Riiiight you sound like a regular charmer. I'm sure you talk like that the people you meet in your daily life too. :rolleyes:

You can try and play semantics all you want, but your nasty character is there for all to see.

On that page:
And a review:
Not sure if I'd call this one a legitimate alternative.

No strobe either.

I bought the Ultrafire WF-501B Philips Luxeon K2 Red LED Flashlight as soon as it was mentioned on the forum.

Runtime (continuous bench test) is four hours and there is NO dimming whatsoever before it cuts out.

I think it's fair to say that it's a very worthy alternative.

:thumb:

well I'm gonna get both!! Flashing Dinnote 140 and the flashlight = win :D

That would be great, I'd be very interested to see how they compare with brightness.

One thing that always amazes me with 'top end' lighting is how they claim better runtimes than torches, often from smaller capacity battery packs and usually do so using older, earlier generation LEDs - for a while now I've wondered what the magic ingredient is.....

;)

probably due to the reflector, as they are designed specifically for bikes they might have chosen a reflector that maximises brightness for that application.

Well...a cycle specific reflector might help (especially on the front) but it can't increase the actual output.

:)

True but they can up the lumen count - more light in a particular area. So it can up the "output" that they can write on the packaging!

+1

I'm not convinced the dinotte is twice as bright.

Actually, taking into account battery capacity, runtime and that the Ultrafire could have a later LED, I'm not convinced there's any reason why the dinotte should be any brighter.

So it should be very interesting to see.

:)

That isn't true as Lumens is effectively a point source brightness, independant of area. The light level hitting the street (or anywhere else you fancy) can not be measured in Lumens; it should be Lux or another light level per area unit.

However, most of the light level claims on torches are totally unrealistic; often to the point of being totally made up. I was looking at a torch the other day that claimed 1500 Lumens from 6 Cree XR-E Q3 bin LEDs. 1500 Lumens is possible from R2 bin LEDs if running at 1A. When working out the run time, each LED was only getting around 280mA. The real output is most likely a little under 500 Lumens. The supplier hasn't replied to my comments yet ;)

Sounds very much like the torch Abstractform20 recently bought......

:)

I read through the first 4 pages or so and no one hit on the fact that lights blink. I think the blinking actually gets more attention than absolute brightness. Regardless, I will run a SF in blinking mode and a Vetta in solid. Both very bright and one of each with redundancy for when one of the batteries fails.

Sounds like a good combo.

So...all in all..what's the best alternative to a dinotte ?

probably the flashlight simply from an output - cost ratio.

I have the Dinotte tail light which is great but my headlight is the very small Fenix which is held down with velcro. It would be interesting to have a red lens for that Fenix.

They do make them, but the light output is greatly diminished by the red filter. A red LED produces much brighter light.

I just found a new tail light to replace the SuperFlash that only lasted about 6 months. It's the Princeton Tec Swerve that uses 2 Half Watt Maxbright LEDs that makes the SuperFlash look dim! Plus the Swerve can be seen from the sides-something that the Superflash failed at. And the darn thing only cost $30 on sale for $22.59 till 7/5 at Speedgoat bicycles. It has two beam patterns, one wide and one narrow, and when put on flash it's extremily eye catching because it alternates between the wide and narrow instead of flashing on and off. Now the big question is durability...time will only tell that, but Princeton usually makes fairly reliable stuff.

I put the Swerve in the same place the Superflash was on the seatpost while the two Cateye LD600's are still on each stay along with barend lights, the Cateye's remain on steady while the Swerve and the barends flash.

That's new to me.

http://www.swerveyourbike.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96AYhdwr4r4

Looks like pbsf is better, unless side visibility is so important to you that you're willing to compromise rear visibility.

My vetta is significantly brighter than my 2 x pbsf.

http://www.vetta.com/product_show.asp?ptype=whole&id=60

I think this makes vetta the reigning king of low budget taillights.

Cost unlimited, dinotte is still brightest.

Anyone happen to know the power supply for the newer dinotte 400R twin led taillight? It takes a dinotte Li pack, which they would only say in an emailed answer is "proprietary".

Anybody own a dinotte 400r and a voltmeter?

I disagree with the Youtube video based on my own experience with both of them. I tested them side by side with two bikes on a dark and a lit street and I could notice the Swerve better. PLUS something the YouTube doesn't show is lighting from the side. The SuperFlash gets rapidly dimmer when the angle is increased from dead on vs the Swerve; and as you well know most cars are not going to be coming up on your behind dead on as often as they will coming on slightly to the side of dead on,and when this happens the SuperFlash is way dimmer then the Swerve.

Pictures don't do justice with this kind of thing because it depends on a lot of varables; YouTube also showed the Mars 4 as being extremily bright, in fact appeared brighter then the Vetta (though they weren't compared side by side, just the light output looked way brighter), but in the store the Mars 4 didn't look that impressive.

I can't argue with you about the Vetta because none of my local stores carry it so I couldn't see it in action, though the lumens suggest it could be at least dead on center, no way knowing about off center angles. So I bought the Swerve because it remained brighter then the SuperFlash or the Mars when viewed off center in increasing angles. The Mars tries to compensate for the off center viewing by putting in regular led's on the side with amber lens but these are really dim, they should have put high powered leds on the side as well then they could have had a winner.

EDIT: Actually I misread the Vetta web site, I thought it said Lum instead of Lux, now with that in mind I have no idea if the Vetta would brighter then the Swerve. But the Vetta is $75 for the power management unit, it should be brighter if it's going to cost more the twice that of the Swerve. Not sure though what the difference is between the Vetta power management for $74 and the none power management that cost only $35. And at Amazon there was one compliant about the Vetta shorting out due to a flimsy case (out of two reviews).

Seeing it in the store doesn't equal seeing in action.
Often they get left running on the shelves by nosey customers.

Yes the off axis viz is probably the most important feature beam wise.
Most of the good blinkies are visible for a kilometre on axis, merging traffic is the risky area where a car just enters your lane.

hmm... i dunno about you guys but a low budget red P7 on police flash mode will stop and slow down any driver approaching from you from any direction.

at night you can see big fickle aura around the bike, and if you mount it on the front you get the full effect.

that's my setup, and even on day time you can see the light reflected back from the street signs around the street.

Huh? I don't see the $75 vetta light you mentioned.

The link I provided shows $35, marked down 30% to 25USD - mine cost $31.99 shipped, total.

http://www.vetta.com/product_show.asp?ptype=whole&id=60

It's easily a better value than PBSF, also $25. If you could compare them side-by-side in the dark, you would know this to be true immediately - they're not even close. The vetta actually lights up the roadway behind you for ~20 feet - you can see it in your mirror easily. And that's with it pointed back straight and level - so you're only seeing the diminished peripheral beam. It looks a lot like the dinotte ads.

I wouldn't describe it as flimsy, in the context of bike lights (most all of them can be broken if you handle them roughly). I've inserted batteries reversed a few times, no damage.

The worst aspect of the vetta is bike mounting. It mounts 3-4 ways, none of them as neat as the more compact PBSF on a seatpost.

GTALuigi - I was not aware that SSC made a red P7 emitter. What kind of red P7 flashlight are you using?

Well that Vetta has struck a interest cord with me that's for sure. I think I'll order one and check it out. What is the demensions of the Vetta? I'll have to measure the area I have to see if it will fit first.