JinbaIttai

Let's not forget the point of this thread. ^^

A direct light is so much more obvious than light reflected off another surface. We are not debating this benefit of having a taillight shining directly backwards. Photo examples of a bright tail light are impressive and show how they are even brighter than a car's tail light, and might even win over someone reading this thread to upgrade, but irrelevant just the same.

The OP is asking if it is worthwhile for solid & blinking rear, or is blinking alone ok.

One argument for solid & blinking rear is that it is difficult for drivers to fix onto the rider's exact spot in the darkness with only a blinker. The light blinks off for a fraction of a second and during that instant the rider is a ninja. Kinda like dancing in a techno club (not that any of us have ever done anything like that).

I agree with this, and suggest the controversial idea that powerful front headlights pointed at the ground in front of the rider will provide enough illumination to negate that strobe light effect.

We are talking about light reflected onto pavement versus light shining directly backwards. I can see how what I suggest is dumb, as chipcom suggests, and I repect that opinion, because there's no comparison concerning brightness. I see the blinky providing enough brightness, as long as strong front headlights can provide the light to give drivers something to fix onto.

Can they or can they not put out enough light to be noticed in the car's headlights? I apologize for bringing up the moth effect, as it is controversial (but not just internet legend, it has been researched to inconclusive results).

I think they might, and would like to experiment with some photography once I get my hands on a camera.
These modern LEDs put out a spot much more intense than most car headlights. I admit 6 watts of LED can't hold a candle to the flood and throw of automotive incandescent lights, but like I said, not one vehicle is able to overpower the spot on the ground my lights cast when I ride after dark.

I'm not suggesting riding with no tail light. If I had two I'd put one on blinking and one on solid just to be safe, but I only have one PBSF and it stays in blink mode, day or night.

Doohickie

Depends on the environment. You're right, of course, on rural roads. Suburban/city streets with lots of car traffic is a whole different case. The blinkies stand out in a crowd of lights from other cars and seem to attract much more attention from drivers.

At night I've been running a headlamp on steady mode and a tail lamp on blink mode. When it's light out, I run both on blink mode. In traffic the cars seem to identify me as a bike more quickly that way.

I just picked up a second set. My plan is at night I'll run both headlights on steady and the brighter tail constant on while the dimmer one is set to blink. During the day, I'll leave the tails the same but probably only run one headlight in blink mode.

chipcom 

1. I'm not saying your headlights are ineffective, I am saying they are ineffective for the wacky purpose stated.

3. The effective output (in the context of a cycling headlamp) of a P7 is much less than the advertised output.

3. You have no idea of the wacky, heavy, ugly things we put together to use as headlights 30 years ago,

chipcom 

better, yes...'most effective' would need to be defined and would surely be debated afterward.

Basil Moss

I didn't hear about it there in the first place, a friend from America told me, it seems that there is some opposition to this from the ladies of Texas!

mechBgon

That is bad advice. Reflectors do not show up well, or do not show up at all, when:

• the driver's lights are off (happens when they pull out of a brightly-lit parking lot, or just delay turning their lights on)
• the driver's lights are on, but not aimed towards the rider (going into a dip, for example)
• the driver-side headlight is burned out
• the car is very close to the rider
• there is fog, which causes radical drops in reflective performance, less so for active lights.

Also, reflectors don't have an eye-catching strobe pattern (duh)

I run all my taillights flashing, from the DiNotte or Nova down to the SuperFlash and the BRT-5 and the bar-plug blinkies. Longer battery life, better contrast with background lights, and no one will mistake them for an automotive light either.

I have a hard time figuring out why people think they need to run a light in solid mode... if you do have multiple lights, you're providing triangulation info anyway, and personally, I notice blinkies at such long range (because they blink) that the range is pretty much irrelevant. Is it 0.2 miles away, or 0.3 miles away? Does it matter? It's a blinkie, probably a cyclist since it doesn't bob up & down like a pedestrian... I'll keep an eye on them.

2manybikes

In addition to all that, a flashing red light means, slow or caution. In all of the USA and most of the other countries I have been in too, I believe.

Scheherezade 

I thought of another idea: offsetting the flashing patterns on PBSFs. That way, cars will see the main LED twice as often. So, in theory, cars would have a bright point of reference twice as often to perceive distance. Plus, the totally trippy flash pattern would be pretty hard not to notice.