Leisesturm

I've lived in the Portland Metro area for seven years but only moved to the city proper this spring. This is my first Fall here and in just the last few weeks of short evenings I have observed TONS of lights and lighting equipment IN USE. Out in the burbs I might go days without seeing another cyclist. When I did it was more likely to be some old guy on his daughters bike riding salmon on the sidewalk. In town... whoa... so listen carefully to what I have to say. At night. In traffic. All the high minded rhetoric that I see bandied about in this forum about "motorists can't judge your speed", "epileptic seizures may result...". What I can tell you from ACTUAL OBSERVATION, is that a flashing tail-light is a very visible tail-light. Isn't that what you want? Isn't that why you spent $30? To get the brightest, most eyeball searing Dinotte 200 you could find? And then you run it on steady, day and night, you don't change the batteries until the thing doesn't light up at all ... ... does this sound like anyone in the listening audience?

Flash gosh darn it! That's what that puppy was made to do. The steady mode was to satisfy operation in countries where drivers actually go to jail if they hit you! I've seen flashers where the batteries were so weak that a candle was brighter, but because they were flashing, they were noticed (by me). I'm just saying... I don't sell flashers for a living. I'm just saying that if you care enough to buy and install a ... flasher, you might as well flash. Your steady tail-light just gets swallowed in the general mass of far bigger CAR tail-lights and it is more likely that the reflective patches on your clothing and the reflectors in your pedals (or shoes) are what drivers see. You could have saved $30 in that case.

Bassmanbob

I flash day and night and never get arrested for it. Flash away!

rmfnla

I ride almost exclusively during the day but I wouldn't go anywhere without F&R flashies...

jfowler85

Dude, preach it to the old salmon guy, not the choir.

noglider 

I haven't ridden a bike in Portland, but around here, I rarely see a steady tail light. Most tail lights here flash.

mcours2006

I tend to think that too. I have considered what others have stated in this Thread. But I think intuitively I think that it is far more important for drivers to notice me first, then judge distance, if that is really even necessary after noticing me. I don't ride on streets where the speed limit is more than 50 km/h, so it's not like they can travel 50 m in two seconds (~90 km/h) and wouldn't have time to react to me presence.

When I was running a single light, it was always on flashing. Now that I have multiples, I'm not sure if I should set more than one on flashing. This morning I had the seatpost light on flash, helmet and arm lights on steady. Halfway to work I turned the arm one on to flashing. I think keeping one on steady is fine. The rest I will set to flashing from now on.

bmthom.gis

I thought the thread title was "I hope you flush" at first, and came in here to say, yes, I hope you do indeed flush.

GovernorSilver

I haven't really noticed how many cyclists use tail lights in flash mode in my area. When I went on the group Halloween ride, there were so many blinky lights I didn't think to look at the tail lights. The stock tail light on my bike is in steady mode.

I've got reflective stuff all over my bike though - reflective sidewalls on tires, spoke reflectors, and reflective stickers on the frame.

BobbyG

+1

Robert C

In light (daytime and dusk) I flash. In darkness the rack light is steady and my helmet rear light is set to flash.

PatrickGSR94

Actual observation huh? Except that you probably do not have epilepsy or experience seizures, so really you can't speak for those that do. Unless of course you actually do have epilepsy in which case please excuse me.

From MY OBSERVATIONS a combination of steady/flashing is best, and at night a pulsating light is better than flashing because the light is never fully off, or it's on or partially on for much longer than it is off. If you only run one light at night, use one that pulsates (Hotshot). If you use more than one then have at least one light on steady.

Yes the lights tend to get drowned out by other car tail and brake lights. But there will be times when you're not around that many cars, and approaching vehicle will be able to see and track you easier if there is at least one steady light.

lostarchitect 

I have a steady dynamo light and a flashing belt (Halo Belt). I think the combo makes me very visible.

The frequencies at which blinking tail lights flash are highly unlikely to cause photosenstitve epileptic seizures.

Mr Pink57

I used to be flash on all lights all the time and hopefully someones eyes would sear.

Now I use a steady light on my rack and a pulse light on my helmet. This all seems to be more than enough for drivers and I have yet to have anyone yell at me to turn down that light. I have has this happen in the past with a ton of pbsf lights, a drive yelled at me because he could not see.

I have also decided that I do not need a 1000 lumens coming from the front of my bike anymore. I have a 550 lumen light but keep it on low and a 120 lumen light that is on high.

cooker

I hope you dance.

no motor?

I like watching the reflection of my flashing tail light in my mirror when I ride.

PatrickGSR94

Source?

lostarchitect 

You can easily google what causes photosensitive seizures. Go for it. There are known rates of flash that typically can cause seizures, and they generally also have to be very bright and fill the field of vision, which for the most part will rule out bike lights. You may also want to try and find a single account of this kind of light causing one. There are lots of blog posts and such about it, but I have never seen one with any real, solid facts or a study, or even an author saying "this happened to me". There is no need for you to spread FUD about this when you have no information that it's even a problem.

KenshiBiker

Not here in the "Golden State" (there's a drought on, don't ya know).

As to the OP, at night I run my Dinotte Quad Red on steady, and the two Niterider Solas flashing; up front NR Lumina 650 on the bars and Dinotte XML-3 on the helmet (both on steady). During daylight front and rear are both flashing (though usually the XML-3 is turned off).

PatrickGSR94

There are people who would say that any flashing lights, even in daylight, is bad because of the seizure thing. I'm not on board with that. If it's daylight my lights are flashing, period. But I run a steady light at night for reasons other than the seizure possibility.

rmfnla

FWIW, the only place I have ever heard of seizures caused by bike lights is here on BF...

vol

For especially head lights, it's better that the flashing mode is between high, medium, low, instead of between on and off. There should be NO OFF during the flashing. Is this hard to achieve for light manufacturers?

unterhausen

I think you're better off with both. On my commuter, I can't be bothered to have batteries, so I use a non-flashing dyno taillight. I've often thought about making a flashing dyno taillight though

lostarchitect 

I mean, sure, anything's possible. But based on what I have read it's highly unlikely. It's much more likely that police lights would be a problem than bike lights, and even that would be uncommon.

RidingMatthew

i run my rear lights on flash and steady. (ma skip the steady during daylight. I think one is a solid enough flash that I could dispense with the second on steady or flash. at night time I run flash on seat post (hotshot) and a mars 5 in the outside pannier pocket on steady.

GovernorSilver

"I hope you flush"

For my new bike, I got a USB-charged tail-light with flash mode. It's got 8-9 hours of operation in flash mode vs. 3 in steady. I wonder if the battery life is the reason so many riders use tail lights in flash mode.