Ive tried them all... this is my favorite
BarEndMirror It looks cool on the sexy road bike and is actually quite useful.

I have a brake hood mirror on the Commuter Bike.

I just couldn't get the hang of the helmet/glasses type of mirror.

Don

Two mirrors?
 

Do any of you use to bar end mirrors? Or do you use one mirror on the road side?

+1000

I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one who has considered this. I even have two of them (one for the wifey), but am worried that even trying out the double-take-a-look setup will permanently place me at unmatched levels of dorkiness.

how you install

Take-A-Look on helmut?

I have the Third eye bar end mirror on my two road bikes, one of my MTB and on my Dahon folder. After my glasses changed to progressives, I was unable to use the helmet or glasses-mounted mirrors. I could not find the 'sweet spot' to bring the mirror into focus in a reasonable time.

Does the mirror give you the ability to judge how close a car is going to pass, and do you have enough time to adjust accordingly?
I spend a mile on a rd where I'm doing 20 and being passed by cars doing 40-50mph

Put it on your glasses and then put the helmet on. ;)

Seriously though, you can mount it to a helmet visor or with the little attachment thing they sell, but why do that when it works so well on the glasses (sun or otherwise)?

This one is sold in pairs: Road bike bar end mirrors. I don't have any exprience with them, though.

I don't think a mirror is necessarily safer on a busy highway with high speed traffic and a narrow shoulder. In this type of situation you are unlikely to have the warning to get out of the way unless you are spending too much time looking at the mirror and not enough on the road ahead.
However I do believe mirrors are invaluable in awareness on the road. I use a helmet mounted mirror when riding an upright and a bar mounted mirror when on my recumbent. The mirror makes it much easier to be aware of approaching traffic. I can know when it is safe to move to the left to avoid obstacles such as parked cars, debris, potholes, storm grates, etc. It also makes changing lanes easier when you need to make a left hand turn.
Craig

I've been using a bar end mirror for a good 10 years now and wouldn't ride without it. One additional positive aspect I've not heard anyone mention is that it allows me to ride farther left in the lane most of the time, and move to the right only when I see a car approaching from behind. It really seems to cut down on the flats to only spend ~10-20% of the time to the far right and ~ 80-90% in the center right of the lane. As an added bonus the drivers see me "owning" the lane but ceding it to them by drifting right as they approach, then moving back over after they have passed. Makes them realize that I have a right to full use of the lane and also increases my visibility to them.

Don't use one. I tried one once and didn't like it.

I have a Take-A-Look mirror as well. It is unusual wearing it at first, but after a while it becomes second nature. I have forgotten mine at home a couple times and I felt more unaware of my surroundings. Get one, try it out for a couple weeks and if you don't like it, it was only $15. But I think that it has been the best accessory besides my helmet.

yes. I use the blackburn road-bike mirror taped onto my mtn bike bar ends (left side). Its a pretty wide view and stays adjusted well.

Might as well post a negative result, no mirror here, never tried either. I like looking over my shoulder, what can I say...

I'm so engrained with the take-a-look mirror, that one time, I was walking on the shoulder of a road and kept glancing up where my mirror would normally be whenever I hear a car approach. :)

Is your Schwinn mirror the orange one? That one didn't work for me no matter what I did....I threw it away out of frustration...

Vote #4 for the Blackburn. I think it's the best bar end ( I have a flat bar on my commuter)...I use one on the left only.

It's a little wider than I'd like but gives a broad view in exchange.

I look over my shoulder. Tried a mirror that attached to the bar end on my drops and it gave me a nice view of my leg and couldn't go out any wider, tried a helmet mirror and I found that it either gave me a view of my pack or that I ended up trying to turn my head to see where the car was and just got frustrated as I couldn't really tell what was coming from where. Now I just look over my shoulder and it seems to work better for me.

Get in your car, cover up your rear view mirror and your side view mirror, and check it out for a while (well don't really do it) and you'll see why you need a mirror.

It took me a little while before I could consistently judge the closeness of a passing vehicle with my mirror. Any repositioning of the mirror will also throw your calculations off. Using a mirror gives you MORE time to react or adjust to an over taking vehicle, not less.

You got that right. Over 1500 miles here without a flat. Better still is the way motorists waiting to turn or cross in my path are much less likely to violate my right of way when I'm in the center of the lane.

To mount the take-a-look on a helmet with visor, just clip it on the visor and re-bend it for the upside-down mounting. I used a small piece of duct tape to secure mine.

If you think that using a mirror is distracting, then you just haven't used a mirror enough. You should not have to make a special effort or even think about looking in the mirror; it should be just another part of your vision. You wouldn't wear blinders to keep from being "distracted" by your peripheral vision, would you? Does your peripheral vision "distract" you?

When I drive a car, I use all the mirrors, and I'm always 100% aware of every car that's close to me (at least 200 feet in crowded situations). You have to in order to do what my dad taught me which is to anticipate every stupid thing anyone around you might do, and to ALWAYS know where you can escape to if they do. You can't know whether it's safe to dodge right or left or slam on the brakes or speed up if you aren't fully aware of all the vehicles on all sides of you and whether they're going faster or slower than you or are changing lanes, etc.

If you aren't able to pay attention to that much stuff at once, then you need to practice.