mrbubbles

The best bang for your buck taillight is this thing.

https://www.fasttech.com/p/1189401

10 Wheels

Great light. I have the blue one.

But one needs the battery's and charger.

dougmc

I personally prefer the Radbot 1000 to the PBSF -- the two are quite comparable in most ways, but the Radbot doesn't require tape or a zip tie to keep it from falling off like the PBSF does.

That said, I agree that the PBSF is a good light, and yes, some are better.

However, don't buy a PBSF. Buy this clone instead for $5 instead of $25. And since having just one tail light is a bad idea (as you generally don't notice right away if it's not working for some reason), use the money you saved to buy two. Hell, buy four and give some to friends.

This light is an almost functionally identical clone to the PBSF, but the mount is a bit cheaper -- still works fine, however. It also shares the PBSF's willingness to have the light fall off the base, so be sure to hold the light closed after putting the batteries in with clear tape or a zip tie. (Rubber bands work too, but they degrade over time.)

zebede

Yes sir Mr Bubbles, I whole heartedly agree.

I have been running one of these on rear rack for almost 5 years of daily use.

More directional than preferred, but the high intensity and low cost more than make up for it.

I also the use clone superflash as pointed to by Doug, I put these on all my bikes. As pointed out the mount is cheap ( I have glued one to keep it secure) but the light is bright.

Cychologist

I ride with the Niterider Solas and recommend it. Even on low power it is brighter than most taillights, and on high nobody will be riding on your wheel. I also like it's recharging feature, and I only recharge it after several hours of riding. I use it day and night.

ItsJustMe

At first I thought, the Niterider Solas looks like it has the same brightness as the Cygolite Hotshot, but costs more and has fewer options. So what?

But I searched and found comparisons, and it looks like it has better optics, spreading the beam more:
https://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-...ks-828323.html

Still, since they dropped the price on the Serfas Shield down to $39, I'd have a hard time not spending the extra $5 and buying that instead. Without going to Dinotte (which I consider to be vast overkill), I think it's about the brightest around in the self contained/rechargable arena.

10 Wheels

I bought the Hot Shot for day riding.

Believe the tighter Spot is better for Long Range rear visibility.

Still get many comments that I was seen from 1/2 mile back.

vol

Compared to hi-viz clothing?

10 Wheels

Bright lights trump high vis clothes any time.

bigfred 

I simply can't agree with this.

Hi Viz clothing in the daylight and reflective material at night are very effective at making one standout and be seen amongst the traffic. As well as get recognized as a cyclist, as opposed to other road users like scooter riders.

10 Wheels

Have you ever seen a Dinotte Tail Light in The Day Time?

no1mad 

Maybe in your locale, but around here road repair crews, tree trimmers, trash collectors wear the hi viz stuff as well. And have you been to a big box discount retailer and looked at the fashions? Plenty of hi viz in different colors like lime green, fluorescent orange and yellow, even what looks like a hot pink (think pastel on steroids).

bigfred 

To the best of my knowledge I have not seen one of the Day Time only Dinottes. However, Mrs. Fred and I used to live on a peninsula used by the local teams (school, junior and senior) as well as plenty of individuals training and quite a few commuters. We paid a reasonable amount of attention to what got our attention as drivers, what work to enable us to recognize and avoid cyclists and what didn't.

The simply conclussion we came to was:

Daylight-Hi Viz
Dawn/Dusk-Blinkies
Dark of Night- A solid head and tail light, reflective clothing & possibly augmented by front and back low intensity blinkies.

We have just as many if not more people in Hi viz. But, they're rarely in the traffic lanes. The thing that convinced us about the effectiveness of Hi viz were a couple of valleys in our area. As were descending one side we would frequently notice cyclists climbing the opposite side in Hi Viz. But, we rarely ever saw cyclists clothed in normal colours until we were considerably closer and on the same climb as them.

Don't take me wrong. I don't think there is a perfect solution for all situations. Just relaying what both Mrs. Fred and I observed and agreed to.

tcs

Given the long standing complaint of cyclists that other road users don't respect them, I'm unsure 'looking like a bicycle' is really the Holy Grail of safety. I personally shoot for looking like something painful, expensive, embarrassing, disturbing or at least inconvenient to hit.

In that vein, I've found that where I live a large American flag patch gets me more consideration and space (in daylight) than hiviz - but, uh, I expect this wouldn't work quite as well in downtown Bagdad.

If you do want to 'look like a bicycle' at night (NTTAWWT), I've chatted up hundreds of non-cycling friends and co-workers over the decades and their number one answer by far has been...'pedal reflectors'. In addition to pedal reflectors' unique, eye-catching motion, they're amber (which reflects brighter than red) and there are two, spread apart horizontally, so they give some rate-of-closing indication. However, reflectors, by their nature, are passive. The actively lighted pedals I've seen with LEDs in them sadly just aren't very bright and to date I've been unimpressed. There seems to be room in the market place for a good product here.

And innovation does indeed march on, which brings us to bicycle brake lights (1, 2) and even a tail lamp that shows your speed to following traffic. There are tail lamps powered by the motion of the rear wheel (1, 2) and even tail lamps that are the rear wheel.

dougmc

Clever, but so small that only a driver who was very close could possibly hope to read it. To everybody else it's just a normal-ish tail light.

Also, the amount of light varies based on your speed, and will be quite low at some speeds -- 1, 7, 11, 17.

This can put your speed on the wheel, where it at least has enough room for people to see without being right on top of you. I'm not sure if showing people your speed like that has significant safety benefits, though I can think of a few situations where it might, and having lights of any sort that are clearly visible from the side certainly does.

fietsbob

And its only in prototype & seeking kickstarter crowd funding. so still Virtual in the real world.

tcs

While your basic supposition is correct, do note: actually displayed as 01 and 07.

pcplumber

I had two Night Riders that had batteries that fit in the bottle racks and I gave them away. I can't remember the models. I also ride with many other bicyclists who have expensive lights and I am not impressed.

My Number 1 goal is safety and I hate to waste money for expensive things that don't work. I was comparing lights at a bicycle shop yesterday and I think Home Depot's 100 lumen helmet light for only $13 is the best value when considering it lasts about 10 hours, is cheap, can be seen from a far distance, and it doesn't need a batter pack.

When I had my Night Rider lights I think that every time I went riding I either forgot to charge my battery, or my battery went dead as I was riding. Now, when I ride I throw about 8 helmet lights in my tote bag, put a strap around my waste, and I light up like a Christmas tree.

As for pointing my lights backwards, I do have two helmet lights and two red lights on a band around my waste. The white helmet lights don't have a beam and it doesn't seem like they would interfere with as driver's vision. The visibility for the white lights is at least 10 times more than the red lights and being seen is more important than legal issues.

As stated before, I purchased a square trailer light, removed the 12 volt bulb, and inserted two 100 lumen helmet lights. Another option that would be very inexpensive is to go to ebay, purchase a very small motor cycle battery for $20 and place either make a frame for the battery for behind the seat, insert it in a bottle rack, or place the battery inside a tote bag. Now, you would have a rear light that is as large and bright as every other car on the street for a total cost of only $27 plus the rack, or bag. I imagine you could get some very powereful and small motorcycle lights for the front for as low as $30.

fietsbob

maybe a white light on the stern of your Boat. then its OK.. regulation, actually.

red one is on the port side unseen from the stern..

JB01245

New video

https://vimeo.com/82499378

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mrbubbles

Needs better mounting system on a bike.

JB01245

I am curious on your thoughts of the GoPro seatpost mount? I thought it would give the most flexibility for mounting?


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Athens80

You really want to put that strap around your waist instead.

ItsJustMe

That's too small to be of any use to me. I'm on roads where traffic is typically doing 60 MPH. That will appear to be a large tail light until they're within a second of me anyway. Also I doubt people will know what the number means even if they could see it.

Athens80

The main point is not legal, it's safety from clear signals. White lights point in the direction the vehicle is moving.

What you want is good red tail lights, not weak red tail lights plus backwards white lights.