I recently purchased a mountain bike for around the town commuting and needed a good inexpensive headlight for the night rides that I do.I went to Copelands Sports Store at the mall and found a couple of cheap clearence items in the bicycle section. Then I came across just what I needed! Bell Dawn Patrol headlights! Xenon powered, side portal beams as well. I knew what the word Xenon meant so I decided to take a chance and buy two of the lights to mount on my bike. Total cost (since they were on Christmas clearence = $4.75 each!)
I went home and first put on the headlight mounts. This was totally easy and tool free. Just turn the little round knobs and unhook the clamp and then clamp the hook over your handlebar of your bicycle and then turn the knob to tighten.
Next came the actual headlight unit itself. This headlight takes 4 AA batteries so be forewarned that you can go through batteries quickly if you ride a lot at night like I do.
I quickly invested in a battery recharger and 8 AA rechargeable batteries the same day.
Unlocking the battery holder mechanism can be a real pain at first. You need to really hold the headlight firmly with one hand (in this case your stronger hand, my right hand) and then you take your thumb and second finger in your left hand to push open the unit. It can be a real pain to open the first time you get this light.
I put in the 4 AA batteries and depressed the on/off switch and BOOM, the Xenon headlight came on! It is an EXTREMELY bright light with fresh batteries and you do not want to look directly into its beam.
Riding under ideal city conditions with street lights around you, you will be okay. It's a light to be seen with, not to see what is in front of you as the street lighting will out do these lights.
However when riding an unlighted trail and some streets/cul de sacs where street lighting was minimal I was extremely pleased with how bright the two lights lit up the trail; the ground and the sides as well. With fresh batteries, the light will be pretty bright. Overtime as the batteries run low, you will also notice that the beam will decrease in brightness. This means to get new batteries! There is no low battery indicator light on these headlights.
I would highly recommend that you get two of these lights and a rechargeable battery system as well. It is a fairly inexpensive system to invest in if you just want to be seen. If you want to be seen and BE ABLE TO SEE clearly your riding path, then you may want to invest in a HID (High Intensity Discharge) system which can run anywhere from $55.00 to $500 at your local REI store. These lights are the brightest lights I've ever seen but cost you an arm and a leg.
But for just normal city riding to just be seen the Bell Dawn Patrol Xenon bicycle headlights work just fine for me.
(Also I have crashed once on my bike once before, and one of the lights popped off the handlebar mount. I also lost my batteries inside as well... oh well. :( )
Click Here to see more reviews about: Bell Dawn Patrol Headlight
Product Description:
Black, high impact plastic. Bright headlight with illuminated side lenses. Fits all bicycles. Mounts on handlebar stem. Uses 2 "C" batteries not included.
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