I got the Planet Bike Rack Blinky 5-LED taillight Friday, sorta by mistake. I had too many different lights in my Amazon wishlist, was bleary eyed at 5 am Friday pre-coffee, and confirmed the order for same-day delivery. I'd intended to get a Serfas that takes AA batteries. The PB Blinky 5 take a pair of AAA batteries.

I went ahead and mounted it on the rear rack to try this weekend. It's about as bright as my Blackburn 2'Fer, but with a much narrower aperture for maximum brightness, while also having a pretty effective lens to diffuse and disperse the beam into a horizontal pattern. If that makes sense. It's both directional and wider than the 2'Fer.

The Blackburn 2'Fer is very bright for such a small USB light, but the unshielded LEDs make for very bright pinpoints visible from a wide angle -- I like it for riding in traffic, but not nighttime group rides or around other cyclists at night in the city or on the MUP. I use it as a helmet mounted rear light.

The PB Blinky 5 should be friendlier. The narrow aperture for maximum brightness might actually help approaching vehicles get a better sense of distance and closing speed, while the wide angle diffuser/disperser makes it look more like a small motorcycle taillight. From bicycle height, the PB Blinky 5 appears bright, but not piercing. From the lower position of a typical car driver, the eye line will be closer to the maximum piercing brightness -- which is a good thing because it's still less bright than a typical vehicle or motorcycle taillight.

While I'd rather have an identical type taillight with AA batteries, this PB Blinky 5 may be a keeper. I'll take some photos and videos this weekend to decide. I've noticed some online videos don't really help much because compression tends to degrade reds, so those low resolution videos of taillights aren't as impressive as lossless still photos or viewing with the unaided eye in meatspace.