USB Tail Light with Pulse (Not Blink) Mode and Wide Beam?
02-08-13, 02:25 AM
#26
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That Serfas does look like it gives nice spread.
Filtering a white LED to get red is a very inefficient way to do things, if only in battery life.
LOL at physical assault but I'm agreeing with that line of thinking more and more. These lights are definitely bright enough. While I generally use the slowest single flash or solid settings I recently found myself in some very soupy nighttime fog on the HWY and it was comforting to be able to light up the seizure sparkle setting.
I have been keeping the Hotshot mounting bracket a tiny bit loose so that it can be tilted down on the fly by hand if any cyclists come up behind. I do think it's too bright to be flashing in someones eyes in a car stopped behind me too. I often just make sure to aim the bike a bit away from anyone that's very close. I have no problem with it's brightness when I'm on the highway or bridge.
Filtering a white LED to get red is a very inefficient way to do things, if only in battery life.
LOL at physical assault but I'm agreeing with that line of thinking more and more. These lights are definitely bright enough. While I generally use the slowest single flash or solid settings I recently found myself in some very soupy nighttime fog on the HWY and it was comforting to be able to light up the seizure sparkle setting.
I have been keeping the Hotshot mounting bracket a tiny bit loose so that it can be tilted down on the fly by hand if any cyclists come up behind. I do think it's too bright to be flashing in someones eyes in a car stopped behind me too. I often just make sure to aim the bike a bit away from anyone that's very close. I have no problem with it's brightness when I'm on the highway or bridge.
02-08-13, 07:41 AM
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The thing with a red blinky is semantic - like it or not, it has come to mean "bike" to the general public. I favour the blink setting for that reason.
02-08-13, 08:35 AM
#28
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Your choice is yours, but I would much rather be seen at night (or day as I use blinkes night and day) and don't worry a whole lot about offending drivers or the public.
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Life is too short not to ride the best bike you have, as much as you can
(looking for Torpado Super light frame/fork or for Raleigh International frame fork 58cm)
02-08-13, 08:51 AM
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02-08-13, 10:17 AM
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when I am motoring along, I much prefer to see a blinky than not. I am not in the habit of driving my car very close behind a cyclist for a long time where the blinking could become a problem. Non-blinking in pack situations are not a slam dunk, I drafted another rider a lot on a 600k ride and had to be careful how far back I trailed him due to his light. My experience is that the radbot 1000 throbbing pattern is acceptable in pack situations.
02-08-13, 07:17 PM
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I'm always opposed to a constant frenetic blinking, even from the self-centered perspective of "militant biker owns this road".
I think it distracts drivers once they've seen you, lacks directionality in the dark, etc. -- can actually trigger an epileptic fit in someone with epilepsy (not that you'd care in general, but they might then hit YOU).
That said, if you are so brave/foolish as to ride on major highways, with no bike lane, with cars whizzing by at 50 miles per hour, I could see a role for some blitz flashing -- but only intermittently. Pulse brighter, blitz momentarily, pulse dimmer, repeat a little faster than 1x per second. Drivers approaching rapidly will notice you, and then also be able to continue noticing the road and other cars as they pass you.
My riding is on urban streets, MUPs, sidewalks. Ring-ring. Excuse me. Thank you. It's just totally unacceptable to be annihilating pedestrians and slow/stopped cars with rapid-fire atomic laser blasts to the head.
And yet, I would like a little motion to the light to politely get attention.
I think it distracts drivers once they've seen you, lacks directionality in the dark, etc. -- can actually trigger an epileptic fit in someone with epilepsy (not that you'd care in general, but they might then hit YOU).
That said, if you are so brave/foolish as to ride on major highways, with no bike lane, with cars whizzing by at 50 miles per hour, I could see a role for some blitz flashing -- but only intermittently. Pulse brighter, blitz momentarily, pulse dimmer, repeat a little faster than 1x per second. Drivers approaching rapidly will notice you, and then also be able to continue noticing the road and other cars as they pass you.
My riding is on urban streets, MUPs, sidewalks. Ring-ring. Excuse me. Thank you. It's just totally unacceptable to be annihilating pedestrians and slow/stopped cars with rapid-fire atomic laser blasts to the head.
And yet, I would like a little motion to the light to politely get attention.
02-08-13, 08:33 PM
#32
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Thanks for these suggestions.
The pulse of the L&M Vis Micro is still too rapid for me -- I want a "heartbeat" from medium bright to high:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAj1QAqrOEE
Also I see that they do have an optional rack-mount that the light can dock with, which I need. But it's $10... + $11 shipping. $21 and a hassle for the plastic mount that should come included.
https://www.lightandmotion.com/bike/vis180micro.html
click the "EXTRAS" link
The Cateye TL-LD570-R is very close to what I'm looking for. I definitely like that big "rear reflector" kind of design (I'll be mounting it on a rear rack), and it seems to have very wide visibility:
https://www.cateye.com/en/products/detail/TL-LD570-R/
But the pulse is still a bit too fast for me. Also it looks hideously jittery-while-pulsing here, though that might just be a video compression artifact:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycXfFdHnsDY
But the deal killer: it's not rechargeable.
The Cygolite HotShot 2W USB is the one I'm trying to find an alternative to.
It has a notoriously narrow/focused beam, and although the flash speed can be slowed down (not sure how far), I don't think it has a fading "pulse" option.
The Radbot 1000 has a mode that alternates a slow pulse with a flash cluster. Not rechargeable in any case.
Why does the universe, and its henchman the bike industry, make life a matter of tradeoffs with no actually good option?
The pulse of the L&M Vis Micro is still too rapid for me -- I want a "heartbeat" from medium bright to high:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAj1QAqrOEE
Also I see that they do have an optional rack-mount that the light can dock with, which I need. But it's $10... + $11 shipping. $21 and a hassle for the plastic mount that should come included.
https://www.lightandmotion.com/bike/vis180micro.html
click the "EXTRAS" link
The Cateye TL-LD570-R is very close to what I'm looking for. I definitely like that big "rear reflector" kind of design (I'll be mounting it on a rear rack), and it seems to have very wide visibility:
https://www.cateye.com/en/products/detail/TL-LD570-R/
But the pulse is still a bit too fast for me. Also it looks hideously jittery-while-pulsing here, though that might just be a video compression artifact:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycXfFdHnsDY
But the deal killer: it's not rechargeable.
The Cygolite HotShot 2W USB is the one I'm trying to find an alternative to.
It has a notoriously narrow/focused beam, and although the flash speed can be slowed down (not sure how far), I don't think it has a fading "pulse" option.
The Radbot 1000 has a mode that alternates a slow pulse with a flash cluster. Not rechargeable in any case.
Why does the universe, and its henchman the bike industry, make life a matter of tradeoffs with no actually good option?
The Cygolite Hotshot is relatively low priced, especially considering its output. It wouldn't be the most satisfying way to get the job done, but one way to possibly increase the effective angle of focus is to...buy two...improvise a little side by side mount, and have them slightly angled away from each other to get something closer to the angle of coverage sought after.
Maybe Cygolite has considered or is considering designing a Hotshot with double the current model's beam angle coverage. Most tail lights currently seem to be so small. Something a little bigger, even if it was twice as big, and a little heavier, but with better beam angle seems like something there'd be a market for.
I have the Hotshot. I'm not giving it a grueling workout, and for the riding I'm doing, I don't have to worry much about the character of the light it displays, other than it being bright...but it seems to doing just fine.
02-12-13, 04:45 PM
#33
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Radbots are reasonably bright, fairly spread beam and in my state are attractive because they satisfy the legal requirement for a reflector at night. LED is not regarded as sufficient.
Mainly a legal problem if you get hit and don't have a 'legal' reflector you can be construed as partly at fault despite a few hundred lumens of red light. Another factor is aim, the mount
should be fixed and aimed at an angle a few degrees up and to the L in the US to be most visible to drivers. I ride behind riders with bag mounted lights that are at a 10 degree down
angle and nearly invisible at 100 feet. Radbot mounts in the Bike Planet rear light mount and is much more secure. I bounced two Bike Planet rears off my recumbent as it is friction mechanical
clip on and the batteries+light just disappear, even with heavy rubber bands around the lite and mount. Radbot is screw fixed.
Mainly a legal problem if you get hit and don't have a 'legal' reflector you can be construed as partly at fault despite a few hundred lumens of red light. Another factor is aim, the mount
should be fixed and aimed at an angle a few degrees up and to the L in the US to be most visible to drivers. I ride behind riders with bag mounted lights that are at a 10 degree down
angle and nearly invisible at 100 feet. Radbot mounts in the Bike Planet rear light mount and is much more secure. I bounced two Bike Planet rears off my recumbent as it is friction mechanical
clip on and the batteries+light just disappear, even with heavy rubber bands around the lite and mount. Radbot is screw fixed.
02-12-13, 04:59 PM
#34
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I'm always opposed to a constant frenetic blinking, even from the self-centered perspective of "militant biker owns this road".
I think it distracts drivers once they've seen you, lacks directionality in the dark, etc. -- can actually trigger an epileptic fit in someone with epilepsy (not that you'd care in general, but they might then hit YOU).
That said, if you are so brave/foolish as to ride on major highways, with no bike lane, with cars whizzing by at 50 miles per hour, I could see a role for some blitz flashing -- but only intermittently. Pulse brighter, blitz momentarily, pulse dimmer, repeat a little faster than 1x per second. Drivers approaching rapidly will notice you, and then also be able to continue noticing the road and other cars as they pass you.
My riding is on urban streets, MUPs, sidewalks. Ring-ring. Excuse me. Thank you. It's just totally unacceptable to be annihilating pedestrians and slow/stopped cars with rapid-fire atomic laser blasts to the head.
And yet, I would like a little motion to the light to politely get attention.
I think it distracts drivers once they've seen you, lacks directionality in the dark, etc. -- can actually trigger an epileptic fit in someone with epilepsy (not that you'd care in general, but they might then hit YOU).
That said, if you are so brave/foolish as to ride on major highways, with no bike lane, with cars whizzing by at 50 miles per hour, I could see a role for some blitz flashing -- but only intermittently. Pulse brighter, blitz momentarily, pulse dimmer, repeat a little faster than 1x per second. Drivers approaching rapidly will notice you, and then also be able to continue noticing the road and other cars as they pass you.
My riding is on urban streets, MUPs, sidewalks. Ring-ring. Excuse me. Thank you. It's just totally unacceptable to be annihilating pedestrians and slow/stopped cars with rapid-fire atomic laser blasts to the head.
And yet, I would like a little motion to the light to politely get attention.
Though I agree there's such a thing as 'too much'. I accidentally left my Dinotte headlight on high on a MUP a few weeks back and an approaching rider actually had to come to a complete stop with a bit of a dazed look to him...I was confused at first but shortly thereafter I realized and turned it to low.
02-15-13, 05:00 AM
#35
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I'm actually coming around to the very first suggestion made above, the Light & Motion Vis180 Micro.
The light plus separate rack mount come in a bit above $50 on Amazon -- I was hoping for like $40... hate getting "stepped up" but it is a better product.
The pulse is the least obnoxious of any I've seen, despite being somewhat faster than I'd like (and not adjustable speed).
The spread/side visibility is excellent.
Leaving only that thing where every single option has a fatal flaw...
The light plus separate rack mount come in a bit above $50 on Amazon -- I was hoping for like $40... hate getting "stepped up" but it is a better product.
The pulse is the least obnoxious of any I've seen, despite being somewhat faster than I'd like (and not adjustable speed).
The spread/side visibility is excellent.
Leaving only that thing where every single option has a fatal flaw...
Light & Motion VIS 180 and 180 Micro do just that. The 180 Micro is $50 MSRP or about $41 from Amazon.
However the mounting system sucks. I just bought one today and did not like the rubber strap mounting instead of a bracket that lets you quickly take the light on and off. Also the USB port broke the first time I tried to plug it in. I'm taking it back for a refund tomorrow.
The quality of the light output itself if very good IMHO. It just that it has certain other issues associated with it.
However the mounting system sucks. I just bought one today and did not like the rubber strap mounting instead of a bracket that lets you quickly take the light on and off. Also the USB port broke the first time I tried to plug it in. I'm taking it back for a refund tomorrow.
The quality of the light output itself if very good IMHO. It just that it has certain other issues associated with it.
02-15-13, 08:02 PM
#36
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I'm actually coming around to the very first suggestion made above, the Light & Motion Vis180 Micro.
The light plus separate rack mount come in a bit above $50 on Amazon -- I was hoping for like $40... hate getting "stepped up" but it is a better product.
The pulse is the least obnoxious of any I've seen, despite being somewhat faster than I'd like (and not adjustable speed).
The spread/side visibility is excellent.
Leaving only that thing where every single option has a fatal flaw...
The light plus separate rack mount come in a bit above $50 on Amazon -- I was hoping for like $40... hate getting "stepped up" but it is a better product.
The pulse is the least obnoxious of any I've seen, despite being somewhat faster than I'd like (and not adjustable speed).
The spread/side visibility is excellent.
Leaving only that thing where every single option has a fatal flaw...
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