Blinkin' (extremely bright) front lights
 

Hey, 'bout them blinkin' (extremely bright) front lights. I've been seeing quite a few of these recently, which prompted this post ...

Maybe there's a place for these on the road, but I see no reason for anyone to use them on the bike path.

1) They make it hard to ride in your direction on the bike path. I can see you just fine with a regular headlight. No reason to blind me.

2) They make it hard to identify your position. It's easy to track a solid moving light, hard to track a moving light that is flashing.

3) They are not visible between flashes. Not a problem on the straightaway, but when I'm going into a sharp turn, I may only have a moment to take my eyes off the path and check who is coming round the corner, and if I look during the moment your light isn't flashing, I can't see you. More than once I've come around a sharp corner, having checked for oncoming traffic, only to have someone's light suddenly flash at me. Very disconcerting.

But, in the spirit of openmindedness, and willingness to admit that I might be wrong, and figuring that if your really bright, blinking headlights actually do make you safer, then an even brighter, blinking headlight would make me even safer still, I've been thinking of buying a clear version of http://tinyurl.com/32xflc. I couldn't find anything brighter than a million candlepower. From what I hear, it only blinds oncomers temporarily :-)

I would agree that one of the drawbacks of the ever improving light output and "the race" to get the brightest and longest-lasting light, is that more than ever before I notice people that have their lights blind me. That is either because they simply have too many lumens or because they aim it too high (are they trying to light up the sky?)

But then again, I bought a twosome of Fenix L2D Q5 flashlights. With 380 lumens, I am probably 'above average' in my light output

I guess what I am saying is that if you have a bright light, make sure you aim it at the right spot, and that is the road in front of you, not straight ahead, or the sky above.
Duppie

I've been given the finger, cursed at, etc for the blink mode on the MiNewt2, though *only* on the Williamsburg Bridge. Overly-sensitive hipsters? I've taken to resting a finger in front of it any time there's a cyclist coming the other way on the bridge.

I've also been told by a driver at least once that he would not have seen me if not for my blinkie.

2 things:

1) Two of the 3 flash settings on my LED front light don't actually go totally dark. It goes from bright to dim when blinking. There is one mode where it's on and off, but I don't use it. So your "can't see with it" and "can't be seen between flashes" argument is null and void.

2) In addition to 200 lumens of blinking LED light, I use a helmet mounted halogen that puts out about 300 lumens of constant light.

I don't always have the LED blinking either, especially when on very dark roads. I'd rather just have 500 lumens of light.

I'd say more constant light would be safer than more blinking light. A Lexus with HID headlights throws about 3,000 lumens. I'd bet if you could even get close to 1,000 lumens of constant light, you'd probably be hard to miss. Keep in mind that automotive headlights must comply with DOT standards for beam pattern. For good reason, too. Unfortunately, it's hard to find a bike light with any really great beam pattern that's near what you'd see on a car.

Why do people use a front blinkie on the bike path?.....what is that? I suppose it's better than no light at all. I think the blinkie setting on well lit streets seems to attract attention better from drivers. But on the path it should be a constant beam. For some reason I can easily look away from an oncoming steady (if bright) light, but an oncoming blinkie in the pitch dark is disconcerting.

Hehehe, I had a guy pull over in his truck the other night after he passed me. I guess he thought I was an emergency vehicle when he saw the flashing lights after he passed me. He looked confused as I rode by him in the bike lane. :lol:

I've got to say this, they definitely get your attention. I'd say you are probably 50 times more likely to be seen with a bright light in flash mode than the same light in non-flashing mode. It really makes a huge difference IMO.

Many paths have streets intersecting them. Having a blinking light helps get the attention of drivers. The paths near me parallel highways. Too many times I must stop because car drivers pull up to the road and stop (which then blocks the path) instead of stopping legally behind the stop sign.

I don't have a blinking front light now but I want one.

+1 Blinking mode sends out a "signature" that equals "bicycle".

On the question of lights on MUPs, you want other users of the path to be able to see you, there have been cases of headon collisions between cyclists w/o lights.

That's why I use a 4 LED Blackburn in blinky mode in addition to my 20W MR16 homebuilt headlight. The
20W lets me see and the Blackburn in blinky mode let's 'em see me.

Please,Please, Please if your on the MUP lose the blinking head light! I've about eatten poo a couple of times turning onto bridges, passing on narrows and coming around fences by some person lit up like an LSD sun...
Mercy Please!

Maybe switch to blink mode when your coming up to road crossings or what have you?

something...

My retinas thank you ahead of time.

I don't commute on MUPs ever. All my commuting is on surface streets in SoCal. Most have bike lanes so at the very least I'm always fighting to be seen at intersections.

ah...

that makes more sense. SuperBright front blinkies are why I spend most of my commute streetwise everywhere I go.

Out of curiosity, what are we considering bright or super-bright?

My Wilma has a flash mode and a claimed 830 lumen output. I wouldn't dream of putting it in flash-mode, other than to torment my wife the first night I got it. Yes, it would be more noticeable, but at some point, that argument turns from safety to irresponsibility.

I mean, car headlights would be more noticeable flashing as well, but none of us want that. Is anyone flashing more than 200 lumen?

I'm flashing a Fenix P3D CE bar mounted (160 lumen), a Fenix P3D Premium 100 helmet mounted (200 lumen) and a Cygolite Tridenx bar mounted (unknown lumens but brighter than both of the Fenixes). Of course I don't flash them at night...that would be way too disorienting for me, let alone everybody else.

With the Wilma, at 830 lumens with 4 LEDs, that would be 207.5 lumens per LED, so would flashing a Wilma be much different than flashing 4 200 lumen lights? I'm probably near (or above) 800 flashing lumens with my current setup, but the emitters are spread over a larger area than they would be with a Wilma, and I'm producing the light with 5 emitters instead of 4, so each emitter is slightly less bright.

What's the flash mode like on the Wilma anyway?

Also, on a side note, motorcycles are starting to run flashing headlights during the day as a safety device.
See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tdL0AkmkJQ

California vehicle code allows the modulation of a motorcycle headlight between high and low beam at a rate of 200-280 flashes per minute. I'm sure a motorcycle high beam is putting out more than 830 lumens. It is still not legal to run any flashing lights on a bicycle in California, but not enforced.

If you have an LED blinkie about 0.1watt power, that is sufficient for a dark MUP, and won't blind anybody. :)

I use a Dinotte headlight in flash mode. I don't know how many lumen it puts out though.

On the road -- you do what you need to do to be safe. I used a Fenix L2D Q5 in strobe mode on my helmet. Really works. You can point your head towards motorists that don't see you in any direction, which is a huge advantage. You can also point it away from cyclists and be courteous.

On the MUP after dark -- I do not see any reason to use a white blinkie on the front. Any normal light on continuously makes you plenty visible without embuggering fellow cyclists and peds. In daylight, I don't care but at night it's a real hazard on MUPs.

And as LED lights are getting brighter, this is becoming more of a problem and we are just getting started with bright LEDs.

My Minewxt X2 Dual is very very bright on flash mode, so I only use it on the streets, not the MUP, and even then I tend to run it on steady/high when it's fully dark.

2 weeks ago on my ride home a woman (after she nearly right hooked me, with no blinker, natch) kept stopping in front of me, and finally yelled at me that my light was too bright and it was the most dangerous thing she'd ever seen, and was going to kill someone. I told her that she was in a car, and if she just drove instead of continually slamming on her brakes, she'd be a mile away by now and my light wouldn't have been an issue.

While we're on the subject of retinal assault on the MUP...

Dear guy with lights which appeared to be something stolen from Safeco Field,
Do you really need those 1.21 gigawatts of lighting, and can you maybe do something to shield the beam pattern from blinding everyone coming at you? I know you're proud of your new HID lights, no doubt an early holiday present from someone who cares deeply about your safety while riding at night... but please point them at the ground, where they'll do the most good. I can actually feel my speed drop by 1.5mph having to fight the photon torpedo blast eminating from the front of your bike.

Well, maybe to you and me. To the average driver, I'd wager it equals "emergency vehicle".

Which is why now that lights are getting brighter motorists are pulling over. It's also why blinking lights are illegal in CA (front or rear, if I recall--and it's not generally enforced, no).

Stories about cars pulling over are funny, but they're going to lead to increased resentment of bicyclists if something is not done.

Hey Oboe, I've been looking into getting the MiNewt2...any regrets? If you could unlead a couple hundos all over again, would that still be your light of choice?

Yeah I see an insanely bright headlight on a bike occasionally...

I often have to pull over to an almost stop because I am completely blinded by it, and cant see where I am going or exactly where they are.

Its kind of rude imo.

But its solved easily, just angle them down a bit away from people's eye level.

I totally agree. It's easy to aim a little down and to the right. In a few years, as output grows, it will become mandatory like it is with cars.