bagel007

I'm considering to buy Superflash/Blaze Light Set (Planet Bike).

Based on your experience, what's your opinion?

Thanks!

10 Wheels

https://www.pricepoint.com/detail.htm...8&hprice=19.98

https://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?id=2692

degnaw

The superflash is good, the blaze may or may not be depending on the conditions in which you're riding. If there are street lights, it will be fine, if not, I recommend a flashlight (theres plenty of discussion about those in the Electronics/Lighting/Gadgets forum).

Bikewer

We have had pretty poor luck trying to find lights that work well on the police bikes. The Nightrider jobs are sort of standard, but expensive, slow to recharge, and they don't run very long.

Battery-powered LED lights last for a long time, but often fly apart when you hit bumps or do anything violent.

I have just bought two sets of the new Blackburn "flea" LED lights to try out. These are mini (like, really small) rechargable lights with a clever system that lets you charge them from any 1.5 volt battery.
Supposedly, a "D" cell will give you 20 charges or so.

At first blush, they appear very nice. I'll let you know as they guys wring 'em out.

bagel007

Oh, one more question regarding the Superflash tail light. It says in the Product Description "Includes seatpost, seatstay, and clip mounts for multiple mounting options". Will it be possible to attach it to this seat bag (Topeak Aero Wedge Pack)???

10 Wheels

It will clip on to the tab on the back of the bag.

Nightshade

No matter what you buy remember this.........voltage equals candlepower. IMO if it ain't 12 volts
don't bother.

make1up

I've been very happy with my superflash tail light -can't comment on their headlight. I imagine any bright, flashing led headlight would be a good starter, though you might want to move to something stronger ($$) over time. I now have a nightrider minewt.x2 that turns a lot of heads and feels extremely safe. It makes drivers look like they think the cops are after them.

dynaryder

I've got the 1W Blaze,much nicer than the 1/2W in that combo. Only slightly larger,brighter,and the blinking mode is simliar to the SuperFlash's;more attention getting than a regular pulsing. I've had no probs using it for lighting on the road or pitch black trails;it's no Dinotte,but as long as you aren't full-on hammering it's plenty bright.

stapfam

Have done a lot of night riding and I will suggest that you use two rear lamps. One on solid and one on blink. Two reasons and the obvious one is to be seen. The other reason is that you will not be looking at your rear lights while riding and if the ONE you have fails- you are stuffed.

On front lamps- Rechargable are good- till you run out of battery. I use two- A twin 5 watt Luxion LED rechargable that will give me from 2 to 7 hours use and I also use a Cat eye LED that uses ordinary batteries. The cat eye is the emergency one but Go up on power as below 1 watt on a front lamp is not good.

zooplah

I got the taillights and it works well. It's very bright; people can easily see you. I thought they wouldn't be, since they're LEDs (the same thing they use for alarm clocks), but now I'm sorry that I got halogen headlights, when LEDs would probably have been just as bright as well as a lot cheaper.

zooplah

Here at least, taillights are optional, and I just got them for extra protection. In case they go out, nothing bad will likely happen to you (as long as you have your reflector). Once, my headlight (which by state law is required) went out a couple miles from home and I made it home OK.

You don't look at your taillights, but you can easily see their reflection while riding. Of course, my ride home is mostly uphill, so I'm going slow enough to be able to look down at the reflection while riding.

bagel007

How BIG is the Super Flash??? I don't have much clearance between the bag and the wheel. And the only way to clip Super Flash to the bag is to attach it where the red arrow pointing (see the picture).

Thanks!

====

dynaryder

Plenty of room. It looks like you might even have enough space/clearance to use the seatpost mount. Either on the seatpost right above the clamp,or on the seattube itself that's above the toptube. SF's also come with a smaller collar for mounting on one of the seat stays,would might be another option.

Pat

I have considerable night riding experience. I would also strongly suggest having at least 2 rear blinkies. If one fails or gets dim, you have another one. Also, I believe that 2 lights have a better chance of being noticed than one.

bagel007

Thanks for your input. I don't ride a bike after sunset (for the time being). So the main purpose of putting tail light on my bike is to be more visible during the day hours.

Oh, is the the Super Flash only visible from from behind or it's noticable from the side also?? In other words, if I'm crossing a street on foot with my bike, will the the red light emitted by Super Flash visible?

mijome07

Put it on the back of your helmet instead.

10 Wheels

PBSF won't do you much good on sunny days.
Dinotte for that. I bough a Dinotte for Day Riding.
PBSF does Not have much of a side view.

bagel007

Then, isn't it better to go with Blinky 7 (I mean this one), which is advertised to have 220 degrees of visibility???

...Or even Blinky 3 (this one)???

BarracksSi

Get the Blinky 7 for your helmet, and put the PBSF on your bike. The main LED of the Superflash is too good to have it aimed incorrectly.

This one is another option for helmet mounting -- it's on a pivot, so it's always aimed straight back, at least as long as it's not swinging wildly:
https://ecom1.planetbike.com/3010.html

And,

It'll be kinda visible... BUT, you shouldn't be crossing in such a manner that you're putting yourself at risk in the first place.

bagel007

Does Blinky 7 mount on a helmet???

Thanks!

Wanderer

Personally, having both, I think the Mars 3.0 is brighter than the Superflash, and also has nice side lighting.

Then, a couple Workforce "C" cell LED flashlights (from LOWES Hardware) for the front. Then something like a Flare 5 for daytime blinking on the front.

BarracksSi

Depends on the helmet and/or your ingenuity. If there's a dedicated strap on the shell, or if there's room on the lower strap that grips your head, or through a judicious use of zip ties, then yeah, it mounts on a helmet.

Wanderer mentions the Mars 3.0; I'll raise to the 4.0, with a brighter main LED (it's Superflash-bright), smaller size, and easier to change its batteries (no teensy screws to strip).

(sorry about the grammar of that last phrase... I got stumped!)

BarracksSi

But anyway, we can get pretty far out when we're talking about lighting, from cheap homemade kits to $500+ setups.

Going back to the opening post:

Rather than the 1/2 watt Blaze, I'd go for the 1 watt version like dynaryder mentioned. That set, with the Superflash, is really good enough for just about anyone. You'll only need more if you're trying to see downed trees in the middle of the woods or if you're trying to stand out on the Vegas strip.

https://ecom1.planetbike.com/3047.html

Kimmitt 

Hey Stepfam -- that's a very sensible idea in general, and if I don't follow it, it will be because I'm not being sensible, not because you aren't giving good advice.