BSB

mechBgon,

You bought a DiNotte 300R a while back (you posted photos and beam shots). I'm curious why you've chosen to use the Cygolite over the DiNotte? I know the Cygolite is brighter in the center of the beam, but the DiNotte is still very bright, and has a much wider beam.

I'm asking because I'm considering upgrading from my Cateye LD1100 to either the Cygolite or the DiNotte. I'd be using it at night, and sometimes in the daytime depending on the roads, traffic, weather, and light conditions (though with a light that bright I might just use it all the time).

mechBgon

Either one is a good light. The Cygolite is much lighter and much cheaper, and the narrow beam isn't a huge drawback for my purposes. Long-range visibility from the direct rear is the main concern when I'm out on the highway and trying to go straight at a heavily-used off-ramp, for example. Anyway, I sold the 300R on eBay, bought two Hotshots and still came out ahead.

No, unfortunately it looks like a one-off

2manybikes

Thanks.

Easy Peasy

I contacted cygolite about the dearth of mounting options, and the representative said they are working on a "cage mount" for the tail light that will be available for purchase in about a month.

I can't just limit my tail light to be on the seat post, so hopefully this will mean I can mount it to my rack.
I also mentioned that it would be great if their mount would be compatible with other brands like PB and PDW so that one could inter change lights as needed.

Gojohnnygo.

Thanks for the Hotshot taillight review I just clicked buy for one, and I will mount it right under my Dinotte 400R taillight for the bang effect this winter

EsoxLucius

I have had one for a couple of weeks now. Great little light.

BSB

Mine showed up in the mail today. I turned it and my Cateye LD1100 on steady and pointed them side-by-side at a wall. They looked about the same brightness. Very disappointing, until I tried the OSP feature and discovered that it was not running at full brightness. Now it's bright! I don't know if they are set that way at the factory, or if mine got changed somewhere after it left the factory, but if you get one and plan to run it on steady, you might want to check the brightness. BTW, the brightness seems to get gradually brighter, then pause, then jump up a bit more, so don't let go of the button too soon!

Changing the brightness only affects the solid mode so it won't matter if you only plan to use the flashing modes (as I do).

Now that I have it at full brightness, it blows away the LD1100 (LD1100 has brand new alkalines for the comparison). The Cygolite has a wider beam, and brighter spill; it is significantly brighter than the Cateye at all angles, except for at (and close to) 90 degrees, where the Cateye's sideways pointing LED's give it a huge advantage (no surprise there).

I agree with mechBgon. Triple is definitely quite a bit less bright, much dimmer than the LD1100 (and the box lists much longer run times for it - makes sense). Zoom is ok, single and random have the most punch. Random seems to have longer flashes than single, which makes it look brighter to me, so I'll probably use random.

A10K

Another Hotshot owner here, chiming in for rack mounting: my solution to mounting the light involved boring out the bolt-hole on the mount to fit a 6mm bolt, which I could then attach to a P-clamp on my rack. Not the most elegant solution, but I was on a short tour at the time and didn't realize how much room my new seatpost bag took up. The included bolt is ridiculously small, probably half the diameter of the PBSF seatpost mount (and its clones). The advantage of the P-clamp mount is that I can aim the light up and down before tightening it, so I have pretty good control over exactly where it will be most visible.

rekmeyata

As a side note, I disagree with the main tail light being on the flash mode. Studies have proven that a flashing light confuses the depth perception of others looking at it. See: https://thelazyrando.wordpress.com/20...is-too-bright/

I've known about this info for a long time. I set my Blackburn Mars 4 on the seat tube, and my Cateye LD600 on the helmet on steady, but my bar ends Soma Road Flares are on flash. I have the variety of rear lights due to the reason they speak of on that site. I also use a amber flasher on the front in conjunction with my bar headlight and my helmet light, but only the amber flasher flashes. Anyway read the site and determine for yourselves what you want to do.

mechBgon

These are my thoughts on using flashing mode for the big-gun taillight.

1. it gets noticed. This automatically trumps any hypothetical depth-perception benefits of steady lights, because getting noticed is Job One. I'd have trouble noticing a steady bike taillight in this scene, for example, but a high-powered taillight on flashing would stand out:

2. it identifies you as human-not-car, so people get the message that "oh, I'm probably gaining on them at significant speed, plan accordingly," among other things. A steady light could be anything, a blinkie is going to be a pedestrian or cyclist.

3. my personal experience is that there's no inherent difficulty in assessing the range of a blinkie, beyond the fact it's a point source of light that provides no triangulation beyond my own stereo vision. When I look down the street or highway and see a blinkie, I can certainly tell how far away it is. I know you can't use stereo vision on a 2D video, but as an example, here's a highway scene, complete with cars merging around me. Even with a slow double-flash, it's kind of obvious how far away I am:

4. most blinkies flash frequently enough that they're not that different from a steady light anyway. It's not like they flash once every three seconds or something. In the case of the Hotshot, this is actually under the user's control, of course.

5. some of the motorist comments on my high-powered lights are along the lines of "wow, I was able to spot you from a LONG way back! That's a great taillight!"

rekmeyata

There has been enough science to prove that what I said is true. It's ok if you don't want to follow good science, after all a flashing vs steady is just a personal choice, much like whether or not you want to even use a light. And like I said I use a combination of a steady and flashing so I'm covering both spectrum's of thought. But you need to read the site I gave not some video with no science to back it up. There's more on that site about lighting then you think, both front and rear.

pick

I agree with you completely - I have planned both flashing (2) and steady (2) for my front and rear lighting arrays. If I may, what do you use for your amber lighting?

btw, loved the link - great info - thanks for posting it!

mechBgon

I've done my own statistical studies, and they also provide no evidence for the "moth effect" your author is touting. The opposite proved true, with motorists changing lanes to avoid me from considerable distances: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...g-quot-testing Having used increasingly-powerful taillights over the years, in combination with a helmet mirror, I've done a heck of a lot of observing on this one.

As I always say, actually cutting through the clutter and registering in the motorists' conciousness is the main goal. I'd rather have them aqcuire me from 1km back as WHOA, WHAT IS THAT?!, than to finally notice me at 100 meters and recognize my precise range now that it's nearly too late. And that is the job of the big-gun taillight, to have the power to reach them from 1km away, so I'm sticking with flashing.

As for establishing range, you may have noticed at the beginning of the highway video that my reflective gear was showing up pretty strongly at close range, thanks to a flashlight next to the camera a la headlights. That's one range cue a motorist will get as the range comes down to where it would actually benefit them to know it, provided their headlights are on. You can also add divergence cues with your bar-tip lights and a helmet blinkie.

Any lights are better than nothing, of course For what it's worth, here's a story from my daily experience: I get off work, and pull onto a city-center 1-way arterial with stoplights every 2 blocks, car taillights, streetlights, the usual city-center scene. Amidst all that, I was punched in the eyeball by ...a Hotshot? No, not powerful enough, but that fast steady flash rate... ahh, a Mars 4. It was 1500-2000 meters away. Whether it was 1500, or 2000, is sort of irrelevant at that distance, but what counts is that it got noticed with lots of time to arrange a lane change. Because it flashed. In steady mode, it would be just one more red light source along with all the others.

sknhgy 

How well does the USB charging feature work? Is there even a need for a wall charger?

mechBgon

USB charging works great as long as your computer doesn't power down its USB ports when it's in sleep/off mode.

rekmeyata

The amber light is a very old (18 years old) Vista-Lite Xenon flasher that I use to use as tail light, it came with a red and amber lens. When brighter LED tail lights came out I bought a Cateye LD600 (now being used on the helmet) and moved the Vista to the front after putting the amber lens on. According to the motor vehicle law you can only have a white or amber light on the front and only red on the rear.

Planet Bike makes a 3 led amber flasher; see: https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-3-.../dp/B000RYBG0C

Or if you want a white flasher then Cateye makes the TL-LD150; see: https://www.amazon.com/Cateye-TL-LD15.../dp/B000R5PJX6

The reason I use a flasher on the front with a headlight is because bicycle lights are very small diameter lens, most car drivers think their further away then they really are or will fail to notice them no matter how bright the light is. So a flasher will gain their attention so they will notice the headlight. That info is on that site I gave in an earlier post.

rekmeyata

My main light I leave on steady is the Mars 4, the one you saw at 1500 to 2000 meters. But like I said earlier I have a Cateye LD600 on the helmet on steady (sometimes I put it on chase flash), and a pair of Soma Road Flares in the bar ends and those flash. The Soma's by the way are very intense.

I understand what your saying, and it is all about personal opinion. Since going the way I've gone with my lighting I have had many drivers and even police praising my lighting. But where I live only about 2% of the riders riding at night have any lighting at all! And maybe another 5% have reflectors. The 2% that have lighting at least half of those use only very, very dim lighting...almost useless lighting. So I fall into the rare 1% with "extreme" lighting...extreme for around here that is!

By the way, you do look good out there riding at night, so I can't fault you for not looking good. Cameras are a bit tricky, so if I was a driver coming up behind you the perspective may be different then the way the camera interprets it. But you do look good. If you and I lived in the same town we would be the only two that looked that good!!! You may look a tad better then I since I don't wear the reflective vest like you, nor have the reflective panniers because I don't ride with them on daily jaunts. I do have reflective leg bands, and reflective tape going around the circumference of the helmet, and the seat bag has reflective strip, and my jacket has reflective piping, but that's it.

Richard Cranium

I don't know what you guys are talking about and I'm not going to read all the comments.

However, I have it it on good authority that there IS a fundamental difference in using a flashing light.

Any very bright flashing light "destroys" what is known as the "reference frame" when any observer attempts to detect the distance or velocity of a lighted object in a dark background.

The resulting use of a flashing light with steady light means that any observer has less perspective information and less chance of accurately perceiving the speed and or distance of an object.

bear in mind the "brighter" the flashing light - the more powerful the effect.

It doesn't matter whether anyone argues with this or not - its true - and you can go try it on yourself........


By the way - I kind of think this is a good thing for a cyclists. better to make drivers guess about your where abouts - they are less likely to dismiss you.

rekmeyata

So what are you saying? is it better to use all flashing lights on the rear? or all steady on the rear? or a mixture of steady and flashing on the rear? And where did you get this expert information from? Because I heard from different "good authorities" that one said all flashing, another said all steady, another said a combination...personally I don't think anyone knows 100% for sure which is the best way.

warriorphan

I'm still with flashing tail lights at night. As a driver, bikes are easily spotted at half mile plus distances and recognized as bikes. Steady does not cut it for recognizability.
The moth effect, school buses do not seem to be affected that way; and the new school buses with LED flashers and brake lights, easily much more noticable than the old lights.

mechBgon

My thought on the moth effect was this: everyone's curious about a traffic stop by the State Patrol or the police. They can't help looking to see if someone's dead, getting a DUI test, a speeding ticket, or whatever. I could understand motorists rubbernecking and drifting around for that reason, it's a known hazard. But I doubt they'll give a cyclist that sort of attention, unless she's hot

unterhausen

the only moth effect I'm really worried about is drunks or legally blind drivers. Anyone else is going to be cautious when they can't tell how far away you are

sknhgy 

I'm not so sure that all motorists recognize a flashing light as a cyclist. Drivers around here are not at all used to seeing cyclists at night, other than me. Most people have told me they thought I was an emergency vehicle of some sort. They slow way down and approach very cautiously until they figure out what I am.

BTW, I just pulled the trigger on a Cygolight blinky. I have been using a PBSF on flash mode in addition to a very bright, steady, red, led flashlight.

rekmeyata

Except more and more states are beginning to see the fact that steady is safer, Massachusetts requires only a steady, flashing is illegal if by itself, it's not illegal if you have a flashing combined with a steady. In the EU all countries require steady lights due to safety studies that proved steady was better. The moth effect I don't think is important, what's important is if the driver can judge how far away you are...and if they can see you. The steady light becomes more important the darker the road gets like a pitch black country road for a driver to judge how far away they are from you so they know when to overtake you and at what distance.

Then there's this: https://thelazyrando.wordpress.com/20...is-too-bright/

What's really interesting is that studies are showing that the SIZE of the light is more important the intensity. A lot of drivers don't realize how far you are from them either in the front or rear due to the little pin points of lights that bicycles use. Unfortunately due to the inability to carry a large diameter headlight or tail light we don't have a lot of choices. Now there is a large tail light on the market but most of us weight weenies and those who don't want to look like a Fred would never buy the light, yet it's safest design on the market for bicycles; see: https://www.reallite.com/details.htm and a demo, though not real good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qywt06pg4E There are reviewers who have said that the Reallite is brighter then the expensive ones with the separate batteries yet it runs on AA bats; and REallite up'd the brightness of level on the new model. And Lightman has now come out with a very bright large LED strobe for bicycles as well, but even Lightman claims a Xenon strobe is still brighter then the LED strobes on the market plus the Xenon's have 180 degree visability instead of a narrow field of vision associated with LED's. But there has been some issues with the lens staying on while using it on a bike, not sure if Lightman addressed this or not. https://www.lightmanstrobes.com/page391.html See this for review: https://www.amazon.com/Visibility-Sys.../dp/B001U5JHL2 Then there's odd duck: https://www.powerflare.com/customers/motorcycles.html They have a comparison of sorts if you click on the links. The Powerflare looks like it just dangles from the seat with out a solid connection to keep it fastened solid.

Unfortunately there are no good You Tube presentations of either the Reallite or the Lightman to determine just how good they really are. But the argument of size is true.

Gojohnnygo.

OK I just got my Cygolite Hotshot, The beam straight on is just as bright if not brighter then my DiNotte 400R taillight. I'm going to use both of them in a 2 mile section of the shopping district I ride at 2am and 12 Noon time, with the 400R on rapid flash and the Cygolite in its ZOOM mode for distance recognition.. The one thing I wonder about is how water proof the USB port is? We shall find out this winter... I'll give Cygolite a 3.5 out of 5 stars for its Hotshot taillight, it needs more mounting options.