Cygolite 150
It's the
Cygolite Hotshot Pro 150
Yes, like the previous comments, I only use a few modes.
The single flash is 150 lumens, longer flashes or steady is 90 lumens max.
The 150's beam is much wider than my older Hotshot 2W -- comparing both on steady at highest power, the 150's bright center beam is 2x as tall and 3x to 4x as wide as the 2W. The 150 is brighter than the 2w, but not extremely so, it's brightness is spread out much farther.
Be very careful about looking directly at the flashes, you'll see spots for a while. Bright! I can see the LED and the reflector through my eclipse glasses!
Daytime
For daytime, I use
single flash, slowed to
1 flash per second. Is this "daylightning" mode? I think so, since the very short pulse once per second should have long runtimes, and their list is in the same order as selecting with the light's button.
I wanted it to wake up drivers far back on the road that a bike is ahead, and wanted it to last for a whole day. It sounds like that should last for 30+ hours, so I'm going to start using the
2-per second flash rate for 15+ hours of run time.
This is bright enough to be seen at noon in the sun. It will catch a driver's eye from far away. It's very effective early or late in the day, or in mixed sun and shadow in the trees.
Urban night rides
I've been using the wah-wah pulse ("zoom"?) at a 1-second cycle time, thinking it's less annoying to drivers than the selection of multiple fast flashes. Kind of distinctive, too. It probably should be recharged after a few hours of this, it's the 3-7.5 hours of run time.
I have it
aimed slightly downward, but the wide beam still shines horizontally, for a long distance back. The light makes a bright pool of light on the road behind me, which I think helps, too. And drivers that pull up behind me at stoplights won't be blinded quite as much.
Group rides
This light is way, way too bright and the beam is wider than the older Hotshot models, too. It would be nice if they had a low power blink mode, but the blink modes just have changeable blink speeds, not intensity. (I still use the single blink in bright sunlight, and other riders say it's okay.)
So at dusk or at night, I use the
steady light mode, dialed
way down to it's minimum brightness. It's still plenty bright enough for a group ride, especially with the other riders having lights too. And it won't blind the following riders. (This is the 210 hour mode)
Even at this minimum brightness, it's
too bright to hold at arms length and look
directly at the beam. Off axis, the brightness falls off enough to not annoy a following rider, but the bright part of the beam still covers two driving lanes at 50 feet back.