I have the Toplight line Plus and the Line Plus brake. Piss ass weak **** light that's relegated to bikes that don't get ridden often. Great for Western Yur-rup, but really crappy for North America.

All this sounds very much like the dilemma I would face if I decided to commute to work by bike. In my case I would have to ride the last 2.5 miles on an old 4-lane trucking route which has almost no shoulders. Making matters worse the typical speed for any vehicle is about 45-50mph ( even though the speed limit is 40mph ). It is also very hilly. Not the kind of thing you would want to deal with on a warm summer day as you approach the end of a ride.

Since you mentioned needing this for daytime as well I'm going to address the daytime issue mostly. Seeker333 has it right. The brightest ( yellow or orange ) jersey you can find will help the most. I'm really not sure there is a rear bike lamp that is going to make that much of a difference during the day but that depends on the road, speed limit and the typical lines of sight.

The brightest lamps I've seen during the day are on either Police or tow trucks. The thing is, the basic reason those are so visible is because they use many lamps and most of those are mounted high enough to be viewed over most of the vehicles on the road. You can mount a light to your helmet but since your head moves the light will not be centered to the rear at all times. Regardless, it would still be worth a try. Heck, for that matter I'd consider using one of my Gloworm X2's ( pointed to the rear ) and using the beacon mode. Yeah, it's going to be 1500 lumen of flashing white light but on a dangerous road in the daytime...WITH NO SHOULDER AND VEHICLES ZOOMING BY AT 50+mPH....I would consider it. Now if you don't like the idea of a bright white rear light than maybe one of the DiNotte daytime Amber lights ( pointed backward ) or the Daytime Red. Even so, most white flashing lamps are going to be brighter. ( *Please note; the suggestion for a rear pointed white flashing lamp I would only consider in the daytime and only on the most dangerous of roads )

Now I know most people will balk at the idea of a VERY BRIGHT rear pointed white flashing lamp. I understand that but I've seen people do it and well...it works because it's hard to miss. Since you didn't give a lot of detail on the typical speed, line-of-sight and incline of your road in question I don't know if running a 1500 lumen flashing white lamp to the rear would be called for. Personally if I felt that unsafe on a particular road I simply would do what znomit suggested, "I'd not ride it".

No matter what you do to increase your day time visibility when you ride home at night you should be safer than during the day. I say that because if you truly are going to run any of the super bright ( RED ) LED rear lamps AT NIGHT...THEY WILL BE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO SEE.

Actually red lights are more visible in the day light while blue lights are more visible in the night. That is why police cars have both red and blue lights on them. Blue lights are illegal in my state of Florida for anyone except an emergency vehicle. There are some roads that common sense needs to take over and just avoid biking on them. Having said that I have a Designshine 500 tail light on both my bike and my wife's bike along with two Cygolite Hot Shot lights on each bike on the left and right seat stay to try and make a triangle of light. The Designshine 500 tail light pretty much over powers the two Cygolite Hot Shot lights but I already had the Hot Shot lights so I used them on the seat stays. If being seen is your goal then get a Designshine 500 tail light as you will be seen or at least that excuse will taken away from the drivers. I had my wife ride ahead of me and she turned at the end of our block and kept going I could see her bike with the Designshine 500 tail at a good 45 to 50 degree angle through the houses and empty lots between me and her as she rode away and the Designshine 500 was very bright even at that angle.

The phone issue could be fixed over night if our law makers wanted to, all they would have to do is have the phone makers alter the software so that as soon as the phone detects it is moving at more than 5 mph it disables the internet feature and the texting feature. They could leave the phone call ability on or they could even alter that so that only 911 could be dialed and used when moving over 5 mph. That would end all the distracted driving concerning people texting and surfacing the internet and face booking while driving. I am all for that and even limiting ability to use the phone function as well as I see far to many people who as soon as they get in their car they are on the phone talking to someone and as soon as they finish with one person they dial up someone else. How many more people have to die before this problem is dealt with? The answer to that is when some very rich person's loved one is killed or some politicians loved one is killed and then you will see something done. Until then your and my life does not mean anything to our politicians.

I see truck drivers on the phone all the time and it is against federal law for them to drive and use their phone yet they do it all the time.

Fact: smart phones have only been around and starting to get popular since 2007. For over a century we made it just fine without the ability to text, make phone calls and surf the internet while driving, then came the smart phone and all of the sudden we are supposed to believe that we can't make it without having the ability to text, talk on the phone and surf the internet while we drive all over the past 7 years. To that I say bull hockey. It has been proven that texting, talking on the phone and surfing the internet while operating a vehicle is a deadly combination, it is past time to do something about it. Driving is a privilege not a right.

The above comes from someone who wants as little government involvement as possible in our life's but this is one area that needs to be addressed and a simple law saying it is illegal to text or surf the internet just does not work because most people don't even know basic traffic laws in the first place and those that do just break the law anyway. The only solution is to implement the software patch I pointed out above that turns off those features off as soon as speed reaches 5 mph and above. This update could also be sent out as a forced update that the end user could not decline so all phones would be updated. If a user tries to decline the update their phone simply will just keep cycling back to the update rendering their phone unusable until they accept it and it loads onto their phone.

The problem of texting and surfing the internet would be over and they could also end the phone glued to some peoples ear who are also driving distracted due to that phone call every minute they are driving via the same update.

I think you're on to something there... run something like a Magicshine or greater (>600 lumens) on flash mode pointed rearwards during day in high danger areas. I don't think this would probably blind anyone whose eyes are already adjusted to the light of a sunny day and >100 feet away. Maybe a cop would pull you over and tell you to stop.

As far as using a DDR or DS500 at night, these taillights are so bright that you have to turn them way down or you ARE going to blind someone. As I mentioned before, the DDR can't be turned down at all on flash mode, but the DS500 can.

For those who haven't seen this thread in A&S, here's some Real Serious Taillights spotted by Redflea:

http://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-s...l#post17577077

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=435986

As a professional driver, I spend a lot of time on the road, and have observed that no light short of a full emergency vehicle strobe shows up as well in full daylight as a high-viz vest.
Once one can come to terms with the fact that nothing is going to ensure ones safety in all situations and conditions, it seems wisest to cover the most bases without focusing on one solution such as bright lights.
Exercise discretion, be honest about our mental and physical limitations, and take reasonable measures without an expectation of desired results.

I wear a high-viz vest or jacket, and use a mirror. My bikes fender has an British regulation white tip with a large OE solid red lamp/reflector, a larger than average rack mounted Cateye TL-560 flasher with the daylight sensor disabled, and some additional reflective material. From the side my tires have reflective bands, plus both tail lights and the headlight have enhanced side projection. Up front I have a small flasher light, and a B&M headlight with daytime running lights.
Dyno solid lights front and rear, flashing battery lights front and rear, and high-viz, to cover the widest spectrum of conditions with redundancy for reliability and security.

I could have more, or brighter lights, wear more high-viz, and I could work on my skills, but I already do more than many of the cyclists I see, and figure if that's not good enough for prevailing conditions I shouldn't be riding there in the first place.

Absolutely, hi-vis is the first thing to do. I never said to get a bright light and not do anything else. Just because I want a big light, please don't assume that means that I think it will automatically replace all other safety measures, as this is a silly assumption.

I wear a hi-vis vest, I have a lot of reflective tape on my bike, I have reflectors in my wheels, on my bags, on my ankles. I'm also running a DesignShine DS500 on the back and an Axiom Pulse 60 on my helmet, and a 400+ lumen light up front. I'm thinking about going with side lights too (lesser taillights pointing to the sides), and before I go to the really dangerous commute in early 2016, I intend to have a high pole with active lighting on that as well (it's likely to be too high for reflectors to be effective).

I ride in the daytime only, mostly on rural/suburban roads. I use a Dinotte 300R rear and depending on conditions the Dinotte Amber Daytime Headlight. The roads in my area are popular with cyclists and while driving I make a point to observe their visibility. My experience is that someone wearing a High Viz kit or vest can disappear in daytime shadows from roadside trees. And, those few riders who use daytime tail lights are most often using ones that are under-powered: at 50 yards they are barely visible and not attention getting.

Last summer on a bright day in a section of road with no shadows I was riding up a hill and could see a pickup in my mirror starting to slow as the vehicle approached me. He barely moved into the opposite lane and my radar turned on. As he pulled alongside, he rolled sown his window and commented that he could see my tail light from 1/4 mile back and more cyclists riding this popular road should use a bright tail light.

For riding conditions in my area, I put my safety on a bright attention-getting tail light and I am going to change to the Design Shine now that they are more readily available.

The first comment in my post was the idea I was trying to convey, and wasn't meant as an accusation or directed at you, but an observation of what I've seen.

In full daylight even the brightest bicycle tail lights just aren't that effective, and if one goes full bore with alternatives in an attempt to do so, it could create issues at night if they can't be turned down. In full daylight I have observed that a high-viz flag shows up the best and a lot further back than lights, I see a motorcyclist now and then that has a lime bandanna on their backpack, and can still see it clearly off in the distance when their tail light is no longer visible.
A small banner would work great on a pole where it would flap and flutter

[MENTION=365305]kickstart[/MENTION], I really appreciate your perspectives and the way you express them.

Thanks. :)

That is very good. Using 2 at the same time also makes a huge difference.

Does anyone make a red lens for the Magicshine? They make the wide angle lens, and having a red lens should give you more illumination than most of the blinkies out there. Adding more of these on the rear would be easier to do now with the cheap clones, and would give you the option of using one on the front for the way home if you needed more light there.

Thanks, I was surprised that no one had done this yet. Guess I should have looked before I posted, especially since I use one of their clear lenses in my Magicshine.

+ there is red transparent tape , for fixing broken auto taillight lenses , to point a superlux Headlight backwards and filter out all but the red & shorter wavelength.

I have a Red one.

That would be waaaay too much I think lol
That single led light, depending if it's an original one, or clone - is around 900-1200 lumens. I think it would be just crossing the line of annoying enough to be visible.
I have a clone of this light for several years now...very good light btw. It will blind you from half a mile away lol

I tried it years ago, and it doesn't work so great.

First, the red lens reduces the ~600 lumens of a GOOD Magicshine clone to perhaps ~300, and it produces a less-than-spectacular brownish-orange light (IIRC) - definitely not the red you'd hope for if you ordered the lens from ActionLED. It's brighter than most 20-50$ taillights, but not as lightweight or compact with the separate battery pack, and the light is not red - actually closer to amber you might use for a front light.

It would be brighter than most "blinkies", perhaps too bright for night use, as you can't adjust the flash intensity on MS and clones AFAIK. It would be better for daytime use, but not as effective as the far-more expensive DDR/DS500 taillights. I suppose you could use multiple red-lensed MSs mounted on a 2' wide horizontal (an old MTB hbar?) attached to end of rear rack. At this point you might want to consider utilizing automotive LED lights driven by a 12-15v SOURCE - much like the bike pictured in link in #64 .

Putting a red filter on a white light is easy but it's really not that good of an idea. You're throwing away 80% of the light that is being generated (and 80% of your battery life) and turning it into heat that will only damage things.

The best way to go is to buy a proper red LED light or replace the driver in the light with a red one. Heck, the MagicShine taillight is only $30, why not just buy that? It's a very good taillight, I had one at the same time as my 4xAA cell Dinotte 140R and as far as I could tell, they were essentially the same brightness.

They say it often enough over at candle power forums:

It takes 4 times as many lumens to appear twice as bright

Yes, but lumens are essentially photons on the target or lumens per square area. So you can take a bright light and concentrate it down an axis and increase the lumens per square area with a lens and get even more out of that 4 times as bright light. That's what the Cygolite Hotshots do as well as the Dinotte 300R that make them so intense.

J.

I didn't read through the whole thread (sorry) but I have been looking at the Orfos tail light. Has anyone had any experience with this light. Looks Awesome.

Home

I build my own :thumb:




Using TaskLED driver pushing two Cree XP-E2's at 1000ma's mated to Regina Ledil reflectors running off of 2x 18650's pack :p


http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=479267


https://vimeo.com/92988300


****

That doesn't make any sense. Lumens can't be measured by lumens per square area.

Lumens is the total amount of light put out by the light. To measure it they use a special integrating sphere to collect all the light.

Lux is lumens per a certain area, to measure it they point a lux meter at the middle and record the intensity.

Typo?

First thing I'd do is contact every local news media outlet and relevant government agency. This is a community safety issue, not something that can be resolved with lights on a bike.

Put together a summary of the facts of the accidents for quick reference. News media and government agencies receive many complaints daily. Too many are from cranks, curmudgeons and kooks. To make your complaint stand out you need to be direct, brief, factual, positive, and emphasize the dangers to the community as well as the benefits of devoting resources to improving conditions.

If possible, shoot some HD video to document conditions. If the video shows distracted drivers - texting, whatever - you can often pull decent still frames from HD video. Be prepared to edit the video to keep it as brief as possible.

If this doesn't get results, escalate to public meetings that allow public commentary. They'll usually give you only one to three minutes, so prepare and rehearse your comments carefully.

Also, check around for safety advocates and any organization that might lend some support and credibility to your complaint.

It takes time and persistence to get results. A local university didn't provide safe access across its divided campus until two students in wheelchairs were killed trying to cross a busy street to get to class. And this was a university that actively recruited disabled students. The university and city procrastinated for more than 20 years and eventually spent millions more than they would have if they'd tackled the problem sooner, and might have saved two lives.

I've been pestering our apartment complex and city officials to persuade the apartment to provide safer egress for our elderly and disabled residents. It's a frustrating process because ADA doesn't apply and this older building is not required to comply with more recent codes. Yet the apartment specifically targets a demographic of elderly folks, so they have a logical and ethical obligation to provide safer egress. But without the force of law to back up our requests all we have is the power of persuasion and public embarrassment by getting the media involved.

Correct. In my first sentence if you change the first Lumens to Lux, it's correct. Typo on my part.

J.

ItsJustMe, Greetings. Which battery pack did you get, and do you have any pics of it mounted, if not, how did you mount it?

I just used a 4 cell that I had, one of GeoManGear's excellent packs. I'm probably going to switch to an 8 cell though. This thing draws a lot of power and I'm sick of having to charge more than once a week.

Mounting, hm, this has about the best photo. I'm not super happy with the mounting, I'm going to try to think up something better. This doesn't stay aimed, it tends to drift down.

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/ga...unt-parametric

Is the battery pack pictured?

What's that garmin piece on the right? Looks like it says garmin.

I've wondered..., does the light settings reset when / if the battery goes dead? Or when you disconnect to recharge.

The Garmin is a Virb camera. I've since returned it. I didn't think it was a very good camera. The light seems to stay on settings when the battery goes dead.

Honestly at this point I think I'd go with the Dinotte Quad Red. Anyone interested in the DS500, PM me, I'll make a deal. Turns out I'm not fond of taillights with separate battery packs.