Submitted by
Grant M
a Cross Country Rider
from Saskatoon, Canada Date Reviewed: November 17, 2009
Favorite Trail:
G1/G2 - Saskatoon, Crank it Up - Whistler
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$125.00
Purchased At:
MEC Winnipeg
Strengths:
Very bright, long beam. Doesn't get hot. Lasts a long time on full brightness - I let it burn inside and it went for about 4 hours on high. Low setting is good for city riding, high beam is great on the trails. Came with helmet and handlebar mounts - I use the helmet mount.
Weaknesses:
White light from LED can wash out colours you need to see on the trail, like the difference between sand and hardpack.
Similar Products Used:
Cat Eye, Planet Bike handle bar lights
Bike Setup:
2008 Trek Fuel EX8
Bottom Line:
Got the light on a closeout sale, so I'm really please with the value. Ride mostly on single track, so focussed beam is perfect. I think this is a great light.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Simon
a Cross Country Rider
from Melbourne Australia Date Reviewed: November 26, 2007
Favorite Trail:
hoggs back NZ
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$200.00
Purchased At:
MSC
Strengths:
helmet mount, small pocket battery, strong narrow beam when it works, not much else given the problems I have had with it
Weaknesses:
hyper sensitive switch, over tight connectors to the charger and battery that are 'solid state' so can't be repaired if the cable breaks, which mine did though I was extra careful not to separate the connectors by pulling on the cable. Totally bad customer service (they used to be really good) limited six month warranty (there are plenty of equivalent products on the market now that give life time warranties), way to many modes to be useful, and a switch that must have some kind of a chip in it that keeps breaking. In spite of having to send this back (first while it was still under warranty) for repair, it still wasn't fixed properly and now they refuse to fix it because it it out of the six months. Nite Hawk wasn't like this in the past. Clearly they have gone down the toilet with their customer service and now with this badly designed light. For the price I expect a lot better than this. You can get a lot better for you money elsewhere.
Similar Products Used:
Various Nite Rider, Cateye, Nite Hawk, LED based systems.
Bike Setup:
Various. Kona, Rocky Mountain, Trek.
Bottom Line:
Don't waste your money. If you do, don't expect any service.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
James
a Weekend Warrior
from Nelson B.C. Canada Date Reviewed: November 10, 2007
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$175.00
Purchased At:
Mountain equipment coop
Strengths:
Long bright pencil beam, light stays on when riding, battery retains charge for hours.
Weaknesses:
Mounting brackets cheesey. Switch needs a delicate touch for it to function.
Similar Products Used:
Niterider digital evolution.
Bike Setup:
Santa Cruz Heckler, Shimano XT, Manitou firefly, 5th element.
Bottom Line:
This light really compliments the Niterider. It has a long distance beam like the high beams on your car and the niterider has a flood light pattern for close wide veiwing. I have the Nighthawk mounted on my helmet and the Niterider on the handlebars. I bought this light because my Nightrider is so unreliable and seems to have a shutdown mode of it's own.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Jeff
a
from Palo Alto, CA, USA Date Reviewed: November 3, 2007
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$129.00
Purchased At:
Nashbar
Strengths:
Bright said to be equivalent to a 20W incandescent.
Weaknesses:
The worst designed product I've ever come across. 11 modes set through one on/off switch including 'ambience' mode where the light flickers like a candle. Who would want a bike light that flickers like a candle?
Similar Products Used:
Wide variety of $100 or less lights
Bike Setup:
year around commuter
Bottom Line:
The most unnecessarily complex product imaginable. If you didn't read the manual you could never possibly figure it out. And even having read the manual I continued to get into modes I could not escape from, except by unplugging it.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Gary
a Cross Country Rider
from Louisville, CO, USA Date Reviewed: October 5, 2007
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$159.00
Purchased At:
Performance
Strengths:
Smart Charger Independently controlled lightheads with standard and flash modes (think redundancy) 2 lightheads allow lots of options for forming a beam (although both are spots) Easy to use handlebar mounts with quick release of lights leaving mounts on bars Decent battery life (2.2 hours @ 100%,5.6 hours @ 50%, 10.8 hours@25%) Programmable for different battery pack types
Weaknesses:
Two spot beams No helmet mount Retail price too high
Bottom Line:
I bought these lights for commuting/bike path/light trail use. Trail use consists of some technical singletrack, doubletrack/fireroads and well groomed double wide trails. The lumen output from each light is probably in the neighborhood of 120-140 lumens for a combine total of about 240-280.
The beauty of these lights is their versatility and redundancy. Each lighthead has its own set of electronics which means that if one fails, you have a backup. Each lighthead can be controlled independently so you could have one flash for visibility in traffic and have the other one be a constant beam. There is only one battery pack so if the connection there failed you would be SOL(I had this happen once, didn’t have connector fully connected…my fault).
I havent commuted with these yet, but think this would be a great commuter light.
These are great on bike paths. I usually run these at 25-50% and the light is more than adequate. If I come up on pedestrians, I usually turn 1 off so I don’t blind them.
For trail use, I typically run the lights at 100%. I consider these to max out about 15-20mph and this would be on a pretty smooth straight trail. The beam is really a little narrow for your only light in tight singletrack(its doable if you go slow enough). I get around this by using a helmet light (nighthawk emitter AL).
I do love the versatility of the two lightheads. I usually setup the beams side by side with a little light gap in the middle and use the helmet mounted light to fill that in. For higher speed less technical areas, I setup the beams so one is in front of the other. That being said, these would be a lot better if one was more of a flood. I don’t feel there is enough light right in front of the bike, Many of the trails I ride are rocky and have many ruts trying to catch your tire. It seems I loose a lot of trail detail for areas 0-15 feet from the light.
Overall rating, 4 chilis (5 for a versatile and redundant lightest, -1 for not having 1 light be a flood).
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Rob
a Cross Country Rider
from Columbia, Md. Date Reviewed: September 3, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Patapsco Avalon
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$170.00
Purchased At:
Nashbar
Strengths:
Helmet mount works very well as does the NiMH battery and smart charger. Lamp has 3 light levels plus additional strobe settings. Set includes bar and helmet mounts. Low settings can provide long run times which could be useful for endurance events, caving or low-speed commuting.
Weaknesses:
The amount of light produced is only suitable for low-speed mountain biking. The brightest setting is equivalent to a 6 watt halogen spot (IMO) If you want to use this lamp for high speed technical riding you can forget about it.
Similar Products Used:
Halogen Light setups from Niterider, Marwi and Jett lites (some over-volted ). I also own a DiNotte 200L and various high powered LED Flashlights.
Bike Setup:
Trek 9800 OCLV, Kona Kikapu Deluxe F/S
Bottom Line:
The box the light comes in has a sticker on it that states that the lamp output is 740 lumens with the equivalent output of a 20 watt halogen, HOWEVER, NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. I own several LED flashlights with more throw/lumen output. I bought this light because of a good review on another web site. I will not make that mistake again. I used the light only helmet mounted and in tandem with the DiNotte 200L (bar mounted). The beam provided by the K-2 was only useful to 30-35ft. Beyond that range objects were not able to be clearly defined. If I had gotten near the resolution I get with my 12 watt Jett lite I would of given the K-2 an outstanding review. I did like how the button on the lamp-head worked. The beam pattern would of worked very nicely if the lamp had been bright enough. If Nitehawk finds a way to pump the output of this lamp into the 300 lumen range, this would make a great helmet lamp. I'll probably never buy another product from Nitehawk because I don't like BS claims of 740 lumen/20watt equivalent output. Hell, HID is around 500 lumen...what were they thinking? Warning, be very wary of product review web sites where the comments aren't done by consumers (even if they show beam photos ). I'll be packing this back up to return to Nashbar ASAP!
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Dave Wright
a Weekend Warrior
from Greenville Date Reviewed: January 24, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Paris Mountain State Park area
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$170.00
Purchased At:
Nashbar
Strengths:
Lightweight and the right mix of spot/flood for helmet use. Probably a durable light, though only time will tell. More efficient than incandescent, and there is no bulb to burn out. Dimming and flashing options make this light much more flexible than HID or incandescent. Reasonable price.
Weaknesses:
Beam too tight for solo bar mounted use except familiar roadwork without a lot of tight turns. Bar mounting clamp can loosen during hard bumpy offroad use unless really cranked down. Ribbed disks that keep the light from rotating unexpectedly happen (on my sample) to not be parallel to the beam centerline, which prevents the light from pointing straight down the road. I solved this last problem by placing a washer between the ribbed disks to allow placement of the light head at any rotational position.
Similar Products Used:
None. All my previous lights were for being seen instead of seeing.
Bike Setup:
'00 Marin Eldridge Grade, converted to SS. Cross country riding with some roadwork getting to trailheads.
Bottom Line:
This light appears to be Nite Hawk's attempt to raise their game. They have generally succceeded.
I gave this light 5 chilis for value because of its tremendous flexibility and reasonable price. Burn it on high when in truly dark settings to get a good look down the road or path. Change to flashing modes to become highly visible when riding to the trailhead in mixed light. Step it down to the 5% or 10% settings when changing a flat. This would be a pretty good caving light, which is what I’ll be doing with it this weekend.
The overall rating is a tougher call. As a straight up helmet mounted light used alone, or paired with a moderate output bar mounted flood, it deserves 5 chilis. I would happily ride any road at any speed with the K2 on my helmet and no other light. Once in the woods I recommend sticking to known trails, and even then be ready to go a little slower than normal through difficult sections. As a solo bar mounted light the K2 gets only 2 or 3 chilis due to the beam’s tightness. Fabrication and detailing could be improved, though they are good for the price point.
A few additional minor points might be worth mentioning. The light does not have a battery meter, but that’s not really a problem because runtime is long, the battery does not have to be fully discharged to avoid short cycling, and staged shutdown at the end of battery life reduces the risk of being stranded in the dark. The optic showed less than pristine assembly and handling. I covered the optic with a disk of palmtop protector plastic to prevent damage to the vulnerable front surface. This very slightly reduces and spreads the output, which is actually a good thing.
An efficiency note: The K2 emitter is more efficient than earlier Lumileds Luxeon LEDs. It probably puts out about 30 lumens per watt, which is better but still short of HID efficiency. The light is probably getting about 4 watts input, so the total lumen outlet is 120ish. Nite Hawk says 720 lumens on the package, but that’s a reference to brightness after being directed by the optic. People who don’t mind waiting a bit will be rewarded with the arrival of Cree emitters in the bike light market. These are almost twice as efficient, finally becoming comparable to HID, though implementation will require multiple emitters to match the total output of a single HID bulb. The reliability, flexibility, and elegant shutdown characteristics of these lights will drive HID out of the bike light market. Mark my words, though it will take some time.
I use this light to best advantage (helmet mounted on road and known trails), am happy with it, and recommend it to other riders whose needs are similar to mine. A small and lightweight bar mounted flood would go very well with the Nite Hawk K2 on your helmet - extending the light's range to cover somewhat rougher/faster conditions and unfamiliar trails. The further end of that spectrum, or if you personally prefer lighting that reproduces daylight conditions, demands even more powerful lighting though.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
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