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Rating:  -
Really a nice light - casts a great beam of light! I've been commuting to & from work (9+ miles) with this light in the dark & wet Oregon weather lately, and it works great.
Pros? Brightness!!!
Cons? Battery life - may need a second charger, so I can have one both at work & at home, so I can recharge at work. Also, have to take the battery out of the light to recharge - sure wish I could just plug the charger into the light!
Rating:  -
I've had the Alias HID for about 9 months now, and I have to agree with much of B. Main's review: the light itself is certainly bright enough, but it just isn't a practical product for the price. The two main problems I have with the light are battery life and the mounting hardware. Battery life will, of course, deteriorate over time, and I've gotten 9 pretty solid months of use from mine. But now I rarely get more than an hour of use (bright setting) between charges. Since my commute is about 1:15, that's a bit of a problem. (Fortunately, I can time it so at least part of the trip is in enough daylight.) But unless you have a particularly short travel, you'll want to budget for an extra charger at your workplace as well as at home. And you should probably count on replacing the battery every year as well. Neither of these are cheap.
A more serious problem is the mounting hardware. The root issue is the light (really, the battery) is quite heavy. The mounting clip is beefier than other lights, but the weight of the light wears it down over time. Mine was fine at first, but after 9 months of constant clipping and unclipping (remember, you'll have to recharge it often), the detents are worn down so much as to be useless. Sure enough, the light finally went flying off the clip when I was riding over a moderately rough patch of pavement. The HID bulb is extremely fragile. It will not survive an unintended ejection from the bike. And, need I note, the bulb is very expensive.
As much as I love the awesome bright light from the Alias, there's no way I can justify the upfront and recurring costs of the unit. At list price (not Amazon's discount), the Alias, spare charger, extra battery, and replacement bulb cost more than my bike. My suggestion is to give this a pass.
Rating: -
I love this light. It throws off mass quantities of lumens!! :) And the duration was great... It would throw off light for 2 hours or more.
However, the battery has really poor charge/discharge cycle limits... After 6 months or so the battery life really degraded to the point that I can only get 20 minutes of light out of it. And in fairness to the manufacturer, they state in their literature that the battery is only good for 180 charge/discharge cycles. That's 6 months of commuting. PLUS... I can't figure out how to get a replacement battery. I've never seen a time when Planet Bike has had them in stock.
So... if you want to use this thing for 6 months... great... that's a pricey way to go but each of us has our threshold of financial pain.... but if you want something that is going to last longer do not buy this product.
I'd buy another one in a heartbeat if they get the battery charge/discharge cycle count issue fixed.
Rating:  -
I have owned this light for over 6 months now and use it frequently on my daily 12 mile commute.
I ride along a dark path with very few street lights and with my old light (LED) I could not see bumps, twigs, dogs, other bikers or runners very well or sometimes not at all. The HID lets me see everything I need to and also alerts people I overtake to my presence, because they notice the shadow they cast in this light's cone. What's even better, I get a lot more respect from car drivers in intersections - this light really seems to get their attention.
What I like about the alias: I decided to buy this light because it is the only self-contained HID on the market right now, i.e. no separate battery pack and cable clutter on my bike. The design is fantastic - it looks like a piece of art. The battery lasts for about 2-2.5 hrs at least, and when it gets low, it indicates it with a little red light. Then you still have about 30min to finish your ride on low beam. It comes in a very nice case holding all the gear together, that's the light, bracket, charger etc. It would be nice to have some kind of soft case just for the light, though, for carrying around in a backpack while not in use. The bracket is rock solid and the light sits on it absolutely bomber. I cannot agree with the reviewer saying that the bracket or the light is flimsy. Everything is very well engineered and looks and feels super-sturdy. Customer service from Planet bike is fantastic, too. I wanted a second bracket for my second bike and I e-mailed them to buy one. They sent it to me the same day and did not even charge me for it!
It's a bit more expensive than other HID systems. I think, that the price is justified for the amount of vision I gain at night, the convenience of not having to work with external batteries or having to worry about having your fixed HID lamps stolen from your handlebar, and the amount of visibility to car drivers this light provides.
I could not be happier with this light.
Rating: -
I purchased a Planet Bike Alias HID in August, 2007. I was looking for a powerful "to see" light that I could easily remove from my bike. What sold me on this light was 1. the intelligent battery charger which doesn't require monitoring, 2. the brightness of the lamp/bulb, and 3. the sturdy form-follows-function simplicity of the system. After using this light as my year-round daily commute light for over a year and a half my main problems with it are 1. the fragility of the plastic bracket (I've cracked two at the hinge -- one each winter), 2. the battery life (similar to a cell phone, it begins to noticeably loose it's staying power after a hundred or two charges), and 3. the delicate and expensive bulb (it took me over a year before I dropped this light, and I hope it is several more years before I make that mistake again). The technology, function and design are worth five stars. The fragility of the bracket and bulb for the price and environment it's designed for are worth three. But overall I love this light, and if I knew then what I've since learned after some experience with it, I would still have bought it.
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