Originally Posted by
ItsJustMe
If ALL you need it for is to alert cars of your presence, it's probably minimally OK. That taillight looks uber-weak to me though. Personally I'd go for a Planet Bike SuperFlash/Blaze combo if you can swing it. I still wouldn't trust them in really bad weather, but that combo would be OK by me in clear weather.
One thing I've learned over the years is that cheap bike lights is expensive - either they break and you have to buy another light, or they turn out to just suck and you wind up buying a better light anyway. I have spent far more money on cheap lights that sucked than on my current setup that's really good.
+1
I have two $20 headlights and a $7 taillight that I won't know what to do with when I get finished upgrading. I think $50-75 is about the right amount of money to spend on a start-up light-set. If you spend less than that (or spend it unwisely) I think you'll regret it (I do).
My (new) setup:
PBSF taillight $23 (pretty attention grabbing without being blinding under day and night conditions)
PB Blaze 1/2W on my helmet: $21 (primary purpose is to point it directly at suspicious cross traffic to grab attention, it should work under most lighting conditions, flashing for daylight and continuous for night, I'm still reviewing it...)
Shiningbeam.com Romisen RC-N3 II Q5 for my headlight: $27 (I'm waiting on a replacement, mine was DOA, but most other reviewers have been very positive about this light), plus Twofish Lockblock $5
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...nder-50-thread
I used to think that daytime lighting was irrelevant, but I changed my mind after this happened:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...urn-into-a-hit
(Lighting isn't really the "solution," but if it helps I'm all for it.)