Muffin Man

Do you guys know of a holder thing for a flashlight that fits 31.8 bars?

davidad

Two fish lock block.

Stomper

This link is not working. Please fix it so that I may see what you are recommending. Although the lights on this website may be out of your budget, the website comparison is useful as you may see which lights are brightest. https://eddys.com/articles/how-bright...t-light-ig493/

Aawil

What kind of battery life are you getting with these? Thinking about getting one but need at least an hour run time.

dougmc

A CREE Q5 puts out about 240 lumens at 1 amp, so with AAA NiMH cells which are typically around 700 mAh you'd get about 45 minutes of full brightness, or somewhat longer if the brightness goes down over time.

You might be able to get some more runtime from the high quality alkaline batteries, but they'll turn out to be quite expensive (maybe $3/hour?) versus NiMH.

nerys

Here is the one I bought (its on its way from china)

https://dx.com/p/p7-water-resistant-s...pack-set-82734


$45 and good reviews. for intermittent usage you could just leave the battery on the bike and recharge it every few months depending on how often you used it. (should get 3-6 hours of run time depending if on high or low)

I will be sure to post a review/thoughts thread when I get it and use it.

ericy

It looks like the same (or very similar) light is available from Amazon for 38$.

https://www.amazon.com/Lumen-Bicycle-...8533797&sr=1-5

This also ships from China..

This is getting to be stupid cheap.

nerys

I saw that one too on dx for $43 but I was partial to the red color and this one for whatever reasons had better reviews.

$38 is crazy cheap !!

lopek77

That's the one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZgVahLzYpE
You can't go wrong with this design.

lopek77

I have several q5 led lights that takes 3 AAA batteries. The brightness is going down so slowly that its hard to notice. I was never able to run out of juice completely. With LED lights everything depends on built in electronics. My q5 light works great for 3-5 hours depending on the temperature. I'm riding year long, and anywhere between 15F to 100F .

scoatw

TerraLUX TLF-3C2AAEX LightStar220 3-Watt LED Aluminum Flashlight




I've been using this light for about three months now, so I figure it's time for a review. Purchased at Amazon. It uses AA batteries and I get about 2 hours of runtime on rechargeable batteries. Good light for under $50. Mounted to the handlebars using a two fish lock block that works well. Doesn't really wiggle the light unless I hit a large bump or something like that. The light puts out a good size spot with a wide flood. Cars see me and it lights up the road ahead to notice debris, etc. Seems to live up to its rating of 220 lumens. But how should I really know since I have no way of measuring lumens. But it was brighter than the Romisen that I replaced. Has a high/low beam, but I just use the high beam. Overall for a AA flashlight it does the things that I look for in a flashlight. Strong, durable and dependent. Decent run time for a AA. Water-tight, hasn't failed me yet when riding in the rain. Just as comparable to a AA Fenix or anything that you'd get at Shiningbeam.com. For the AA category, I'd put this light at the top. My only other experience was with the Romisen RC-N3 Q5 cree. That was a good light. I had that one for four years until I wore it out. It just quit working due to the contact being jarred loose. The Terralux seems more durable. You won't get much brighter for a AA. Unless you switch over to a Li-ion set-up for a more powerful light with a longer runtime, supposedly. I don't know because I've never had one. But for someone who uses AA batteries, I think you'll be pleased with this light. I would put it up against any other AA out there.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o02_s00_i00

SvenSurly

Genius that I am, I managed to ram into a pedestrian at about 75% speed while riding around the loop at an unnamed park in an unnamed large North American city. I have a flasher on my handlebars, but it apparently doesn't get the full point across. I don't think dude saw me at all, even though I would have been visible to him for about 15 seconds before he decided to dart out into my path.

Anyone have any thoughts on which flashies are good for forward-facing pedestrian/motorist avoidance?

Cyclist0383

The brighter the better, but in my experience there will always be people who look directly into your light and still fail to comprehend that there is a bike rapidly moving towards them. It usually happens to me when a pedestrian is crossing the street against a red or randomly in the middle of the street. Nothing you can do about it, in my experience.

Not the Slowest

As a Commuter with 46 miles round trip and more if I do laps in Central Park in NYC here are my thoughts.
1) Expect the unexpected
2) See Rule #1 Above

The issue is not your light but the fact that WE need to be able to avoid things that come in our way.
Other Cyclists, tree branches, squirrels, raccoons (in my park), deer, potholes and obviously Pedestrians.

I have a few Dinotte lights and they do not cost under $50 and did have some Romisen and Fenix that all worked great but either failed or broke off in a crash.
I love the Dinnottes because of the strong steady lights and multi flashing options. When I think I need to get someones attention, I hit the button for a 3x faster flash and it works.
Obviously flashing lights do help, steady lights help, BUT YOU MUST BE PREPARED TO REACT. Bottomline is that you have to SLOW down.
Adding a bell works and I like to shout if need be.

Trust me in that I am no angel on the bike, but I work very very hard to not hit someone and at the same time get myself home in one piece.

Bottomline is more pedestrians are not looking and have no idea how fast we are going or can go.

SvenSurly

OK, first off, thanks to you both for the helpful answers to the post. Ziemas, I love your home town.

Robert, now, part of this was my fault for not fully describing the situation, but seriously, was it hard to stick the landing after your massive jump to the conclusion that I was speeding or riding recklessly? This was a simple question about which lights provide the most daytime visibility, and you took it to a lecture (with all-caps screaming, I might add) on responsible riding.

For the record, I was going *well* under the speed limit, meaning that I was prepared to react as defined by the traffic laws. The problem is, when someone rapidly and unpredictably changes direction about three feet in front of you when you're doing about 18 mph, there's not enough time to react. 18mph is 26.4 feet per second, meaning that you cover three feet in just over 1/10 sec. That's half the average human reaction time, for those of you who are counting. Even if my reaction time were half the average, I still would only have had time to just process the information before impact. And I certainly did not try to hit the guy, as your post would imply. What mentalist tries to seriously injure a pedestrian (and themselves) while also sacrificing their ride?

So, again, thanks to *both* of you for the helpful info. Robert, I agree that cyclists need to be responsible--I'm just looking for that extra line of defense provided by hi-vis flashing lights.

dougmc

The traffic laws specify a maximum permitted speed, yes, but you can't assume that just because you are going under this speed that you are "prepared to react as defined by the traffic laws". It's rare, but people do occasionally get speeding tickets when they're going under the posted speed limit but are going "too fast for conditions".

If you're zooming past a pedestrian at 18 mph at only three feet (I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume he didn't suddenly go into a full sprint into your path, but instead meandered somewhat) from his expected path -- that's either too fast or too close. As you've realized, pedestrians are unpredictable.

Give them more room or slow down. More light might be nice, but it's not a substitute for giving them more room or slowing down.

davidad

They walk in front of cars and the cars are easier to see. You can't cure stupid.

ryanmm

I ended up getting both of these, recommend the headlight. Nice and bright & the mount is secure, though I had to add a nut to get it that way. Been working well for awhile now.

Based on that experience I got their taillight too, haven't used it for very long but so far it works well. At first I thought I might not be able to find a good mounting point, ended up hooking it around a seatbag loop. Seems bright and it has 3 or 4 blink modes. Provisionally recommended.

Both of them go on sale regularly and both qualify for their usual 20% off coupon.

dwmckee

Just my two cents here - About half of the time pedestrians on a bike path are going away from you where no light will make any difference. The pedestrian typically has right of way, regardless if they are stupid or not. That means you are liable for their stupidity and are supposed to slow to a safe speed where you could safely maneuver around them even if they walk in front of you. Also, sounding a bell as you approach is a good idea and is becoming a requirement on many busy bike paths.

dwmckee

Here is my new favorite (and I have owned a lot) https://dx.com/p/fandyfire-uv-s5-xm-l...x-18650-120679 . It is about $50 and puts out up to 3,000 lumens according to DX. Realistically it probably only puts out 1800 lumens, but still, on a lumens per dollar basis that is one of the best available... I use this to mount it https://dx.com/p/convenient-tie-on-si...ed-color-24369. And on some bikes I use this to mount the light lower, near the axle for better light angle on road https://www.ebay.com/itm/251066883528...84.m1438.l2649 .

Dodgensince74

I bought some of these for me, my brother and my brother-in-law, I bought a total of 6 off of ebay without the red trim over a year ago. They all still work great and still hold a long charge

eofelis 

I just went to Harbor Freight and picked up one of these headlights for my urban commuting. It's an ok light for the price. I got a taillight also. They were $3.99 on sale. I also picked up a $4.99 32 LED flashlight (has a good solid aluminum shell) to put on my Two Fish handlebar mount. The combination of the Bikepro headlight and the 32LED flashlight worked out very well for my commute home last night, less than $20 worth of lights.

trx1

the tail light link is dead, so im guessing there out....will b getting the headlight for sure tho!

Doohickie

For anyone who has this style of light... they're on amazon for about $30-40. On one of the reviews, it sounds like the battery pack is not sealed well. Is this true? What does your actual battery pack look like?

dougmc

That's nothing a sandwich bag and some packing tape won't fix.

The battery looks like four cells in some shrinkwrap, and they give you a little cloth case with velcro on it that holds it to a stem or something similar. Not water proof, but that's easily fixed as I just said. If you fix it right, it can even handle full immersion, though I wouldn't suggest that, but fixing against even torrential rain is easy.