Bike Setup: Old Bridgestone RB-T set up for comuting with rack and fenders
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Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jim
a Cross Country Rider
from Minnesota
Date Reviewed: December 4, 2002
Strengths: When not in shop for repairs, the integrated tail-light is very bright, and the fuel gauge are usefull.
Weaknesses: CUSTOMER SERVICE IS TERRIBLE!! Dont believe me - call the NON-toll free number - I am convinced that the help line is not staffed. You get put on hold until you hang-up. The trouble is - you will need help as the product WILL fail.
Bottom Line:
Choose another brand - Lights N Motion ARC HID light seems to be getting rave reviews for both performance and SERVICE.
Strengths: Will teach you what not to do with $300 (hopefully you'll learn the first time). Reliable. You can rely on this light not working.
Weaknesses: Not backed by the WEAK company full of WEAK labor that made it.
Bottom Line:
This light acted up from day one. The first time I disconnected the battery from the light to put it in my bike bag so I could walk around without the light accidentally turning on caused the LED indicator to drop to just a fluttering red when the battery was reconnected. However, the battery was fully charged. The light still worked, just no battery indication. I lived with it like this for quite some time because I needed the light for commuting. THEN IT GOT WORSE! I would be riding to work in the early morning dark with a full battery indication when it would drop to a flashing red LED with the headlamp at it's lowest setting and I couldn't change it. This is after only 15 min. at the 12 watt setting! I still used it for awhile with these annoying problems that eventually became 100% consistent. They would happen all the time. I finally took it back to them explaining the symptoms to one of their so-called enginneers. He took me to the back where they build the lights because he wanted to show me a new, more expensive light. It was a small, unimpressive facility in one of those small industrial complexes that it shares with other small businesses. I understood why my light sucked so bad after seeing where it was built. Everything is done by hand which is fine if you have skilled labor. NiteRider obviously has unskilled labor and ABSOLUTELY NO QUALITY CONTROL DEPARTMENT! I suspect hasty assembly to keep up with the demands of unfortunate consumers like myself. Anyways, I was told I needed a new battery which I paid for because the warranty was up (about $50). When I got it back on the bike and went for a ride, I found that the problems were still there, no change. This means that they never tested it before giving it back to me! In fact, I suspect they didn't even look at the light; just sold me another battery. This p**ses me off!! Now I live in Anaheim which is about 2hrs. from NiteRider in San Diego and the light completely crapped out today. Because of the faulty electronics and battery indication, I never know if the battery really needs charging or if the overcharge safety feature works. But I plugged in the charger and got a full charge indication after it sat for awhile. So I unplugged the charger and went to turn on the light. It came on for a millisecond and went out, for good. Now it doesn't do anything. I also have the tailight that goes with this headlamp and because it's controlled by the same brain as the rest of the system, it no longer works either. Now that I live farther away from the NiteRider facility (I used to live close and they only have one!) this is going to be a pain to resolve, if that's possible. I will try to call them tomorrow (good luck!) and see what they are willing to do for me. I may show up in person again. For anybody that lives close enough, this would be the best bet. I feel for the people who have to ship their defective product for repairs that may not even happen because shipping comes out of their pockets. This can drag on and on and leave you with no hair. Don't let the good reviews here sway you. People are more compelled to write a good review than a bad one. When you're angry you don't feel like reviewing a product you paid for and found out you got ripped. I almost didn't write this one. For the money this light costs it isn't worth the gamble. Especially if you live far away from NiteRider. Your light may or may not work as it's supposed to. It may not work at all! It all depends on which employee had a part in the light's construction and/or the quality of the electronics and other parts being used. Because of this inconsistency with properly working products, I CANNOT RECOMMEND NiteRider to anyone, especially considering their prices. Not to mention my own experience with them (which isn't over) that is shared by many others. NiteRider is probably too swamped with crap returned by law enforcement agencies to even think about fixing anyone else's. Their stuff probably just gets replaced promptly. It should be this way for everyone who shells out this much money for a bike light. You can learn from mine and other's mistakes here. But if you're still considering NR, then you know what they say: A fool and his money........................
Strengths: Awesome light for a halogen bulb. The gauge is nice and so is the 'smart' charger.
Weaknesses: In the process of being sent back in for repairs for the 2nd time; system goes to reserve after 15 mins. If they repair for free than rating goes up to 5.
Bottom Line:
Get the niterider Storm HID, it is in a completely different class as far as visability is concerned. Full-blast for 4 hours! Head and shoulders better than the D12-E.
Weaknesses: First of all I feel some reviewers abuse this execellent review tool deisgned to be informive and helpful to us all by calling others names and being rude. If you read a review and choose to discount it thats cool, if you knock the reviewer thats uncool and you may not have that reviewers valuable input in the future. Please stick to the facts. Each of use have our own experience and based on the culmination of these experiences we can all draw our own conclusions.
Like many of the reviewers who have owned the DP12E for a short period of time (1-6 months) I beleived that the unit was simply awesome. However having owned my unit for over three years and train with it as much as 5 nights a week I think very different of the unit now. The unit functioned as claimed for 6 months then the unit began to fail by quiting and going to reserve. I have had this unit and a Digital Headtrip in for service 3 or 4 times. NR would update and upgrade the CPU and battery cell confiugurations. Each time it would function fine for a few months then the unit would fail the same way with run times progressivly diminishing. For the last year and a half I haven't dared to switch to 20/32 watts becasue the unit fails immediatly without warning and regardless of charge.
I believe the customer service at NR to be the among the best in the industry base on the fact that they stand behind there products. Considering most companies stick to the one year guarantee and NR is for life of the original owner I think that alone says a lot. As for the service of the product once NR has made the repairs I think there should be more thorough testing of the lights before they are returned to the customer. I am currently in the process of returning the Digital Headtrip/DP12E and I will report with my concluion on the quality of customer service at NR and the review of the units that these are replaced with once sufficient time has passed to give an evaluation.
Bottom Line:
Better wait until I recieve the replacment units before I make this call.
Bike Setup: Current race bike which is one of five is a custom Cannondale CAAD 5 with King disc wheels and other elite components (6K invested)
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Submitted by
Jeff
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose, CA
Date Reviewed: August 12, 2002
Strengths: really lights up the trail; nice design
Weaknesses: EXPENSIVE!
Bottom Line:
The NiteRider Digital Pro 12E is a kick ass light overall. I haven't had any problems in nearly four years of regular use. The battery eventually died, but this is normal -- batteries don't last forever. I did have one problem with my Digital Headtrip helmet light (loose part in the light connector), and sent it back to NiteRider to fix. Customer service was pro and I got the light back in perfect working order within one week. I would recommend this light to anyone into technical night riding. But save yourself some money and buy a used one from some sucker who sold his soul to buy a Blow Torch.
Favorite Trail: Moody in Los Gatos, though closed for years, is still my all-time favorite
Duration Product Used: More than 3 years
Price Paid:
$260.00
Purchased At: Pacific Bicycles
Similar Products Used: NiteRider Classic (6 yrs); Digital Headtrip (3 yrs and counting); Blow Torch (one month and so far so good)
Bike Setup: old school Santa Cruz Tazmon with a SID XC
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Submitted by
Joe Romano
a Cross Country Rider
from Fairfax, VA
Date Reviewed: August 8, 2002
Strengths: Great Light when it works
Weaknesses: Breaks alot
Bottom Line:
This light is great when it works but due to the fact that I bought this light brand new have only used it 6 times anfd three of those times it has broken makes me have to give this product a poor rating. During these six uses the 12w bulb has burnt out twice and then the light wouldn't even charge so I sent it back to NiteRider. They replaced the charging transistor and the battery. The after I get the light back the first ride out the 12w bulb goes. So back to Niterider it goes. So six uses three breaks and two trips bake to NiteRider. We'll see what happens when I get it back this time. The only redeming grace for NiteRider is that their customer service is great.
Bike Setup: Santacruz Superlight Marzocchi Superfly Full XTR Bontrager Racelight wheelset
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Submitted by
Dwight Carter
a Downhiller
from Sun Valley, Id
Date Reviewed: April 7, 2002
Strengths: Multiple Light Levels, remote switch with fuel guage with backlit LCD like a bike computer. Remote switch has easy to use up down switch to change light levels. 5 hour smart charging. Handlebar mount is great.
Weaknesses: I haven't found any yet
Bottom Line:
I trail ride at night about 1 to 2 times per week besides I ride to work. If I didn't have my niterider for the ride home from work I would feel naked. Cars definetly give you respect with this light! The DP-12 LCD is an awesome light. I love the ease of use of the remote switch and the fuel guage is fantastic. The backlit fuel guage is like a bike computer but you can even set the backlit display intensity. The fuel guage lets you know how many minutes you have remaining on the battery depending which light beam you have on at the time, 32w, 20w, 12w, 9w, 6w, 3w. If one of the two light bulbs should burn out it automatically swithces to the other beam with no loss of light. It happened to me when I was comming down a hill. I called Niterider because I thought something had gone wrong with the light because only one light worked. I sent it in and they replaced the lamp. If it happens again I'll replace it myself. I have to say that contrary to what other reviewers say, I found the customer service people to be very friendly and helpful. I was without my LCD light for only 2 weeks.
Warning: A friend of mine in Salt Lake City bought a Lights and Motion Cabeza Logic after reading all the good reviews at Lights and Motion that slammed NiteRider. He was very dissapointed when he received his L&M Light and saw the cheap construction. He came up to visit me last week and we went riding. After seeing my niterider lights He now thinks the reviews that claim L&M lights are better than niterider are a fraud, maybe planted by L&M.
If you buy anything but niterider be forewarned. I highly recommend anything niterider and give them 5 chillis.
Submitted by
Jim
a Cross Country Rider
from Riverside, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: January 18, 2002
Strengths: Well made. Good cabling. Nickel Hydride battery is lighter and faster to re-charge than older batteries
Weaknesses: The digital read-out is a seperate piece that didn't work on two different tries. The buttons are impossible to push in the desired patterns to get the light to funtion properly when you have gloves on. For me, night riding equates to winter riding and its cold enough for gloves. The light has too many pieces to carry and mount (light, LCD read-out, battery, battery safety strap) and too high a price to leave parked. Recharging system, back light on LCD did not work. Light went dead twice on new moon (no moon) nights. Customer service needs better training and a vested interest in the company or its customers i.e., equity ownership. Engineering and purchasing should reconsider this particular model.
Bottom Line:
I wouldn't buy the light again unless it sold for less than $150 and I would buy from my local guy so I could take it back as often as needed. Performance did ok in replacing and Nite Rider tried to fix it once. Performance ultimately swapped the lite for a Blow torch model. The whole process took three months and I am writting this in hopes that you don't ned to experience the same!
Similar Products Used: I used the nite rider classic for over ten years and loved it (except the on/off switch). I went through two batteries in that time. I now have the nite rider blow torch and so far so good and nobody can say 'I didn't see you' ever again. The blue HID gas light is the ticket for seeing and being seen! I will follow up with a review after a few months.
Bike Setup: Cannondale custom CAD III. Previously owned by Tinker Juarez. The bike is TITS.
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Submitted by
Bob
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose
Date Reviewed: January 14, 2002
Strengths: Reliable, Bright, GREAT Customer Service, Simple to use (reading the instructions definately helps on this product!) There are a couple of things regarding basic operation, that while not "counter-intuitive" aren't plainly obvious.
Weaknesses: cost??? other than that...NONE
Bottom Line:
Have used this light nearly everyday for the past 2+ yrs. Simply put...it is one of the most enjoyable, easy to use, dependable bike accessories I own.
I read alot of negative reviews about the CS at Niterider and just scratch my head....I've had 3 failures in the unit over the years: 1) water got in the meter unit and fried it (I rode home in a torrential downpour) 2) switch failed 3)battery went bad??? Techies never figured it out...they just GAVE me the newest battery system on a 2yr old 12E! All three times I have PAID NOTHING for the service and twice gotten upgrades to a product that was beyond its' stated warranty. Only thing I can think of is the negative reviewers caught a "bad apple" at niterider, or possibly that they called comin in with a "tude"..who knows?
I recently upgraded to the quick charging "micro-brute" system which is awesome cuz it does the job in only 4hrs. Incidentally, I also have the Digital Headtrip II which has worked just as well (the micro-brute charger is a big plus there as it upgrades the charge cycle from 14-4hrs ). Bottom line, if you ride anywhere in the dark..especially with cars around I'd recommend you use the D12E. Five smokin turds after all these years, and 5000+ miles!
I can't really explain the problems other people have had, but my experience has been awesome with this headlight. I bike commuted 25 miles a day with this light through snow, rain, freezing rain and every other kind of crap you can think of, and I've never had a problem with it. I love the power meter and the plug and forget feature. As for customer service, I wouldn't know since I haven't had to call them. The only quirk I've noticed is one that is even mentioned in the manual, and just part of the design with the digital system. If you unplug the battery from the headlight in the middle of a charge the meter kinda loses track of how much charge its got, and takes a full charge cycle to know what its got again. So long as you don't do that there's nothing to worry about, at least not in my experience. Value wise I got it off ebay for 210, so I can't complain about value ;o)
Bike Setup: Cannondale XR800 with little left stock
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Submitted by
Tom Huibregtse
a Cross Country Rider
from Fort Collins, CO , USA
Date Reviewed: November 29, 2001
Strengths: Very bright, good battery life, lots of level settings, good self-charging.
Weaknesses: Product support is non-existent, at least during the past month.
Bottom Line:
The service department must be on strike or something. For the past two weeks, I've been unable to leave so much as a voicemail message to their service department in the hopes of getting an RMA (Voicemail seems to be contantly so full that we can't leave a msg). I was eventually able to get a fax through to them about a week ago, and it hasn't been acknowledged yet. No live-body escalation process, either.
Love(d) the light, but extremely disappointed in the service.
Weaknesses: Product documentation is absolute trash. Trying to figure out how the thing works is a chore. Charger cord is of very poor quality. I handle the thing carefully, but the cord has to be propped in exactly the right position to charge the unit. Also, inexplicably, can't get it to charge from some outlets in my home. Very expensive.
Bottom Line:
The light is great once you figure it out. I can ride almost anything at night that I can during the day. Technical single track -no problem. The documentation sucks -I mean really sucks. You have to understand how to charge it, and what happens when the light is disconnected from the battery to make sure that it is charged. -No problem if it's complex, but Niterider needs better documentation. The charge unit is of poor quality, or maybe I just got a lemon.
Still, I would buy this light again because of the power of the light and the adjustability of the beam. You look like you have a motorcycle headlight when on full power. As soon as winter sets in (snowboarding, not riding), I will see if nite rider has good customer service to replace the charger or fix it.
The reserve power is a good feature. It's saved me a couple of times.
Don't buy this light unless you need a serious setup for technical nightime riding. It is overkill for anything else.
