UniverseMan

I like to ride at night in groups, where I can't blind the person behind me. And also on my college campus, where the well-lit roads and 20mph speed limit do not necessitate making a spectacle. My cheapo light just broke, and I want a brighter one, but I need to be able to point it down. I try looking at the pictures of all the well-reviewed lights and it's just very hard to tell whether I'll be able to point them down. Any suggestions? Thanks.

10 Wheels

Get this one. It has an adjustable Brightness mode.
It also has a mode for changing the Speed of the 4 flashing settings.

https://www.amazon.com/Cygolite-Hotsh.../dp/B005DVA57Y

1nterceptor

My Planetbike Superflash has an adjustable setting.
Here I have it at 0 degrees, I can probably go as far as
45 degrees of downward tilt. But this will depend on
how it's mounted.


WESTSIDE PATH NYC by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

prathmann

Another consideration is the location where you mount the light. I put the rear light on my road bike down by the rear dropout so it's down low. Since these lights are very directional, this position means that a cyclist close behind me doesn't get anywhere near the full brightness. But a motorist farther back will be in the brightest part of the beam. This does have the disadvantage of possibly hiding the light if there's a sharp dip in the road. But those are rare on the roads we use for group rides (my touring bike has the rear lights mounted higher).

no1mad 

Mount a Bike Britez to your frame and call it done. https://bikebrightz.com/

ItsJustMe

I've never owned a light that I couldn't point down. Even $3 DealExtreme junk lights have an angle adjustment.

If you want a real quality light, keep in mind that the Cygolite Hotshot is not only a ridiculously powerful, excellent taillight, but the brightness is very adjustable, down to quite dim, and would also be great for your purpose as well as cranking it up for solo riding.

Richard Cranium

The best option is probably the use of two tail lights. In theory - you need them for the safety of "redundancy" anyway.

Group bicycle riding presents additional obstacles to managing bicycle lighting systems. Lights that are the safest for any single rider usually cause difficulty to other cyclists in a group.