Blinkie for my helmet
 

Shorter days are coming. That means it may be dark (or getting dark) when I leave work. :o
So, I did a quick search through the Commuting forum and the Light selection guide thread and only found a few posts about helmet mounted blinkies.

A big thanks to mechBgon for his suggestion about the Planet Bike Brt 3H. Looks promising.

Who else makes a good (bright) blinkie for the helmet?

My helmet has one of those plastic adjustable bands on the back and a blinkie will clip right on it. You can't feel it when it's clipped back there. Any blinkie with a belt clip on it will work just fine.

Mine too, and if you don't mind a bigger blinkie, I'm finding that the Planet Bike Blinky 5 is good. The lens is a reflex reflector, so the whole thing will reflect if it's getting hit from the rear with headlights, and the LEDs are surprisingly powerful for a budget-priced blinkie. In fact, the hotspot is a bit brighter than my NiteRider daytime-visible blinkie.

The Blinky 5 is natively a clip-on blinkie, so it goes right onto the helmet's occipital-lobe band.

For comparison purposes, here's a photo with my camera flash at the lowest setting. You can compare the reflective intensity of various stuff here.


The helmet on top of the rack bag has the Blinky 5 with its retroreflective lens (the light is switched off here).

The red and white reflective tape on the fenders, a couple places on the front wheel, and the ends of the pedals is DOT Conspicuity Tape, which you can get from auto-supply stores in the US.

The amber tape on the rear rack struts is glass-bead tape (TrimBrite, similar to ScotchBrite).

The trim on the rack bag and the front panniers is ScotchLite.

I set a Jog-A-Lite reflective legband on top of the crankset, and draped my ANSI Class III vest over the top tube. That's Avery-Dennison 2-inch OmniBrite tape on the vest, if anyone's looking to get the tape itself.

Next on my list: get some more DOT Conspicuity tape and add some to both wheel rims (except I keep wavering because I want to build new wheels for this bike). I'm working on giving it a visual "signature" that really spells out B I C Y C L E whenever possible, so the circular shape of the wheels would be valuable.

You can spell out bicycle or other words on your wheels with this:
http://www.hokeyspokes.com/

:D

I've dangled this one from my helmet. It's a good backup light.

http://www.performancebike.com/produ...00/40_1724.jpg

I've been using these...
Not as bright (nor heavy) as others here, but effective, me thinks.

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/imag...pfirehelm1.jpg

I do LD, with alot of night training / riding.
Reflective vest, new Schwalbe's, ankle bands, dyno hub with a pair of front lights, helmet LED for cue / navigating, blinkie on the bike bag, blinkie on the jersey.

Looking at adding EL cable to the frame... maybe something like this in red on the rear... (or maybe getting some EL sheet and creating something that fits rack / frame / etc...)

http://beingseentechnologies.goemerc...es/Funkit5.jpg

I believe a blinkie at a higher plane is a wise choice. My helmet is a 'giyo' and it has that same strap. I just need get a blinkie as big as yours.

Both of these are very light and mounts easy to a helmet. I'm using the Turtle on my helment. It is bright, but not overly bright that it blinds the cyclists that I pass.

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_d...=1159104651633

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_d...=1159104651638

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c7...t/IMG_2390.jpg

wow. tequilla. That helmet looks like one that could formely be used by the state of FLa at their prison in Raiford.

I use one of these as a seatpost bag light because of the reflector feature. The LED's light up the reflector portion so that it is pretty effective even if it is not pointing directly to the rear. One caveat though: you need to perimeter tape the lens on or else it can pop off. Scotch tape will do. It's not secure with just the indents holding it on. Otherwise it's been a good light.

For the helmet I use one of those Cateye 100's. You can wrap the bungie around the helmet adjustment band a few times and it will be solidly anchored pointing straight to the rear. It's not a really big light but it comes in handy if you have forgotten your main blinkie as it's always attached to the helmet.

check out "planet-bike" products. i have a 4 way adjustible beam helmet mount lite that works great for
my nite commutes.

i still have h/bar mounted head light, tail blinkie (attached to rack-pac), side blinkies(attched to rear panniers), and blinlies that attach to me.

I Lite Up!

A Blackburn Mars 3.0 works really well.

http://images.rei.com/media/496774.jpg

Planet Bike Super Blinky
 

This little thing is amazingly bright. I think it's brighter than my Cateye LD1000. I used a zip-tie right around my helmet. Piece of cake, high, bright, light, and cheap!

http://i.pbase.com/o5/34/656134/1/67...ll.helmet1.jpg

NICE :beer: Yeah, SuperFlash is awesome!

what about this self-leveler?

http://www.planetbike.com/pop/3010.html

http://www.planetbike.com/images1/3010b.jpg

yes very nice !

I have one of those too. It actually was a little tricky to get it mounted using their self-levelling bracket. If I snugged the strap up, it bowed the bracket enough that the bottom of the blinkie would hit the bracket and stop levelling.

http://www.mechbgon.com/visibility/h...inkiesmall.jpg

The good news is that if your helmet has a rear cross-strap without big gizmos on it, you can clip the blinkie right onto that instead, and it'll be aiming pretty much the right way. I'd suggest the bigger, much brighter Blinky 5 instead, if that attachment method will work for you. And the "spill" from the light will also illuminate your back if you're wearing a light-colored outer layer (white would be great for showing a red light).

Mech: You like the Blinky 5 better than the super flash?

Thanks for all the ideas. I went to Performance and REI last Sunday and couldn't find anything I really liked. I went to my favorite bike shop and they had the Planet Bike Brt 3H. I liked it and bought it.....and a few other things. I was outta there $60 later. ;)

How would you attach the Blackburn Mars 3.0 to your helmet?

Clip it onto the rear cross-strap. On my Giro it nestles right in and doesn't even rattle around.