Originally Posted by
gear
If you ride on the road and cars pass you at more than 15mph, then most blinkies sold are inadequate.
A driver needs to see, recognize, and maneuver their car to avoid hitting or buzzing a cyclist. If the car is going above 15mph this all has to happen in a split second as the car closes in on the cyclist much faster than one would think.
Stop judging your tail light from two feet and start judging it from a two telephone pole length distance. This is the minimum distance a driver would need to begin reacting. And thats on a clear night, fog and rain makes it worse.
Only a Dinotte tail light will pass the test.
A
Planet Bike Superflash is really bright, but it needs to be mounted correctly to point horizontally. It's much less effective clipped to a seat bag or helmet, where it'll point to the ground or the sky. It has a quick double flash that catches your eye, too.
Even though it's main beam is narrow, it does throw off a good amount of side light. And the beam spreads out with distance, so it's visible at an angle, too.
I use AAA rechargeables, and it works great with them. So I run it whenever I might be riding through darker forested roads and especially late in the day when the sun is low in the sky.