Customer Reviews

CygoLite Milion 200 LED Rechargable 1-Piece HeadLight W/ Helmet Mount.

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently purchased a new bike, and decided that I should get some lights for it so I can ride at night safely, and not have to worry about getting home from work early enough to do my daily ride while there is still daylight out.

My first experience riding in the dark was with a typical "$35.00 commuter light". The experience was not fun....I constantly felt as though I was about to hit some obstacle that I just could not see due to the lack of solid bright light. When I got home, I thought to myself "I wish there was a light I could get that would work like my SureFire tactical flashlights do". Well, the Cygolite does this.

The MilIon 200 USB cranks out 200 lumens at its high setting, and also gives you a 150 lumen medium setting which is bright enough for most riding. I compared the MilIon 200 USB to my SureFire LumaMax (a 200 lumen tactical flashlight), and found both to be nearly identical brightness. The Cygolight has a wider, more diffuse hotspot which is better for illuminating the area in front of your bike. Also, my Cygolite delivers a near pure-white light with no obvious color cast.

Build quality is excellent, and all of the features work perfectly. The charge indicator, which changes from red to green when the battery has a full charge, is a fantastic feature. I read some other reviews where the reviewer said this didn't work, but on my light it does. Although the MilIon 200 ships with a small charge in its battery, it takes pretty much a full 5 hours of continuous charging to fill it up the first time (the manual says this as well, and my real world experience confirms it). The handlebar mount is well built, and extremely easy to install...takes about 90 seconds. It provides a very strong and stable attachment of the light to your bar, and is easy to make fine adjustments with. But, once you have it the way you like it, it will stay put, even over alot of bumps. You can purchase additional mounts for your other bikes also for pretty cheap. I have not tried the helmet mount.

The single design fault I could find is the attachment of the quick-release clip to the light body itself. This is via a single phillips head screw. I have read other reviews where this screw apparently vibrated loose, causing the light to drop off the bike at speed. They all said the light faired fine, and continued to function perfectly (due to its solid build). However, this is totally avoidable with a really easy fix. Here is a very easy fix to permanently correct this single minor issue: BEFORE YOU USE THIS LIGHT, UNSCREW THE PHILLIPS SCREW THAT ATTACHES THE QUICK RELEASE CLIP TO THE LIGHT, PUT A SMALL DROP OF BLUE (AKA REMOVABLE) LOCKTITE ON THE SCREW, AND THEN RE-ATTACH THE CLIP, TIGHTENING THE SCREW TO A SOLID "HAND TIGHT" TORQUE. This will ensure that the screw stays firmly tight, will not vibrate loose, but still gives you a nice firm side-to-side rotation adjustment if you desire that.

I have been on a few rides with this light and I really love it. It makes the experience of riding in the dark pleasureable, even perhaps addictive. I enjoy riding at night because it is cool out and there usually isn't much wind. The drawback was that it was risky due to lack of visibility (my ability to see surroundings, and vehicles ability to see me). The Cygolite MiLion 200 USB solves that problem 100%. Riding in the dark with an excellent light like this is a fun experience.

I highly recommend this light to anyone. It is built beautifully, has great features, is reasonably priced, and is simply a step above any of its competition in the marketplace, including more expensive offerings from other companies.

I hope this review is helpful.

My wife and I commute 10 miles roundtrip every day, rain or shine. These lights are convenient to charge at our desks with the USB output from our work computers. The beam is white and bright enough to light the way at 25mph with no other light sources (streetlamps, cars, moon, etc.) around. The included battery is convenient and powerful. Weight is not of concern to us as we ride steel touring bikes with fenders, racks, bags, etc., but these are comparable to cheap 4 AAA type lights.
Warranty: Mine did stop working after about 2 months. Cygolite was AWESOME over the phone. They dropped a replacement in the mail the same day and told me to return the failed one when I received it. I really appreciate that kind of service when I depend on this light to get to and from work. I'm considering purchasing a second milion 200 to aid in vehicle visibility. Then I will use two of these on high beam, plus a flashing light on the handlebar for attention-getting.

What I like about this light is that it is an all-in-one design. I bought the Milion 200 a few weeks back from another site and didn't really think too much of it at first because of its small physical dimensions. Seriously though, don't judge a book by its cover...it turned out that I was proved wrong as soon as I fired up this monster. A few of my riding buddies have comparable products but let's be honest here, the Milion by far has more shine on the road.

Now, the build quality is good too. It's really durable (I've dropped it a few times, but it's still going strong). I believe the rear is plastic and the front is some sort of metal (most likely aluminum), which I think is why they were able to keep the weight down without compromising the build quality. I also like how I can charge it through normal electrical outlets and USB.

Overall, I think it's an awesome light. The design is very sophisticated and futuristic looking. Props to Cygolite for a great product, and I'd recommend this to any type of rider out there.

Have not used this product too much yet, will update my review later. For now: it is surprisingly bright, seems more than its 200 rating. I like the bar clamp however it is best to use a couple winds of electical tape or similar around the bar before installing the clamp to provide additional material and keep the mount from slipping on the bare bar. The helmet mount works but could use a little help. I think the rubber pads just will not stay put on the slippery exterior of bike helmets. I don't really ever expect much out of velcro helment attachements of any kind and don't really fault the manufacturer, again, I'll just use electrical tape instead for a non-slip, easy to remove install. Glad the unit comes with both attachments (bar, helmet) seems to be solid, able to charge via wall plug or USB, like the charging/charge lites so you know its charged, and the single unit / no chords.

I ride a road bike for an hour our two before work in the morning. Most days its really dark especially on unlit country roads! I use two lights. The MilIon 200 (handlebar mounted) aimed down for close range. I also use the MityCross 350 (Helmet Mounted) to project a wide and long beam. The Combination is perfect! Overkill? Maybe. With enough light, early morning rides are fantastic. The MilIon 200 projects a very bright intense beam. I can clearly view the road surface in front of me. The MityCross 350 allows me to see farther ahead. Helmet mounting allows me to turn my head to view approaching animals or obstructions not directly in my path. I can see well enough to descend windy roads at 30+ MPH.

Two lights also provides a backup. I charge them each every other day. If one battery runs out the other is enough to get me home safely. Two lights are also unmistakable to cars. Most cars at intersections wait for me. In late spring and early summer when the sun comes up during the ride - I use only the MilIon 200. It provides good visibility through twilight and stays on to increase my visibility to motorists.

In a side-by-side comparison - the MilIon 200 seems to project a brighter beam. It is concentrated. The MityCross 350 has two beams - one wide one concentrated. The MityCross 350 is heavier and takes some getting used to on a helmet. Both are well built and rock solid. The MityCross 350 charger connection is a bit more robust, it charges faster, and lasts slightly longer on a charge. The switch on the MilIon 200 is nearly impossible to operate while wearing heavy gloves in winter. I turn it on before I leave the house.

If I could only afford one - the MityCross 350 has advantages. If cost is a major factor, choose the MilIon 200. Cygolite customer service has been great to deal with too. I've had mine for almost a year and both have performed perfectly. I purchased the MityCross 350 first - then added the MilIon 200 a month later. I am very pleased with both. Highly recommended!

This is the Light that I've waited on, glad that I spent the price difference between the 150 and the 200, because there's a big difference between the 150 setting and the 200 luman setting. Though slightly bigger in size then most niterider lights... I think it's worth the sacrifice in bigger size to get rid of a battery pack and cable.
The light cast a slightly Bluish light and disperses a pretty good spread of light.
You get 3 hours of life on the Battery on High
And 6 hours on Dim and Flashing.
Tell all your friends to get the 200

I received this yesterday and assembled it without any problems. I had to reverse the bracket as my front calipers got in the way, but the light itself is easily reversed too, so this was a great plus. I had a Blackburn before, and really needed to see more of the road, and this lights it up very well. I was able to easily ride around any pot holes that I would hit before.

Ironically, and no fault of the light, the first morning I go in to work using this light is the one day I get hit by a car from behind. He side swiped me on purpose as he yelled out a congratulatory "BAM" like he finally hit his target. I turned out ok, as did the bike, except for some heavy bruising on my right shoulder and ribs. Despite all the safety gear, there are still the idiots wanting to run you down.

Anyway, the light is great, no need to buy any other for road commuting. Off road you might want something with more luminosity, but for the road, this is great. Good price too. If you have more than one bike, you can get spare brackets so you can change the light from one bike to another. Can't do that with other brands, that I know of.

Oh, and you get a bracket to put it on your helmet too, if you want to do so. Just watch out for crazy people on the road. I wish I had a helmet cam at the time....

I got this light about a month ago, and it's improved my night commute home considerably. It's very bright, allowing me to see clearly in places I previously could see almost nothing. And because it uses a standard mini USB cord to charge, it's very easy to keep juiced up.

This replaced a normal, double-A battery powered light. The previous light was fairly bright with fresh batteries, but as the batteries wore down the light would get more and more dim. Replacing the batteries was a drag. Now I don't have to worry about it.

The helmet mount is nice, although that's possibly the one weakness. My previous light had a better quality mount. Not that there are any problems with it - the strap just seems small.

All in all very satisfied. It's expensive, but safety is worth much more than $100.

I love this light. I've had it 8 months now and it works great in both summer and winter. The light is extremely bright at night (make sure you angle it down so you don't blind drivers!) and loses no brightness after hours of riding. It's a fantastic safety device, I'm no longer nervous as hell riding on unlit country roads with a lousy light - one bad hole can destroy your wheel. It's easily the best value for the money of any LED light out there; the cheaper ones are all much weaker, and it's also easy to pay 4x as much for a barely perceptible difference. It's definitely a better value than their top-of-the-line lights that are perceptibly less than twice as bright even with 3x the lumens, although there are situations where that might be needed, and it's much less bulky and lighter than anything that uses a NiMH battery. Very easy to snap on and off when you lock up the bike. I also use it as a general flashlight when I don't have one handy, since it's several times brighter than my other LED flashlights and lasts so much longer than others even with rechargables. Great for working deep inside car engines.

I also heartily appreciate that it's the same charger (mini-USB) that my Blackberry & Motorola phones have used for years, and all phones are moving to. It keeps the charger proliferation to a minimum: One in the computer for trickle charges (and synching), one in the outlet for fast charging, one in the car, and one at work. It's awesome to reuse my phone charger investment.

The only minus in normal operation is that the light output is definitely reduced in very cold weather, like near or below freezing. That's true of any LED light anywhere, even CFL takes a long time to come to full brightness at that temp. You can either supplement with a cheap incandescent, or live with it, to me it's still sufficient. Also that it doesn't clamp my bar hard enough to stay at the perfect orientation because of the brake & shifter cables, but I'll have to fix that myself someday.

Last week I found that the case on mine had somehow cracked; I had approval for an RMA within hours, sent it in, and had it back by the following Tuesday. They really are a great company that stands behind their product.

Note: If your mount is way too tight to release initially, practice taking it on and off a few times. The mount will loosen up quickly, and you won't have to force it out after that.

Wanted a lite weight little lamp for my bike so I could see where I was going riding too and from work. My el-cheapo was OK, but miserable in the wet and burnt batteries quickly. Friends said they were happy with this Cygolite, so had a quick look and purchased on-line.
I have it mounted on my helmet and find that a good spot as pretty much where I look I can see. Also means I can look at car drivers who don't want to stop at the stop sign as I approach - they stop now and I know they can see me.
Flash mode shows the reflective objects for at least a couple of hundred meters - have not measured - but way in front, giving on-coming traffic plenty of warning. Day one (having sat on the USB charger overnight) was rainy and wow - I could see! (well the edges of the path at a minimum). Lighting lasted about 4.5 hours - mixture of high beam and flasher alternating depending on track conditions. Must have had more high beam next charge - or did not count hours, as it went dim - so rode with flasher only. Now I just plug into the USB every night too keep it topped up.
Button on top is pretty large and easy to push even on cold mornings with stiff fingers (I ride with fingerless gloves all the time), though annoyingly the cycle is High -> Low -> Flash - Off, so when you go from a lit path to unlit you have to go dark or prepare early.
Comes with warning to only use supplied USB cable which is annoying too which is why I charge every night, and final annoyance, getting the cover into the USB female socket is fiddly and skewed for charging not for use. But those are the only three minor things I have that I can critise.
I may not be the brightest light on the track, but I'm not the dimmest either - I can see and be seen in all weather and that is important - especially once I hit the road and am dealing with cars.
Cheers