I don't think I should have to repair a SIXTY DOLLAR BRAND NEW light. Sure, I could fix it, and I considered it, but it's ridiculous that a light that expensive has such a problem in the first place, and decided that the manufacturer should make it good, if for no other reason that they need to get the light in hand to see why it failed, so they can fix the problem in the future.

It would actually be quite easy to fix since it's closed with four hex cap nuts, so it's easy to take apart and reseal the seam. I would bet that the O ring probably wasn't seated properly.

There's nothing wrong with the Dinotte, but IMO it's too much light. Yes, I think there is such a thing. I have a Serfas Shield (well, will once it gets back from the manufacturer, see elsewhere in the thread) and it's right at the limit of what I would want to run. In fact in high mode it's probably a little too bright. So that sets $60 as about as much as one needs to spend on a tail light to get as much light as I really want to run anyway.

I had a Dinotte taillight (140R) in the past, but I sold it and bought a Magicshine taillight for $30 which ran off my headlight battery and was pretty much exactly the same light as the $120 Dinotte (and is still working 3 years later - the Dinotte's AA cell pack is a BAD IDEA and died on me every time it rained).

Serfas doesn't claim it is waterproof or even water resistant as far as I can tell.

That just made me check my Cygolite lights since I'm doing a charity ride likely in the rain on Saturday. Yup, the ExpiliOn and Hotshot both say they're made to be weather resistant (Hotshot actually says "weather proof"). We'll see how they fare afterwards.

I agree, but today's world of made in China cheap and break products your sometimes forced to take added steps. First you need to get it handled under warranty, this well tell you who can then tell us how good their customer service is. If you continue to have problems with the new light then I would personally, and I've done this, e-mail the company and explain your issue and give them ideas on how to correct the problem; and tell them that cyclists do belong to forums where bad and good products are discussed, and by them making a poor quality product that it for one will prevent you from buying their brand again; and for two, that information is shared with other riders; and for three most online retailers have reviews of products and negative reviews will effect their profits.

They may or may not care, that's not your decision, but eventually bad products get talked about and companies will eventually lose market shares if your problem is not a fluke. And speaking of reviews, if the replacement light is not satisfactory and/or the customer service is bad or slow, then you need to do some reviews and warn others; equally if the company quickly solves the problem and the replacement light is satisfactory then you need to do a review for a positive rating. If you can spend time on a forum then you can spend time doing positive and/or negative reviews for others to read.

If you get the replacement light and rain still gets in then get it replaced again and tell them it's not sealed against water and give them ideas on how to fix it. But I would bug them and keep sending the damn thing back until the warranty period expires then I would do the thin silicone trick.

I guess I hadn't considered that. I never bothered to check because a non-waterproof light is completely useless, so I just assumed. I guess we'll see. If the next one leaks, I'll probably just fix it myself.

Their less expensive lights do say water resistant.

I would agree with your assumption, anybody buying a tail light or a headlight should be able to assume the light is water resistant against at least hard rain, not to make a light that capable is either just plain engineering ignorance or they all think we're stupid!! But I am going to write Serfas an e-mail and see what they have to say about all of this, I'll let you know what they say.

If it were waterproof or water resistant they would say so - it is a selling point. If it doesn't say so, I assume it isn't. I bought the Serfas shield well knowing it is not waterproof or resistant - you can also tell by the construction. You have to use common sense when purchasing equipment.

I never liked Dinotte mounting , either, especially for the taillight as I use a seatpost bag.

It looks well water resistant to me. if they didn't intend it to be water resistant, why does it have a silicone seam and a cap over the USB charging hole?

And, why did the company immediately offer to replace it when I complained that water had gotten inside if it's not intended to be waterproof?

I disagree, sorry. But does that mean that every time you buy a computer, head light, or in this case a tail light, etc that it needs to say water resistant? What they should say if it's a cheap arse computer or light is in big bold letters on the box "THIS UNIT IS NOT WATER RESISTANT", then there would be no need to wonder about it. It's kind of like saying I bought a new car and it leaked in the first rain, the dealer says, "sorry, but the car doesn't say it's water resistant!" It's assumed if I buy a car that it may get driven in the rain thus it's water resistant; same should be true for bike parts that it should be assumed the bike will be ridden in the rain and thus computers and lights need to be water resistant.

Radbot 1000 came in the mail yesterday. Used it this morning on my commute.
Thought it would be brighter, actually. The strobe pattern is great, but the it's definitely not as bright as everyone seemed to hint at or PDW's video seems to show.

FWIW I got the replacement Serfas Shield last week - they clearly shipped the replacement before they got my original back again, simply on my word via email that I was shipping it. Good customer service there. The package was hand addressed.

It hasn't been raining here lately so I haven't had time to try it out in the rain and see if this one is weather proof or not.

BTW I did ask and they said that despite not being mentioned in the ad copy, the Serfas Shield is intended to be water resistant, essentially "weatherproof" though clearly with a USB charging port it should not be submerged and the cap should be kept on.

The Radbot 1000 is basically a clone of the Planet Bike SuperFlash Turbo which is now getting out classed by 3 (major brands under $100) other lights, the Cygolite Hotshot, Serfas Shield, and the Light & Motion Vis180. For an idea of brightness levels see: http://www.thebicyclerepairshop.com/...ison-test.html I posted that site here before. There is another one called the Serfas Thunderbolt but I haven't seen comparisons of it against others.

There are some really nice, made for the Europe market tail lights, but they do not flash because it's against the law to have flashing tail lights there, but two of the most notable are the Phillips Safe Ride Lumiring which, like it's head light, aims the light to behave similar to a car tail light; and the Herrmans H-track; both are a bit larger then N. American lights. I would not hesitate to buy either since I leave my main light on steady anyways.

The main problem with Radbot 1000 I see is that the viewing angle is not wide enough.

I noticed that on bikes I've seen on the road, their pretty bright when looking at them head on but as you begin to pass the light almost goes from bright to dim to nothing! I've noticed this on some other lights too including my homemade Cygolite ExpiliOn 350 I converted to a tail light. But I use other rear lights that are visible from the sides, but I may consider getting another light to replace the Cygolite due to that flaw.

My experience is that even with a narrow(er) beam, the width of the beam at 100-200 feet away is plenty wide enough to extend all the way into the adjacent lane, and certainly straight back behind you. So an approaching vehicle from behind you will still be in the "useful" beam area when they're back far enough to move over to pass.

I haven't not experienced that all with the real narrow jobs, in fact just last night I came riding up behind a cyclist with a flashing light on and the light faded to black at about 20 degrees off axis and remained completely dark as I passed, not sure what brand he was using. There are some narrow beam lights that either use a another set of dimmer LED's for side illumination or use a amber side lens to let the main light shine through, or wrap the lens plastic around to the base to give it a very slight glow which is still useless.

Finally made some progress on a little project I had in mind for a couple months. I bought an LED trailer light off Amazon ($11 and change) that runs off 9-16 volts to combine with a 4000 mAH battery I had laying around from my HID light that I don't use anymore. Finished the wiring yesterday with a three-way marine toggle switch, one setting for low (regular running light), another setting for high (brake/turn light switch). Used it for the first time today... it's very, very noticeable from a distance even on "low" due to the width of the light source. The "distance" shots really don't do the light justice, it's much easier to see than in the shots.

Light:
http://blewsclues.com/multimedia/ima...515_142036.jpg

"Low" close
http://blewsclues.com/multimedia/ima...515_073019.jpg

"Low" at a distance
http://blewsclues.com/multimedia/ima...515_073111.jpg

"Low" at a distance cropped
http://blewsclues.com/multimedia/ima...t/low_zoom.jpg

"High" close
http://blewsclues.com/multimedia/ima...515_073148.jpg

"High" at a distance
http://blewsclues.com/multimedia/ima...515_073215.jpg

"High" at a distance cropped
http://blewsclues.com/multimedia/ima.../high_zoom.jpg

The PlanetBike superflash is good, but I just got a Lezyne Micro Drive Rear. I just really like all the Lezyne stuff, you only need to buy it once.

wbill

The Lezyne has lowered their prices a lot on all of their stuff over the last year, if you haven't seen their prices in awhile look again. Their brightest rear light is now just $45 which is lower priced then the Serfas Shield (Moon in Europe)! But I can't find a comparison against those two or against the Light & Motion Vis 180 full size.