Originally Posted by
smasha
the only light i'd bother putting on a helmet is a red-zone -
http://www.niteflux.com/store/
all the time i see people with lights on their helmets... pointed at the sky, pointed at the ground, hidden by their backpacks, etc. putting a light on your helmet doesn't "make people see you"!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tckl9f3T5xc
NOTHING comes close to the red-zone for off-axis conspicuity. take any of the other lights mentioned above, in this thread, and off-axis conspicuity drops to near zero. off-axis "visibility" may be there, but those lights are merely "visible", not conspicuous, off-axis. outside of their narrow beams, they don't demand attention.
so unless you can keep your head pointed so the small "hot spot" of the light's beam is always pointed the right way, save up for a red-zone.
I don't see why you are so hard on the lady with 3 taillights even though one was hidden at times and you let the guy with the one blinky to the right of the cab. Her light shows up when she is stopped at the light but his is almost invisible.
As for the Red-Zone, look at the photo gallery. I don't see how the light mounted on the helmet wouldn't be equally obscured by a backpack. Sure it might be brighter but if it were mounted like the lady's light were mounted, it would be just as difficult to see. The only difference would be that you paid $100 for a hidden light instead of $25.