2014 Lights Shootout, Bike Light, Lights, Lights Shootout, NiteRider, Pro 1200 - October 20, 2013

Review: NiteRider Pro 1200 Race

This light shares the chassis of the NiteRider 1500 from a couple years ago reviewed here, but where that light claimed 1500 Lumens, it only measured 1100 Lumens in our testing. This one claims 1200 Lumens, but it measured 1310 Lumens in our integrating sphere test.

Such are the strides NiteRider has taken in the last couple of years. They’ve reinvented their company by upping their quality and making more honest claims with their lights.

So it’s all fine and dandy until we turn on the light. Click, bam! This is one bright light with a beautiful beam pattern. Color us impressed. This may not be self contained or have a fancy new chassis, but one look at the beam pattern and we were sold.

1:45 is not a super long run time for a separate battery light, but put this in medium mode and that run time doubles. And of course bigger battery options are available.

Specifications

Price: $270
Claimed Lumens: 1200 Lumens
Measured Lumens: 1310 Lumens
Measured MTBR Lux: 124 Lux
Lumens per $: 4.85 Lumens
Lumens per gram: 2.71 Lumens
Time on High: 1:45 Hours
Charge Time: 5:00 Hours
Mounted Weight: 484 grams
Category: High End

Strengths

Good lens optics and good beam pattern
Helmet and bar mounts are included with the system
Brighter than claimed 1200 lumens
Charges fast
Just a stunning beam pattern

Weaknesses

Light head can get hot

Mounting

Handlebar mounting is done with NiteRider’s beefy center mount. This 70 gram mount rivals the 108 gram light head in mass so it is a bit of overkill. But it puts the light right in front of the stem face plate and it can be aimed left to right. It can also be removed easily.

Helmet mounting is included and the light can be aimed a little bit in the up and down direction.

Mtbr Light Meter Measurements

This light measured 124 Lux on our ambient light measurement facility. The light output measurement is performed by placing a Lux light meter beside the light. Both are pointed at the ceiling (five feet above) of a dark room. This measurement uses the ambient light produced by the bike light.

Integrating Sphere Measured Lumens

This light measured 1310 Lumens in an integrating sphere. Claimed Lumens by the manufacturer is 1200 Lumens. The Lumen-hour graph below shows how the light performs over the first three minutes of its battery cycle.

Compare all Lumen Tests here »

Tunnel Beam Pattern Photo

The location is useful since it has walls and a ceiling that can display a bike light beam pattern. The walls have a lot of graffiti on them and actually show detail when they are lit up by a light with a wide angle. Cones and targets are set up with the far target set up at 120 feet.