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06-21-08, 01:06 AM
A part-time co-worker came by today. He mentioned that he'd passed me heading south on the highway. It was daytime, and he said he saw my taillight from about a mile back (about 1.6km for you modern folks).
He's seen me on the highway before with my homebrew Nova BULL emergency-vehicle strobe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3cy6KSr8wk), and assumed that was the light he'd seen this time. I told him it was actually the DiNotte this time, and asked if it showed up fairly well (since it has a much smaller lens than the Nova). He said it wasn't just visible from that range, it grabbed his attention from that range. No problem with it showing up, and again, it was daytime. I use the 5-flash strobe pattern, very distinct from any automotive taillight.
On my way home today, I verified the distance. Based on our relative positions as he described them, it was about 0.8 miles (1.3km), which gives overtaking traffic up to 45-60 seconds of advance notice.
I've been going the other direction on that same straight stretch of highway behind guys with SuperFlashes and BRT-5's, and they were also quite visible from that distance at about 30 minutes before sundown. Looking down the highway, I probably wouldn't notice the cyclists by themselves at that distance in those light conditions, but it would be hard to miss the taillights. If you've got a decent blinkie like an LD1000/LD1100, a SuperFlash, a BRT-5 or another powerful blinkie, you can probably benefit by using them even in daylight, so think it over :)
He's seen me on the highway before with my homebrew Nova BULL emergency-vehicle strobe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3cy6KSr8wk), and assumed that was the light he'd seen this time. I told him it was actually the DiNotte this time, and asked if it showed up fairly well (since it has a much smaller lens than the Nova). He said it wasn't just visible from that range, it grabbed his attention from that range. No problem with it showing up, and again, it was daytime. I use the 5-flash strobe pattern, very distinct from any automotive taillight.
On my way home today, I verified the distance. Based on our relative positions as he described them, it was about 0.8 miles (1.3km), which gives overtaking traffic up to 45-60 seconds of advance notice.
I've been going the other direction on that same straight stretch of highway behind guys with SuperFlashes and BRT-5's, and they were also quite visible from that distance at about 30 minutes before sundown. Looking down the highway, I probably wouldn't notice the cyclists by themselves at that distance in those light conditions, but it would be hard to miss the taillights. If you've got a decent blinkie like an LD1000/LD1100, a SuperFlash, a BRT-5 or another powerful blinkie, you can probably benefit by using them even in daylight, so think it over :)