duke_of_hazard

Would that be overkill? I was thinking each could be pointed at a little different angle so you catch all drivers. How it compare to buying the 400-series tail light which costs $279 ?

Unknown Cyclist

Catch all drivers or cook them ?

Fit a few more of them and they might even push you along.....

10 Wheels

Mount it high. you only need one.

Unknown Cyclist

But what if it goes out ???

I've heard those lights can be unreliable.

AEO

the biggest problem with those tail lights is the side visibility and close range intensity.
1 is good, 2 is completely overkill since the beam pattern out of those is wide enough to catch the attention, or irritation, of anyone behind you if you aim it correctly.

evblazer

I use 2 140s on low.. Seperated from eachother by about 12 inches on a pvc pipe that is covered with red reflective tape. I find and others comment that it gives a much larger footprint then just one bright spot and it makes me look like a moped or motorcycle rather then just a bright dot.
Last night I had one of my dinottes go nuts in the rain so I'm glad I have two (in addition to a cherry bomb and superflash as backups and up higher lights to give an even larger light source). It seemed one of the batteries went kaput and it kept going out/on really really quick since the light worked fine when I switched the batteries after getting home. Even if you didnt' go two dinottes I'd always suggest a backup like a superflash to the one and put it somewhat far away so it makes you a little bigger to see.
Camera phone pic of the two dinottes

I need to take real camera pics!

The 400 would be definate overkill and would eliminate redundancy and pack the lights really close together. Of course then you'd have the nice lithium pack instead of AAs. *shrug* This weekend hopefully I'd finish my homebrew rear lights to replace the dinottes because I want to run them off the same pack as my front lights. I'm going to keep it to two lights wide apart with a reflector in between.

As mentioned they don't really do much for side visibility. (pic pre cherry bomb, yellow light is from the fountain in the background)

10 Wheels

I have 3 PBSF for back up.

AEO

low? I remember my AA tail light in red only had full power strobe blink, full power slow blink and full power moderate blink.

Unknown Cyclist

I've just bought some of those for the first time

And some of the bspoke rear lights as well.

I'm going to have a rear light re-arranging party.

duke_of_hazard

I keep mine on the rapid pulse mode. My thinking is if you keep it on solid high, then cars just assume you are another fast moving vehicle from a distance. The pulse mode tells them you are something out of the ordinary and they need to plan their overtake.

evblazer

I have had two models.
One had High/Med/Low/On-off slow Strobe/On-Off Uzi Strobe (from memory not 100% sure)

One had two sets which you had to hold the button while it was off for 6 seconds to switch between
Group 1 High/Med/Low
Group 2 High/Low Strobe, High/Low Uzi Strobe, On-Off Slow Strobe (from memory not 100% sure)

evblazer

I keep my superflash and and cherrybomb on blink and my dinnotes on low solid during the night when I do 90% of my riding. When I use the strobe pointing back I got alot of hate and when I followed my wife I can see why since it is absolutely blinding and if you want to see where you are going you can't not see it. When I have it on low pointed back I get people to easily see me and track me but they dont' get blinded by the pulses from a really bright light. The smaller blinkers plus the reflective triangle tell them I'm not a car.
It also very much depends on the weather conditions, light conditions, surrounding lighting, road types and lots of other things so somewhere else I might have them different.
(lights off on this pic)

I have been known to have a larger reflective flag too but lately people have been trying to intentionally run me off the road or hit me when I use it so I think they think I'm trying to make some sort of political statement flying the american flag so it stays at home.

Unknown Cyclist

Why would they do that ?

AEO

the thing is, the dinotte tail lights are designed in such a way that it has great long distance visibility, but up close they're totally annoying and counterproductive because the hot spot is too intense.

they would benefit greatly in close range from a design like the PB superflash which has large diffusing lens.
but you know, trade-offs.

AEO

texicans...

Unknown Cyclist

And that is ????

NoRacer

I use 2 of the AA-140Ls for commuting; one on the seat post and another on my helmet.


Nah. They're sealed from the weather. I've used one in rain, snow, sleet, cold, wind, hot... I've crashed with it on ice a couple times. It's still ticking!

I do wrap the batteries with duct tape to keep them from moving around in their holder, then I place the entire bank into a sandwich bag and wrap the end so water dosn't get to the holder.


I thought so, too, but I've had a couple close calls riding to work in the morninng on a road that has 3 lanes in the same direction, 45 mph speed limit, no shoulder, but good visibility--I take the far right lane. With one 140L I had a couple occassions where they just about drove right up to my rear wheel, but with 2x 140L, so far, I'm seeing much more caution being taken. Of course, this won't stop the JAM who's got their head down while texting or otherwise pre-occupied with their phone.

jsharr

Texicans is sort of an in joke around here. People like to call us Texans texicans.

The term started when Texas was under the authority of Mexico I believe.

As to why people might try to hit the poster when he is sporting a ginormous reflective flag, etc. I think that they may be drawn to the flashing lights, etc. Too much light could be hazardous I think.

How many stories have you heard of an emergency vehicle that is stopped on the road with it's warning lights blazing, getting hit from behind? It happens all too often.

duke_of_hazard

I find this hard to believe. If it is true, then we should all be dead with our little dinotte lights.

Unknown Cyclist

I thought Texas was part of Mexico before it was taken from the Mexicans ???

Not 'under the authority of' ??

jsharr

Lets not leave Spain and France out then as well! They have claims to us prior to Mexico's

Unknown Cyclist

You've lost me completely.

Texas was part of Mexico.

The only people who had claim to it were Mexicans.

America took Texas from the Mexicans.

That's historical fact, right ?

10 Wheels

No, Texas was Bought from Mexico.

jsharr

Here are teh flags that have flown over the piece of plant Earth that is currently known as Texas

https://www.lsjunction.com/facts/6flags.htm

jsharr

The way I understand it, Mexico won it's freedom and indepenence from Spain. Mexico granted Stephen Austin the right to bring settlers into the region. They were known as Texians and were to be loyal to Mexico. Relations between the settlers and the Mexican government grew sour and the Texian army fought for and won independence from Mexico.

What this has to do with two DiNotte tail lights is beyond me.