The Vis 180 (not the Vis 180 Micro) is strictly a rechargeable battery. That light is so bright it can be readily seen from over a mile away in broad daylight! At night it casts a red plume of light on the road and on passing buildings. I looked for quite awhile before settling on this light and it makes my Planet Bike Turbo look dim! I still use the Planet Bike Turbo though, it now takes the position on the rear of my helmet. I keep most of my tail lights when I upgrade and just move the older lights to a different position, my first LED tail light, a Cateye LD600 is fasten to my seat post, the Light & Motion Vis 180 attaches to my seat bag, and I have set of Soma Road Flares in the handlebar ends, so I have 5 tail lights (counting the Soma's as 2).

I also read studies done in Europe that flashing lights, either front or rear were illegal because flashing lights hindered motorists ability to accurately ascertain the distance to the cyclist so I put my Vis 180 on steady mode; but Canadian and US studies showed that flashing lights attracted the attention of motorists faster, so I put all my other lights on flash mode. I have NO CLUE if what I'm doing is any safer, I've never been hit from behind even going way back to the mid 70's when tail lights were all but useless! But I figure I would cover both spectrums of the study and figured it can't hurt.