Originally Posted by
noglider
That looks good, just what @
T Stew (the original poster) asked for!
Well that would certainly be an option that met some of my criteria but that can't be the best, I hope. I've seen that one before actually in the other thread that rfomenko linked, none of those seemed very good. I doubt at 35 lumens it's any brighter than what I have, and at less than $30 I put little faith in it. Nice though it has built in reflector plus rack mount. There are plenty of choices for cheapies under $30. And a few really great ones over $100. Where are the decent ones for $50-100? Say close to 100 lumens?
Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
In keeping with what was said in the opening post: Since you aren't expecting to be riding at night I purpose that you get something that might be a bit brighter for added daytime visibility. I would suggest something like the DiNotte quad red. It won't run on AA's but the charge should last for days if you only use for two-three hours at a time on flash.
Most people on tours are still going to need to carry a phone and to charge it. If you stop for a hour or so you should be able to get at least a boost charge for your phone and the rear light if you carry along a small plug-in USB charger with multiple outlets. Of course if you are dead-set on something with AA's the DiNotte 140R with Red LED that uses AA's would be a good choice if you can find one. Otherwise you could buy something like the DiNotte 300R ( if they still sell those ) and build an AA battery holder to power it.
Lastly, you can buy an AA ( USB ) re-charger for your phone ( or USB rear light if you have one ). I've never used one of those myself but they should work although I'm sure it would take perhaps 8 AA's to recharge a phone. Doesn't matter though, AA's are pretty cheap and can be bought almost anywhere.
Catmando - that is exactly what my plan is assuming I can not find an adequate replaceable cell taillight, I just didn't want to clutter up my question saying about my other options. Recharging isn't a big concern since my trips aren't very long and as you point out I might not even be using the light much. And I do have 18650 powered USB charger and a few good cells if needed. I plan on being able to go on trips without stopping at places to recharge. I'm more concerned with high output. And not dead set on AA's, though I do like that option, but equally would take something that ran on 18650 or 14500 cells since I have some of those and a charger. The point being replaceable cells and high output (lets say daytime visible).
In any case I appreciate the advice and it just seems like there is not a lot of great options for what I was looking for, despite the great advancement in LED and driver technology in recent years. Manufacturers seem to push the lengthy run times, and often several cheaper lower powered LEDs instead of just one or two quality high output LEDs. That Serfas is a good example. 25-40 hours run time? Might be good for someone commuting daily that doesnt want to constantly charge but lets say you're only out at night once in a great while, or perhaps only on a road during the day that is really dangerous once in a while and you want to be seen. That kind of describes me since I don't use a bike for commuting (that would be 80 miles a day on a 12 hour work days, no thanks!) and I have great bike trails around so rarely am on a busy road. The trip or two I'd want the light I'd gladly take 4x the output at 1/4 the run time. 10 hours is plenty, heck a few hours would suffice for most trips just to cover busy traffic times. 40 hours is kind of a waste especially if one can re charge or swap cells after each trip. And any light that can churn out hundreds of lumens usually can be throttled back to those super long run times too if you want, so not like you're loosing that ability. C'mon manufacturers, where is all this modern advancement of technology that everyone speaks of?