jjciiijs

I have a Serfas tail light, round, holds some AAA and has blinking & full time mode. I do not like it because it blinks to fast and the mt. has broken once already.

There is another light out there; round, about 6" long, takes AAA's, has blinking mode and solid. Name is either - View Point or Vista Point. I can't find it. .

Where are they available?

Phantoj

You might be thinking Viewpoint or Vistalite. Try looking at performancebike.com

Round and 6" long sounds more like the Cateye "pickle" LD-1000 to me.

MAK

I bought the View Point from Performance and it is excellent. Two blinking modes and a steady mode. It is about a 5" oval. I bought it because people on rides I do have them and they are bright and visible even during the day. About $15.00 on sale.

jjciiijs

The guy I saw it on said he thought it was from performance also. But I have been checking with them and have not found it so was looking for the manufactures web. Haven't found it yet however. I guess I will keep looking at performance

dynaryder

You mean one of these:


The mount does suck. Every time I hit a big bump with my one bike it would drop down. I replaced it with another handlebar mount(it fits in the mount for the white front version) that I got free from Serfas. I just told them in an e-mail that the rear mount kept failing and I wanted a front to replace it,and they sent one straight out.

Gojohnnygo.

Serfas web site link to above light https://www.serfas.com/lights/TL-1000.shtml

But very like the BLT super doppler https://www.blt-lights.com/rearsuperdopplerdx.htm

The BLT has issues with the battery contacts from what I have heard.

https://www.blt-lights.com/rearsuperdopplerdx.htm

jjciiijs

Can anybody who has the "View Point" get me the manufactures phone or address, or anything that I can contact them with.

Yes, Performance may have distributed it, but they do not seem to now.

MAK

Here it is. I bought one about 10 days ago from Performance.

jjciiijs

Actually the one I was looking for is the View Point, which was sold by Performance. Looks like the one
dynaryder posted, but made by View Point.

Have never found a link to the manfacture however, so I have not been able to get one. It is better than the Serfas. Several blinking modes and the bracket seems not to brake.

2manybikes

They both do. It's the same system. The BLT is slightly better. They are all made by S-sun.

jjciiijs

I am getting a bit lost here. Let me try to paraphrase:

If you are saying S-Sun make the View Point, BLT and Serfase(however they spell it), then I need S-Suns contact info.

I looked at the link provided for BLT andtheir unit only has 2 funtions
I have the Ser???? light and it only has 2 funtions.
The View Point has 3 funtions or more. At least 2 blinking modes.

I would like to get the View Point for its funtions. Do you have contact info to S-Sun?

2manybikes

The View point does not keep working well. The BLT is the best of the lot. It is slightly brighter and has a slightly wider beam pattern. And they keep working better. I think the led's may be different and are closer to the lens. The slow flash on the viewpoint looks like a car turn signal it's too slow, the sos is nothing you probably will need if you have a red flashing light. You can do sos with your hand.

I can compare the beams on the wall and by walking away from the bike. I've posted lots of pictures somewhere over the last couple of years. The BLT is better.
S-sun does not sell small quantities or retail they make the lights for large retailers or distributors. Yes they are slightly different, if you buy enough lights at one time you can order changes in the function or even the mold.
We're talking thousands of units probably. At least hundreds. They were also the first Bike Nashbar brilliant lights, and I think the Serfas has a slightly different case/housing. You pay for the mold you get what you want, you get a bazillion items to sell. I have a few different kinds, I searched for one that would keep working. They need tweaking to stay working if you hit a hard bump once in a while.

Performance does not make things. Nashbar does not make things. They private label things made by large quantity manufacturers. I have other Serfas lights that show up with other names. Everything is like that. The Performance tires all have "National Tire Co." molded into the black part of the tires. Just like Panaracers do. Same big manufacturer. The name Performance or Panarace is added for the retailer. That's why it's called private labeling. They won't sell to you unless you want to buy thousands.

I found S-sun. It does no good. I'll see if I can find it again. Just so you can see it. All I did was use google. Buy the BLT light if you want one. But the Planet bike superflash is better. It has a wider pattern and looks good from all angles. It's almost as bright. But the S-Sun private label lights all look almost completely off from about 45 degrees off center. The Planet bike will keep going longer too.

edit, here you go..

A retailer in Australia

https://www.deanwoods.com.au/store/prod1083.htm

S-sun home page

https://www.s-sun.com.tw/ they are in Taiwan

S-sun page with that light

https://www.s-sun.com.tw/p1.htm

Safety light, brake light page

https://www.s-sun.com.tw/p2-2.htm Look close , the New flat bright Performance light ,Serfas name lights all sorts of things from Nash bar , Performance, Serfas.

You wanna buy 500-1000, 10,000? High tool cost….low item cost with high volume purchase. I only have about 7 of them. That's plenty for me.

2manybikes

Four of them running together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F1Y6h48HAc

still photos.. Sun Of Death Star (4 of them)

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...+of+death+star

jjciiijs

2manybikes-
Great stuff there. You have been doing some testing .
I will look into the Plant Light as suggested.

Psydotek

I just picked up a Planet Bike superflash to supplement my Cateye LD1000.

jjciiijs

Can you add a comment / comparision about it to the ones we have been discussing?

2manybikes

good idea.

The Planet bike Superflash is less money and a touch brighter from behind, than the TL-LD 1000 cat eye. The Superflash is a lot smaller and lighter with two AAA's instead of two AA's.
But the Cat Eye is a fine light. It has a little better side visibility in traffic as it has two led's on each side.
It has a little wider beam on the rear. I like the cateye because of all the settings. I flash 10 LED's on the road. If I cut to the bike path at the end of a ride, I can turn it down to one LED at a time. This is great when riding with others they are not blinded as much.
It is wide when mounted, some may not like the looks. The Superflash is as wide as your seatpost.

Somewhere I have posted comparison still shots of the three lights in discussion here.
Day time, night time, and beam pattern on the house. I have to leave right now, I'll see if I can find the thread when I get back.

jjciiijs

I have several Cat Eye TL-LD 1000s and since I saw the View Point from about 75 yds away, I was ready to dump all of them for the View Point. Just did not think they gave as good DAYLIGHT protection. However, for night riding, I also like the TL-LD 1000 side visibility.

Am I wrong here? Seems to me the View Point was brighter in the day.

2manybikes

You are right. It is brighter day and night, quite a bit. That's why I bought so many, looking for one that would not shut off over a big bump. But you need to be closer to the center of the beam to get the full effect. I typically use the Viewpoint style light (the BLT version) and the Cateye at the same time on my after dark century rides. The Viewpoint is nice on the long country roads where the cars are a long way off. The Cateye makes up for the other problems the Viewpoint light has. This set up was before the Superflash was on the market. It I were to do it over again, I might use two Superflash side by side.
I use the Superflash on some bikes and cary them as a back up sometimes.

When they were new (the Viewpoints) a friend put one on his bike too, and we rode 50 miles in the dark, I wanted to see it from behind. Not doing that again !!! It was blinding. When I was in front he had to get really close or to the side of me to see anything. But the ride was mainly in the country without much traffic. It's not great in bumper to bumper traffic.

If you don't mind working on the light a little, buy one and and I'll tell you how I kept it going. The name Viewpoint was just a performance brand name and they stopped selling them, just like Nashbar etc. I think for the shutting off problem. One by one retailers stopped selling them. I suggest you use a Cateye with it for side visibility, just like I do. If you can use the TL-LD 1000 with it you might not mind having some problems in exchange for the power straight back. That way if it does shut off you still have a good tailight. I modified mine to the point where they almost don't ever go off. Right out of the box they will go off with a good bump.

jjciiijs

tomanybikes

OK, Lets modify the View Point TYPE light. How?

Additionally, a "Planet bike Superflash" question. - I have not obtained one of these yet. But again, I am more interested in daylight than night. Seems per your posts that the Superflash has a less pointed beam. Being that it has a less pointed beam, I am assuming you will agree its daylight rear visibility is also therefor less, or should I say less than a View Point type tube light?
Since you noted it may be good to run a Cat Eye (side visibility)and a View Point(rear long visibility) type together at night, I starting thinking of changing that a bit for day. If the Super Flash is not as good as the View Point for two lane county at distance, but better for side views; then a tube light and a Super flash could also be in order for daytime?? That is if I am worried about side visibility in the day time.

I guess we have put the ranking for daytime like this for pure rear visability:
a tube light
superflash
cat eye 1000

Daytime side visability:
superflash
cat eye
tube light

2manybikes

OK.. last things first..

I would just move the cat eye up over the Super flash for Daytime side visability. I agree with pure rear visibility.

The design in these tube lights is that the three batteries are held against three flat contacts on one end, by three springs on the other end.

When going over a sharp bump one or more batteries can back away from the flat contact. This shuts off the light. When the light is brand new a good sharp rap on the front or the back will shut off the light as the batteries move slightly. At first this is not much of a problem when riding, but the springs get weaker and the contacts get very slightly dirty or corroded over time. The corrosion or dirt on the contacts is invisible, but with very low voltage, the slightest addition of resistance can be a problem. Both of these problems occur in other bike tailights sometimes and calculators etc. I have saved calculators just by wiping the battery contacts on my shirt, and gotten another year from the battery.

The batteries can move sideways a little, but back and forth in the tube a lot. What you want to end up with is springs that will move when you put batteries in the light, and will maintain pressure all the time.
But, you want them dampened so they move slowly, so a sharp hit won't move them. Just like springs and shock absorbers working together in a car.

I have added tape to make the diameter of the batteries bigger but this is a pain and gets worse as the tape compresses. Don't bother. Finally I found some foam, it is the pink thin foam one puts on the top of a foundation before putting the sill board down. It compresses just right. Other things may work.

I cut small pieces of foam and carefully with needle nose pliers pushed the foam into place and filled all the space around inside and under the battery springs. I left the top contact part sticking out.
The end result is the springs still move when needed. But they move so slowly they don't bounce with a fast hard hit.

With a little wd-40 on a Q tip or a very clean rag, give the battery contacts and the flat contacts in the light a little wipe. This cleans the contacts and makes them stay better longer than when the light was new. Put the light together without touching the contacts with your fingers, the oil and other things on your skin make things worse.

Do not spray wd-40 into the light or on anything. This could ruin the light. You just want a little wiped on the contact surfaces, that's all.

Is this a good enough explanation?

jjciiijs

Tomanylights, oops; I mean tomanybikes

Yes, I understand your example.

2manybikes

P.S. If it starts shutting off next year just replace the foam and clean the contacts again.

I think the foam looses some rebound over time.

2manystuff