Originally Posted by
T Stew
I was wondering what the best replaceable cell taillight is on the market, under $100 if they happen to go higher than that. I don't like not having access to the battery for replacement if needed, or simply being able to swap cells on the fly. I have quite a collection of Eneloop NiMH AA's (and a few AAA) and also 14500 & 18650 li-ion cells. I usually don't ride at night so it's not much of a concern, and do have an older PDW Danger Zone light, but my first tour (mini-tour?) coming up has me wondering if I should consider upgrading. I plan on tent camping most or all the nights, which is why I'd rather have a light I can just swap batteries and not rely on chargers. I may be over-reacting since I'm new to overnight trips and I don't plan on cycling after dark but you never know. I'm sure it would come in handy sooner or later.
Since you mention touring, where are you planning to mount the light? In my experience, lights mounted on the back of a trunk rack take a severe beating compared to seatpost mounting, presumably because all the shock experienced by the rear wheel gets transmitted in a straight line from the dropout directly up through the rack stays and to the light mount. Cheaper replaceable-battery lights often don't hold up, in my experience. They either break and fall off outright, or the vibration causes the batteries lose contact momentarily due to poor battery holder design. If the light has a soft on-off switch, this will often turn off the light, so now you're riding around with no taillight until you notice the problem and turn it back on. So just make sure that whatever recommendations you get, that the light has been tested in sufficiently rough conditions.