Last week I was about half way through my now completely dark ride home when I come up to a 4 way intersection just behind a guy on a hybrid with a very sorry excuse for a headlight. This thing was barely a "see me" light, never mind a "see" light.

So, I ride along with him for a bit. He asks me where I got my nightsun headlight. He was pretty impressed by it. I told him it was stone age halogen technology and he needed to look into a new LED light. I told him I had heard a lot of good things about the magicshine.

I was pretty much shocked when he told me he was on a 32 mile ride and only 8 miles in. Most of this ride is very rural with zero street lights. With the light he had, if you can even call it that, I don't see how he could see 2 feet ahead of him. He was pretty much riding in the dark.

Anyway we rode together about 5 miles till our routes parted. I wished him luck and was a bit worried that he'd make it. He had a blinky, but, it was very dim. almost as dim as the pathetic headlight. I have a 2 dollar led flashlight strapped to my helmet and it is way brighter than what he had. I suspect that it was a cheap see me light that was on very low batteries.

Tonight I am headed home and who do I run into at the same intersection?

Yup. mr dimbulb. Cept now, his blinky is much brighter and he has a freaking flamethrower for a headlight.

"that's a little better" i said as i greeted him. He told me he was inspired by my lighting and did a little looking online and ended up going to EMS (eastern mountain sports) for his new LED light.

I asked what kind it was, but, he couldn't remember the name. Said it was around 90 bucks though. From what I could see, i don't think it was the magicshine, but, it was nice. Quite a bit brighter than my old nightsun. when I rode ahead of him, i cast a distinct shadow, even where my light hit the ground. When he was ahead of me, there was no similar shadow in his light field. he also had way better dispersion to the sides.

I was seriously outgunned!

I told him i knew what the wife was buying me for christmas.

I am pleased with myself for maybe helping some guy see the light (pun intended). if he kept riding that route with his sorry old light, he was gonna end up in trouble.

Only one that shows on their site is a nightrider minewt
Sounds like you did your good deed for commutingdom.

Good deal! Keep on preachin'.

I grew up way out in the country and have never been afraid of the dark. I learned fairly young that if you give your eyes time to adjust you can see fairly well in the dark. Some call this "getting your night vision". We used to have night exercises when I was in the senior scouts. Criminals that skulk around at night use night vision. Anyway, my point is that I personally believe bike lighting is essential to be seen, but not essential for seeing where you are going. My bike light doesn't put much light on the ground at all, but it does help a little when I go through a little patch of forest on winter days when its dark early.

+1!

night vision does help. you can use it to walk just fine and maybe even bike at very low speeds, but, when you get much above walking speed, you really need to see what road hazards may be waiting to ambush you early.

another thing is even rural rides often have a street light here and there and these are enough to screw your night vision.

i could see riding unlit roads on a clear evening with a full moon high in the sky, but any other conditions and good lighting is essential, imo.

Good story Thanks!