Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I recently purchased a new bike, and decided that I should get some lights for it so I can ride at night safely, and not have to worry about getting home from work early enough to do my daily ride while there is still daylight out.
My first experience riding in the dark was with a typical "$35.00 commuter light". The experience was not fun....I constantly felt as though I was about to hit some obstacle that I just could not see due to the lack of solid bright light. When I got home, I thought to myself "I wish there was a light I could get that would work like my SureFire tactical flashlights do". Well, the Cygolite does this.
The MilIon 200 USB cranks out 200 lumens at its high setting, and also gives you a 150 lumen medium setting which is bright enough for most riding. I compared the MilIon 200 USB to my SureFire LumaMax (a 200 lumen tactical flashlight), and found both to be nearly identical brightness. The Cygolight has a wider, more diffuse hotspot which is better for illuminating the area in front of your bike. Also, my Cygolite delivers a near pure-white light with no obvious color cast.
Build quality is excellent, and all of the features work perfectly. The charge indicator, which changes from red to green when the battery has a full charge, is a fantastic feature. I read some other reviews where the reviewer said this didn't work, but on my light it does. Although the MilIon 200 ships with a small charge in its battery, it takes pretty much a full 5 hours of continuous charging to fill it up the first time (the manual says this as well, and my real world experience confirms it). The handlebar mount is well built, and extremely easy to install...takes about 90 seconds. It provides a very strong and stable attachment of the light to your bar, and is easy to make fine adjustments with. But, once you have it the way you like it, it will stay put, even over alot of bumps. You can purchase additional mounts for your other bikes also for pretty cheap. I have not tried the helmet mount.
The single design fault I could find is the attachment of the quick-release clip to the light body itself. This is via a single phillips head screw. I have read other reviews where this screw apparently vibrated loose, causing the light to drop off the bike at speed. They all said the light faired fine, and continued to function perfectly (due to its solid build). However, this is totally avoidable with a really easy fix. Here is a very easy fix to permanently correct this single minor issue: BEFORE YOU USE THIS LIGHT, UNSCREW THE PHILLIPS SCREW THAT ATTACHES THE QUICK RELEASE CLIP TO THE LIGHT, PUT A SMALL DROP OF BLUE (AKA REMOVABLE) LOCKTITE ON THE SCREW, AND THEN RE-ATTACH THE CLIP, TIGHTENING THE SCREW TO A SOLID "HAND TIGHT" TORQUE. This will ensure that the screw stays firmly tight, will not vibrate loose, but still gives you a nice firm side-to-side rotation adjustment if you desire that.
I have been on a few rides with this light and I really love it. It makes the experience of riding in the dark pleasureable, even perhaps addictive. I enjoy riding at night because it is cool out and there usually isn't much wind. The drawback was that it was risky due to lack of visibility (my ability to see surroundings, and vehicles ability to see me). The Cygolite MiLion 200 USB solves that problem 100%. Riding in the dark with an excellent light like this is a fun experience.
I highly recommend this light to anyone. It is built beautifully, has great features, is reasonably priced, and is simply a step above any of its competition in the marketplace, including more expensive offerings from other companies.
I hope this review is helpful.
Click Here to see more reviews about: CygoLite Milion 200 LED Rechargable 1-Piece HeadLight W/ Helmet Mount.
