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Old 01-05-10 | 10:09 PM
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Bike Brightz

Spotted these over on bikecommuters.com. Reminds me of a cheaper Down Low Glow. Not sure if anyone would be interested, but they intrigue me. The only downsides that I see are the questionable weather resistance and the battery life.

Disclaimer: I don't work for either of them.
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Old 01-06-10 | 11:17 PM
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Not bad for twenty bucks, and I've been looking for some extra lighting. Good find, thanks!
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Old 01-06-10 | 11:48 PM
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Those are cool, but no zip ties will touch my frame. Plenty of chance to scratch things up.
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Old 01-07-10 | 01:47 AM
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Originally Posted by Toddorado
Those are cool, but no zip ties will touch my frame. Plenty of chance to scratch things up.
Is that your requested epitaph?
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Old 01-07-10 | 02:18 AM
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LOL - no, just seems like a little more effort could have put into R&D for the fastener. My Magicshine light weighs probably as much and is held on my handlebar by an O-ring. Wouldn't take much to make that happen with this product, y'think?

I sent them an e-mail asking if they might consider improving that aspect.
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Old 01-07-10 | 08:36 AM
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Well, Bike Brightz got back to me first thing this morning - great response time. They were understanding and offered to send extra rubber pads to protect the frame. My goal is to make it easier to mount this thing so it is quickly removable without going through a bunch of zip ties each time you want to remove it. Anyone with ideas?
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Old 11-26-10 | 11:17 AM
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I just lucked in to a special holiday deal on the Bike Brightz, almost 50% off. (9.99 each) I had been thinking about getting these for a while. I hadn't been in any big hurry because I had a Down Low Glow. A couple of weeks ago I fried my DLG battery, so I needed to get something for side visibility. Another battery for my DLG would have run me about 65 bucks. At full price, the BIke Brightz would have saved me twenty dollars, at half price, it was as they say "An offer I couldn't refuse."
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Old 11-26-10 | 11:50 AM
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I have a couple of these on my bike, yellow front, red rear, but I only use them in really foul weather for extra side lighting. I'm not to worried about the ziptie mounting that the Bike Brightz use since my foul weather bike is usually a filthy mess from road grime anyway.
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Old 11-26-10 | 01:39 PM
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I put one of the green ones on my down tube. It's not crazy bright, but it's noticeable enough that cars seem to be giving me more space on my morning commute, and noticeable enough that some strangers in a pickup stopped to take pictures of me. It's lasted through a wet day where the front wheel through a lot of wet road gunk all over it, but I haven't really put it through its wet weather paces yet, so it's hard to say whether or not it'll survive multiple downpours.

My last recharge I got about ten to fifteen 12 mile rides with it on steady mode.

For about twenty bucks, I recommend them.
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Old 11-26-10 | 03:17 PM
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I have a yellow one on the underside of Reflecto-Bike's top tube. That keeps tire spray off it. It's pretty stealthy when turned off, so I don't worry too much about it getting stolen when parking at the grocery store. For the price, I'm fairly satisified. I also have a Fibre Flare, which is more omnidirectional and twice the price, but for the role of side visibility at under 50 meters, I think they're both good.
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Old 11-26-10 | 03:33 PM
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I ordered a yellow for the front and a red for the rear.
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Old 11-26-10 | 04:35 PM
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Never got around to ordering any myself, but I do have a quick question for those that do use these things: Would you say they work in the fog, without causing too much glare to come back to you?
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Old 11-26-10 | 06:28 PM
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Originally Posted by no1mad
Never got around to ordering any myself, but I do have a quick question for those that do use these things: Would you say they work in the fog, without causing too much glare to come back to you?
I will let y'all know as soon as I find out. Personally, I am wondering how they compare to the Down Low Glow.
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Old 11-26-10 | 07:00 PM
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Originally Posted by mechBgon
I have a yellow one on the underside of Reflecto-Bike's top tube. That keeps tire spray off it. It's pretty stealthy when turned off, so I don't worry too much about it getting stolen when parking at the grocery store. For the price, I'm fairly satisified. I also have a Fibre Flare, which is more omnidirectional and twice the price, but for the role of side visibility at under 50 meters, I think they're both good.
I think the TT placement makes sense. Lighting the bike up rather than the road might take a nanosecond or two off a driver's "Oh, that's a bike" thought process time.
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Old 11-26-10 | 09:04 PM
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I got the yellow on my downtube to help with my side visibility. It's OK? nothing special. Looking at the Fibre Flare, that looks like a much better product. Omni-directional is priceless for side visibility. This is much better than the Bike Brightz which only face one side.

Last edited by 531phile; 11-26-10 at 09:35 PM.
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Old 11-26-10 | 09:50 PM
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Originally Posted by 531phile
Looking at the Fibre Flare, that looks like a much better product. Omni-directional is priceless for side visibility. This is much better than the Bike Brightz which only face one side.
I was also looking at the Fibre Flare as well, but after reading several reviews on it's poor mounting and not being very waterproof, I opted for the Bike Brightzs.
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Old 11-27-10 | 06:52 AM
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oh, not being waterproof is bad in my book too. So I guess I won't consider them. Looks like my next side visibility enhancing purchase would be the monkey electric lights.
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Old 11-27-10 | 06:57 AM
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I think that I am capable of waterproofing the lights.

I really liked my Down Low Glow. I couldn't use the monkey electric lights with my bike. It would be pointless with front panniers and the freeloaders on the back, not to mention that I don't ride fast enough.

Last edited by xtrajack; 11-27-10 at 07:07 AM.
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Old 11-28-10 | 10:23 AM
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Originally Posted by RTDub
Well, Bike Brightz got back to me first thing this morning - great response time. They were understanding and offered to send extra rubber pads to protect the frame. My goal is to make it easier to mount this thing so it is quickly removable without going through a bunch of zip ties each time you want to remove it. Anyone with ideas?
You could try finding some bit of metal that fits through those holes used for zip ties. Then use two O rings to fasten it onto the bike. Bonus points if you can fashion that bit of metal so that the O-rings can't slide off while you're riding.
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