prathmann

I've had plenty of dynamo lights fail over the years as well - bad connections, wire break, lamp mounting snaps, etc. Still a good idea to have a secondary rear light that's completely separate such as a battery blinky (or steady if req. where you are) in addition to the dynamo lights.

ItsJustMe

Agreed, I think it's insane to have only one rear light or to have all your rear lights dependent on one point of failure. Even if I had a dynamo light I'd still run a battery taillight alongside it. I can't generally tell when my taillight fails, or at least, not right away (eventually I'll notice that I'm not seeing the street signs behind me lit up red, but it may take a while during which time I'm vulnerable). Sure my reflective vest might save me but I don't want to risk it. When it comes to lighting, I'm kind of a belt and suspenders and duct tape and a few pieces of rope plus maybe some zip ties kind of guy.

PatrickGSR94

I run 2 Hotshot lights, in case one dies, and also so I can have one on solid and one on slow pulse mode during dark conditions.

One of my Hotshots is the newer version, redesigned for 2014 I think, when they improved the mount and also changed the internals of the light slightly. Now the light strobes for a second, very dim, when you turn it off or on when the batteries are low. It's a nice feature to have. I generally alternate which light stays on steady and which one pulses (both go on random flash in daylight hours), so when the one shows low battery I always charge both of them. I generally charge once a week but every now and then I have to charge them off the computer at the office.

Only one time was I caught with no rear lights at all. That time it was my fault for forgetting to charge the lights while I was at work.

79pmooney

The batteries in brand new lights should be considered "suspect". If re-chargeable, assume it needs a full charge. If it is not, that it probably won't do much more than get you home. I don't consider them fully trustworthy until I have replaced the original batteries with Dura Cell or have been through a full re-charge cycle. After all, who knows how long that battery has been sitting in a hot or cold warehouse, possibly before the light is made, then again after, often installed where there might be a tiny current leak: tiny but for months maybe.

I'll second redundancy to critical systems. If I know I'll be out after dark I bring a cycling vest (one of the good ones with a reflecting stripe below the tail of my jersey) in addition to a blinky on the bike. My workhorse commuters have both Planet Bike blinkies and NiteRider tailights.

Ben

CliffordK

I'm just using cheap taillights, of which I have 3 on my bike (one of which seems to like to blink off), and my leg light is no longer lighting, but I believe does reflect.

My headlight is one of those bright lights with a battery that I charge after every ride.

The problem with the headlight, and perhaps the problem with lithium batteries in general is that the battery pack has an internal controller that shuts it off with either overcharge or undercharge.

I would expect the light to go into a "limp mode" when the battery gets down to a critical level. However, it just turns off, in part because that is controlled by the battery and not the light.

There is a low power indicator, I'm not sure how long it is active, but I'm never looking at it. But, I would expect the headlight to automatically shut off high-beam when the battery gets low, and perhaps automatically go to the lowest power setting. (or a truly smart light would have user configurable low power settings).

PatrickGSR94

My Cygolite Expilion self-contained front light (700 lumen max, 18650 li-ion cell with USB charging) has an illuminated button that will start to flicker once the battery starts getting low. It gradually changes to a flashing pattern, and that flashing pattern gets faster the lower the battery gets. The light also gets pretty dim.

I've done a full one-way trip between home/office before (15+ miles, takes me 70-80 minutes) with the low battery indicator going because I forgot to charge the light the night before, and forgot again to charge it while at work. I actually switched the light to the daytime flash mode just to help save what little battery was left, and had to rely on car headlights somewhat to see stuff in the road. It was a dismal ride home to be sure, but I made it. It's nice to know that I do have plenty of time left once I first see the power button start to flicker.

kickstart

Dyno lights on steady, standard battery tail light flashing, and separate reflector, all permanently mounted. and I carry spare rechargeable batteries.

Love modern dyno lights, always work without any attention or worry.

Burton

My preference to date is the Serfas TL-200 taillight. I've run those in rain, snow, winter and summer for several years and haven't had any issues. They use easy to swap out AAA batteries and you can use rechargeables if you want to.

I picked up 4 of the Thunderbolt lights for testing earlier this year and although I love the visibility and mounting options - the run times are pretty disappointing - especially in cold weather.

In traffic my three year old home project light still win hands down on visibility and run time.

tarwheel 

Another plug for redundancy. I use 3 taillights and 2 headlights, and there are times when I'm down to one light front or rear. Sometimes I forget to charge batteries, other times an exceptionally long commute makes batteries run down. In addition to multiple lights, I usually carry spare batteries. Plus, one of my taillights (Radbot 1000) has a reflector. My headlights can be charged from my computer at work, so I try to top them off every day at the office. My taillights use rechargeable cell batteries, so I have to remember to charge them at home.

bigredkevbot

For everything I own I get one's that take AA or AAA batteries: tailight, headlight, headlamp - all of it. I can always run into a gas station and get my lights in working order.

pdlamb

+1. Redundant redundancy for teh win!

PatrickGSR94

I have yet to find lights that are bright enough that take AA or AAA batteries.

bigredkevbot

NiteRiderMako? Series (2015) - NiteRider
I run that in the front. It works great for me in Boston and when I ride out in the Berkshires (very rural, very dark).

How bright do you need your lights to be (in lumens if you know)?

PatrickGSR94

My Cygolite ExpilliOn maxes out at 700 lumens on the highest setting, and the medium setting (not sure of the lumen level) is IMHO the absolute minimum for road riding at night.

bigredkevbot

Wow that's pretty serious. I'm willing to be the medium setting is probably still >200lumens. My roommate has a Cygolite headlight, but Im not sure of how bright it is. I've felt that mine is sufficient.

AlTheKiller

did you charge it before the five days, or was that out of the box?

Out of the box that would be really good. Full charge that seems about average. I learned to use the dim settings unless I really need the brightness. You easily double the battery life on most lights.

TenSpeedV2

320 lumens is the bare minimum that I will ride with at night. I prefer double that to be honest.

CrankyOne

Another vote for a dyno. Life is much better since I switched over.

I wonder if most drivers find blinking lites quite irritating and make them want to buzz the bicycle rider rather than pass at a safe distance.

SGocka

I had charged it and used it a couple of times before I fully charged it again and attempted to get the week out of it.

PatrickGSR94

They don't list the specs for each setting of my particular light on the Cygolite website. Mine is a 2012/13 model. However the current ExpiliOn 720 model is listed at 370 lumens on medium. So mine is probably around 350 on the medium setting, with a fully charged battery. I do not like riding in the dark with anything less than 300 lumens, honestly.

zandoval 

I have completely lost my tail light a few times not to mention battery failures...

Thanks for reminding me, I am going to consider placing one of those Micro Flashers in my tool kit for backup...

spare_wheel

I remember this one time when I was visiting another city and rented a bike. To my chagrin, I realized that I had not packed my hi-viz reflective safety vest, hi-viz ankle straps, hi-viz safety triangle, red safety flag, 3 redundant head lights, and 3 redundant tail lights.

I decided to return the bike because it really was not worth the risk. Heck, I'd rather walk on the side of a dark road than ride a bike without a complete set of redundant safety gear.

ItsJustMe

200 lumens is what I would consider a "limp home" light. I would NOT intentionally set out to ride with one. I would keep such a light in my bag to use in case my primary light failed and I needed to ride home at reduced speed.

I prefer to ride with 400 to 800 lumens depending on road conditions. I actually switch between about those outputs daily right now with the varying roads I'm on.

spivonious

I prefer bright headlights too. I currently run one MagicShine MJ-808e up front on the high setting (advertised at 1000 lumens, and it's almost as bright as a motorcycle headlight). My area doesn't have too many street lamps.

I used a AA-powered headlight once. Completely worthless.

spare_wheel

I commuted every day for decades with anemic lights that put out 2-10 lumens.