Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Lights on the MUP - how bright is too bright?

I've been looking at lights. I mainly ride on a heavily-used MUP in New York City. There's ambient light from the surrounding city lights in most but not all areas. I read a lot on these forums about super-bright tail lights such as the Planet Bike Blinky (http://www.biketiresdirect.com/ppbbsf/planet_bike_blinky_superflash_tail_light/pp.htm) and I'm thinking, that sounds great, but is the super bright light going to annoy the cyclists/joggers/etc immediately behind me? Is this kind of light more suited to biking solo in an area with more cars than cyclists?

Depends on the the people you pass. No two will agree. You could have the dimmest light with almost dead batteries and I guarantee you will annoy at least one person. I use a MUP too on some of my rides. Despite my use of the low mode and covering the light with my hand as I pass oncoming pedestrians. I get some not so nice comments. Mostly from people that I would have never seen if it had not been for the light. It amazes me how many people will go onto a MUP and not even make a modecum of effort to be seen.

You need to be careful of what may lie in those dark shadows. Get what you think you need. If you want to be kind to others, don't use the blinking mode.

It could also be a question of aiming the light. Headlights only annoy people when they are aimed up so the beams gets them in the eyes. If you have this issue, angle the lights down a bit. This probably works better for headlights than tail lights because I think tail lights aren't as tight of a beam.

if there not screaming "OMG MY EYES" it not bright enough.

Make them cower at the sides of the path beneath the weight of your mighty beam.

Make them cower at the sides of the path beneath the weight of your mighty beam.

This is NYC. They won't be cowering, they'll be reloading.

if there not screaming "OMG MY EYES" it not bright enough.

I've only had one person do that to me and he was a skateboard ninja on the wrong side of the path. The bright light kept him from coming towards me at full speed, who knows what would have happened if I hadn't had bright lights.

Yeah, but too bright and they'll eat it over a bad bump because they were blinded.

Keep the light pointed appropriately when possible - try to limit the amount of light hitting above handlebar level. (you want to see the road, not the trees, y'know? :D) And I'm with bicycleflyer about putting the lights on steady if you're on an off-street path. :)

Yeah, on an MUP I would use a steady light too (not flashing), and I also would use a relatively low-power light such as the feeble Cateye LD500, to minimize the impact on people's night vision. It's not like you have any real danger of/from a rear-end collision on an MUP anyway.

Out on the streets and especially the highways, that's a different scenario. Fire up the primary photon cannons :)