Cygolite Expilion 750 USB Bicycle Headlight

PLEASE READ MY UPDATE BELOW AS WELL!!!I'm all about see and be seen. I run my lights even during the day. Needless to say, I've been toying with buying this light for a couple of months. When the price dropped to $89.00, I jumped at it. Mind you, I've owned an Expillion 250 for almost two years and I am extremely happy with it; have had no problems with it, except ripping out the USB cover once when it was new. I learned really quick that you peel it like a decal and twist it up, or down, to insert the cable. Be that as it may, I wanted a brighter light for my night training rides, because many South Florida drivers are painfully oblivious of cyclists and lack the ability to judge speed without a speedometer, and think they can either speed up to turn into a parking lot, or wait to the last minute to pull out of one, before you get there. When you average a speed of 22 mph that's just not the case.At any rate, my light arrived yesterday (5/9/13). I was expecting the light to be almost three times brighter than my 250 and quickly realized it's not the case. See, the Expillion 250 has a narrower beam and concentrates the 250 lumens (on the high setting) on a spot that, at a distance of 30 feet, equals about 1/2 to 3/4 the width of a street lane. The Expillion 700 has a wider "hot spot" surrounded by a dimmer flood, which arguably would light up a larger patch of road. However, on "boost" mode, the Expillion 700 is only about 100 or so lumens brighter than the Expillion 250 on high mode. And the 250's run time on high is 3 hrs., vs 1.5 on the 700 on boost.In all fairness, since the light only arrived yesterday, I'm going to wait until I do a night training ride, down the same dark stretch of road where I tested my 250, and see how the 700 performs. I think, however, that even if the overall performance is only half better than the 250, I might just keep it and carry the 250 on my jersey pocket as a back up (I also don't like carrying any lighting on my helmet). I already run both a Serfas TL60 and a Serfas seatstay tail lights, and take a Serfas TL411 tail light as back up. Better to have them and not need them, than need them and not have them.I'll post an update once I've tested the 700 on a ride. Until then, it gets 4 stars from me.Cheers!!*********************** UPDATE *******************************9:30 p.m. EDT and I just finished testing the Expillion 700 on a night ride through one of the darkest, most transited, divided, four lane state roads in my area of Palm Beach County. Took my Expillion 250 along for comparison and I'm happy to report that the Expillion 700 is, overall, a brighter light source. When riding through the streets in my neighborhood, I noticed that the 700 lights up the entire width of a two way road. Yes, the 250's "hot spot" is almost as bright on high as the 700's hot spot on boost, but it goes without saying that having the whole street illuminated is far better than 1/2 - 3/4 of a lane. And better yet, when I only paid $5.00 more for the 700 than I did for the 250, the whole thing becomes elementary.So I'm upgrading the rating I gave it from 4 to 5 and emailing Ed, at Cygolite, telling him I'm not returning the 700.Cheers!!!********************ADDITIONAL UPDATE************************10.29.13 - Did a quick 15 mile ride this morning and got home just as my wife had finished pulling out of the driveway. It was still dark out and I had my 700 on steady pulse, as I keep it on all night training rides on well lit roads (steady pulse is the same brightness as steady medium). My wife tells me, "you almost blinded me with that light." Enough said.

I have been very pleased after three months of almost daily winter commuting in the Northeast. I have had difficulties in the past with cheaper lights in which battery replacement was difficult, or for which the attachment to the bar was poor. This product is generally well made. The light is bright, and works well when paired with a helmet light for maximum visibility. In dark stretches the bright setting lights up the road well. At dusk and in the city, the flashing mode is very good--it catches the eye of drivers and pedestrians. My commute is about 45 minutes each way in the morning and evening and I charge it after each evening ride. Battery life has not been an issue, even if I have forgotten to charge. When this happens, I charge at work using a USB port. Regardless of which light you buy, I would strongly advise getting a dedicated rechargeable unit, rather than using rechargeable AA or disposable batteries. The ease of merely plugging in the unit rather than removing batteries makes the extra price well worth it. The attachment coupler to the bar handle is very well designed. This is an area of weakness with other lights.There are two reasons I have not given this 5 stars.1)As others have noted, the cover over the charging port is a soft, clear rubber stopper. With care it can be made to stay in the port during a ride, but it easily pops out. It is also attached to the light by the thinnest of tethers. I know one day soon this will break off, at which point I will probably need to cover the port with duct tape during rainy days.2)The other concern I have is the release latch to get the light off the bar. It is of thin plastic. So far it has worked well, but I can tell that after a while in the sun it will get brittle and will likely snap on a cold morning. In fairness, this has not yet occurred and this is a weakness I have seen in ALL handlebar lights. Engineering a way to keep the light on the bike over bumps while making it easily removable is a challenge, and this light has probably done the best job of tackling the dilemma I have see so far.ONE YEAR UPDATEThe charge cover has NOT come off and the handlebar latch has held up well. The light remains snug and has never come off even with big bumps and hopping curbs. The battery life has not attenuated and the light is bright after what I estimate at about 70-100 charge cycles. I also don't necessarily charge after each ride cycle anymore. I sometimes go two or three commuting cycles (~3-5 hrs run time) before charging. On this basis I have changed my rating from 4 to 5 stars.

I bought this light to replace a Niterider MiNewt 600 that I had mislaid. I've since found the Niterider but I have to say this light is superior in several ways. Last week I had the opportunity to do a night ride (it finally dropped below 80F at 7pm) and compare them literally side by side.- The Cygolite is noticably smaller than the Niterider.- The Cygolite has a FAR superior mount. It's nothing special but the Niterider mount is a complete disaster.- The Cygolite has a toolfree swappable battery. Spare batteries sell on Amazon for ~$35.- The Cygolite was 20% cheaper than the Niterider.- At the low setting the Cygolite is slightly brighter but they were identical at the highest setting.- They have similar beam patterns. Perfectly round with a slight brightning in the center.- The Niterider charging port is slightly more secure than the Cygolite.- The Niterider flash mode makes more sense to me than the Cygolite. The Niterider simply flashes on and off and is great at dawn and dusk. The Cygolite pulses between low and high brightness. Very annoying once it's dark. Pointless when it isn't.- The Cygolite is easier to use because it cycles through all the different settings rather than the Niterider which makes you remember that to reach flash mode you have to hold the switch down for two seconds then click once more. I can't remember that stuff at 3am.- Cygolite is made in America - So is Niterider - Yeah!Riding with my Lumotec, Niterider, and Cygolite all going full blast is like riding a motorbike (minus the engine). I can see the fog line more than 100 yards ahead and street signs are visible over a 1/4 mile ahead.