Cygolite Metro Plus 800 & Hotshot Pro 150 Light Set

The front light takes a long time to charge, otherwise all good

I have a Cygolite kit on all of our family bikes. I started off with the metro 500, then the 700, now the 800. They are basically the same thing just the higher the number the brightest the light.

We have had these for 5+ years now (the metro 500) and the battery life is almost the same as when it was new.

The rear lights are the best, and can be seen from nearly any distance. The 500 is bright enough for city riding at night time. The new 800 is very bright and really illuminates everything in front of you. You might want to step up to something more serious if you are trail riding on a mountain bike at night

I love that the rear light mount is a very solid attachment to the seatpost. This will fit almost any bike without issue, and never slip.

The reason for the 4 start review is because of the front light mount. It could have a bigger diameter. Many bikes now use larger diameter bars, especially near the stem. This is a tough fit for my mountain bike, I had to mount it further out than I wanted, and I only get a few threads of engagement. It has never fallen off, but it would have been nice to have a slightly bigger mount.

I’ve researched many bicycle lights before finally deciding on the Cygolite Metro Plus 800 and Hotshot Pro 150 combo. The head light provides more than enough brightness to light up the road in front of you. Anything brighter would be overkill IMHO. I’ve never had to use the highest setting yet but I’m sure it would come in handy on trail rides. The handlebar mount for the head light is much better than some of the others out there and is rock solid. I was initially disappointed about the lumens not being listed for the different settings, however this was soon a none issue. Bottom line….this set of lights is super bright and allows you to be seen by motorists. I highly recommend this set of lights.

I’ve been commuting for about 4 weeks now with this light set. I don’t think there’s a better deal out there- these lights are both at the top of the ratings at bikelightdatabase and I’ve been very happy with them. My commute is 35-40 minutes on an bike with a mix of urban and suburban streets as well as a few miles on a paved rail trail. The variety of flash and brightness settings cover all situations at all times of day. The super-bright headlight and tail light flashes are definitely effective at getting driver attention even in bright sun. At night, I especially appreciate the high setting on the headlight- I can’t imagine a brighter headlight being much more useful, and the lens really helps with the coverage. I do wish the battery lasted a bit longer- if I leave early enough to be in the dark for both the morning and the night, I have to either choose a lower brightness setting or charge my light at work. I have had absolutely no problems with the tail light battery so far. The mounts are good- I knocked one star off because the knob on the front light protrudes and makes it a bit hard to get exactly the right angle I want given how crowded my handlebars are with cables.

If you do run the headlight on high, please be courteous to oncoming riders and walkers and cover the light with you hand when passing. It is blinding at night when seen from the front.

2nd set of Cygolite lights, I’ve purchased. Just great products.

Front light is amazing for the size. Back light we will see how long this one will last. Past three didn’t last long.

Update 11-21- 2022….

After using these for awhile, I still have no regrets about this purchase. The lights and battery life have worked well for me and how I use them. I’ve also been told that the lights are very visible during the daytime.

I have learned two things:

Be careful with the USB covers. The one on my headlight came out when charging one time, and the one on my tail light also tried to “escape” when I was removing the light from the bike.

After using the headlight for a period of time, you will notice a consistent “flicker”, every couple of minutes when on steady mode. When I noticed this with mine, I did a search and the only answer I found was that it was an indication that the light needed recharging.

One of the internet search results said that you needed to recharge within 10 minutes or something like that. So, I tested mine.

Rest assured, if you notice your light flickering and it’s dusk or dark, you should have plenty of time to get where you are going. I set mine on medium steady in my basement. It ran for well over two hours and had been flickering for awhile before I did the test.

In the end, it never did die. It just got dimmer as time went on, until I shut it down and charged it.

For me this has been a solid purchase.

***Original Review Below***

As the traffic has dramatically increased on the rural roads where I live and ride, I decided to get some lights for my bicycle so I’d be more visible. After becoming overwhelmed by all the lights that were available, I chose this Cygolite set based on price, overall reputation and reviews.

Out of the box they powered up and cycled through all the settings. There are plenty of settings on both the head light and tail light including brightness (steady mode headlight and tail light) and flash speed (tail light only as the headlight modes are fixed).

My bicycles are 2003 and 2006 with small diameter bars and seat posts, so there was no issue with the mounts like people with newer bikes seem to have. These come with the plastic mounts and I do agree with some people that the rubber style mounting may be better and in my case would have made switching from bicycle to bicycle a little easier. However, we also know that the rubber bands stretch and deteriorate… so I guess that boils down to preference. As for me, I just bought another set of Cygolite mounts for for my other bike.

The daylight photo’s were taken about 10 minutes after the lights were unboxed. They were taken with a Galaxy S6 with no zoom or photo editing. The bicycle is approximately 160 feet away and is facing full sun. The head light and tail light are on their brightest steady settings (the head light is not on boost). While it is not really clear in the photo’s, both the head light and tail light were easily visible despite the sunlight. The flashing modes were even more visible.

For the three night headlight photos, the bicycle is where I was standing when I photographed it during the daytime. So you are now looking towards the end of the driveway. The photos show the steady low, steady medium and steady high settings ( I did not use Boost).

The night tail light picture was taken with the bicycle in the same position as it was during the daytime photo, about a160 feet away or so. The tail light is on the same high steady mode that it was during the daytime photo.

The other night photo, shows the bicycle from the side and was taken from about 25 or so feet away.

After the photo’s were taken, the lights were charged on a wall adapter and took 2-3 hours to completely charge.

I tested the headlight, after it was fully charged, at night and it seemed to me that the boost is actually a quick way to get a lower setting, or flashing setting, to the brightest setting. When I tried boost while on the steady/full brightness setting, I couldn’t see a difference.

At this point I can’t vouch for battery life or longevity as I haven’t really used them yet. For now, I just wanted to get some photo’s posted of how this set performs day/night and hope these pictures help someone else make their decision.

I was actually considering the Ranger 1400 and Hypershot 350, before making this purchase. However after seeing how these perform in the conditions I’ll be riding in (rural roads with sun and shade as well as at twilight), I think the Ranger 1400 and Hypershot 350 may have been too bright for motorists. As it is, when I set these lights up, I made sure to check them from a distance while seated in my car to make sure they weren’t annoying to me as a driver and to pick the best visible tail light setting to my eye.

Bottom line, I have no regrets with this purchase at this point and will update the review as I use this set.