guess it depends on the light. mine makes a really big circle of light so even when pointed down there's lots of indirect visibility

It's a much bigger problem on MUPs - a good chunk of my commute. If walkers are shielding their eyes when you approach, or other bike riders take off their light and aim it directly at your eyes... you should assume your lights are causing problems.

yup, even tho I point mine down, I now also cover it partly w my left hand when approaching ppl. thing is, the ppl w/o a light, I can't see in advance unless my light is aimed higher. bikes, joggers & walkers, etc w lights, I can prepare for!

I have a zoomable head led flashlight. It is aimed so I get a nice fat (10ft wide?) spot that begins a few ft in front of me, and stretches a good bit forward (15ft?). I try to keep it low, otherwise light is wasted. In blinking mode, it's super obvious how high your beam is. I'm ok with nearby car tail lights, but if stop signs are blinking back at you, your light is too high. If street signs on traffic signal poles are blinking, your light is WAY too high!

You don't point the light directly at the ground. Just aim it so that it isn't completely horizontal. That wastes the light anyway. The point is to illuminate the ground so that you can see something before you hit it.

There are also various reflector angles that are going to have a large effect on how much light goes where. Most LED lights have a 35° reflector which is a wide angle flood light. A few LED lights have 25° reflectors which is a wider spot light. Back in the days of MR16 halogens, you could get 12° reflector lights that were an intense spotlight.

This is also going to make a lot of difference in how the light is perceived by motorists and other riders. A wide flood light looks a bit dazzling but really isn't since it throws it's light over a wide area. Not much of that area is going to be that intense. The wide spot is going to be more intense at the center but it throws less light off to the sides. The really narrow spot puts a whole lot of light in a really tiny area.

In other words, the flood lights are going to get noticed while the spots are going to let you see the ground better.

Because you brought it up.

At night, I don't use bicycle paths. Partly because they are closed in my area and the other part is because it is rude. People walking on the few paths that are open at night are doing just fine without lights and they don't need me to come along an plunge them into darkness after I pass.

Come now. It doesn't take a linguist to know what you are saying or what you mean.

That's why I love my zoomable head. I can select a beam width that is pencil thin (1 foot wide at maybe 20-30ft), or maybe max 30-45deg wide. It's pretty easy to find a central pointing direction, and beam width, that gives a nice large spot that is all on the ground.

Look man. It's a *******-ish thing to due ... blind other people. It's very egotistical.

Most of the cycling I'd done is quite similar to this, where the non-cut-off beams are extensively tested.

Especially the MagicShine (which we over here call the MagicScheiße / Magic**** as they're quite annoying to other bike/road users.)

https://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/te.../index_en.html

yeah that's what I have. wish there was a product I could just clip on that would eliminate the whole top half of the beam. something designed by an lighting engineer that would not fall off & not be card board & duct tape cuz they do get hot. I have no need to illuminate the trees above me, just the road in front of me

aluminum foil

that's been linked to Alzheimer's

So don't lick it

The wide angle lens does that. Ad a thrower on the helmet for longer distances and your set.

hmmm cheap enough, I'll try it. thanks!

Are all cutoff beam assynetrical beam patterns? Trying to be considerate of others while using a symmetrical or typically round beam pattern by pointing it down might really limit how far away you can usefully see.

I'm curious about the cutoff patterns myself but, I don't happen across too many other bike commuters or cars that seem to mind how my cygolite is oriented. At least no one has told me...

I use about 1500 lumens with 3 lights on the front, just enough.

I have a B&M Ixon Core which has the same kind of beam a dynamo headlight has. It's very nice. I get my European-made lights from xxcycle.com. Prices are very good, and so is shipping. Selection is excellent. You have to navigate the half-English-half-French web site, but it isn't hard.

It works great for spotting skunks by the side of the trail for me. Just don't forget to have another light for distance as you sacrifice distance for the wider dispersion. I got mine from Action, and was only about $5

I'll just leave these here



https://john-s-allen.com/blog/?cat=186

(these signs aren't working)

I've been aiming mine down but considering getting one of the lights mentioned below

Peter White's discussion of Lighting systems

headlight beam patterns from Peter White Cycles

ordered a wide angle lens on Amazon, should be able to test it next week

wonder if we just need to cover half the headlight like they did during WWII when driving cars at night

for the DIY hood idea, this guy took a whack at it but never posted a photo showing the beam pattern on the road

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/...=174&t=1632527

I'm not usually a fan of extra laws, but the German law about headlight cutoffs has led to the production of some really excellent products and the U.S. lack of such a law has led to a whole lot of really bright headlights with terrible optics. I know I could just buy the German lights, but I'd like for there to be a more competitive market of inexpensive LED lights with good optics.

We've reached the point where $50 will get you a brighter light than you need for anything short of midnight trail bombing. I can only hope that beam characteristics will be the next market differentiator.

When I first started using lights I used a Road Toad my GF had but wasn't using. That lead to a series of flashlights and bike lights that were brighter and better, but it wasn't until about 5 years when I got the "1,000 lumen" Magicshine did I finally have enough light.

I hope they do improve the optics. If you can ad a $5 wide angle lens to the Magicshine you'd think someone would make better lenses for the other lights that are out there now too.

amen to that. btw if you come across some of those you were mentioning would love to see them

In the electronics subforum, someone posted a wonderful list of shaped-beam battery headlights. Let me see if I can find it. You have to hunt these lights down.

I have two magicshine clones from amazon, both with the disperser lens. It starts with a spot that's about 9" wide, and spreads it into a bar that's maybe like 9" by 5'. If you rotate it so the length is forward, then you have light in exactly your straight-ahead path, but to me it's disconcerting to be so dark to the sides.

My own light, as I said earlier, zoomable head cree led flashlight. Pointed at a downwards angle and zoomed to give me a spot that is maybe 6' across and 12-15' forward. I run it on medium, and in dead 'winter', when I use the light both ways, a single 18650 2400mAh battery goes a whole week. I have two batteries, and rotate them weekly.