Originally Posted by
Medic Zero
I was just eyeing the below light at Rivendell. Looks quite effective from the descriptions provided.
http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/lt009.htm
I can't justify the expense right now, otherwise I would pick it up to try it out, I've added it to my list of parts for my touring rigs overhaul though.
I can't really reccommend the light I mounted on the rear of my girlfriends rack, I found out after I bought it that it has a reputation for failures, but hers has been working well, it is quite bright with a little bit of a variation which helps catch the eye. I can't remember the brand/model, I'll check when I finally make it home from work and school later today.
I hate to say this but Grant is right about the size of the light is important. Even a real intense prick of a tail light is still difficult to judge distance by. I've seen in my town two riders with different type of larger tail lights on their bikes, and I noticed those way faster from a greater distance then the smaller ones like I use and the most of us use. That same phenomena occurs with headlights too; my wife noticed my Phillips Saferide headlight during a dark and rainy night test with her driving towards me far better then the Cygolite MityCross 480 or the ExpiliOn 350. She said she noticed it better because it was larger.
Problem is, die hard cyclists don't want a tail light that measures 6" x 4", and it does look ungainly on a bike. I guess it just depends on your interpretation of how safe you want to be.
I'm just happy with using more smaller lights instead of one larger one, but I admit the larger one is probably better.
There is a nice one made by Phillips too called the Lumiring but it doesn't blink due to European laws. I did find a comparison of a bunch of tail lights but their all European lights so there are none being compared against what you would typically find in America; see:
http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tes...eride_lumiring