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NiteRider Lumina 1200 Boost

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#41 ·
I was just in my local performance shop to pick up the rest of my order but unfortunately (as expected) they were unable to provide any additional information as to why the Lumina 1200 would not be restocked. As several of you have noted these are available almost everywhere but not for the current price I would have gotten so with "Black Friday" around the corner I think I'll wait to see what kind of deal I can find.
Mole
 
#42 ·
Pilas said:
REI has them in stock...
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I know most places have these lights but don't normally check REI's site. Thanks for mentioning them as checking their site while searching revealed a doable price for me ($75). Ordered the Lumina 1200 Boost @ 7:58 pm on the 10th and it was at my door @ noot today (12th, WOW). Time to put it on the charger so it's ready to start doing tests tonight. I plan on doing max. lux, est. max lumen from bounce test lux readings, and output vs. runtime for the top 3 modes. I also own a Bontrager Ion 1300 I will be comparing the Lumina to. Will take a few days since the runtime tests are time consuming + light requires a recharge between tests but will post results as I get them. Initial impression, REI was awesome to deal with!!!
Mole
 
#43 ·
First night with the 1200 I didn't get to ride with it but did do some testing last night and this morning. Was happy to get runtime curves done for both boost and high modes and redid my Ion 1300 at the same time. Hope to ride tonight an get some impressions of the beam pattern, UI, mounts and so on. The fact that the flash modes are not in the main mode program is a big plus over the Ion so point Niterider on that one. Output curves speak for themselves and definitely point Ion on this. Only indoor test left I want to do is the ned mode but that will take a good block of time but will get to it eventually. Here's what I got along with the output chart for the Cygolite Metro 1100.
Mole

Black: Lumina 1200 turbo mode
Lavender: Lumina 1200 high mode
Red: Bontrager Ion 1300 high mode
Blue: Cygolite Metro 1100

Click to enlarge
 
#44 ·
MRMOLE said:
First night with the 1200 I didn't get to ride with it but did do some testing last night and this morning. Was happy to get runtime curves done for both boost and high modes and redid my Ion 1300 at the same time. Hope to ride tonight an get some impressions of the beam pattern, UI, mounts and so on. The fact that the flash modes are not in the main mode program is a big plus over the Ion so point Niterider on that one. Output curves speak for themselves and definitely point Ion on this. Only indoor test left I want to do is the ned mode but that will take a good block of time but will get to it eventually. Here's what I got along with the output chart for the Cygolite Metro 1100.
Mole

Black: Lumina 1200 turbo mode
Lavender: Lumina 1200 high mode
Black: Bontrager Ion 1300 high mode
Blue: Cygolite Metro 1100

Click to enlarge
View attachment 1224721
Click to expand...
Thanks Mole, awesome!
But do you mean red line for the Ion 1300?
 
#48 ·
Lumina 1200 First Ride


Good first ride with the 1200 Boost last night. Had it on the bars with the Ion 1300 I've also been testing for 30mi. of side streets, MUPs and a little trail. Was surprised how much cooler the tint of the Lumina was which ended up being good and bad. My eyes are fairly glare sensitive and in the boost mode in the trail section and on the lighter crushed granite MUP surfaces reflective glare made the high mode a better choice for visibility so that was the bad. Cooler tint proved to be an advantage in the lower modes though. Normally I prefer about 750 lumen's from my bar light for the type of ride I did but with the whiter (brighter appearing) cooler tint + excellent beam pattern the Lumina's 550 lumen med. mode worked great making longer rides possible.

Now about that beam pattern.

I noticed reading the spec. page on the Lumina they mentioned a new type of optic being used. Compared to my buddy's older OLED 800 lumina the 1200 has a wider beam with much smoother coverage. Perfect for the ride I did and also superior to the Ion 1300's narrower but equally smooth beam, at least for bar use.

Only negative experience on last nights ride was the bar mount. Slide clip had a little play and the durometer of the rubber used for friction was too soft IMO. It seemed like it took 10 times as long to put the mount on (twist, twist, twist) as the similar Ion mount and still had play if you grabbed the light. I didn't notice any rattling (from the clip) or movement in the light while riding but I didn't ride any surface I would describe as rough either. I think I may just remove the rubber shim and put some friction tape on the ID surface of the mount and try that.
Mole
 
#49 ·
MRMOLE said:
......Only negative experience on last nights ride was the bar mount. Slide clip had a little play and the durometer of the rubber used for friction was too soft IMO.
Click to expand...
K-Edge makes a really nice GoPro adapter for the Lumina series. Would be an easy way to avoid issues with the factory mount.
 
#50 ·
I picked up a Lumina 1000 since I liked the 1200 so much but wanted something a bit lighter for the helmet mount. The 1000 finally came in the mail, and while the weight difference isn't significant it is lighter and will feel more comfortable once put on the helmet mount. I'm still not a fan of the helmet mount, but that's a personal preference thing.
 
#51 ·
matadorCE said:
I picked up a Lumina 1000 since I liked the 1200 so much but wanted something a bit lighter for the helmet mount. The 1000 finally came in the mail, and while the weight difference isn't significant it is lighter and will feel more comfortable once put on the helmet mount. I'm still not a fan of the helmet mount, but that's a personal preference thing.
Click to expand...
I don't believe there is a weight difference in the 1200 / 1000. You would need to go to the Lumina micro and I think the max on that is the Micro 850. Those are definitely smaller.
 
#53 ·
MRMOLE said:
I was just in my local performance shop to pick up the rest of my order but unfortunately (as expected) they were unable to provide any additional information as to why the Lumina 1200 would not be restocked. As several of you have noted these are available almost everywhere but not for the current price I would have gotten so with "Black Friday" around the corner I think I'll wait to see what kind of deal I can find.
Mole
Click to expand...
Performance announced bankrupcy today, so now it makes sense that they said the light wouldn't be in stock anymore (along with everything else).
 
#54 ·
After my encouraging first ride the last couple of nights have been a bit of a let down :cryin:. Wednesday night I got my 2nd ride in with this light but this time used it exclusively for the same 30 mi. distance but a different route (99% paved MUP). The plan was to test out the med. mode more which would be the appropriate mode for a route of that distance at the speeds I usually travel at. Initially the med. mode was working great as with the first ride, I'd kick it up to high on some of the negative grades for a little extra distance coverage but it probably would have been fine with the beam just adjusted a little higher (on the fly adjustments not an option for me with this mount system). As the ride continued though I became increasingly less comfortable with the output level and ended up doing the last few miles on the high setting so a little disapointed. Last night I had some time and charted a output vs. runtime curve which explained the problems I had the previous nights ride. Output curve in the med. mode is flatter than high/boost but still graadually dips down and starting from a low/comfortable level by the later parts of the ride it had diminished enough that I was happier running set on high. Hadn't noticed this on the first ride because lighting duties had been split with my Ion so I could compare it with the 1200 which only saw operation at higher levels of battery charge. If like me you do longer rides this is probably something you should consider if thinking about purchasing this light. So here's the output chart I did showing Med, high, and boost .
Mole

Boost = Green
High = Red
Med. = Black
 
#56 ·
Vancbiker said:
This ^ has been my issue with the Lumina series. The inability to sustain the high level for the majority of the runtime is deceptive advertising at best. IMO, what they really have here is a 500-600 lumen light.
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That's exactly true. Like anything else it's only as good as its weakest link which in this case is the battery. Lights with a battery that can only handle a stable 600 lumen's for 1.5 hrs. can be bumped up to 1200 lumen's at the start will pay with super short runtimes or dismal output for the last half of its total runtime. Niterider gets picked on because they seem to be one of the worst performing in the regard but truth is most all of the single cell self-contained lights suffer from the same thing just to a lesser extent. Coming from a high performance separate lighthead/multi-cell battery pack point of view this characteristic seems unacceptable but in reality there's a huge amount of these lights sold and from what I've noticed a lot of very happy owners. I do hope the manufacturers quickly move to larger capacity batteries like the one in my Bontrager Ion 1300. Until then these new Lumina's offer the same good quality, low price, excellent customer support that has made them so popular with a major improvement in beam quality (wider, smoother coverage) from previous models.
Mole
 
#57 ·
Lumina Beam Pattern Update



Interesting ride with the Lumina 1200 last night (45 mi., 60% lights on). My friend George brought his older 800 OLED Lumina along and as expected the beam on my 1200 was wider and smoother but shocked how really different they appear side by side. I wouldn't call the 1200 a flood beam but that's what it looks like compared to the older model. New beam pattern is much better (IMO) if a wider view is what your looking for but it probably does cut down a little on the throw. I'm wondering if lens cover/reflector are interchangeable and/or available which would allow adjusting the beam pattern on these lights? I'm posting a link to a UK site that has side by side beam pattern shots of both the 1200 and 1100 Lumina plus lux readings on the beam pattern and a wall shot of each light (and many more lights). Unfortunately the beam shots were done at different ltimes so setup is slightly different but good enough to show the difference in beam width. Enjoy!
Mole

https://lights.road.cc/index-wide.php

***Lights are arranged by yr. so 1200 in with the 2018 models and 1100 with the 2017's***
 
#60 ·
I must say, I have been impressed with my Nite Rider Lumina 1200 Boost. I have only used it in the winter (purchased Dec 2018) and have used it exclusively on the trail at night, and found it to be great on the trail as a bar light. I have also paired it with a helmet light, and found both to be perfect for my needs.

I actually was impressed out of the battery life. I typically go for rides of about and hour to an hour and 15 mins in the winter, and I could get about 3 rides before I needed to charge it. Very impressed (I typically use it on medium setting; never on high setting or Boost). Overall, very impressed and I would recommend.
 
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