Originally Posted by Leisesturm

I've lived in the Portland Metro area for seven years but only moved to the city proper this spring. This is my first Fall here and in just the last few weeks of short evenings I have observed TONS of lights and lighting equipment IN USE. Out in the burbs I might go days without seeing another cyclist. When I did it was more likely to be some old guy on his daughters bike riding salmon on the sidewalk. In town... whoa... so listen carefully to what I have to say. At night. In traffic. All the high minded rhetoric that I see bandied about in this forum about "motorists can't judge your speed", "epileptic seizures may result...". What I can tell you from ACTUAL OBSERVATION, is that a flashing tail-light is a very visible tail-light. Isn't that what you want? Isn't that why you spent $30? To get the brightest, most eyeball searing Dinotte 200 you could find? And then you run it on steady, day and night, you don't change the batteries until the thing doesn't light up at all ... ... does this sound like anyone in the listening audience?

Flash gosh darn it! That's what that puppy was made to do. The steady mode was to satisfy operation in countries where drivers actually go to jail if they hit you! I've seen flashers where the batteries were so weak that a candle was brighter, but because they were flashing, they were noticed (by me). I'm just saying... I don't sell flashers for a living. I'm just saying that if you care enough to buy and install a ... flasher, you might as well flash. Your steady tail-light just gets swallowed in the general mass of far bigger CAR tail-lights and it is more likely that the reflective patches on your clothing and the reflectors in your pedals (or shoes) are what drivers see. You could have saved $30 in that case.