IMO, if you want a bell sound you definitely want the t'ling t'ling sound of what a proper bike bell should sound like. I walk quite a bit with my wife on the local MUP and we both agree that any other sound is not readily recognized both for what it is from and even where it is. Perhaps that's a fundamental problem with electronically generated sounds. They just don't have the full spectrum of sound that a real bike bell will have and that make pinpointing their location as even being behind you a issue.
That said, I just holler out that I'm passing or a heads up or bike back if something else is going on up front. The regular folk on the MUP thank me for the heads up. The noobs jump out of their skin with surprise. A few immediately turn around and step into the path to the left of them that I said I was passing them in.
However I've got a loud voice and except for the few places where I have to compete with the noise on a parallel road, I can be heard more than 3 if not 4 seconds away. Which gives them time to do what ever foolishness they might do and me time to react.
I'd refrain from doing the excessively loud horn thing. You don't want to annoy people or hurt their ears with noise. Usually when we use them on boats we are quite far away and out of shouting distance.
Last edited by Iride01; 08-16-22 at 01:44 PM.