NiteRider  Swift 300 Front Bike Light

It's a great little light. The light comes "locked". You have to press and hold the button for about 10 seconds to "unlock" it. To turn it off again, a simple 3 second hold. To turn on again, just a brief push of the button. Simple and easy to use. To "lock" it, push and hold for 10 seconds. No reason to do this unless your traveling or carrying it, and worried it might get accidentally turned on. People who say its dead on arrival, don't understand it's locked. People who complain it's hard to turn on are locking it every time they want to turn it off. Completely unnecessary. Flash mode it activated by holding they button longer than 3 seconds, and it starts flashing after it seems to turn off. Read the instuctions.

I bought this light to have a small light that I could have on flash while riding gravel. I see many reviewers complaining about how the light won't turn on, and that the button was just red. Apparently, none of them read the instructions, or bothered to check the company's web site. Their lights were in the locked mode so that the light doesn't inadvertently turn on. All you need to do is hold the power button down for 10-15 seconds, and it will turn on. I know this because I had the same issue. I just took the time to figure out what the problem was. As is usual, it was user error, not the product. I'm going to buy the 500 lumen version next just because I want a bit more power.

I discovered two things about this light on way from a $20 Cateye HL-EL-135 to a $40 NiteRider Lumina Micro 550. 1) the product web pages don't tell you what the wattage is on the different light levels (the downloadable user guides do) and that 100 lumens (low) on the NiteRider Swift 300 is only good for being seen, 175 lumens (middle) is ok on well lit roads and 300 lumens (high) is ok on dimly lit roads. 2) if you want a sharp focused beam then don't buy a light with a fresnel lens, get one with a clear lens - once the again the web pages don't describe this, look carefully at the product photo. The NiteRider Swift 300 has a soft (think stipple brush painting) and wide beam (the light fall off reaches my brake wires and front wheel) which is probably good for night trail riding where you want to see what's on the sides, more irritating for urban riding when the street lights already show you what's on the sides. In the end the Lumina Micro 550 turned about to much more satisfying, with powerful beams (150 / 250 / 550 lumens) in a clear parabolic shape (think high quality flashlight) with sharpish edges and no light fall off on the front of my bike.

My primary purpose for this light was to use it in the flash mode as a daylight visible light. For that purpose it works well, though I do not get anywhere near 11 hrs of operation in this mode. Perhaps 6 hrs at most. The low setting is really not very useful and the mid setting is good enough to light the way for the first 15-20 minutes predawn riding of an early morning ride, before switching to flash mode. Hi setting will only last about an hr so I never use that. The light is well made and is weather proof and the strap makes mounting and dismounting a snap. This is not the best light on the market but at this price point it is hard to beat. Note that if you run a wireless computer on your bike, this light may interfere with it and cause it to stop working. I was able to move the light far enough away on my handlebar but the location is not ideal.

I bought this in a set of front and rear lights. It's bright and easy to use. After a few years of light use, I thought the Swift 300 front light was dead. When I pressed the power button it turned red. It was fully charged, so I thought the light was dead. But it was in lock out mode. If the light doesn't turn on, hold the power button 7-8 seconds to cancel lock out mode.

I am 51 and started riding again,one night I was riding I thought I can't see. I wanted a rechargeable light this one works great. I'm a casual rider and this one lights my way. It straps on quickly. USB charging. There was a frustrating lockout feature I didn't care for,but once past that it's exactly what I was looking for.

The swift 300 headlight was DOA. It would show me the blue "fully charged" light, but when unplugged it was dead. A number of other reviewers had this problem.

The 1 star reviews that say it won't turn on are all wrong. People don't read, or can't understand, instructions. It's a great little light. The light comes "locked". You have to press and hold the button for about 10 seconds to "unlock" it. To turn it off again, a simple 3 second button hold. To turn on again, just a brief push of the button. Simple and easy to use. To "lock" it, push and hold for 10 seconds. No reason to do this unless your traveling or carrying it, and worried it might get accidentally turned on. People who say its dead on arrival, don't understand it's locked. People who complain it's hard to turn on are locking it every time they want to turn it off. Completely unnecessary. Flash mode it activated by holding they button longer than 3 seconds, and it starts flashing after it seems to turn off. Read the instuctions.

After using a friend's NiteRider on a moon lit fat tire bike ride in January, I was sold on this light! I love being able to see not only what's directly in my path, but also what's off on each side. It's reasonably priced and also rechargeable!

This light is very bright and easy to attach to your bike. I don't like the placement of the charging port, it is very difficult to charge; the space is really tight and extremely difficult to get the plug inserted.