Bike Forums - Really serious taillights

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Quote:

Originally Posted by fietsbob (Post 19278491)

A headlight with a red lens?

Even Bell just uses a red one in place of the slear one and just changes the battery tray and power buttons to red on their Radian 3-LED set that is well under 20 bucks.

however...

If you just go to the auto parts store and get the big square/rectangular utility taillight for autos/trailers and adapt it... you have a big honking taillight.

Added benefits - they sometimes have side panels, so you have added visibility from the side.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fietsbob (Post 19278491)

A headlight with a red lens?

Very very wasteful of power. Put out a bunch of power then turn 90% of it into heat.

Get a red light to start with.

Yea Any how I have 3 Dynohub LED light bikes , all use German hubs and Lights

After 30 years My Battery Vista Light failed ,
one of the spring contacts for the (-) side of the battery broke,

Lots of taillights go on bare Seat posts, I needed a Bolt on..
(I Used a Vistalight with a stud on the back )

so 'Planet Bike's' Rack Mount adapter , did what I Needed , and their battery Light's
clothing/strap clip slides onto that adapter ..

It's My Cold weather bike, so battery head and tail light go in my pockets,
until I need the light ..

...

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItsJustMe (Post 17476557)

What I want is so much light that it attracts the attention of someone who is only barely glancing at the road in front of them.

Yet drivers still fail to see emergency vehicles, school buses, and even miles long construction zones. If you have a good setup now, adding to it may be nothing more than a placebo effect for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kickstart (Post 19321148)

Yet drivers still fail to see emergency vehicles, school buses, and even miles long construction zones. If you have a good setup now, adding to it may be nothing more than a placebo effect for you.

If the cost is acceptable, then it's a benign change.

Quote:

Originally Posted by noglider (Post 19321235)

If the cost is acceptable, then it's a benign change.

But it's also another thing to maintain, so if one already has a good setup like he has, it could be a waste of effort for a basically false sense security.

Quote:

Originally Posted by canklecat (Post 19233489)

I got the Cygolite Hotshot 50 hoping it would be bright enough for daytime use, but it's just adequate in daylight and then only within the narrow aperture of maximum brightness directly behind the typical Cygolite Hotshot narrowly collimated beam.

Overall it's no better than my $15 Planet Bike Rack Blinky 5, just different. The Planet Bike rack lights combine LEDs and reflectors, so it has decent visibility across a wide angle of view. The PB has a somewhat narrow aperture of maximum brightness but that primarily affects the viewer's elevation, not lateral position. The Cygolite has a narrow aperture of maximum brightness that's much more position sensitive.

I suppose I'll keep the Cygolite since I needed to replace the balky old lights that came with my '92 Univega. It's still an improvement over those much older LEDs. And it is very bright at night, with a good selection of flashing and steady modes to suit personal tastes and local etiquette. But I won't rely on it as a daylight visible rear light.

A bit disappointing, because in the REI store the Cygolite Hotshot 50 (the most powerful Cygolite they had in stock) appeared subjectively as bright as the Niterider Sentinel 150. But both have pretty much the same characteristics: maximum brightness confined to a very narrow aperture directly behind; rapid falloff in apparent brightness from the sides; some ability to decrease brightness and flash characteristics to suit nighttime group rides to avoid distracting other nearby cyclists.

And I've added more hi-viz yellow and green cycling clothes -- jerseys, windbreaker, etc. And I plan to add some reflective tape, stickers or iron-ons. Not fashionable but should help visibility.

I've loaned both my Shimano Storm Jacket and Pearl Izumi windbreaker to other cyclists in group rides who didn't dress warmly enough, and can say those little reflective touches really do pop at night. So adding a few more won't hurt.

I've got both of those lights and in my opinion the hotshot is brighter, maybe even significantly brighter. But it's hard to be definitive.

If you want a taillight thats redonkulous here you go:

https://www.ituolights.com/collectio...bolt-taillight

lumens dont sound like much but this thing is BIG, bright as hell and uses an 18650 so its got a long run time eve in steady mode. I love it because since i started using it I have yet to get anything but a wide berth from cars when I have to get on the road itself (try to use paths/lanes as much as i can)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigris99 (Post 19374996)

This company's stuff is impressive, better than most I've seen in a while.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigris99 (Post 19374996)

Looks good, thanks for the link. And the maker talks about the very thing I dislike about most bright taillights -- that laser like pinpoint of light, with little side visibility.

Quote:

Originally Posted by canklecat (Post 19377048)

Looks good, thanks for the link. And the maker talks about the very thing I dislike about most bright taillights -- that laser like pinpoint of light, with little side visibility.

Actual cyclists helped design it.

I have one, it's crazy bright. Simple Velcro mounting may not be ideal for some but so far it has done much better than my hotshot for being seen.

No rack mount can be a hassle, I'm able to mount mine just using the velcro and so far so good.

I haven't really looked at how visible it is during the day at a distance but plenty of comments when I walk away from my bike of "hey that crazy taillight of yours is still on". At night it's pretty nuts.

I'll really put it to the ultimate test over the next several months leading up to then actually riding in RAGBRAI. Be using my wiz20 for my bar light probably as well since I can carry spare 18650 cells for everything and done.

With the advent of COB LEDs becoming very cheap lately, I expect to see a lot of wide dispersal taillights for very cheap. The Blitzu Cyborg is one such, I have one and really like it. Speaking as someone who's been through a lot of taillights including DesignShine and Dinotte, using a <$20 taillight as my primary rear light is a testimonial I think.

I don't know about durability - I've been using it for a couple of months and haven't had it in extremes like heavy downpours and such.