To flash or not to flash?
 

I suspect this issue has been hashed out a million times, but the search function on this site isn't great so I am asking it again. Should I keep my lights on flash or solid? Flash is more noticeable for sure, but also kinda entrancing. When I am driving sometimes I can't keep my eyes off them.

Gloomy day or rainy weather = flash
Night = Solid
Just my opinion

Yes.
Looking for potholes, steady.
Want cars to notice me, flashing.
I suppose one can also run 2 or
more lites, one on steady and
another on flashing ;)

I can't stand a flashing front light. I was trying to turn off my light and it went into flashing mode, and it just about drove me crazy.

Rear lights, it's probably good to have one each steady and flashing. It is said that flashing makes distance estimation much more difficult. Dinotte has a mode that is a steady light with periodic flashes, which is interesting.

Flashing rear lights use much less battery. That's pretty important on a long ride

I notice flashing bike lights much better than steady, whether front or rear. I was heading down my street and noticed a rider's red rear blinkie at a range of probably 1/2 mile. If that light had been steady-burning, it wouldn't have gotten noticed at that distance (and "noticed" is different than "seen"). Also worth noting, there was no particular difficulty assessing his/her range.

So for rear lights, I run all flashing to maximize my chance of getting noticed. I don't use a front flashing light because 1) I don't have one right now; and 2) in my state, it's not technically street-legal, so it could weaken my case if I were hit by a motorist and had illegal anything at the time. I could see resorting to a front flashing light in fog or other exceptionally-bad visibility situations.

Why is this an either/or question? Both, of course. Surely you have more than one light on your bicycle?

I use steady headlight and flashing tail lights in any & all night conditions. The flashing effectively doubles the battery life for my particular bike light set. And really evens the battery life headlight to tail light.

Sometime when I cycling, I can't keep my eyes off of my lights if they are flashing at night. I stare at the beam in a hypnotic state and forget to check left and right of me.

I find that over 300 lumens of flashing light is my limit. Less I can put up with but more than that is awful. I probably crash if I my Bikeray IV in the flash mode in the darkness. However a coworker of mine also has a Bikeray IV and uses his only in strobe mode and with his 300 lumen helmet mounted flaslight in strobe mode. He swear by it and tells me countless stories of how that combo drives motorist nuts.

No scientific evidence, but it seems to me that flashing (blinking) is more dominant to a viewer than a steady light. Even when done simultaneously, the blinking should be more dominant to a viewer.

The next question would be like "what is the tipping point"? Then it might be wattage or lumens comparison.

This depends on a lot of things. The weather, the time of day, the direction that you're riding, the type of lights you have, what other visibility aids you have (reflective vests, etc).

Front and rear flasher always on during daytime. I turn off the front flasher at night.. Added one of these to he rear triangle to give some contrast flashing at night, I use the white one.. Just 12 inch velcro loop and secure to the triangle, just above the brakes, superlight and last a long time on cr2032 cells. FYI, I also have a radbot 1000 hooked to my seatpack.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/axsecure51z1....c0.m270.l1313

I have two magic shines and the one on the helmet is run on steady mode and the one on the bar is run in flash mode.

Evidence of my own eyes concurs with this. The strobing light catches my attention, but the solid light takes a moment or two to stand out from the other lights and reflections in the area.

I run two cheap Cateye lights at night: An EL320 in steady mode and an EL135 in flashing mode. The 320 is there to see by and the 135 is flashing to draw attention to my presence. Before I started using the second light in flashing mode, I had a few instances of cars backing out of driveways in front of me during that part of the day when the sun is just coming up behind me and casts strange shadows through the trees. Since I started using the second light, the cars consistently stop and allow me to pass before backing out of their driveways.

During the day, I just use the 320 in flashing mode, as it has a very visible flash mode for daytime use.

Always flash during day.

No flash at night, unless I'm motivated by an unusual amount of hazing/assault from motor vehicle operators, then i go to flash for a while till I feel "safe" again.

I never ride on MUPs or bike paths, so I'm not blinding any peds/cyclists.