HELP - Night Hawk or BLT

[Putty]

After spending some time trying to figure out what type of lighting system to buy, I seem to be stuck between these two systems. I want both a bar light and a helmet light. I want to be able to climb with some light, and then turn the juice on for the down hill. Here are my questions:

1. do i need two lights on the bars? is the difference noticeable?

2. which system would you recommend, remember that i am climbing so i am looking at about 3 hours out there with all lights going for about half of that time.

3. the nighthawk models seem straight forward, but BLT seems to have some diff configurations, advise on these? ei i am assuming the NiMh batter pack is the one to go with over the SLA battery pack. correct?

i know we had light threads before, and i looked, but these questions are more specific.

mec seems to have good deals on the night hawks. thanks in advance on "shedding some light":nerd: on this topic.

:nerd: :nerd: :nerd:

[Rat]

Personaly I would buck up and go single HID helmet Order from the states and your looking at $550 not to bad. If your shelling out for two lights right now you'll wish you spend the extra coin once you ride with a guy who runs HID's . I do

But back to the question at hand, I run BLT's with SLA's 15 on the helmet and 10W on the bars it's a pretty decent set up. Nicmlh would be nice in the camelback as the SLA's are pretty heavy but I wouldnt pay extra cash for the slick battery on the bike you wont really notice it. I find the light on the bars is really for fill in and back up as its the helmet that really is doing most of the work.

regardless of what you buy make sure you buy both the same systems so that you can interchange the bateries and if you buy a spare battery it will work for both.

Oh and did I mention you should just buy an HID

[GrimJack]

Rat is on the money with the HID recommendation.

Also, don't buy lights based on being able to use them for climbing... buy the ones with a single setting (on/off) then buy one of the 3 or 4 LED lights for climbing with. They are only about $30 at MEC, they provide plenty of light for climbing, and have over twelve hours of burntime.

[corey@nsmb.com]

I have the Night Hawk pros, a 5w and a 20w (i think....) and I am really happy with them. They have seen me through multiple 24hour races and lots of night rides. 4 years old and still going strong!

[Putty]

Ok, thanks for the help so far. I will look into the HID route. good idea on the LED climbing solution...thanks GrimJack. Mullet - the night hawks do look quite nice.

I will let you guys know what I do. Thanks again!

[IFO]

i just got a set of BLT's outa Bikeroom and im very happy with em...

super lite and the light is decently bright... but of course its no HID...of course it didnt cost like a HID either....

if ur only getting one light def. get the helmet version...

heres some options to consider...

http://www.bikeroom.com/directory.cfm?CategoryID=26

hope that helps....

p.s. nite riding is awesome...i cant beleive i didnt get into it before...:eek:

[BAC5.2]

mmmm BLT's....

[Putty]

thanks again guys. i am looking forward to a nice rip in the dark. i used to scuba dive quite a bit and night diving was a competely different beast. i think riding at night would be similar in feel, as you only concentrate on the beam and would be a able to focus more on a small area. i think i will go BLT helmet and bar with the NiMh batteries.

IFO - thanks for the link.

[Rusty]

I could not find a price on the BLT lights, but if price is not a big object take a look at Light and Motion.

[IFO]

Originally posted by Rusty
I could not find a price on the BLT lights, but if price is not a big object take a look at Light and Motion.

give Dave a call i dont know why the BLT's arent listed...

perhaps he simply hasnt had time...:(