Originally Posted by cradduck
Help me make my dollar and lighting go further.
When choosing a light consider your speed first.
The throw and beam width are better indicaters of whether the light will be good for riding conditions. Beam width can be narrower for mt bike trails etc.
The Throw is how far the light shines in front of you. You can calculate the number of feet/sec you need by your avg speed and reaction time.
So like at 15mph:
15* 5280/3600 (seconds in an hour) = 22' feet * 3 = 66' (your light should shine about 70' in front of you)
Unfortunately, most packages do not give you this information but the people at the bike shop can probably tell you this.