Originally Posted by
mechBgon
In the bigger picture, I've seen enough Internet debate to recognize when someone's picked their position and is too entrenched to give it up, no matter how much logic is used. People don't always have their headlights on? REFLECTORS ARE STILL BETTER. People might not recognize a reflector until point-blank range at high speeds, as it gradually fades into view? REFLECTORS ARE STILL BETTER. Reflectors suffer nasty performance losses with distance, even moreso in fog/rain/snow? REFLECTORS ARE STILL BETTER. According to you, anyway.
You misunderstand me, my good sir. I'm more interested in IF reflectors work, than if they are better than lights. I think there's no question about if lights have higher output or are visible further. The claim "better than lights" is outrageous on purpose, to get people thinking - in real life, no-one would choose (edit: just) one over another, I hope.
At this point, I'd like to thank everyone for participating, I think it's been a good thread and we've had some good discussion about both reflectors and lights vs safety issues!
That being said, reflectors do have their benefits. In many situations they work about as well as a few dollar LED attention light, but are better in the terms that they need no maintenance and are less often broken, stolen or misplaced. A reflector cannot compete with main lights for long range visibility, but it does compete with those small visibility LED units.