2manybikes

I upgraded mine to 7w !!

All you need to do is put a car battery on your rear rack and a 12v to 110v inverter on top of that..no problem !! Shouldn't be more than about 75 lbs.

If you have all that power you might as well throw on a four speaker CD player.

KrautFed

I'm sorry, but has anyone never heard of the term "attracted to the light"? Has anyone ever seen how many traffic accidents are caused when a passing motorist runs into a parked police cruiser with his wig-wags on? A blinding/blinking light causes the brain to make errors in distance judgement and closing speeds.

I just want to be noticed by motorists... I DO NOT want motorists to stare at me (deer in headlights)

feethanddooth

im thinking about adding more lights knowing that the days are getting shorter. i need more money though

Gojohnnygo.

This is what I run. 4 Cateye 1000 with reflective tape and hiz yellow vest.

The vest first and yellow reflective jog lite bands are on the ones to the inside. the orange on the outside of the backpack are below


The cateyes from 50 feet


The side view


The set up

catatonic

If that works for you, then go ahead. It's just your safety is not more important than anyone elses, nor no less.

Then there is the practicality angle. For me, I don't see a gain myself, in having to lug around huge batteries just to be seen (LED lights can be arranged to maximize visiblity in many angles, as well as reflectors can). However, I would lug around a large battery for a light so I can see.

It's just finding what's right for where you ride. The faster traffic is, the brighter lights you need. Same for the faster you ride.

blackDoggy

I think there are two commercially available superblinkies, yet to be featured in this discussion: 1) Nova made in Germany (not to be confused with Lupine), price is ~$110 and 2) Dinotte Tail Light, $129 (made in USA). Rob from Dinotte seems a good person (he even managed to include few phrases in Latvian when replying to my questions, mind you that Latvian is considered one of the most difficult languages in the world). If anyone manages to save some hard-earned $129 and test this light, let us know.

2manybikes

Post # 16 in this thread is the light from a Nova Bull. The poster can send you to another thread with lots of details and photos of his light and his installation. There are photos and dicussion in the forums about the Dinotte too.

Doesn't Latvian work in one of those on line translators? JĀ ?

2manybikes

I think that is kind of an "urban legend". If I am wrong and you can point me to some accident statistics I'd love to know about it. The last time that came up here someone pointed out that there is really no way to know if someone did that right before an accident. I think he was a police officer?

Deer just don't understand the light, you make some sound and they move. Just like most wild animals. They are not frozen they are just looking, and don't understand the danger.

CastIron

Drunks are notoriously attracted to lights. It's one my fears with my lighting and commute. But then again, I try to deal with the other 98% of cars. We all play the odds.

vrkelley

Do Not...Repeat Do Not get one of these. I've been through 4 and have confirmed with other Total Geeks that these lights cannot cut on the road...the road vibration is just too much for these cheap china lights.

froze

Well gee, there sure was a lot of light given on this subject! I just keep it simple which means less batteries to burn and/or recharge. All I use is the Cateye TL-LD500 along with barend plug lights and reflector tape on my helmet, and reflective bands on my legs. Though I am considering using legbands that light up. In the front all I use is a cheap Cygolite Metro 12.5watt dual beam light and a Vistalite Xenon flasher. This is the first lighting system I've used where I actually got comments from motorist as to how well they could see me. I live in Fort Wayne IN and 99% of the riders at night use no lights or reflectors of any kind; and those that do pale in comparison to mine! If some of you guys rode around at night with your setups shown on this post the people of Fort Wayne would probably think aliens have invaded their sleepy little city!!!!

kb0tnv

Whatever makes you feel safe. However I think 4 TLD-1000s is totally overkill. Maybe two in case one goes out. I run a blinkie on my helmet. One TLD-1000 on the seat post. One vista 5-led light mounted on the rear rack mount. I set the top two on blinkie and the vista-5 led to steady. That way I have lights that blink and one that is steady. I saw just one kid that wasn't even on the road one time with the same vista 5-led light and I could see him just fine. I think we all get a little paranoid when it comes to lights. We probably worry that they will go out. The great thing about LEDs is that they do well on batteries. I run NIMH recharables on most of my lights. Just make sure you check them before you leave. Also have some spare batteries. I also have reflective vest, reflective strips on my two side panniers, and reflective leg straps. I am thinking of adding a reflective wrist strap so I can make my left turns. Since that is normally when I am out futher in the lane. I saw my friend and his looked really cool. I agree that too many lights is overkill and they will probably think aliens are landing. However with the way my setup is I am sure they say the same thing! Do what you can. It can't hurt but just remember anything above one blinky and a good light setup is way more than the avg. bear!

Keep Cycling!

Gojohnnygo.

Not in bad weather (snow, rain and fog) I use all 4 of them in different modes. I run just 2 one on random and the other on flash for fair weather nights. You get in rainstorm, the drivers view is not that great with the windshield wipers going and the glare from the windshield.Thats when all four are deployed in diffrent modes.

vrkelley

This is good thinking. Around here, in bad weather, drivers are in survival mode and forget to look for bikes.

Cheshire

I have 1 of the OP's Cateyes (the long-looking one) that I use on random flash mode so as not to set off any possible epileptics (sp?) that may be behind me. I've never been fond of strobes. They give me headaches and make it hard to see. I also run a 3-LED solid white for front visibility, and occasionally a mountain-biking headlamp so I can see. I think it's a Cyglo?

When the nights get longer I'm planning on putting a second rear light on that will remain "steady on". Two reds, one blinking one steady, one steady white is plenty around here.

I've had highway patrol spotlight me for running too-bright lights before...thought I was high-beaming people.

landstander

I use a Cateye TL-LD500 mounted on the reflector bracket of my rear rack.


A Cateye TL-LD1000 clipped to the mounting strap on my seat-wedge bag.


And finally, a pair of ViewPoint FlashBack bar-end lights.

CommuterRun

I use a Cateye TL-LD1000 on the seatpost. One bank on steady, the other bank on rapid flash.

Towing a trailer I also use, in addition to the TL-LD1000, a TL-LD500 on the left rear of the trailer set for steady on. I used to also have another 500 on the right rear of the trailer, but I lost that one.

MarkS

How do you power the XENON amber flashing light? I stopped using mine -- a 4 pound SLA battery for less than 1 hour was too much for too little.

Light #3 in the OP looks a lot like this one:

https://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cf...LogFrom=Search

I do have an alert shirt vest, but the messenger bag covers half of it, and wearing the vest over the bag is kind of limiting. Instead, I've put a couple of little 2" flashers on the reflective strips that hang from the bag, plus one of these reflective triangles.

mechBgon

I just got a pair of the bar-plug lights and aimed one at my wall to see how the beam pattern & power compare to a Cateye LD500 (which I categorize as low-power). They're brighter than the LD500, and project a very defined circle. The end of the handlebar is going to need to be level with the ground, or else their "hot spot" is going to be aiming down at the ground, so that's something to consider. But at 30 grams for two lights that are each brighter than an LD500, and also serve a second function (plugging my handlebars), I'll take 'em for my road-racer

froze

What brand are your barend lights? The ones that I've got are not brighter then the LD500; they do have more of a spot focused beam then the LD500's LED's but once your just a bit off center they dim down more then the LD500's when off center.

Overkll

I just purchased a set of the bar-end blinkies off EBAY for $5.55. I figured, why not? For the price, they seem good and extra blinkies that are out of the way are nice (since I am no longer using my bar end mirrors, found them to be a PITA). But, I totally forgot about the hot spot issue, hopefully it will work out well.

BTW, from most pictures I have seen, there seems to be many brands with the exact same light (one manufacturer?).

Kerry

mechBgon

Mine are branded Serfas but I'm sure they're the same as all the other-branded ones. Here are photos I shot last night. The first one is my LD500's beam pattern on my living-room wall, the second is my pair of bar-end blinkies, and the third is the camera looking at the LD500 and one bar-end blinkie.

I'll also throw in a pic of my NiteRider Defender superblinkie versus the pair of bar-end blinkies combined (hint: the NR is the bright one). Cateye LD1000's are about the same as the NiteRider in beam pattern and brightness. Heck, and I'll throw in a pic of the Nova's beam pattern for fun *evil laughter*

Anyway, the bar-end blinkies are nice in their own way. Roadies who'd feel like a Fred for having a Cateye LD-1000 or a NiteRider can put these on instead. Blinkie addicts like me can add them in addition to the others

landstander

I like 'em primarily because they give drivers a point of reference to the effective width of the bicycle. I wouldn't consider using them as my only blinkie (the field of view is too limited), but they seem to work rather well for their intended purpose.

The bit about the bar-ends needing to be aimed level to the ground is very a good point.

atbman

A friend runs a cheapie LED front light attached to his rear rack, pointing forward at his hi-viz vest which has "H" pattern reflective strips on it. He shows up extremely well.

Portis

I run all these when it's REAL dark.