Cygolite Metro Bicycle Headlight Models – USB Rechargeable

This light is as bright as they claim, very sturdy & can double as a flashlight…👍.

For long rides at night under a moonless sky, this isn’t your light. Mainly, the battery will wear out in a few hours.

But for just about everything else, the Cygolite Metro 1100 checks all the boxes.

It’s light. Cheap. Durable. And powerful.

The bracket works reasonably well, with included shims, but I still long for a stem attachment (I would buy separate). It’s hard to keep the light tracking level after you hit the rough stuff. And by rough, I’m talking about the kind of hits that sting. Most riding does not affect the position.

I recommend these lights primarily for commuters, but I use mine for much more. It’s great “insurance” if your ride ends up taking long than you expected, and you have to pedal home in the dark.

I also use this light for winter fat biking, paired with a helmet mounted Metro 360. This is a decent setup.

It charges with a MIcro USB, a common plug-in these days, and comes with an included cable. And this one charges a lot faster than the 360 I have.

The battery does seem to last as advertised, and I normally run it on strobe for daytime, and the highest setting for night riding.

I do see lots of these on the racks when I commute. Or out in the wild. They’re common because of all the boxes they check.

If you’re on the fence about this light, buy it. You won’t be disappointed.

I have used this lamp for about 6 months now and it had been brilliant, in every sense.
The brightness is amazing, so you really can ride with confidence in dark country lanes which are otherwise pitch black.
The battery actually lasts as long as the manufacturer says. That is a long time obviously depending on the setting.
It has a good range of settings.
During the day use it with “double flash” and be sure oncoming motorists WILL see you, in in bright daylight.
It recharges quickly.
It is very light weight.
It is not the cheapest cycle lamp you can buy but it is unquestionably great value for money.
Unhesitatingly recommended.

I originally ordered the 800-lumen Cygolite model, but Amazon pulled some kind of whammy, whereby the unit went out of stock *after* I’d purchased it. Very odd. Anyway, rather than wait an estimated two weeks, I canceled the order and shifted to the 1100-lumen model. After a few nights’ use, I can’t say I regret the extra $50 I spent in moving up.

The Metro Pro 11100 is way, way brighter than I need it to be. I use it on the lowest setting, and even then I have it directed downward at the road ahead of me rather than up into the faces of oncoming motorists. This configuration gives me exactly what I need for city riding. But it’s great to know that I can detour into a darkened park or onto rough terrain, and see as clearly as I would have by the light of my motorcycle headlight. I don’t use the flashing modes, and having experienced them from oncoming cyclists, I’d say they’re probably far more dangerous than helpful. I can see no way that blinding and dazzling a driver – or cyclist – could improve the odds of them avoiding you. However, I do appreciate the Cygolite’s ability to remember my chosen mode.

Physically, the Cygolite is even smaller than I expected (and I never thought it would be huge). The light snaps on and off it’s handlebar mount smoothly and easily. The construction is all-plastic, and I’d hate to try dropping it onto concrete. But the light has a nice solid feel to it, and I’m guessing it will hold up well in normal use. Overall, I’m glad I went with the Cygolite over the many no-name options, and not unhappy that I got bumped to the high-end model. I’d certainly recommend this light to anyone anticipating a fair bit of night riding – or any cyclist who feels it’s important to be visible from the International Space Station.

Very bright, small, well-made, no real complaints. The beam pattern is really great, the diffuser helps get a nice wide beam that feels safer than non-diffused lights I have used, especially when riding through corners. Longer battery life would be nice, but then it would be a bigger light and for me, 1 hour at the full 1100 lumens is enough for me; and on the “medium” setting you get about 3 hours at about 366 lumens . If you need more run time at high brightness, check out the Cygolite Trion 1300, which gives you 1:45 at 1300.

I think 1100 lumens is probably overkill if you’re just trying to “be seen” by drivers, but it’s great if you are riding at night down a dark road with no street lights. Part of my ride is on a forest path in the early morning with basically no lighting, and the 1100 lights it up like I was driving a car with the high beams on. When I’m on the main road, or when it’s daytime, I can turn the power down to medium (about 366 lumens) to conserve battery life and not blind people.

The Cygolite 1100 really is just an incredible achievement, and the engineers should be proud. It makes a nice little flashlight to take with you as well – it’s small, bright, and easy to recharge on USB.

Comparison to a much older LED light:

It really amazes me how powerful bike lights are now with all the advances in LED technology. About ten years ago I bought a Niterider Minewt X2 for a princely sum of about 150 dollars. It put out 150 lumens on max power and is almost twice the size of the Cygolite Metro series. That’s a dollar a lumen. Today, I can buy a 1100 lumen light for about 10 cents per lumen! So, the size of LED bike lights has come down noticeably, and the price has come down 90% in terms of dollars per lumen. Just for fun, I charged up my 10 year old NiteRider and compared it to the Cygolite 1100. It’s like comparing a cheap old flashlight to a car headlight or something – really incredible.