I want a dang bright tail light as noticeable as possible in full sunlight. Pulsing, strobing, whatever is most noticeable. I need it to last 5 hours and preferably be rechargeable with internal battery.
I currently have a cygolight hot shot but would like something with considerably more oooomph.
I ride rural roads that often have no shoulder and want the ranch hands flying along in their pickups to see me well in advance.
What do you got?

...what model HotSHot have you? Because I'm using a HotShot Pro, and have had numerous people-- both on bikes and in cars-- tell me that it is essentially "the brightest thing they've ever seen."

To get brighter, you have to spend a good bit more money-- like, Dinotte money.

If you have the Cygolite then you're already in good company. I've been researching brighter lights (for daytime running) but none are as flexible nor as compact.

From what I understand there is an update that is even brighter. They also offer the Hot Rod, but its a seadpost mount, which is not tilt adjustable.

Axiom Pulse 60 is pretty bright. Other riders sometimes ask me to turn it down. I run it at the seat cluster.

I also use two Cygolite Hotrod 50's down low, one on each chainstay.

The Axiom Pulse goes on flash and the Hotrods go on low steady. All are good for five hours.


-Tim-

Okay, I found it Bontrager Flare R

I'm happy w/ the 150 version. Looks like they're coming out w/ a 300 version soon:

In that same vein I recommend multiple lights. Two is superior to one, and three is recommended. Two mounted to the frame, and one helmet mount.

I've been riding with this setup since the late nineties. The redundancy also serves as backup should one fail or you forget to charger it.

Something like a Cateye Rapid X3 (or other brand of similar shape/mount) mounted on the seat stays seems to be a popular method around my parts.

Yes, this makes a big difference. AIRC the original Hotshot was rated at about 30 lumens and was followed by various models designated by their lumen output - the Hotshot 50, then 80, then 100, and currently the Hotshot Pro 150. I have both the 80 and 150 and have compared them side-by-side and was surprised by how big a difference there is. The 150 was both substantially brighter in the center of the beam but also covered a considerably broader area.

niteflux redzone 8 is good.
also dinotte makes some good ones.
lupine has a good one.
designshine is the most powerful one in existence.

I compared the Cygolite HotShot with the newer Pro 150 in this post.

The Pro 150 has a variable speed "short bright flash" mode. At one flash per second, it runs about 30 hours. At 2 flashes a second, about 15 hours.
I normally use the one per second flash during the day -- my goal is for drivers to notice a bike ahead from far away. Or I switch to the two per second rate if the road is curvy or has patchy shade.


It includes some photos:

It is the Hotshot pro and I personally don't think it is all that bright. I know I've seen commuters with lights far brighter.

I don't know the Hotspot but have you experimented with the angle? That can sometimes make a huge difference in brightness.

I have it clipped on to my seat bag so angle isn't adjustable. It is currently very close to level; I'd guess within a couple of degrees.

the hotshots have a single crappy led and lens concentrating the light in a narrow cone behind it. it doesnt matter if its 10000 million lumen its not gonna be bright from anywhere outside the cone.

get a real light instead. i recommend the older orfos red and the niteflux redzone. these spread light out in all directions around the bike. they both have many many leds and they tap directly into clear plastic to spread the light.
on max you can see these from several miles.

And I'm fairly certain you can only get around 60-80lm or so (or even lower like 50lm) for a single cree red led, the best ones they make. you do the math...
and when pushing them to the max the lumen/w and efficiency and battery life goes down.
this is why all good rear lighrts have multiple leds. dinotte has 4. orfos has 10-15, desighshine had 6, niteflux has 4. and so on

Not my bike, I saw it parked somewhere and had to take a photo.

Believe it or not, sometimes that small difference matters. I too have my rear light clipped to my seat bag but I'm lucky in that it it is rigid and sits perfectly horizontal. Others are not taut and can sag and droop. You need both actually.

Makers Headlights of late have been competing with each other for who makes the brightest..

but not so much with tail lights..

you can put a red lens on a headlight and point it rearwards to get that kind of bright..


B&M 4D toplight, rack mount, is big, red , and has 4 LEDs
to light up the whole thing.

but does not blink or flash .. 2 AA batteries in them.

I like them..




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if you put a red lens on a regular light you lose too much for it to be worth it. lets say you end up with 50lm from 1000lm (i have no idea how much you actually get but it could be much much lower than this). then you are burning batteries for 1000lm but are getting 50lm output..

thats why they have red leds. the conversion is so inefficient its not done. and to put a spin on it a red led is much much less efficient than a white one is. where you can get 1000lm out a single xlm2 led you get at most 50-100 out of the best red ones. for the same juice.

The Orfos looks like it might be worth a try but I'm a bit nervous that all their products seem to be pre-order only. In general, I don't put out money for products that may never be available.

dafuq do you mean here really?

when you order something on the mighty "interwebz" you pay in advance. make no mistake.
you will not have the product in your hand before you have paid for it. i can guarantee you that.

There is a difference between ordering a product that actually exists and waiting for it to arrive and one that may never be manufactured. If a company needs customer money up front before they can manufacture, that is a danger sign to me.