Is this a good taillight?
 

Sorry if this has been discussed. A friend of mine asked for a tail light recommendation. Are these worth the $$$$ ?? Anybody use one?

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/magicsh...included-42077

Thanks.

They're awesome tailights, I have one and I get comments and questions about it all the time from drivers, other riders, etc. Some of the battery packs have had issues, you can read all about it here using the search function, just search for 'magicshine'.

Nicely spotted!

Do follow basic safety precautions when charging lithium power packs, especially ultra cheap ones of dubious provenance, though - charge them away from flammable things and only when you're around to supervise them.

have most of the bad batteries gotten off the market by this point?

Almost certainly. But should never neglect those precautions with li-ions. Especially with ultra-cheap hardware sold by companies that aren't as sue-able as Nokia and Apple, and which might not have to pass US or EEC safety regulations.

Hes, it's excellent. I have one. It's the same LED and lens, as far as I can tell, as the Dinotte 140R which I replaced with this one.

I'm thinking about getting another so I can leave one on steady and one on flash. But since I wear a PBSF on my helmet and another on my seat post, with the magicshine on my seat, plus a reflective vest, I'm probably OK anyway.

Think they are worth the money?

Absolutely. The closest competitor is the Dinotte 140R, which with AA batteries (not as good as the LiIon that this comes with) is $120.

If you get the MagicShine headlight, you can buy just the taillight unit without the battery for $30 and just use a Y power adaptor that costs about $4. This is several times the light you can normally get for $20 or $30. Go take a look on youtube for comparisons with the PBSF or Radbot, this thing is a searchlight in comparison.

Its easy to judge a tail light. Since a car approaching from behind you could be coming at 40 MPH or so you should figure how long it would take a driver to recognize there is an obstacle up ahead to avoid, add that to the amount of time it takes to actually maneuver the automobile away from said object and then figure out how far a car going 40 MPH would travel in that time span. You'd be surprised at the distance all this takes (about the length of three telephone poles). And that is how far away you should be able to see and identify a tail light as a tail light, if you want it to help you.

The second surprising thing is how many bicyclists judge the brightness of a tail light by standing right behind it (or while holding in their hand), they are all bright at that distance.

That's my way of judging, but I throw in "OK, it's raining heavily at twilight and the driver is texting, glancing at the road for 1 second every 5." And also "OK, I'm heading into the sun at dawn"

Either of those brings me to the conclusion that the light should be visible at about 500 feet in daylight by someone just glancing quickly at the road.

I think I'm gonna go order another one of these lights...