Submitted by
Bruzer
a Weekend Warrior
from Minnesota
Date Reviewed: October 17, 2008
Strengths: Very inexpensive, great mounting options, good amount of light.
Weaknesses: Battery is very large and heavy.
Bottom Line:
I purchased this light from Nashbar because it was inexpensive. Since it uses a real light bulb the light is more orange than the new white LEDs. The light is bright enough to ride on paved trails and streets at night. The Viper has surpassed my expectations for how much I have paid. I have had it over 3 years now and the battery is still running very strong. The battery is so big had trouble putting it in bottle cages. The battery is also heavier than other types of batteries. Those are the two trade offs you make for this inexpensive light.
I would recommend to a friend if you can still buy them. I looked at buying another, but it looks like the company isn't selling this model right now (2008).
Bike Setup: A bike with two wheels. Do we judge review credibility by claimed bike setup?
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
bootNreboot
a Weekend Warrior
from Jackson MI USA
Date Reviewed: July 22, 2008
Bottom Line:
i have to agree that it is difficult adjusting the light because of the mounting system but i found by using a "Swing Grip" it makes it possible to adjust the focus point very easily on the fly.
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=&subcategory=&brand=&sku=12832&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=Show%20All%20Products
Strengths: Well made light with good switch and wiring.
Weaknesses: Dump the battery.
Bottom Line:
Replace battery with home made NiMh. Buy a 6 AA holder and and batteries and quick charger. I use two 6 AA holders in parallel for a small light 5 AHr battery. Use rc battery connectors and a small camera bag to hold it. Can be built at fry's for about $35 online even cheaper. I find a 5 watt head lamp with a spot and 5 or 10 watt bar mount plenty, even for the deepest darkest single track. Besides, if you have too much light you might as well ride in the daytime.
Submitted by
Alonso Castro
a Cross Country Rider
from San José, Costa Rica
Date Reviewed: March 8, 2007
Strengths: Battery life. Quality and consistency of the beam, coiled cord eliminates the need to wrap around too much.
Weaknesses: Bar mount, battery big and heavy.
Bottom Line:
** THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE 10W 6V NIGHT HAWK RAPTOR LIGHT SYSTEM **
It makes no sense to gripe about the battery size and weight, because it is SLA and it is *sort of* expected. However, that batter is BIG. I have to really work it into my Cateye composite seat tube cage. I've seen much smaller and lighter batteries, but not for this price. If weight is not too much of a problem, which it shouldn't, you should be fine.
I use this light at least weekly for night MTB rides, which include heavy climbing tight singletrack and fast descents on gravel roads. The weight has not been an issue. The light beam is EXCELLENT, as good as my buddies' $150+ lights (and the battery lasts longer!). It provides a wide beam with no dark spots, with a nice white/yellow light, while also concentrating on the middle of the road like a spotlight. I like the bar-mounted switch very much, a lot cooler than a toggle switch on top of the housing, and the velcro fits snugly under the window of my LX shifter, so the switch rests right next to the grip.
THE VERY HEAVY WEAK POINT for this lighting system may be one of the most important: the bar mount for the actual light. It consists of two brackets which hug the bar and are held in place with screws. For starters, you'll have to carry the bulky bracket at all times throughout the night-riding season. For grip, Night Hawk provides what seem to be strips of inner tube, to place between the bracket and the bar. That effectively holds the light in place, but that may be a problem if you ever want to focus your beam closer to the wheel (on technical downhills) or further (for fast descents on gravel or pavement). But the worst is the bracket lacks "float," which means the light will point "straight" relative to where the bracket is placed. This a BIG problem, especially with riser bars, because you will never be able to place the center of the beam directly in front of your bike. For me, it cast the beam less than a foot off to the left, which was very noticeable. I felt the bike kept pulling me to the left to compensate, plus everything to the right was essentially dark. I solved this by retrofitting the mounting bracket for an Exustar LED light, which is very nice because it has a good bit of float and a quick release mechanism. It wasn't too hard to do, and now I use the Exustar light on my helmet as a backup, held fast with a velcro pump strap.
Weaknesses: Hard to mount battery, only bright enough.
Bottom Line:
I bought this because it was cheap. I had little money at the time and also did not want to spend on something I might not actually use much. But I do use it a bit, mainly to help get in road training rides in the winter. The bulb went dead soon after I purchased it and I was able to get a nearby replacement at a LBS but they only stocked the 10W (versus the original 5W). The 10W bulb kindof fits, good enough that I've kept it in ever since (and even though I got a free 5W replacement from Performance that now gives me a ready spare--I love to ride and don't want to miss a ride for anything).
Recumbent aside, I'm no wimp and I need a light with a long burn time. This product has and stills gives the advertised 4hr (5W) / 2.5hr (10W) burn time. The 5W was good enough for level road riding, the 10W even better and even better with down hills. I'd still like to have even more light, but at the price it would take and how well this does work I have yet to buy anything else.
The battery is big and heavy, I guess, but for me this just means more of a workout (and I could eat fewer cheeseburgers if weight were that important). The important thing you need to know is that it does not fit at all well in a water bottle cage. I kept forcing it in and the cage eventually cracked. But, I've made do by using the Topeak adjustable cage (water bottle/1 liter bottle) and setting it to the largest size. With my bike I have enough cage mounts that I just dedicate this cage for when I need it for the battery.
The charger is fantastic. It has a charged status LED, won't overcharge, and also it can be kept plugged in (though the instruction are strange on this point--they say you can keep the battery plugged in but you should never keep any electrical items always plugged in?) The connectors don't seem that great and I worry about breakage but so far they have worked fine.
If you can live with a well focused 5W/10W beam and want the longer than average burn time, don't hesitate to buy this un-sexy light.
Strengths: Reliable SLA battery, very cheap to replace. Plug&forget charger. Ample brightness for road use. Battery is easily removable for charging, not hard wired. Very inexpensive light system.
Weaknesses: No fine adjustment of beam direction underway. Original switch must be discarded for better unit.
Bottom Line:
If light weight is not a priority this 10W light (Raptor, not Viper) is perfectly adequate for road use in flat S.Florida. After several random blackouts I installed a marine toggle switch (completely rubber coated) in line and while at it, reduced the overall length of wire by getting rid of the unnecessary coil wire. The light has been bomb proof since: going over seams, cobblestones, pot holes, etc. is no longer a problem, the light stays on from start to finish. The beam is a 12deg and is perfect for road riding: I can see about 30yards ahead in the rare stretches of total darkness b/c most of the roads, on my routes anyway, are lit with street lights. There's still plenty power left after my usual 1hr40m ride. Actually, if it's truly a 4.5A battery, it has 27Wh, which in theory should yield a run time of 2hr 42m on 10W bulb. One thing that bugs me is the inability to adjust the beam up or down under way. All in all I'm happy with this simple, solid system- with the new waterproof switch. The battery is heavy (~1kg) but I knew that when I bought it so it's not fair to moan about it. The automatic charger alone is great value. It takes about 5 hrs to recharge. Even after having to buy a new switch, I would still call the Raptor a bargain.
Strengths: Solid construction, reliable lead-acid battery, long burn time, inexpensive
Weaknesses: 5 watts is a fairly weak light, battery is heavy and oddly shaped.
Bottom Line:
I use this light commuting 7.5 miles round trip. Sometimes heading home at 9pm after hitting the gym. At 5 watts its' pretty much useless on lighted streets but works to make me more visible to cars. I end up adjusting the beam a lot, pointing it more directly forward on busy streets so it's brighter from the perspective of car drivers and pointing it down on darking streets so I can avoid pot holes and the like. I generally don't feel safe going any faster than 15 mph with this light and that's pushing it. It's rock solid. I've dropped the headlight and the battery pack several times and was sure the filament probably popped but every time the light reliably turned on. I used this light on the trail once last year and I'll never do that again. A much brighter light is required for off road riding. I think upgrading the bulb to 10 or 20 watts would make this a much much better light.
Weaknesses: Finding a suitable water bottle cage or, doing as I did, making one.
Bottom Line:
This review is for the Raptor 10 watt, 6 volt, single-light system. If you are going to use a light every day, you can not beat the old lead acid variety. They can be charged every day and you do not have to exhaust the battery and then recharge like you do with NiMH. So, you always have a fully charged if somewhat heavier battery. I commute most days and during the winter I want a reliable, bright light. The only problem is the mounting. I modified a K-Mart varitey Bell water bottle cage that had some plastic parts and rubber straps. Essentially, I cut it down to just the frame piece and end plate, then strapped the battery to the remains of the cage with one velcro strap and two small bungies. It works great. After a ride home, I simply unplug the headlite and plug in the charger; everything stays on the bike. No hassles. I have seen my son ride with this light at night and I can attest to its high visibility from a distance. Since I also ride with it, I can also attest to its effectiveness. I can only mark this product down for the labor required to fit it to the frame.
Bike Setup: Trek mtb set up for commuting and trail riding
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jesse
a Weekend Warrior
from Lighthouse Point, Florida
Date Reviewed: November 30, 2004
Strengths: This is a follow-up of my August 2004 review of the Nite Hawk Raptor lighting system. Original review is two down from this one.
Weaknesses: Faulty switch Run time of light has decreased over time
Bottom Line:
I originally wrote about the Nite Hawk Raptor lighting system back in August (the review is two below this one). At that time I had been using the Raptor for about three months and mentioned problems with the switch. After another month of use the switch gave up the ghost entirely.
Being of the inquisitive sort I dismantled the switch (thus negating the manufacturer's guarantee) to see if I could diagnose the problem. The switch utilizes a flexible metal "clicker" that completes the electrical circuit when the system is turned on. As it turns out the clicker, which appeared to be fabricated from brass, was badly corroded not making a proper connection with the switch's contact plate.
Evidently the switch housing was not properly sealed at the factory, thus permitting water to leak into the mechanism. Perhaps the salt air here in Florida hastened its demise.
As a quick fix I simply cut the switch out of the wiring harness and spliced the cut ends of the power cable back together. This means that I have to plug the cable into the light to turn it on and pull it out to turn it off. Not particularly elegant, but it works for now.
My other problem with the Raptor has to do with the battery's run time. The manufacturers claims 2.5 hours. The best I ever got was a little over two hours. After six months of use the run time on my system now stands at about 1.5 hours. I suspect it'll continue to decrease with continued use. I have no idea what is causing this problem. The charger that came with the system started acting weird several months ago--both the red (charging) and green (charging complete) LEDs would come on at the same time when the unit was plugged into the AC outlet. Perhaps the battery is not being properly charged. The battery itself may be defective or suffering from a chemical breakdown (metal sulfides forming on the battery plates?).
With the end of Daylight Saving Time back in October it now stays dark throughout my entire ride in the morning. My rides typically last two and a half hours, so you can see that the shortened battery life is a real problem. For the past month I have been using a different light which I'll write about after I have given it a fair shake.
Perhaps I'll break out the Raptor this spring when the days get longer.
The Raptor gets three Chilis for value since I did get a substantial discount on it. Had I paid full MSRP I would have been really unhappy and the grade would have suffered accordingly.
Two Chilis for overall rating because the system simply failed to work properly after several months of use on the road. It's a great lighting system when it functions properly, but with the continuing problems with the switch and the progressively decreasing run time I have to ding the Raptor two Chilis from my original rating.
Similar Products Used: This was my first "serious" lighting system. I am now testing the Cateye EL300 headlight.
Bike Setup: Used primarily on my Surly 1x1 and Specialized Langster
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Peter Berg
a Downhiller
from Indiana PA
Date Reviewed: November 4, 2004
Strengths: Bright 10w light Replacement lasted over 2 hours.
Weaknesses: First battery lasted only 15 min. I sent the barrery back and not only did Nashbar replace the enire light system, but they refunded my shipping cost.
Bottom Line:
Great light for the $, I was dissapointed with getting a bad battery at first but the replacement works past the specifications. Highly recommended
Similar Products Used: cheap walmart bike headlight
Bike Setup: Specialized Hardrock Pro Disc with RockShock Duke XC all mountain and Mavic 321 rims
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jesse
a Weekend Warrior
from Lighthouse Point, Florida
Date Reviewed: August 26, 2004
Strengths: It's not one of NiteSun's "supernova in a can" lights, but then again it doesn't cost $400 either. This is a simple, mostly reliable single bulb lighting system.
MSRP is $89.00 US, but it can be found on sale for less than $35.00 US.
Comes with a plug-and-forget overnight charger.
Weaknesses: Balky membrane switch that sometimes refuses to work properly.
SLA battery is cumbersome (2 pounds) and you might have to hunt around to find a water bottle cage that is large enough to accept the battery.
Installation requires tools--it's not a quick release mount
Bottom Line:
NOTE: This review discusses the Nite Hawk Raptor lighting system. As someone else on this board discovered, no separate review slot is available for the Raptor system and this spot appears to be the best match.
The Nite Hawk Raptor is a simple, single bulb, no frills light system that works well for nightime urban riding. The 10 watt halogen bulb gets its juice from a 6 volt sealed lead acid (SLA) battery. The battery is a bulky affair, accounting for 2 pounds of the system's overall 2.5 pound weight, and it provided me with a little over 2 hours of light (manufacturer's literature states that the battery lasts for 2.5 hours). The light housing and mounting bracket are molded in a grey polymer and an array of gaskets are used to seal the housing from the elements. Having been caught in several early morning cloudbursts while using the Raptor, I can attest to the system's ability to operate reliably in the rain.
Like many bicyclers around here, I usually ride in the early morning (I hit the road between 4:30-5:00 a.m.) in order to avoid traffic (the blue-hair scourage is especially menacing in these parts) and the Florida heat. I frequent the bike lane of one of the highways that runs through town as well as a multi-use trail that surrounds a community golf course and the local airport. While the former is well lit at night and a headlight's main utility is to make others aware of your presence, the latter is almost pitch black in some of its remoter parts and a light is a necessity for finding one's way. The Raptor performs well in this environment, although at times I wish the beam was a little more focused rather than the semi-flood pattern the light provides. Still, I believe the Raptor's beam is bright enough on the highway portion of my rides to let other cars and bikers know where I am, and it lights the way sufficiently on the MUT to enable me to maintain a decent pace and still be confident that I can slow down or stop in case of an obstacle in my path. I don't know that I would want to use this light as my sole means of illumination during a wilderness off-road excursion. It would be ideal with a head-mounted spotlight, though--the Raptor will provide a good overall view with shadows for depth perception and the spot will light up anything important on the trail. I've encountered no durability problems with the system so far, but as noted above my riding is confined almost entirely to fairly smooth paved surfaces. How it would fare in a rugged off-road environment, particularly in the case of crashes, I don't know. The battery-to-cable connection looks a little fragile, but I've plugged and unplugged it numerous times for recharging the battery and it has held up fine to date.
The Raptor comes with a simple overnight plug-and-forget charger. A red LED shows that charging is underway and a green LED indicates the battery is ready to go.
All is not sweetness and light (heh), however. Early on I had trouble with the membrane type on-off switch. Occasionally, when the button is pressed, the light will come on for several seconds and then shut off. It does not always do this, just often enough to be annoying. Usually a minute or two of fiddling (i.e., pressing the switch repeatedly) will get it to behave. I probably should contact Nite Hawk about this, but for now I've let it go.
The instruction book states that the SLA battery will fit "most" water bottle cages. Well, I have three bikes with a total of four different cages between them and the battery fit in none of them. I had to go to my LBS with battery in hand and do some test fitting before I could find a suitably large cage.
The marketing literature claims that the light uses a quick-release mount, which to me implies a no-tool installation. However, the mount is a multi-piece affair consisting of a two-piece slotted bracket which goes around the handlebar and has to be tightened down with a screwdriver. The light then clicks into place in the corresponding slot on the bracket. If you want to transfer the light between bikes this requires digging out the screwdriver to disassemble the bracket for removal and to reinstall it on the other bike. Not a big deal I suppose, but it does take several minutes instead of just a few seconds as would be the case with a true cam-type quick release mechanism.
I have seen the Raptor on sale at numerous places and I am wondering if the SLA technology as employed by the Rapor is slowly dying out to be replaced with the newer NiMH technology. The power-to-weight ratio of these newer batteries is a great improvement over the cumbersome lead acid cells.
Anyway, if you can find the Raptor as a discount item and you aren't planning on using it in any 24-hour off-road epic races, I would recommend it. Just try to ascertain, if you can, if your particular unit has problems with its switch.
If it wasn't for that damned switch I would have given the Raptor a 5 in both categories.
Similar Products Used: None--this is my first "serious" lighting system
Bike Setup: Felt B2 Surly 1X1 Specialized Langster
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
gbose gbose
a Weekend Warrior
from CHLT, NC
Date Reviewed: July 27, 2004
Strengths: I should have explained, my last review was for the Nitehawk Raptor, not the Viper. I just could not find any place to put in Raptor reviews, so borrowed this one.
Similar Products Used: various generic lights -- $9-$29; they all died after a few weeks.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Gautam Bose
a Weekend Warrior
from Charlotte, NC 28226
Date Reviewed: July 27, 2004
Strengths: A great value for the price I paid. Seems well-built. Battery fits fine in my (standard) bottle-cage. Very bright for road-riding -- not sure I'd use it on the trail.
Weaknesses: Heavy battery (not sure what comparable products weigh)
Bottom Line:
Good value, well-made. Works on the road. Not sure for the trail (but haven't tried). I'm happy, as I'm doing long late-evening training rides.
Good for commuters, road-riders, casual trail. Not enough (by itself, but maybe combined with a second helmet-mount light...?) for serious trail
Similar Products Used: generic batery-powered lights ($9.95-29.95, none lasted more than a few weeks)
Bike Setup: Specialized Allez Road Bike (I do ride a Trek 6500 too, but haven't yet tried this light off-road)
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
jim
a Cross Country Rider
from cary, nc
Date Reviewed: December 16, 2003
Strengths: low cost, 4 hr runtime
Weaknesses: only 5w of light, heavy and hard to fit water bottle battery
Bottom Line:
low cost makes it a good choice to try night riding without $$$ commitment. my experiences similar to others listed here. 5w okay for road, 10w would be minimum required for off-road. when 5w bulb burned out briefly used a 10w substitute that gave alot more light (duh) and made me not like the 5w output as much as before when i returned to it (but i need a 3hr run time and the 10w did cut run time around 1/2, duh again). i've yet to surpass 3hr runtime toward the rated 4hr but it seems like it would come close to making the rated time.
Submitted by
James
a Cross Country Rider
from Charlotte
Date Reviewed: November 27, 2003
Strengths: actually, i am posting a review on the nitehawk raptor 10 watt for the viper because somehow theres no reviews on it normally??
bright enough for a singletrack (if you know the trail) got an awesome deal for the price
Weaknesses: battery on the heavy side; battery only seems to fit certain cages
Bottom Line:
get this light if youre just looking to be doing some fun riding and training at night if thats the only time you have.... otherwise i would go with the dual pro for some serious night riding.... you cant use profile water bottle cages with the battery... thats stupid... no problems so far with it, but i wouldnt recommend using this light on a trail youre riding for the first time. you should probably know the trail youre riding pretty well --- it makes it a whole lot easier. great light, great price. love it.
