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Ok, so we talk about rear lights every few weeks, and I'm sorry for bringing them up again but...... here we go.
The weather has be cr@p this last week, wet, misty ,murky, horrible. Also my Smart R2 has packed in (well not quite true, it won't actually turn off) but I'm in need of a new one or two. So........whats the absolute best/brightest/what the hell is that? rear light you would recommend. Santa is coming so my budget is larger than normal!
Get the hope district that someone on here is selling for 80 quid. You will not get anything better.
Do you need a rechargeable or one that can run on AA's AAA's?
Now we're talking. I like the look of that.
One of these maybe [url= https://www.niteflux.com/buy/red-zone-8/ ]Niteflux Redzone 8[/url]
Not bothered about batts or recharge. Got lots of both...sort of.
yeah !
get one so bright that drivers can't actually look at you or judge where you are even if they do
lumens, strobes - wooohoooo !
I love this forum! So quick on the responses.
Four4th scorpion.
I have been stopped by drivers asking me what it is because they want one for their own bikes!
Three types of flashing, two brightness levels, rechargeable and has a really clever under saddle mount.
it was about £80 but worth every penny, and it is made locally to me, Farnborough!
i have no connection to four4th etc, i just think they make bloody good lights!
I got a Toppeak Redlite Mega as I wanted one to run off AAA's as I do multi-day rides. Not really a money no object option but plenty bright enough. Noticed that cars give me a wider berth than with my old one.
Do any of these fantastic lights have a setting that makes them suitable for cycling in a group or does the poor cyclist behind just have to suffer?
Exposure Redeye here. Ridiculously bright, but needs something up front to plug it into.
Brightness-wise, can't see the point of having anything brighter than the See.Sense. If it had better mounting options, it would be perfect!
[quote=Orange Crush said]Do any of these fantastic lights have a setting that makes them suitable for cycling in a group or does the poor cyclist behind just have to suffer?
The Four4th scorpion mentioned above does.
http://four4th.co.uk/products/lights/scorpion/
Three modes (TT: LONE RIDING:GROUP RIDING )
Cateye fusion x
Niteflux again. Bright but not focussed. I have the Redzone 4 which is plenty bright even in daylight.
Reflectives and a hi viz vest aslo help you being seen 360 degrees.
Definite vote for a Hope district, for one the name's great for a red light!
For another, was on the main road in thick fog this morning with mine and actually felt safe with the 110 lumens burning someone's retina's! It cost £94 from CRC with a voucher, Ribble also have them at a decent price.
Lupine Rotlicht - £79.99
160 Lumens
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Four4th Scorpion gets my vote too. Hides away under the saddle, lots of modes, bright enough to use in day time and the battery lasts for ages.
I will probably get flamed for this but here goes anyway . The lights mentioned are too bright and will dazzle and antagonise car drivers thereby making you less safe not more so.
I entirely agree, I really don't see the point. Like cars driving on the motorway last night with not much in the way of fog, but dazzling following drivers with their fog lights.
DiNotte 300r here. Well made, very bright, good run time and rechargeable.
Agree you don't need or want something too bright on the back. It will dazzle fellow riders. The DiNotte can be turned down when travelling in company, but made brighter when you are riding solo in pitch black.
I entirely agree, I really don't see the point. Like cars driving on the motorway last night with not much in the way of fog, but dazzling following drivers with their fog lights.
im cyclist - i have naff all chance if a car hits me from behind,
im also a car driver, if i see a bright red light, i don't drive into it!!
when I'm in the car, and i see someone without a rear light, or a very dim one, I'm in the car shouting get a ****ing light,
when I'm on the bike, with my bright as **** rear light, I'm shouting when people get too close, because they clearly are not paying attention,
Sounds like you're at far more risk from your own blood pressure mate.
If a bike light won't switch off its more often than not because moisture has gotten past the seal. Simply pop the front off and leave somewhere warm until thoroughly dried out then try it again.
Dim lights are pretty much a thing of the past these days now that we use LEDs instead of bulbs but if the batteries need changing often they can appear bright enough as you set off only to dim a short time later.
My advice would be to use more than one rear light.
The little rubber enclosed band on LEDs are as cheap as 2quid each with batteries and personally I'd rather have 2 or 3 of these fitted than one fancy pants 90quid rear light. This way you can make sure you have lights that can be seen from different positions and also that the least one is a constant light nd easier to judge distance to.
I agree with the theory that lights can be too bright and dazzling to other road users.
Do any of these fantastic lights have a setting that makes them suitable for cycling in a group or does the poor cyclist behind just have to suffer?
The lights mentioned are too bright and will dazzle and antagonise car drivers thereby making you less safe not more so.
For these reasons I got a German-legal rear light for the bike I do most night-miles on - [url= http://www.sigmasport.com/en/produkte/beleuchtung/rueckleuchten/mono_rl/?punkt=features ]Sigma Mono[/url]
Really good light. USB charge from laptop or dynamo. On/off, no flash, good side/angle visibility and a lumiring-type refracted rather than a point-source LED. If you want a good rear light for out-of-town use get a German-legal one.
I think we should use whatever makes us feel safer, but the power-up and strobe-it method has limited use and even as a cyclist some of them annoy the sh out of me as they head towards you blasting away.
My experience on dark roads (city use is different) with riders using 1-watt+ point source rear LEDs is that it's harder to judge distance. They can dazzle as well and that's genuinely dangerous. I feel a lot safer and get a lot more room from cars when riding at night, partly better visibility of me, partly less traffic on the roads. I do 100 milers in the dark a number of times a year and have tried a few different lighting set ups. The right lights and reflective details make you easy to spot as well as easy to judge distance to.
There is a guy I sometimes see on my commute. He has Exposure RedEye and I must say - that light is awesome. In early morning day light it is very visible from loooong distance.
I use Lezyne Zecto, which I think is good, but that RedEye is just AWESOME.
I don't think there's many lights that are better than 2 decent lights tbh. I've got a totally unlit b-road commute so I've got a cateye grenade thing, 2 smart R2s and 2 of those chili ones- which aren't very bright at all, but big. I can be seen from space.
Some of the very bright ones miss the point IMO, they can be glaring... (though, nobody can fail to know you're there if you're blinding them, it's not ideal) But I've seen some (don't know the brand) that do a great job of lighting up your surroundings without being blinding to people behind- all about surface area, if you can throw a red light onto the road, the kerbs, the hedge etc then you're easier to see
I don't think there's many lights that are better than 2 decent lights tbh
Completely agree - 2 decent lights also have the massive advantages that if one fails you have a second and if for some reason one gets obscured, you're still visible. For the price of some of the lights above you could have 5 decent lights, or 4 really really good ones, and be lit up like a christmas tree.
I use the Exposure TraceR. Usb rechargeable and can be seen from miles away.
Not money no object, but IMO the best combination.
Magicshine MJ-818 rear light, works off the same 8.4V batteries as most front lights. Can't be angled, but it bright enough to be visible from behind and iluminates the rear wheel and the road behind the bike so it's really visible, especialy in rain or fog, you could always sugru a wedge to angle it horisontaly if you wanted to blind drivers!
Combine that with a £2.99 silicone LED light from decathlon or any bike shop, mine fits perfectly in the rearmost vent on my helmet pointing back. I think it makes a huge difference to how visible cyclits are in traffic, and makes it obvious when they're looking to turn as even in the pitch dark you can see their head moving. That and it humanises you rather than looking at a bike the drivers looking at the person on it, certainly feels like I get more space when overtaken and less road rage aimed at me.
I'm not a fan of lights on backpacks, they never seem to be pointing the right way, always covered in crud etc.
"Money no object" best rear light? Surely that would be the one on the fancy VW T5 that your driver picks you up in for each and every boring road section?
The Chili lights northwind mentions have great all round vis but needs to be dark for them to be really effective... Think they are still bogof on their website.
I have a smart light on blink and a Chili light on my helmet, another Chili on the bike, a really bright Blackburn Mars light on my seat post. Was also thinking about some bar plug lights.
I'm pretty happy with my Exposure Flare for commuting, but I'm looking for something that's a LOT punchier for proper road riding, when I seem to keep getting caught in thick fog on the moors (or if there's an inversion, as per last week when dropping down into Hathersage and visibility was about 10m. Even yesterday - beautiful day at home, but the top of the Snake was minging.
Exposure Blaze is my current favourite option.
In early morning day light it is very visible from loooong distance.
That's not really what you need though. You need it to be visible from lots of angles.
The Cateye one I mentioned is visible almost 360 degrees. It's amazing.
I brought a See-Sense in the original Kickstarter phase and I`ve just had it upgraded with the Higher capacity battery and full 120+ lumen output.
Its great, and you can change the setting for group riding too (Although I usually have another small light or two on the helmet so if riding in a group I switch off the see sense unless I`m riding at the back)
Whatever you get, get 2 or 3. I can't answer your question directly as money is always an object in my purchases but I can tell you what works for me:
Moon Comet - On flashing at the bottom on my seatpost. Angled slightly towards the road, very bright and good side visibility as well.
Cateye TL-LD600 - On Constant and further up the seat post. Not mega bright but again, has good side viability and the battery lasts a long time.
On-One Phaart - On flashing attached to by saddle bag. Very bright, cheap and sitting a little higher puts it more in a drivers field of vison.
Cheap Aldi LED - On flashing on my helmet or clipped to my jacket collar. Just seems to get attention a bit more as it is much higher than the rest.
I'm pretty firmly of the "more the merrier" camp for road rear lights. Putting a mix of flashing and constant at various heights seems to be better than 1 "super light".
Money no object...Best rear light, Err the one on a Rolls Royce Phantom?? poss?
[img] https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ29O4pPms8vyOJigY9RhdKrcmqHnMNm6CPSwQSM8Xt2NThY63HmQ [/img]
If money was no object, I'd have a built-in rear dynamo light and the custom road bike to mount it on.
Anyone know if any of these have a mudguard (full length roadie type guards) mount with the self-tap screw hole and anti-spin peg?
onlysteel - Member
Exposure Redeye here. Ridiculously bright, but needs something up front to plug it into.
Another Redeye fan here. Only downside that I've found is that if I'm in a group I have to ride at the back or turn it off. Don't think that it's so stupidly bright to dazzle drivers at a sensible distance though
I'm a firm believer in giving my fellow group riders an incentive to take a pull at the front.
The brighter the better I say 🙂
Another vote for Hope district, I hardly ever use the high power setting but have been really grateful for it when caught in fog. The battery lasts forever as well so you don't need to keep taking it off and charging it. Seems to cope with water and mud better than most others too. I have a Magic Shine rear light as well and the switch gives up as soon as it sees a drop of water.
After driving past cyclists a lot I would say the Hope District by s long way. Imo it stands out without being too bright.
As others have said, more often than not you need more than 1 light, but the way the districts light patter works, it kind of creates s halo around the rider
Still a Cateye TL-LD1100 fan here. Lots of LED's so bright but not burningly intense, half just on and half chasing or random to make it interesting enough to catch your eye. Backed up with a small rechargeable Moon thing and a couple of quid red light that fixes to my helmet. Reflective snap on on my ankle and the mudguards have reflective strips as well.
Not money no object, but these have been spoken highly of.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tech-S8076-CREE-Rear-Light/dp/B00O34AIXS
They were a tenner on eBay, so I'm hanging on until that seller has them back in stock. Very floods and visible all around, from what I've seen.
I used an old P7 torch, with a bit of red film over the lense.
Was a bit daft though.
I use a couple of seperate basic ones these days, on different flashing modes. Idea being that it stops drivers "tuning in" to the flashing sequence. Not sure if it makes any difference though.
Also use a cheap Tesco flasher high up on the lid. Chap from work who passes me said that one catches his eye first, as it's so high up.
mcnulty,got a link to the ebay seller please?
Orange Crush - Member
Do any of these fantastic lights have a setting that makes them suitable for cycling in a group or does the poor cyclist behind just have to suffer?
doing a starts at midnight "ride the city" all nighter next weekend and was a bit surprised that the organisers suggest using a flashing rear light - i'd have put mine on steady
not a money no object choice but i've been using this and find that in daylight i get on busy roads I'm getting wider passes and they come with fixing for racks as well as stays and seatposts plus meet local audax club reflector requirements. Got a knog blinder, impressive,but never use as usually have a rack or saddle bag thingy, hate lights that only mount on seatpost.
[url] http://www.wiggle.com.au/pdw-spaceship-front-and-radbot-500-rear-light-set/ [/url]
I don't think there's many lights that are better than 2 decent lights tbh.
I find myself completely agreeing with Northwind with alarming regularity. More = better, you can place them in different positions to stand out a bit more, there's in-built redundancy too (if one light dies, you've still got another that's working fine). Plus you can have some flashing, some constant if you like. These lights are plenty bright enough (especially with 2 or 3 of them) and way cheaper than a 'proper' light that you have to remember to charge up etc. I get about a month out of the batteries (~30 hours)
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LISMRTR1/smart-r1-luggage-mounted-rear-light-without-bracket
(NB these don't come with a bracket. That'll cost you £3 more).
Those are ok but put some tape around the two halves as they have a tendency to fall apart over a bump after a few battery changes
I agree that two or more lights are better than a single expensive one and reflective cycle clips/bands show up well too.
Money no object? LEDs frenched into the seat stays.
In the real world. Hope district.
Those are ok but put some tape around the two halves as they have a tendency to fall apart over a bump after a few battery changes
I've never had that problem, but I believe you. Mine are now zip-tied onto the back of my rack (less tempting to steal when left unattended) though so it's not an issue for me.
I use a Lezyne Micro Drive & an Exposure Flare. Lezyne on constant, and Exposure on Pulse, very effective and bright.