Cygolite MityCross 350

[vkan]

I just picked up one of these on sale at Performance Bike for ~$160 after coupon. It's a tiny, solid, aluminum-bodied, made in the USA, dual-LED light with a Li-ion battery and comes with handlebar and helmet mounts, advertised as putting out 350 lumens on high for 3.5 hours.

I haven't ridden with it yet, but initial impressions shining it around neighborhood streets (as well as up into trees, against the side of the house, etc. enough to get my neighbor to come over and investigate the strange goings on :-) indicate that it'll be a nice light for riding on the roads.

I've been in the LED-flashlight-as-bike-light camp for a while, but after seeing a modern, high powered LED bike light in action, I may change my mind. Plus, at $160 it's basically the same money as a couple of 180 lumen Fenix LD20's, two bike mounts, eight NiMH batteries (for four hours of runtime on turbo for both lights) + smart charger.

But the important thing is that it projects a smooth, wide beam that doesn't waste light up in the trees and the sky when set up for riding on the road. There are no hot spots or rings to distract me. Plus it's got a battery gauge.

I had been tempted by the Dinotte 400L, which is on summer sale at their company web site, but I opted for the Cygolite instead because:

- I can return it to a local store if I don't like it
- it has quick release mounts (the 400L handlebar mount requires tools)
- the Cygolite with the battery+charger and both mounts was the same price (with coupon) as the Dinotte on sale without battery and only the handlebar mount

To Dinotte's credit, they're known to have great customer service, offer light engine upgrades, etc. and I probably would have gone with them except for the quick release issue since I know I need that capability.

I hope to write up a review of the MityCross after I get to use it a bit.

 

[monkeyboy]

I got the tridenX and I'm very happy with it. Good output, nice beam pattern for cycling, intuitive UI. The Cygolites are using the current generation of LEDs (ssc P4) and are great value for money IMO.

 

[vkan]

I've done a couple of night rides with the light on high, totaling about 90 minutes and so far the battery, rated for 3.5 hours or 210 minutes on high, is still reading full. Hopefully I'll get one or two more night rides in this week (or maybe not since that means I'll be working late :-).

I haven't noticed any diminished output during the ride, the housing remains just barely warm and there's no rattling, shaking or flickering as I've had with flashlights and mounts like TwoFish LockBlocks.

The beam pattern is pretty good. It's wide and uniform, but it'd be nice if it threw a little further. I suppose the CygoLite TridenX with three LEDs and rated for 600 lumens (vs. the MityCross' two LEDs and rated 350 lumens) would be just the thing, but cost nearly twice as much. I think part of this is also that the way I have it mounted on my recument is lower than it would be on a regular bike's handlebars so if I do point it down the road, the light spreads out more than it would if it were up higher. But then having it low shows road texture better??

Still, at no time did I feel I was riding beyond the light, including on downhills, and the only time I felt I needed my helmet light for auxiliary lighting was when there were lots of cross streets and I wanted to be able to point a light at cars approaching the junction to ensure that my presence was known.

The light even holds its own against oncoming traffic

 

[Meatblaster9000]

Hi VKAN, My name is Chris. I was wondering where you got that coupon for that light?

 

[OneBigDay]

I came across this thread and thought I would comment as well. I purchased the Cygolite MityCross 350 LED in June 2009 and have had a whole season to ride with it now (below freezing riding is out for me so I'm done for the year most likely).

I absolutely love this light. In fact this was what got me started down the road of LED/flashlight appreciation. My choice of this light was somewhat more random than the typical seasoned CPF members. I do mostly light trail riding. Nothing hardcore, but almost entirely off of any main streets. I found myself wanting to go riding at night and the places I usually ride are not light enough to ride without a light (unless injury is acceptable). I purchased it primarily for these reasons...

• Li-Ion battery type is very light in weight (good for riding)
• Very small footprint on the bike overall
• Lumen output seemed reasonable for a mid price range bike light
• The main body of the light is easily removed from the bike (quick release feature)
• Battery Pack is also quickly and easily removed from the bike
• Waterproof
• Some really good detailed reviews I had read (probably on Amazon)

After riding for a season I can list a ton of pros and only a couple nit picky cons. I use this light alone as a driving headlight mounted on the bike.

Pros:
Everything I mentioned above as reasons for buying turned out to be true benefits (not just marketing hype).
i.e. Light weight battery, overall small footprint, Great Output, quick release, waterproof.
The Lumen output is awesome for any serious bike rider who needs light in different situations. The low mode is great for riding on city streets where your path is already lit from street lights, but you want a little help and want to be noticed by traffic. The Medium mode is usually sufficient for any other riding. Medium is bright enough to light your path on a completely dark trail at average speeds (?15 mph maybe?). The High mode will definitely give enough light in situations where Medium doesn't do it (either very dark or you are moving particularly fast, or for those who just want to show off). If I'm on a dark trail and my total ride time is 1 1/2 hours or less, I will use High mode for most of the ride.
The beam pattern is really nice and smooth.
This will pop reflective street signs off that are 4 - 6 city blocks away.
It is a really nice looking light, which doesn't affect functionality but let's be honest it does factor in.
Regarding it being waterproof - I am a mostly fair weather rider so I can't comment on this. I have been misted on with light rain but nothing to really test this feature out.

Cons:
I only really have 2 complaints with this light and one is not even with the light itself, it's just emerging technology...

Li-Ion run times. Sigh... I had to at least say it. Run time is not great. I've never run it completely down but have come close when I did a couple back to back rides and forgot to charge in between. It's 2.5 hours on high or something like that. This is not so much a comment on the cygolite, but rather just a reality of the (Li-Ion battery) technology. So it is a real gripe but not with the implementation of this specific light.

The only true issue I have with this light is that the battery level indicator does not really work well enough to call it a feature. First off the indicator is subject to whether you have properly charged it or not (which I always do). But it still seems to give false low battery readings when the light is well charged? But the problem is that you judge the battery level by the "blink speed" of a red light that you can hardly see in the first place. Most of the time when I look at it, I can't see if it is blinking at all (i.e. riding is the main focus), once I see that it is blinking - you have to realize it is totally subjective - "how fast is a slow blink" or "how fast is a fast blink". Without some kind of reference point, it just simply is not useful. Cygolite could easily fix this by simply having 3-5 small dots/bars, and full charge would show 5 bars and go down from there (that's my wish list). If they did this I'd have to say this light is perfect.

The tint of the light is cool (as far as my uneducated eyes can tell). I don't mind this at all, but it seems some people prefer warm tones. Not sure if this is even a talking point with bike lights? I see that it is a big topic with flashlights.

IMO this is an excellent riding light :thumbsup: that I would recommend to anyone. For real world use this light gives off more than enough output to satisfy all but the toughest critics.

 

[BrianMc]

It seems like a good place for me to thank Cygolite for their service on a discontinued NOS Z-force HID bought August of 2008. They sent a slow charger (12 volt wall wart) to augment the smart/fast charger free of charge and suggested charging procedures that brought the battery back from about 60% rated storage to almost 90% (too long uncharged on a shelf). :clap:

That battery is still over 80% original capacity and appears to be almost 4-years old. It is very waterproof with the charge port cap closed. The Head unit was also well designed. It taught me a lot about bike lighting likes and dislikes related solely to HID as a technology and about lumens versus candellas. Cygolite's take on HID was very good. I received complements on it even as a daytime running light. :twothumbs

I can still buy a new 12 volt NiMH 5 A-hr 'water bottle' battery from them, though they don't exactly give them away. :broke:

Only two comments on the battery (besides price, weight, and volume compared to discount Li-ion, of course). One is that you get a red LED telling you you have maybe 10 minutes left when on HID just enough to break out the back up light. With LEDs: just switch down and you'll get home. If you run a TaskLed driver with battery monitoring, the warning is a total non-issue. So it appears this battery is a bit overbuilt. The other is that the On/Off switch is hard to use with gloves covering the ends of your fingers. A little epoxy (applied carefully) plus an extension, equals fixed.

If you are considering Cygolite, you now know them a little better. This is not to say others may be as good. I just have no experience with them.

 

[auroreboreale]

MEC in Canada has been carrying these for a while, so I took the plunge; so far, I have had it on as a helmet light for much of this long subarctic winter, down to -21C (battery pack inside the jacket where it stays warm), and it has performed as expected. I will let you know if it still does at -40C! It was a big step to go from a 32W overhead projector MR11 system with a 2kg NICAD battery to this!

As for burn times, I get by quite well running on 'Low' and even on 'walk' or 'blink' mode in daylight, so I think the burn times are good!