Barrettscv 

I've seen a few riders at night, and I'm surprised at how weak their tail lights are. Often the reflector becomes visible before I see the cheap taillight!

What minimum specification will provide strong lighting? Most of the streets I travel have streetlights, This reduces the visibility of cheap lights and I want a good quality product at a reasonable price.

Michael

cman

Buy the Planet Bike SUPERFLASH. You wont be disappointed. They are cheap enough buy 2

https://www.pricepoint.com/detail/165...Tail-Light.htm

corripio

There was a review on bike commuters of a few different blinkies:

https://www.bikecommuters.com/2007/12...linky-comparo/

I have the blackburn mars, it's very bright

tate65

I use a Highway Safety Light, I got mine at LOWES for under $20, it is 4 X 6 inches used 4 AA batteries. They last me about 36 hours on blink before you see any dimness when on blink. Its n0t a bright as some of the smaller ones up close but doesn't become a tiny spot at distance.

https://www.bizrate.com/safety_securi...111825221.html

bckpck2rev

blackburn mars 3, super bright, my gf hates how bright. also 3 modes, to save on the juice I run the efficient flasher option and it stays bright for awhile.

1ply

I'll second the superflash (up here it's a $15 part )

I've used it maybe 200 hours on flash so far and the original battery is still working away.

poopisnotfood

blackburn mars 3 for me also, it is extremely bright. I got it on sale at Performance this weekend, so far so good.

Barrettscv 

Good suggestions, thanks.

Is there a quality or performance standard for bike lights?

Michael

d2create

Ditto. This light is EXTREMELY bright for an inexpensive disposable battery taillight.

AlanKHG

Another thing is to simply make sure you change your batteries, and if the light's directional, make sure to mount it to your bike so that the brightest part is aimed straight behind. It's often one of those two things that makes a perfectly acceptable blinky nearly invisible. Pretty much everything in the $10+ range will be plenty bright.

huhenio

yup

I will get another one so to make a bigger light print

thehum

hehe i'm using a walmart bell blinker i've had for a year and I thought my blinker was obnoxious until i saw a friend's blackburn mars. The mars has side LEDs too. +1 about batteries. After a while my LEDs got noticebly dimmer and while they still ran for 30 hours putting in new batteries made them MUCH brighter than before.

alanbikehouston

Yes, they are amazingly bright. I've tried every light on the market, including a couple that were rated by the bike mags as the "best and the brightest". The only ones as bright as the "Superflash" are twice as large, and cost twice as much, and their batteries fade rapidly. My SF came with attachment gear for both the seat post and the seatstays. It stays bright for a long time, so it rates as a real bargain...

chewybrian 

I have that $17 Lowes light, and the Blackburn Mars 2.0 on my bike. The Lowes light is much more visible. Coworkers tell me they can spot the bike from a great distance. Scope some car tail lights; you'll see that a wide area of light is very effective.

alanbikehouston

The Lowes light resembles one made by Catseye that is certified as a rear reflector. The bezel is wide and angled to pick up headlights. A good combination is a big wide rear flasher that is certified as a reflector PLUS a super-bright strobe flasher.

I've noticed when driving that reflectors on pedals are often the FIRST part of a bike I notice, the moving yellow circles of the pedals is far more eye catching than a two inch wide rear reflector, especially in the inner city, which has enough flashing lights to resemble the the Las Vegas strip.

degnaw

Reflective tape on the wheel rims also creates a pretty unique pattern, and it doesn't take that much of an angle for them to be visible.

(there's a superflash mount right under the seat and I like everything but the narrow viewing angle, hence the tape)

CommuterRun

Use multiple lights. I'm currently using a Cateye TL-LD1000 on the seatpost, a Cateye TL-LD500 on the back of the rear rack and a Mars 3.0 on the back of my helmet. One bank of the LD1000 is run flashing as an attention gainer. Everything else is run steady on to give motorists spacial awareness of where I am. That's in addition to the reflective tape on my bikes and the vest on me.

I've had co-workers tell me they can see the lights from over a mile away on a stretch of highway going to work. Of course they can't tell what I am, except that they know it's me, from that far away, but the lights give them a heads up that something is there.

uke

This looks like a really great idea. One of the reasons motorcycle lights are better than most bike lights isn't because they're brighter, but because they span a larger area in the visual field. I'm going to look for this if I ever get to Lowe's.

Lizzylou

Not to be a weight weenie... but how much does that think weigh!!!

ItsJustMe

I did an actual test of this unit versus the Planet Bike Superflash. The Superflash was the clear winner. The Lowes unit wasn't bad, but even at indirect angles the superflash is both brighter and more attention-getting.

daredevil

...not to mention the versatility of being able to attach those things just about anywhere.

Lizzylou

I just don't want to pull something that monstrous up over the mountain with me every morning. Holy cow. I've got enough junk in my saddlebags weighting me down, I can't even feel the 2 PBSFs back there, but I'm sure if I loaded that light on I'd never make it up.

slloth

Wow that's the same one I bought. I just asked the lady at the LBS what a good one was and she said a lot of people buy those. I bought the light in May and still haven't had to change the battery.

It's just embarrassing when you forget it's on your backpack and your walking around Starbucks looking cool after you commute and you are blinking from behind.

ellerbro

Good luck finding specs on rear lights in particular. The only company I know of that publishes rear light specs is Dinotte. Their rear lights have 120+ lumens. I don't think I've seen a single person say that those aren't bright enough. You would be fine with a fraction of that output in most situations.

For a little reference see the attached pics. The weak one is the Blackburn Mars 3.0 with fresh batteries. The other is my DIY. Both were taken with same camera settings (f5.6, 1/5s) with lights and camera about 1 meter from the wall. It's about 1 meter from side to side in the pics. I calculate the Mars 3.0 to be maybe 3 lumens. The DIY is about 80 lumens with a much wider angle. I don't understand why companies continue using those trash 5mm LEDs and underpower them so much. Would you rather have 50 hours runtime and 3 lumens or 5 hours and 30 lumens? Recharging batteries isn't so hard.

Until manufacturers start publishing light output vs. angle data it will be difficult to make informed decisions on a light's merit except by reading reviews and looking at beamshots from users.

mechBgon

The SuperFlash is an excellent light for the money: good power output (for something powered by two AAAs, anyway), distinctive flash pattern, small, lightweight, narrow, and has versatile mounting options. Another one that's even brighter (in flashing mode) is the new Blackburn Mars 4.0, although I think their mount is mediocre at best.

Whatever taillight you get, aim it very carefully so the "hot spot" of the beam is aimed DIRECTLY towards overtaking traffic.

That said... if you can afford one, the DiNotte 140 is fantastic, day or night, in fog/rain/snow/glare/whatever. On this morning's commute, I had a lady in a Mustang overtake me, roll down her window, and tell me that "That's a GREAT light! I can SEE you! "