Comments on: Night Riding: The Light(er) Side

By: Nathan

Nathan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:00:17 +0000

Nice. Like I said, shadows are king at night so a nice big spread is the way to go on the bars, the helmet is really just to fill in the blanks.

Let me know when you start making venison jerky, that’s the stuff that dreams are made of.

By: robert

robert — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:16:42 +0000

follow up: swapped the lights – HID on the bars, PT on the helmet… much better. the HID is really a much nicer light pattern. but the long beam on the helmet is great for spotlighting the white-tails and takin’ the kill.

IF ITS BROWN, ITS DOWN.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:01:43 +0000

The princeton tec lights are going through a re-vamp with brighter LEDs right now, so I know a lot of people who are picking them up for pretty screamin’ deals.

Definitely try it switched up with the flood on the bars and the LED spot with the nice long beam throw on the helmet. Just a personal preference, but definitely the way I like to run it if I’ve got two slightly mismatched lights.

That’s definitely interesting about the quick-lock vs press fit connection, because I’ve never really had any issues with the PT connection, but my niterider got to the point that I would have to make a sacrifice to the gods of night riding, say an incantation, and then carefully massage the conector for about 5 minutes before I would get it to actually make contact, and even then, it would rattle loose almost every ride. Then again, I used that connector for several years non-stop.

I really hope princeton tec gets some slightly brighter LEDs and changes their reflectors a bit on the next generation to throw a bit wider beam.

Even better, they should read this post and then send me a set of new reflectors for my SB3 so that it throws a wider beam……

By: robert

robert — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:32:34 +0000

So I just got a screaming deal on a PrincetonTec Switchback 3… used it for the first time last night, mounted on the h-bars with my old NiteRider Firestorm (HID) on the helmet. The PrincetonTec’s seem to get a bad rap from a lot of people in terms of quality, so I was dubious, but bought it anyway b/c i got it so cheap.

The LEDs are definitely not as bright as the HID, and the beam pattern is narrow… however, it does throw a super long beam. Used as a supplement to the HID on the helmet, it was more than enough light. When I shut off the HID, the LED on the bars was not quite enough. especially when used in the super tight twisty stuff in the Mid-Atlantic. A wider beam pattern would help.

Also, the lighting connections on the PT all use this quick lock mechanism. I had it come loose once. definitely not as sturdy as the press-fit connections on the NR… Long term, we’ll see how this thing holds up.

Like i said, a nice supplement to the HID, but if i were to only use one, i’d stick with the HID on the helmet.

Also, i will probably try swapping the two at some point – HID on bars, LED on helmet… will report back then.

By: HID Light

HID Light — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:40:38 +0000

Nice post.Thanks for sharing.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:15:26 +0000

Rhino – Now that you mention the battery thing, I remember hearing that from somebody else as well. That’s too bad they’re not compatible. That’s definitely somewhere that Light & Motion has got it figured out. For the most part, all of their batteries are universally compatible across their previous lights and their current ones.

Brice – I hear ya, I haven’t even pulled out my old halogen (with custom-made 6-hour run-time battery pack) since I got my LEDs, just not worth it at all. LEDs are the future, and the future is now….. or something like that.