cag3r

if you were going to get one of these lights to use as a tailight, which one would you use?



thanks!

socalrider

I would say the PB superflash is a little better.. It has more mounting options and they are comparable in brightness...

ColorChange

Do a quick search and you'll see lots of discussions.

https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/240142-ld1000-superflash-dinotte-tail-light-shootout.html

Superflash is brighter, cheaper, but has no side lights. If crowded, most recommend the LD, if rural, most prefer the super.

CBBaron

What I like about the LD1000 is the option to have one bank on steady and the other flashing. It also uses AA vs AAA batteries and so should last a little longer. However the Superflash is probably noticable from further away on a high speed road.
Ofcourse neither compare to the Dinotte 3W tail light for brightness.
Craig

noisebeam

Both!

I just have the LD-1000 but am interesting in adding the SF. Can it be helmet mounted to point in right direction when in cycling position? I have a sense it is quite directional.

Al

Bekologist

here's a photo of a superflash from the side. very large light footprint and very bright viewed from the side.

The Superflash is a whole 'nother league than the Cateye 1000 'pickle'

tuolumne

I recently got a superflash to suppliment my ld1000. When I put them on the bike together the superflash was much more noticeable. I decided to remove the ld1000 altogether since it suddenly seemed so overly big and unproductive. I now have the ld1000 on our tandem and the superflash on the commuter. So, go with the superflash for half the price and better visibility.

mechBgon

Here's one way. It ends up pointing pretty much the right way, insofar as any helmet-mounted light can be. The lights are pretty directional. I've included hotspot photos for the SuperFlash and the Nova (shot with same settings) to give a sense of the size of the hot spot.

In the bigger picture, for a helmet-mounted blinkie, I still think the PB Blinky 5 is a good pick if your helmet's retention band allows clipping on a blinkie. You can't be sure a helmet-mounted taillight is precisely aimed anyway, so while the Blinky 5 is not quite as intense, it has a BIG lens, the lens incorporates a reflex reflector that'll help when headlights hit it, and it's half the price of a SuperFlash.



The Blinky 5 has intensity a bit higher than my NiteRider Universal, so it's still in the daytime-visible category. Ok, here's those other pics:

noisebeam

I have a Trek branded 5-led/reflex reflector that has very similar packaging as this light in the picture and clips. The LEDs flash/illuminate more intensely than the LD1000. Can I assume its the same as the planet bike you note? (I could not find it on the Trekbikes website light page - this looks like it: https://davidsworld.com/itemdetails.c...gId=39&id=5352)
I usually clip this to my bag (in addition to bike mounted lights) - I'll try it on my helmet tonight.

But I think the helmet clip as you show would end up pointing the LEDs much further up than the picture, when in 'cycling' position.

Al

HardyWeinberg

I have been mounting LD1000s on angle brackets to get them on the back of my rack (rather than on the seatpost where they would be covered by my coat, as well as conflicting w/ wedge bag), and basically they weigh enough that the brackets always fatigue and snap. Most of the time I can recover the LD1000, but I have bought 3 of them, and I just lost my last one.

I'm sticking w/ the superflash that can clamp right to my rack side stay thingy (in addition to being brighter and lighter).

HardyWeinberg

That depends on the drain of all the various bulbs/leds/whatever they are. I haven't really seen my superflash noticeably dim (though it got brighter when I swapped out the batteries it came with for lithium AAAs), but the cateye, even on all blink, needs batteries frequently.

Gojohnnygo.

I just order two Planet Bike Superflash from Nasbar. Because of all the good things said about them here. I think I will run the Superflash's on the upper rear triangle close to the seat post using two Minoura Besso mounts. With the 2 Cateye 1000's on the seat post and two more Cateye 1000's on a Minourra swing grip.

Seeing that I own seven 1000's they need to be put good use. I think pairing them together is a great option. Bright is better.

Gojohnnygo.

I have used the 1000's for almost 2 years on a daily basis. I get 80 plus hour on flash with lithium battery's in the Cateye 1000s and they are just as bright as with fresh battery's. I change them out for peace of mind at around 80 hours. Because I don't want that sudden loss of power and not know about it.

froze

Is the Superflash the same thing as the BRT7 that has 7 LED's listed at PlanetBike? https://www.planetbike.com/rearlights.html

I have the Cateye LD600 with 5 LED's and it's very bright though not quite as bright as the 1000, but it's cheaper and when mounted vertically it's very visible from the sides. But if that Superflash (BRT7?) is far brighter I may buy it and use my 600 on the helmet if I can get it work there.

Gojohnnygo.

No the superflash uses a half watt LED plus two red LED's. At first I was thinking the same thing.
The seven runs 7 basic LED's

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...0Rear%20Lights


As far as I can tell Planet Bike does not have the specs up and running for the superflash at thier website, Just the add on the front page.

socalrider

The superflash is the same exact size as the BRT7. The superflash is unique because of its flashing design.. Small leds on the bottom that run at a constant flashing mode and the larger one on top that lights up the road.. Like I said above the superflash is better, because of its wide array of mounting options, size and the fact that it does not eat batteries like the LD-1000 makes it a great choice.. I bought mine from nashbar for 20.00..

Gojohnnygo.

The LD 1000's doesn't eat Battery's on less you feed it cheap ones.

mechBgon

The Blinky 5 has more squared-off corners, but maybe it's really the same light, especially if it's brighter than an LD1000. In the Blinky 5 pic above, I actually did try to use a "riding position," chin down a bit and eyes up. I gave that Blinky 5 to my little sister, but once I get another one, I'll sit on my bike in my apartment and see where the light hits the wall.

When I revamped my little sister's bike, I removed her first-generation VistaLight 3-LED blinkie. It sure is feeble compared to the ones we can get today. They've come a long ways

2manybikes

So is the 5 LED model and very directional. But the do have a reflective quality to the lens. I thought they kind of looked like they belonged on the trike. Almost like a regular taillight. Kinda, sorta. Not too bad if the old 7 LED Eclipse lights are all flashing together with them.

A whole row of Superflash lights all along that bar would be something to see! Hmmmm. Looks like 9 or 10 would fit.

froze

Yeah 9 or 10 would work...except you may have some drunk driver thinking he/she needs to destroy an alien spaceship and run you over!

2manybikes

Or just because it's obnoxious.

TheWalkman

Cateye has an upgrade to the TL-LD1000, the TL-LD1100. They are currently offering it in the U.K. but I can't seem to find it anywhere in the U.S. They are billing this as being 80% brighter than the LD1000 which is saying something.

Here's a brief review featured in the November 2006 Cycling Plus. (This magazine does a great job on their product reviews and rarely gives 10s.)



https://zyro.co.uk/products_view_review.asp?Id=89

Bekologist

I think the Cateye "Pickle" is going to become a dinosaur soon, like good old Vistalites. (I'm still running those, front AND back, as backup reflectors/lights, on a few of my rides. I had to turn it on last night when one of my PB superflashes parked under a water-dripping roofline got the superflash shorted out. Works fine this morning.)

TheWalkman

Bekologist,

You're probably right; the pickle may soon be extinct. I've had the LD1000 for a while. It's certainly bright but my biggest complaint has been the poor mounting options and brackets.

I have a Superflash on order and am very curious to see how well it does. (A buddy of mine has the Dinotte and I have blinkie envy. That darn thing is over the top!)

My local bike club has been running evening rides for the past month and I'm almost worried that the blinkies are getting too bright for group riding - I'm afraid some of these blinkies will blind the riders behind me. We had to ask the Dinotte guy to aim his down because it really was un-nerving riding behind him.

CBBaron

This is my concern with the SuperFlash. The TLD1000 is pretty well sealed against water while the superflash appears to be no better than water resistant. Given that I have burned through a number of tail and head lights due to wet conditions I like the better protection provided by the TLD1000.
As for batterys. The TLD1000 uses 2xAA the Superflash uses 2xAAA. So if the TLD1000 burns through batterys faster than the Superflash either it puts out much more light or it has much less efficient LEDs. I'm guessing that it actually lasts longer on a given battery but I could be wrong.
Craig