NiteRider Pro 700 LED Race - Preview

Following a move to the West Coast, it was apparent that I was going to need lights for trail riding due to the extended, but nearly always dark and wet, riding season. It may be pitch black at 4:30 in the afternoon, but that doesn't mean I'm going to miss out on a ride. NiteRider makes everything from compact flashers for commuting to massive dual bulb trail blazers that could probably be seen from space. While I wanted as much light as possible, who doesn't, I also was looking for a compact package that wouldn't feel as if I have a cinder block strapped to my helmet. Their Pro 700 LED Race fit the bill for my needs with its claimed 700 lumens and reasonable size. The first thing you notice when unpacking the light is the case, NiteRider includes a sweet nylon zip-up bag to keep everything safe and in one place while traveling. A nice touch indeed considering that these lights are far from inexpensive. The build quality is above and beyond what I was expecting. Everything is sturdy and looks up to the task at hand. Even the mounts are solid feeling, which is a major weak point of a lot of other options out there. Attention to detail appears to have been key in their design.

The Pro 700 LED Race has an extremely long model name, and a list of features that match it. First and foremost on my own wish list was brightness. The Pro 700 puts out 700 lumens of blackness piercing light. In a large garage it pretty much turns night into day. The Borofloat lens looks like it will do a good job of focusing light where you need it, while slowly fading it out to the sides of the trail for good peripheral vision. The light is powerful enough to see a good distance ahead of you, allowing you to ride full bore.

With 3 stock power levels and a flashing strobe mode to chose from right off the bat, most users will be more than happy. However, if you need more customization and want to really geek out, the DIY software package will come to the rescue. The Pro 700 LED Race comes with both bar and helmet mounts and if you only have one light, mounting it on the helmet is a must as it allows you to look into corners and off to the sides, while a bar mount would not. Just beware - you can easily blind your riding buddies if you look at them to talk. The light's helmet mount looks sturdy and is easy to put on. It also doesn't stick up too far, and a cool little slide system allows you to easily adjust the tilt of the light for both head position and helmet shape. The light head itself has a built in 8 step "Fuel Gauge". A quick look and you can tell how much juice you have left to go.

The bar mounting system is eons better than most bar mounts. Not only does it look overbuilt and solid, but it is also easy to install and centers the light directly over your stem's faceplate. It fits both 25.4 mm and 31.8 mm bars through the use of rubber pads that clip inside, and a simple swing knob tightens everything down. While I don't have any trail time on the NiteRider's yet, this mount looks to be the best out there.

Weight was the next concern on my list. Powerful lights usually mean big batteries, and big batteries do not equal light weight. While not exactly petite, using Li-Ion battery technology has allowed NiteRider to create a 505g, 4 cell pack for the 700 Race model that gives you a claimed 2:40 run time at full power, and up to 32 hours on low! Most of the system's weight is centered around the battery pack, which is nice, as it means you only have a small amount of bulk on top of your head with the battery in your pack and the included long cord extension attached.

If you are running it bar mounted, the cradle that attached the pack to the light has a great rubberized Velcro mounting system so that you can simply strap it to your top tube and go. At first I was worried about clearance for shocks and cables, but it fits snugly on my size small Orange 5. You'll need to keep in mind that this location may not be ideal if your bike uses top tube mounted cable guides, but I don't see an issue mounting it underneath the tube as well.

The charging system for the lights resembles the same thing you'd get with a high end cordless drill. It's a nicely built cradle with power, error and stepped charge level indicator lights. It also includes a USB port to charge some of their smaller lights at the same time. The battery slips out of its holder and into the charging cradle. One of the last, but most interesting features is the D.I.Y. software. This program lets you tune the lights power modes to your own needs. Do you need a low power commute mode that will go and go, or a high power trail mode for maximum output and a flashing SOS mode to save your ass when you get lost? No problem! You can simply use the sliders in the software to tune the different settings to your needs, click save and the USB attached light is updated, just like that. So far, there are only a few niggling concerns we have. One is that the power cable enters the lamp on the side, great for bar mounting, but slightly awkward for helmet mounting as the cable is insanely long with the extension in, but too short to get to the backpack without. Thankfully, a small looped piece of Velcro is included around the cable, and can be used to strap the end of it down to a helmet vent and get it out of the way. Another is that the light must get extremely hot when in extended use, despite being an LED, as the lamp itself is highly vented. This has us questioning how durable it will be in the foggy, rainy conditions that will be prevalent on the West coast all winter. How will this high end light handle our monsoon season Fall and Winter trail conditions?