seems
good.

It has two 6 W bulbs, one flood, and one spot. I usually just run just the
spot beam.
But having the other makes a good backup if a bulb burns out. It doesn't
help if
you forget to charge the batthey before riding (did that once).

On a full charge, with one bulb, it easily does my 1.5 hour ride....

Both the battery pack (half bottle size) and light unit are very light. I
have the
light on one of those handlebar extenders, and it doesn't vibrate
noticeably.
The extender lets me get my computer and light in the space of just the
computer
plus gets the light up above/past the shift/brake cables.

Adjusting/removing is easy. The mount is a thumbscrew, so you don't need any
tools.

When my buddy with his $400 HID light rides with me, he does tend to drown
it out,
but its plenty bright for my riding. It's much better than the old 2W, 4AA
light I had before.

-Kent-

"Joshua Senecal" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi All,
>
> I recently picked up a used Trek 1200 and am looking to outfit it with a
> light so I cam commute to work. After looking at all the options out
> there (and in this newsgroup archive) I think I'm going to have to bite
> the bullet and spend a little more money on something better than an LED
> light--I like the size and battery life, but all the LED lights that
> I've seen just aren't that bright and I need to see the road in front of
> me.
>
> Right now I'm considering either the PlanetBike Alias (Handlebar mount)
> or the Cygolite Metro/Rover.
>
> Will someone please share their opinions on these two lights: strengths,
> weaknesses, ease of use/mounting/removal, cost/ease of getting
> replacement parts, etc? How do they compare to each other?
>
> Or is there anything else I should consider other than these two lights?
> The roads I ride are generally adequately lit, but it gets dark between
> the streetlights, and the roads and bike lanes are not always clear of
> debris.
>
> From the specs I like the look of both lights. The Alias seems like it
> will be plenty bright and easy to mount on my handlebars, but I don't
> like the battery (or the $99 replacement cost--cheaper to buy a whole
> new system at Nashbar). The Metro/Rover light seems to be fine too, but
> I'm concerned that it'll be more of a bear to mount on my
> handlebars--it's wider than the Alias, and I don't have that much room.
> Also, it looks like it'll be more of a chore to mount it and remove it
> (and mount it and remove it and....)
>
> Any advice?
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Josh Senecal
>
> If you reply by e-mail remove the spam breaker from my e-mail address.