I'm new to rear lights, I have only used the small button cell blinky ones. I recently got a serfas thunderbolt, and the niterider sentinel i mentioned yesterday. It is my belief that its best to use 2 different ones, one steady, and one flashing. Of those 2 I mentioned, what would be the optimal setup of each one doing, if one would be better for each purpose. Thanks, and sorry if this is the wrong area to ask.

I agree with one steady one flashing, at night. In the daytime, just one really bright one flashing.

I'd use the brighter one flashing, if they're similar, I think I'd use the one with a better wide angle dispersal pattern as the steady one. Flash pattern may play into it too, some lights I just don't like their flash pattern much so if there's a choice I'll use that one on steady.

Thanks!

Sounds like I should use the niterider flashing in day, and night time, serfas steady and other flashing, thanks again.

Wow. First ride with these. Definitely gives you perspective over blinkies.

OK I did a rundown test this evening. It's a little hard to judge because it didn't shut off, it just faded.

I tested at 100% power flash, which is claimed to be 3 hours. At 2.5 hours, it still looked pretty bright, but by about 2:50 it was down at least half brightness, and by 3:10 it was pretty dim.

So their listed values are probably a little optimistic but not terribly so.

That would be 5 hours on low flash (IMO plenty bright for nighttime), 3 hours on high flash, 2.5 hours on strobe (seizure inducing mode), and the steady modes 6:00, 2:15 and 1:30. I'd say take maybe 10% off those for a new unit. Unknown how fast the battery will degrade of course - if they're cheap, they may only last a year or so, but time will tell. I'm using mine for 6 hours a week on flash.

Instead of 1 steady and 1 flashing, how about using 2 or 3 all flashing? Multiple flashing lights together is very close to steady effect and save batteries.

On my commuter, I have 4 tail lights, and use 3 on flash. The 4th is left off, and is a backup. I use the strongest, niterider solas30, on my helmet.

Use your brightest one for the steady mode at night.

While it does save the battery on flash mode over steady, but the reason I use one on steady and the rest on flash is like I have mentioned before on this post as well as other posts and forums is because of two studies. The first study was done in Europe where it was determined that steady mode allowed the motorists to better ascertain their distance from the light source, due to this study parts of Europe, if not all of Europe, banned flashing lights of any type on bicycles, in fact you can't even buy a front or rear light with a flash or strobe mode. However, a Canadian study showed that a flashing light attracted the attention of motorists better than a steady mode, but Canada, like the USA allows both modes thus you can buy lights with both modes. So due to those two studies I thought I would combine both, flash and steady on my bike to cover both spectrums of the study.

Like I said before, I don't know if the method that I'm doing works because I have no proof but I know it can't hurt either since there are lights on, but it just seems to make sense to have one steady and at least one more flashing. The reason I use my brightest one on steady is due to the larger and longer reach of the steady light being able to help the motorists from a further distance to figure out how far they are from me.

Thanks.

I received the Cygolite Hotshot Pro 150. Pretty impressed with the brightness and steady flash mode options. I took it out in the sun and put my Dinotte 300R next to it. The Hotshot Pro 150 seems brighter than the 300R on axis due to the optics. I still think the 300R would be easier for drivers to track the Dinotte with the dual LED's and the fact that there's less contrast between the flash and steady light output. The Hotshot Pro 150 still exhibits the characteristic of other Hotshots I've seen that it's bright but sort of hard to track even on the steady pulse mode.. Maybe pairing it with a Solas 150 would solve that issue. I think we've finally hit the 'magic' price point of a daylight visible light for $50 or less.

Has anyone figured out a way of mounting niterider tail lights that does away with them changing position on bracket? Seems the light is heavier than bracket is designed for. Tightened screw, next step is rigging it somehow on rack or just buying rack mount.

Thanks for the comparison.

Sorry, but I still don't buy into there being any problem tracking a blinking red light...unless it's too dim to see. From my point of view tracking is irrelevant but let me explain why I believe that; About a week ago I was driving home at night and saw a single blinking light on the side of a major highway that was a good distance ahead of me. I had no idea what it was but the first thought that came into my head was that it was a bike. Now when I first saw it I had no idea if it was moving, stationary or what. As I got closer I could only tell it either wasn't moving or was moving at a really so rate. I couldn't tell what it was until my vehicle head lights were able to add some light to the picture. Well it turns out it wasn't a bike at all. Turned out to be a car on the side of the road with it's emergency flashers on only there was a car right in back of it that was blocking the other light. Point I'm making is; I couldn't track the light source, had no idea what it was...but...it didn't matter. I saw the light nearly a quarter mile away and knew "something" was on the side of the road ahead of me. I figure if you're a normal / sober human being and are not impaired in some way you see the light and recognize immediately that anything that is emitting light is something that you are going to try to avoid. This assumes of course that you see the light. (*please note that when I say I couldn't track the light, that doesn't mean I couldn't judge it's relative distance from where I was. I just couldn't tell at a distance if it was moving.)

On the other hand tracking or just seeing a single light might be an issue when riding in areas with a lot of surrounding light sources ( such as city riding or riding in heavy traffic ). In those cases it would be better to just use more lamps. Really though, blinking or steady, I don't think is going to make that much of a difference as long as you have enough lamps for the environment that you usually ride and they are bright enough to be seen at distance and are properly aimed. If you like steady than knock yourself out. Steady though will of course use more power from the small battery. Personally, I believe if you are only using one lamp that it should be bright enough to be seen at distance and it would be best if it was set in a decent flash mode. Otherwise mixing steady with flash is fine if you use multiple lamps or have a single lamp that does both at the same time. ~ ~ ~

I stumbled across an interesting find the other night. The lamps I use on my seat stays are similar to the Blitzu lamp that has been talked about by others. Mine I think were rated at 120 lumen but being that they use COB type ( micro-panel ) leds the light is more dispersed than single Cree type emitters. Anyway, I found while browsing Kaidomain the same type rear lamp that I am using only these are less than $7 ea.! To me they look like the same lamp with same UI. Wow! I think I paid $19 ea. for mine and thought I was getting a deal..lol. ( bought mine on Amazon ). Here's the link if you are interested.

Next light, Hotshot 150. Price point, affordable. The rest of this stuff, just more stuff. There "should be" a category of "pack rat stuff".

I like a bright blinking light with two of these reflector straps. REI Jogalite Wide Leg Band.
They are extremely reflective, and the up & down motion from two of these makes it obvious it's a bike. It's easy for the cars to understand how close they are to me, since there's two separated reflections. They are good for side visibility, too. Very comfortable to wear.

01: I agree with your assessment. However, keep in mind the person you are criticizing bought a dinotte at $190, when the cygo150 is available for around $40 online, and admits the cygo is brighter than a light 4X the price. What I am saying is that this can create cognitive dissonance and lead someone to cite a flaw that doesn't actually exist, primarily to protect their ego. I'm not criticizing the dinotte owner, it's just human psychology.

Don't discount the niterider 150 either. Same price, same lumens rating, and probably better side lighting. There are a few early reports of reliability issues, but I've used a niterider30 for a year and a half with zero issues. Especially if you just hook it to a saddlebag, it should work perfectly.

I have the sentinel 150. Yes the lasers are dumb, but cool to play with. The light itself is quite bright in every mode. I have nothing to compare it to, other than a thunderbolt. Yes the mount sucks, but if you tighten the screw till the heads about to strip its ok. The usb plug isnt the tightest, but overall no problems.

I wonder if the hardware and construction of the dinotte is noticeably superior. Is the housing body metal? The clamp metal? Are the light and mount built to super high tolerances?

At 4X the list, dinotte must offer some tangible advantages in construction material, build quality, etc.

...possibly I suppose....but I see so many people post things about rear lamps that just seem irrational to me but that's just my take on it. Just makes no sense to say a lamp that puts out near 150 lumen is going to seem brighter than a lamp outputting 400 lumen. BTW, I own the Cygolite Hotshot 150 and if I even remotely felt it was able to beat out a DiNotte 400R I'd be dancing in the streets. ;)

The 400 is rated at 240 lumens. I would hope there would be a difference with a 90 lumens difference and $160 price gap.

The 300 however, is rated at 200, still a 50 lumens gap over the cygo150 and yet the previous reviewer says the cygo is brighter despite the lower lumens rating.

I tend to believe based upon the limited reviews so far, that both the cygo150 and niterider 150 are very close to the 300R at a fraction of the price. The primary difference I see with the dinotte300 is that it includes an astonishing EIGHT mounts rather than the standard 2 plus saddlebag clip.

Yes, I do ride in a busy city environment and cyclists can blend into the background day or night. Looking at the Dinotte the flashes draw your eyes to the light but the bright steady glow is what stands out. With the Hotshot Pro 150 it's the flash that you notice first and the steady glow second. Somebody measured steady at 1/4 as bright as the flash according which means it can wash out in direct sunlight. That's what I notice when I put the lights next to each other in direct sunlight. I think the optics on the Cygolite are what make it apparently brighter. It's why the other Hotshots can throw so far on only 30-50 lumens.

As far as being biased, I bought both lights with my own money. I bought the Dinotte 4 years/30+k miles ago which is long before these inexpensive daytime visible lights were available. I do think the Dinotte is a better light but for many people it's not going to be worth 4-5X as much. BTW, Dinotte also offers a brighter daytime visible 400R and the 300R has been discontinued and replaced with the Quad Red.

Has anyone yet purchased a See Sense ICON tail light? from what I read it "seems" promising. It puts out 250 lumens out of the tail light and it uses a self contained battery unlike Dinotte 400R and more lumens than the Quad Red.

NEW Quad RED Taillight with built in battery ? DiNotte Lighting USA Online Store

https://shop.seesense.cc/collections...n-rear-light-1

As far as I can tell, the dinotte300's only distinguishing feature vis a vis the cygo150 is the number of mounts, an astonishing 8 vs the standard 2.