Originally Posted by
rekmeyata
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
Anyone having difficulty in imagining this effect, look to automotive lighting, specifically the current generation of the Dodge Charger. The rear light stretches the full width of the car. The lights aren't any more powerful than the next light, but the enlarged surface area catches the eye.
OP, I have a 4D Toplight, as well as a NR Cherrybomb 1/2 watt and two PBSF clones. The Toplight has two advantages- it doubles as a reflector when turned off and has a broader coverage area- unless you use panniers that block the sides. The Toplight also gets washed out by the others when doing a indoor wall test, due to the other lights have a more focused and intense beam pattern. On the bike, though, I find it more visible than the others- unless I just happen to be in the 'sweet spot' and get blinded.
That being said, there is another light that hasn't been mentioned yet (kinda surprised at that) that is a decent blinkie and has a reflector... the PDW Radbot 1000.