Welcome to my rear tail light shootout (sorry to be missing Mech's bull). All lights with fresh batteries, Canon EOS 5D, 24-105L lens @40mm, ISO 400, manual exposure, 1.3 seconds @ f4.0, Raw, minimal adjustments (resize, smart sharpen) same settings for all three shots.

Cateye LD1000




Planet Bike Superflash




Dinotte Rear Tail Light




Gee ... ummm ... do we have a clear winner? #1 Dinotte, Distant #2 Superflash, #3 LD1000



Since the first shot got blown out by the Dinotte, I reshot using different exposure, 0.8sec @f4.

LD1000




Superflash






Dinotte




So, big difference ... yes?

I shot one more set with the bike pulled about 20 feet away from the door. 1/10 second @f4, ISO 400.

LD1000




Superflash




Dinotte




The difference is every bit as big as the pictures show. The Dinotte tail light rocks!

Which pics comes closest to simulating the naked eye? Do you think you can take some rear view shots from 30 to 40ft?

I think the distance shots and the first set are closer to what the eye sees. The second set I did is darker than what you eye would see just so that I didn't saturate the camera sensor when the Dinotte kicked in. Like I said, the difference is every bit as big as the pictures shows. It is incredible (but I'm still not going to call out the bull) but mine is weighs much less than the bull and is much smaller.

Is the Superflash visible from the side like the LD1000?

Not much.

Is it just me, or are some of the pictures not working (ie. every picture but the first two)?

That Dinotte is mighty impressive, it's a single 3W luxeon?

Somethings screwy with the pictures. I'll try to figure out what's going on. If you want to see them you can go here.

https://www.pbase.com/colorchange/general&page=3

mech's bull.........OH ! you mean his Nova Bull taillight!

Nice shots, good quality photos ColorChange. But the file size is almost to big for my DSL. Next time smaller files would be easier for everyone to view. That's probably the reason some can't see them all.
I didn't the first time. Not a big deal.

Alkaline batteries? The type of battery makes a noticeable difference. Not enough to change the results of the comparison but enough to see.

Just in case you missed it somehow......... here is the "Death Star" the worlds most powerful bike taillight.

Followed by "Son of Death Star" or SODS.

Neither light is cost effective, practical, or even convenient, but they are bright.

Friend and I did an all night 200k a few weeks ago during the harvest moon. He said my ld1000 looked like it was as big as a basketball from aways back.

2many ... OK, two exclusions, the death star and mech's bull.

This little Dinotte absolutely cranks. Not cheap though, around $112.

The Death Star was never deployed so it can be excluded from a list of lights to use.
The SODS was deployed, it is very functional, but it takes 12 aaa batteries. It's not convenient or
cost effective.

mech's Nova Bull is much better to live with, as is the Dinotte.

ColorChange,

Nice job with the pics! Thanks for posting that.

Great comparitive pics. Thanks!

One question, though. How visible is the crab from 20 feet away?

I want the Superflash even more now...'cause I don't have that much to blow on a Dinotte.

2manybikes, you are the King!


That Death Star is outrageous!

Now I get it ... I love super size red king crab.

Great post! Due to the side visibility of the LD1000 ... I'll stick with that! On sale, you can find it for $25 (regular $40). I love mine!

What about battery life? 100 hours for the LD1000 is fantastic, personally.

It's a good light but I haven't seen half that duration.

LD1000 did better w/ lithium batteries. Looking for som Li AAAs for my superflash. I'm also planning on multiple superflashes but not just yet.

I'm happy with my 1000 but will upgrade to Full (f/r) Dinotte soon. What to do with all of these spare red blinkers...

Same here...just today I ordered a second SuperFlash, to be mounted low on the left seat stay (the current one is on the seat post).

My only minor quibble with the SuperFlash is the fact that it is not "infinitely adjustable" for aiming in the vertical plane, due to the "cogs" on the attachment bracket. On my seatpost mount it's either aiming a little too high, or a little too low, depending on which cog I select. Regardless, it's bright enough to get the job done, and with two I should be highly conspicuous day or night.

hawt!

That's easy, just get more bikes. Just make you sure you don't get too many, then you need
more blinkies. If you get too many blinkies, of course means you need more bikes...........


"Ad Copy" lists things at the absolute best possible situation, to sound good. That probably means one bank only, and one of the back and forth modes, that way only one LED is on at one time. A lot less juice used.

Start a contest!

Crab leg eating would work!