AA Rack Light with blinking mode
 

Does anyone know if such a light exists? Busch & Müller DToplight Permanent would be ideal if it had a blinking mode. It's pretty light, has large reflectors & runs off AA batteries. No blinking mode somehow...

Cateye makes rack mounts for most of their lights. I use a TL LD 1000, bright light with multi modes and it is AA x 2.

http://www.cateye.com/store/parts.php?cid=3_79

I have not used the PlanetBike SuperFlash, but it too gets consistently good reviews and PB offers a rack mount for it as well. Bear in mind the SuperFlash is 2 x AAA.

http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3108.html

Blackburn too

If you'd be interested in a AAA light at all, Cateye's got a new one coming, the LD560. They don't seem to be on the market yet, but when they arrive, I'm definitely going to get one and check it out. It has a medium-sized reflector and supposedly has one high-output LED plus some smaller ones. Details at 11 :)

Its a pity its AAA
http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/625

Thank you guys! I already have a SuperFlash & Portland Design 1000 or whatever it is called. The Portland Design even has a small reflector. I just wanted to get a permanent light for the rack with a large reflector & blinking mode. I guess AA batteries for whatever reason are not popular with those lights anymore. That's a pity...

Very few lights other than European ones include reflectors. The European ones generally do because reflectors front and rear are required by law in Germany as are lights. Easiest to combine the two in one unit. Unfortunately though blinking lights are uncommon due to being forbidden in some European countries as blinking lights are only allowed on emergency and police vehicles.

I personally intend to combine a European dynamo taillight, with reflector, and a battery operated blinking light such as the Dinotte, Radbot or Cateye 1100. Personally I am not sure how much the blinking adds to bicycle safety. Auto and motorcycle taillights do not blink and in fact I am not sure if blinking ones would be legal while driving. Auto 4 way flashers are for when stopped for an emergency.

AAA batteries make a smaller lighter light that is just as bright in the shop.
Unfortunately its the difference between swapping batteries once and three times a year.

I believe that blinking adds a lot to the bicycle safety. Blinking makes the lights much more noticeable to the faster-moving traffic in the same way as the lights on the emergency/police vehicles do. And that is the whole purpose of those lights. I'll follow your advice & get DToplight to combine it with a SuperFlash because it's smart to have two lights in case one fails :)

You should swap them more often. It looks like the tail lights are not regulated (i.e. they become much dimmer when the batteries are not that fresh).

Here's a 2AA model that might have potential: http://bontrager.com/model/08922

I'm ordering one to check it out, should have it by mid-week.

Looks like an interesting light. I wonder why they didn't make it 1 watt. Perhaps the LED is very good, who knows. Let us know how it compares to the CatEye LD1100. BTW, your site on cycling visibility is excellent.

Even the 1/2 and 1 watt LEDs used in AA and AAA taillights are not run at any where near actual rated power. If they were then an AAA taillight would have a battery life of about 1 hour in continuous mode and 1 hour multiplied by the duty cycle in blinking mode. An AA light would increase this by about 3.5x IIRC.

You are most likely right. However, the manufacturers have to differentiate between their "low" & "high" power models. I own Portland Design's Redbot in 1 Watt version & it produces significantly more light than Planet bike SuperFlash at 1/2 Watt. However the batteries life is also half which is alright 'cause I'm using low discharge rechargeables (Sanyo Eneloops). Used to own Dinotte but that was too much trouble (i.e. low running times), not a one piece unit, pain to attach & the batteries would discharge while not in use (i.e. it was always on). Otherwise, that was a fine light.

The picture doesn't seem to match the description there. They say they have a 1/2 watt LED surrounded by two regular LEDs, yet it looks like two 1/2 watt LEDs. Below they have another picture labeled "Trek Flare BSeen" that gives the same description when you click on it, and that picture DOES look like the decription.

I noticed that too, it looks like they just copied the product info from the Flare BSeen (which happens to be a 2AA light, I forgot about that one). Anyway, it ought to arrive by Wednesday and I'll compare it to my SuperFlash and my PDW Radbot 1000 (if it feels like turning on), and post some pics and video. I have no idea what to expect. Ideally, both the large LEDs would fire at once with the sort of ka-POW!! strobe that makes the SuperFlash so attention-grabbing, and not the lame alternating pattern used by the Princeton Tec Swerve.

Anyone tried this one?

http://www.serfas.com/product_details.asp?ID=306

Just got this light for $12 from Amazon. I have a Surly rack so I had to unscrew the clip & then attach the light with one bolt that goes into the back of the light. Took five minutes in all. It's an ideal rack light because it's very bright, takes AA batteries that are long lasting, has two blinking modes & a large reflector. It's basically DToplight plus two blinking modes at less than half the price. Highly recommended.