Russ Roth

All of this. I remember my parents never having a functioning flashlight in their house and they probably still don't. I bought a couple of ryobi 20.00 flashlights that I keep 4Ah 18v lithium batteries in and since I use the tools I have more charged batteries in the shop. Every time I use it I press the battery to see the charge level. One led light can do a decent job of completely illuminating my basement or back yard for most of a day. Its as big as the flashlight that took the giant square batteries but weighs half as much, lasts many times longer and doesn't go dead just sitting on the shelf. Modern tech is really great.

I'd agree on the taillights but they weren't as bright. On the headlights they just weren't close to as good and replacing AA was environmentally awful and expensive. Even my 12 year old light still gets occasional use and still runs for an hour at 800 lumen, or 2 hours at 600. My lights from before it all just died off.

Kabuki12

I just got a set of USB lights at my LBS . I don’t ride at night so it is strictly for visibility and added safety. I have a flashing helmet with turn signals (Lumos) and that lasts for two , two hour rides in case I forget to recharge it. The pair of lights I just bought are Lezne and they were $45 and work well and very bright. They have 3 or 4 modes of operation.

Troul 

finding a small red usb light that lasts for at least 6+ hours that doesn't use a flimsy mount is a hard search.

Reflector Guy

We always had the same problem; it turns out some years ago my mom wanted to do the correct environmental thing so she replaced every battery she could get ahold of, with rechargeables. That worked fine for some applications, but for things used only sporadically, like flashlights or the smoke detector, they were always dead from sitting around unused. Frustrating when the power would go out during a big storm and there is a drawer of dead flashlights, each loaded with expensive rechargeable batteries.

devianb

I really like the small form factors and not having to take batteries out to charge them. I don't intentionally ride at night so I use be seen lights and most of them are reasonably bright for couple hours. I get cheap ones off ebay for like $10. Some were great, some not so great. If I don't like them or lose one its not a big deal. I still keep the battery ones as back up.

bruce19

I got a Lezyne blinkie light from a friend who was once a rep. It was new and a freebie. I really liked it's function but it had to be fully recharged after a 30 mi. ride. After about 2 yrs it died. I ended up getting a Blackburn light that is pretty small yet bright and with much better duration. Both rechargeable btw.

John Valuk

A lot of these have been designed with less battery capacity than I would prefer. I would be willing to go a little bit bigger/heavier/more expensive, but I don't necessarily want to get into lights that use separate battery packs.

I'm totally with you on the wish for sturdier mounts, too.

Troul 

I'd absolutely consider an QI charging front & rear light that is easy to click in/out of a mount that will not crack-bust-distort-findbetterinterestdownasewer


it's planned lostolescence i swear.

John Valuk

The mounting system for my Fenix headlight has been satisfactory, but I've only had it for a few months, and I haven't really given it a beating. The batteries (easily) come out of the light for charging, so I'm only removing the light from the mount to move it between bikes. To their credit, even though they don't show them on their web site, it was not a problem to buy additional mounts from Fenix.

My grumbling about mounts has more to do with my Magicshine taillight. I like the way that the light works, but I would appreciate having more mounting options (e.g., an adjustable mount that would work well on a seatstay).

UCantTouchThis

The other night, we did a group ride. There was a gal with a light that died after the first 10 miles. She was a little upset that it was new, fully charged and died so soon. It was a Lezyne.

I also bought a pretty cool looking little frame pump. Looks nice but for $60, compact pump does not do what is claims. Enough air to get you to a real pump but it is also Lezyne.

I tend to avoid that brand now, overpriced and doesn't work as expected. From what I have seen.

UCantTouchThis

I use these. Included, 2 plastic brackets. One seat post the other chain stay. Claims 2-210 hours depending on mode.

I have had other riders complain that it is too bright.

I myself don't care for rubber strap mounts. I just bought a cheapo on ebay to test on the rear helmet but I plan to tie a piece of fishing wire as a tether. Flimsy rubber straps scare me.

Clyde1820

Can't speak to the CygoLite HotShot 150's, but I can say that the HyperShot 350's are bright. Can see them many hundreds of yards distant, even among a mess of other cars and lights crowding the view. All the better for not getting run over from behind.

It's got plenty of modes, with a variety of flashing patterns. Have set them to one pattern on the first HyperShot, and a different pattern on the second. Makes for a light display from behind that's hard to miss. (I'll have to see if I can get a few still photos from various distances, out to ~1000yds+.)

Clyde1820

Right. My observations as well.

What I'm speaking of is one two-light CygoLite HyperShot 350 taillight mounted high, set to pulse+steady, in which the pulse is exceedingly bright and the dominant visual feature. And then a second two-light CygoLite HyperShot 350 taillight mounted lower down, set to a pulse of a different pattern than light #1. (So, out of the four lenses on those two taillights, three are pulsing and one is steady, so far as I can tell.)

Haven't taken it out beyond 500yds yet, but it's darned difficult to miss the pulsing, and all but impossible to miss the fact there's the tail end of another vehicle right there. Very attention-getting.

Might not be everyone's experience, but I really think that the pulse, on these, is highly visible in this "blended" combination. Seems to work really well.

UCantTouchThis

Wow! I had a couple of 50's I think they are but went with the 150 as I dropped one off my bag on a group ride on the highway ( I have a thread about securing lights on bags, somewhere here). People have told me the old ones (50's) were bright. So now I have one 50 and one 150. They still complain about both ha ha. I can't imagine having your set up in a group.

I do mount one on the seat post and one on the rear of my helmet. Also wear tri color ankle reflector bands. I think and have been told on the group rides that I'm lit up pretty good. I do ride alone at night as well so it's good to be seen.

Clyde1820

Nor can I. If I did they'd probably take me out to "the woodshed" for good old-fashioned flogging. Wouldn't even try.

Uncertain if the others in the HyperShot or HotShot line-up allow adjustment of intensity for any given mode. But this HyperShot 350 does. It's easy to lower the intensity of a given setting. Steady on the "high" intensity is dang bright. At lowest intensity it's tolerable, but far less visible at great distance. Nice little units. About the only thing I've found so far that could be improved is the IP64 splash repellency. It'd be nice to have IP67/68 like the headlight does. Perhaps they'll add it to the next gen.

UCantTouchThis

Nice! My models don't allow intensity. Just different modes. About 6 I believe. Some very annoying so I don't use those on group rides.

Hericann

Wow those USB bike lights are awesome! Kudos to the one who invented it. Love it!

UCantTouchThis

So I have never used a rubber strap mounted light. All my rear light secured by plastic mounts provided by Cygolite.

But I did buy a $10 rear USB light on ebay with a rubber strap just to experiment with the rubber strap mounts. This light is pretty cool but the strap is pretty flimsy. I figured I'd try it and see how long it lasts but not wanting to lose it, I figured I'd use a wrist strap as a tether. Couple bucks on ebay and I needed some back ups for my go pro recorders, and a couple extras.

So I used the lasso style on the thin section hooking onto the rubber strap where it is less likely to break as the light is secured by the second hole of the band. Than a lasso onto a vent of the helmet. Then secure light with the rubber strap onto the helmet.

Heck, I'd bet it's not noticeable at night and the weight my slow my average speed by .2 but it won't fall off!