NiteHawk Emitter (wow!)

"Frank Krygowski" wrote in message


[...]

Please keep track of the hours of use, to tell us how long the
batteries last.

I found one report which says it lasted the full nine hours:
http://forums.bicycling.com/thread.j...4317&tstart=15.
Interestingly, the "digital emitter" version only claims five hours at 100%.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Roger Zoul wrote:


BTW, what is the theory on aiming the beam? I just did a quick spin around
the neighborhood. The light definitely can light up a dark road....but
riding in the dark is a totally new experience...I may need a helmet version
of this light too, as well as something as bright on the back so I can make
sure cars seem be from behind. I currently have a 3 LED Trek tail light
now.

If night riding is new for you, I'd strongly suggest finding a friend to
a) drive by at night, from different directions in different lighting
conditions, to tell you how easy you are to see; and
b) ride your bike for you while you observe by driving by in a car.

You can learn a lot this way.


In my experience, all but the tiniest LED taillights do fine. I back
them up with reflectors, and/or reflective tape.

Regarding the headlight aiming: with my generator lights, I have the
top part of the beam sort of skimming the road out into the distance,
like the brighter yellow part of the top picture in
http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/chapter8a.htm

And I do mount my headlights lower than my handlebar, as John Allen
suggests at that page. When the beam skims the road, you can see bumps
and holes better.

--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

Roger Zoul wrote:


BTW, what is the theory on aiming the beam? I just did a quick spin around
the neighborhood. The light definitely can light up a dark road....but
riding in the dark is a totally new experience...I may need a helmet version
of this light too, as well as something as bright on the back so I can make
sure cars seem be from behind. I currently have a 3 LED Trek tail light
now.

If night riding is new for you, I'd strongly suggest finding a friend to
a) drive by at night, from different directions in different lighting
conditions, to tell you how easy you are to see; and
b) ride your bike for you while you observe by driving by in a car.

You can learn a lot this way.


In my experience, all but the tiniest LED taillights do fine. I back
them up with reflectors, and/or reflective tape.

Regarding the headlight aiming: with my generator lights, I have the
top part of the beam sort of skimming the road out into the distance,
like the brighter yellow part of the top picture in
http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/chapter8a.htm

And I do mount my headlights lower than my handlebar, as John Allen
suggests at that page. When the beam skims the road, you can see bumps
and holes better.

--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

DRS wrote:
|| "Roger Zoul" wrote in message
||
||| I just got this thing. I put some batteries in it and went outside
||| to see how well it worked. I hit the button once to turn it on (the
||| button is a bit of a pain). I was impressed by the beam. I could
||| illuminate a previously invisible stop sign a good 75 yards away.
||| What was really cool was when I tried to see how to activate the
||| low-power mode. I then discovered the 100% mode -- which generates
||| a beam that reminds me of my big Mag flashlight which runs on 4 D
||| size batteries. I can't believe this thing can get anywhere near 9
||| hours on 4 AA size batteries - but if it comes close I'm going to
||| be a
||| happy camper. It should really open up the road on a dark morning
||| when I'm leaving my house for an early AM ride. I can't wait.
||
|| Interesting. What made you choose it over its competitors?

There was a post here...and then I did some googling to reviews.

||
|| Those interested can see it at
|| http://www.nite-hawk.com/bikeemitter.html.
||
|| --
||
|| A: Top-posters.
|| Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

DRS wrote:
|| "Roger Zoul" wrote in message
||
||| I just got this thing. I put some batteries in it and went outside
||| to see how well it worked. I hit the button once to turn it on (the
||| button is a bit of a pain). I was impressed by the beam. I could
||| illuminate a previously invisible stop sign a good 75 yards away.
||| What was really cool was when I tried to see how to activate the
||| low-power mode. I then discovered the 100% mode -- which generates
||| a beam that reminds me of my big Mag flashlight which runs on 4 D
||| size batteries. I can't believe this thing can get anywhere near 9
||| hours on 4 AA size batteries - but if it comes close I'm going to
||| be a
||| happy camper. It should really open up the road on a dark morning
||| when I'm leaving my house for an early AM ride. I can't wait.
||
|| Interesting. What made you choose it over its competitors?

There was a post here...and then I did some googling to reviews.

||
|| Those interested can see it at
|| http://www.nite-hawk.com/bikeemitter.html.
||
|| --
||
|| A: Top-posters.
|| Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Frank Krygowski wrote:
|| Roger Zoul wrote:
||
|||
||| BTW, what is the theory on aiming the beam? I just did a quick
||| spin around the neighborhood. The light definitely can light up a
||| dark road....but riding in the dark is a totally new experience...I
||| may need a helmet version of this light too, as well as something
||| as bright on the back so I can make sure cars seem be from behind.
||| I currently have a 3 LED Trek tail light now.
||
|| If night riding is new for you, I'd strongly suggest finding a
|| friend to
|| a) drive by at night, from different directions in different lighting
|| conditions, to tell you how easy you are to see; and
|| b) ride your bike for you while you observe by driving by in a car.

Good ideas....I have a buddy who is also interested, so I'll enlist his
aid...

||
|| You can learn a lot this way.
||

I agree. I'd really like to be confident I can be seen at night.

||
|| In my experience, all but the tiniest LED taillights do fine. I back
|| them up with reflectors, and/or reflective tape.

I do have some tape.

||
|| Regarding the headlight aiming: with my generator lights, I have the
|| top part of the beam sort of skimming the road out into the distance,
|| like the brighter yellow part of the top picture in
|| http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/chapter8a.htm
||
|| And I do mount my headlights lower than my handlebar, as John Allen
|| suggests at that page. When the beam skims the road, you can see
|| bumps
|| and holes better.

Yes, being able to see the bumps & holes will be helpful.

However, I think to a large degree, I have a solution. There is the 7-mile
loop around the Donaldson Center here in Greenville SC. No animals, no
traffic lights, but also no street lights - it should be very dark. So this
thing should light up everything at night....him....except me!?! Maybe that
is not such a good solution -- unless I take a flashlight or a helmet light.
It seems like to be effective, you need to see more than just the road. I
was thinking of doing 4 laps in the morning before work, getting out there
while it's still dark and riding into daylight. Maybe not.

Frank Krygowski wrote:
|| Roger Zoul wrote:
||
|||
||| BTW, what is the theory on aiming the beam? I just did a quick
||| spin around the neighborhood. The light definitely can light up a
||| dark road....but riding in the dark is a totally new experience...I
||| may need a helmet version of this light too, as well as something
||| as bright on the back so I can make sure cars seem be from behind.
||| I currently have a 3 LED Trek tail light now.
||
|| If night riding is new for you, I'd strongly suggest finding a
|| friend to
|| a) drive by at night, from different directions in different lighting
|| conditions, to tell you how easy you are to see; and
|| b) ride your bike for you while you observe by driving by in a car.

Good ideas....I have a buddy who is also interested, so I'll enlist his
aid...

||
|| You can learn a lot this way.
||

I agree. I'd really like to be confident I can be seen at night.

||
|| In my experience, all but the tiniest LED taillights do fine. I back
|| them up with reflectors, and/or reflective tape.

I do have some tape.

||
|| Regarding the headlight aiming: with my generator lights, I have the
|| top part of the beam sort of skimming the road out into the distance,
|| like the brighter yellow part of the top picture in
|| http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/chapter8a.htm
||
|| And I do mount my headlights lower than my handlebar, as John Allen
|| suggests at that page. When the beam skims the road, you can see
|| bumps
|| and holes better.

Yes, being able to see the bumps & holes will be helpful.

However, I think to a large degree, I have a solution. There is the 7-mile
loop around the Donaldson Center here in Greenville SC. No animals, no
traffic lights, but also no street lights - it should be very dark. So this
thing should light up everything at night....him....except me!?! Maybe that
is not such a good solution -- unless I take a flashlight or a helmet light.
It seems like to be effective, you need to see more than just the road. I
was thinking of doing 4 laps in the morning before work, getting out there
while it's still dark and riding into daylight. Maybe not.

"Roger Zoul" wrote in message

DRS wrote:

[...]

Interesting. What made you choose it over its competitors?

There was a post here...and then I did some googling to reviews.

The reviews I've seen have been very positive. I do wish the standard unit
had a flash mode though. I'm not convinced of the usefulness of the 10%
mode, which means it would always be at 100%.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

"Roger Zoul" wrote in message

DRS wrote:

[...]

Interesting. What made you choose it over its competitors?

There was a post here...and then I did some googling to reviews.

The reviews I've seen have been very positive. I do wish the standard unit
had a flash mode though. I'm not convinced of the usefulness of the 10%
mode, which means it would always be at 100%.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

DRS wrote:
|| "Roger Zoul" wrote in message
||
||| DRS wrote:
||
|| [...]
||
||||| Interesting. What made you choose it over its competitors?
|||
||| There was a post here...and then I did some googling to reviews.
||
|| The reviews I've seen have been very positive. I do wish the
|| standard unit had a flash mode though. I'm not convinced of the
|| usefulness of the 10% mode, which means it would always be at 100%.

Yeah, I don't plan to use the 10% mode - I can't see a reason to. However,
the nitehawk people get to claim 72 hours of light -- so that must be why.
I'll take the 9 hrs using rechargables.