Cygolite Expilion 750 USB Bicycle Headlight

PLEASE READ MY UPDATE BELOW AS WELL!!!I'm all about see and be seen. I run my lights even during the day. Needless to say, I've been toying with buying this light for a couple of months. When the price dropped to $89.00, I jumped at it. Mind you, I've owned an Expillion 250 for almost two years and I am extremely happy with it; have had no problems with it, except ripping out the USB cover once when it was new. I learned really quick that you peel it like a decal and twist it up, or down, to insert the cable. Be that as it may, I wanted a brighter light for my night training rides, because many South Florida drivers are painfully oblivious of cyclists and lack the ability to judge speed without a speedometer, and think they can either speed up to turn into a parking lot, or wait to the last minute to pull out of one, before you get there. When you average a speed of 22 mph that's just not the case.At any rate, my light arrived yesterday (5/9/13). I was expecting the light to be almost three times brighter than my 250 and quickly realized it's not the case. See, the Expillion 250 has a narrower beam and concentrates the 250 lumens (on the high setting) on a spot that, at a distance of 30 feet, equals about 1/2 to 3/4 the width of a street lane. The Expillion 700 has a wider "hot spot" surrounded by a dimmer flood, which arguably would light up a larger patch of road. However, on "boost" mode, the Expillion 700 is only about 100 or so lumens brighter than the Expillion 250 on high mode. And the 250's run time on high is 3 hrs., vs 1.5 on the 700 on boost.In all fairness, since the light only arrived yesterday, I'm going to wait until I do a night training ride, down the same dark stretch of road where I tested my 250, and see how the 700 performs. I think, however, that even if the overall performance is only half better than the 250, I might just keep it and carry the 250 on my jersey pocket as a back up (I also don't like carrying any lighting on my helmet). I already run both a Serfas TL60 and a Serfas seatstay tail lights, and take a Serfas TL411 tail light as back up. Better to have them and not need them, than need them and not have them.I'll post an update once I've tested the 700 on a ride. Until then, it gets 4 stars from me.Cheers!!*********************** UPDATE *******************************9:30 p.m. EDT and I just finished testing the Expillion 700 on a night ride through one of the darkest, most transited, divided, four lane state roads in my area of Palm Beach County. Took my Expillion 250 along for comparison and I'm happy to report that the Expillion 700 is, overall, a brighter light source. When riding through the streets in my neighborhood, I noticed that the 700 lights up the entire width of a two way road. Yes, the 250's "hot spot" is almost as bright on high as the 700's hot spot on boost, but it goes without saying that having the whole street illuminated is far better than 1/2 - 3/4 of a lane. And better yet, when I only paid $5.00 more for the 700 than I did for the 250, the whole thing becomes elementary.So I'm upgrading the rating I gave it from 4 to 5 and emailing Ed, at Cygolite, telling him I'm not returning the 700.Cheers!!!********************ADDITIONAL UPDATE************************10.29.13 - Did a quick 15 mile ride this morning and got home just as my wife had finished pulling out of the driveway. It was still dark out and I had my 700 on steady pulse, as I keep it on all night training rides on well lit roads (steady pulse is the same brightness as steady medium). My wife tells me, "you almost blinded me with that light." Enough said.

I bike everywhere all year. That means I am often out at night and/or in bad weather. I needed a good, compact, super bright light to make sure that I am seen by drivers and can see where I'm going. I have used a lot of different lights over the years, and have biked in all sorts of conditions: rain, snow, cold, dark, paths, streets, and to daily destinations. (I'm not a mountain bikers, so can't comment about how this performs at night in the woods.)Things I like:Compact and light enough to be slipped into a coat pocket or bag. If you don't want to carry it around, you might not have it after that dinner or impromptu social encounter that lasted later than you thought.Bright. I almost blinded myself when I turned it on in my living room. Yeah, pedestrians and other bicyclists might say it's too bright, but I try to keep it angled down, and I'm certain no driver could say he didn't see me. I sometimes ride an unlit path at night to get home, and I wanted to be able to see well ahead of me and also to the sides. This does this extremely well.Wide beam pattern. As I said, I wanted to be able to see the sides of the path. I feel more secure knowing that I can see people that might be there - whether they might just walk in front of me or try to mug me. Also, I have had wildlife run out in front of me, and I like being able to see more of the landscape.Versatile brightness and steady/flash. There are almost too many choices - I think eight variations. You can make this light super bright or just bright enough to be seen walking on a dark path. You can chose flash patterns as well or have the light on steady. it would take some practice to learn to cycle through the choices, but they are nice to have.Tough. I feel this will hold up. (See below for my one gripe in this area.)Versatile mounting. Not only can you take the light itself off the bike (so it doesn't get stolen while you are at work/dinner/shopping), but you can rotate the light somewhat from side to side. This is useful if you have weirdly shaped handlebars that don't allow the light to normally point forward. This is a problem with some light - you end up pointing off to the side because the light can't be rotated on the base.Now my one gripe:This is a rechargeable light, so it has a mini-USB port for the charger. it charges well, either through a trickle charge from your computer or by using the wall outlet. BUT.... the little rubber tab that covers the port doesn't stay closed. Or I can't figure out how to get it in there securely on a consistent basis. I've read suggestion all over the web about solving this problem, but it just doesn't seem to work well. I'm afraid of getting water in the port during a rainstorm. That is the only negative I have, and the reason for the one-star downgrade.