Question - New Rear Light

thescouselander

I was thinking about upgrading my lighting. Does anyone know if it is possible to buy a read light that can bit lit constantly while also flashing at the same time?

Sevenfold

Cateye LD1100 has 10 leds set in 2 rows of 4 plus one on each end. Each row can be set to flash or on constant independent of the other. Very bright & effective. About £23 from Merlin when I bought mine.

ads2k

The Exposure rear light does that, very impressed with my latest purchase

http://www.exposurelights.com/product/000059/flare/

tomb353

keep your old light and then run a new 2nd light in flashing mode? Makes sense not least from the point of view of having a backup if one fails.

DrLex

tomb353 wrote:

keep your old light and then run a new 2nd light in flashing mode? Makes sense not least from the point of view of having a backup if one fails.

+1

Planet-X have some good reductions on Smart lights.

meanredspider

Slight OT but I passed a guy with a Smart R1 today. It was daylight but I could see his rear light from 300-400M away (totally pointless as I could clearly see him too - but impressive). Shame they have such a terrible reputation for water resistance.

meanredspider

On the topic of "steady" (ie non-flashing) lights - I understand the reasoning - wouldn't a reflector achieve the same end (with the added advantage of not needing any power)?

ride_whenever

The R1 is an awesome little light! I also like the moon shield, cree led (60 lumen output) and usb charged. Moon make awesome lights.

pdw

meanredspider wrote:

On the topic of "steady" (ie non-flashing) lights - I understand the reasoning - wouldn't a reflector achieve the same end (with the added advantage of not needing any power)?

Only if there's light to reflect. If the car behind has dipped headlights, they'll be relatively close before a reflector does you any good at all.

Good to hear that the R1 is visible in daylight, as I run one of mine flashing all the time. Not had any problem with water, but I have full mudguards so they just don't get that wet.

Not see the Moon Shield before. Looks interesting, but I can't find any reviews.

thescouselander

tomb353 wrote:

keep your old light and then run a new 2nd light in flashing mode? Makes sense not least from the point of view of having a backup if one fails.

Can't really argue argue with that - probably the most sensible option.

ride_whenever

The moon lights are fairly new, we stock them in the shop and we're just amazed with them tbh. The basic one is really bright and so simple to use, we've had one failure which was due to owner cack-handedness!

The shield is something else though, really nicely built piece of kit. And making them usb rechargeable for the money and brightness is genius. Frankly we hardly sell anything else now purely because the VFM of a rechargeable is awesome!

pdw

Yeah - I tried hard to find a USB rechargeable light, or at least one that I didn't need to open up to recharge. I looked at the Light & Motion one, but couldn't justify £90 on it.

Ended up with a pair of R1s and use rechargeable AAAs. Be interested to know how the shield compares in terms of brightness.

meanredspider

pdw wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

On the topic of "steady" (ie non-flashing) lights - I understand the reasoning - wouldn't a reflector achieve the same end (with the added advantage of not needing any power)?

Only if there's light to reflect. If the car behind has dipped headlights, they'll be relatively close before a reflector does you any good at all.
.

I don't actually think that's true. Pretty much all rural signposts and marker posts rely on reflectors. If you've ever driven on a road fitted with snow poles (like the A9 south of me) you'll know exactly how effective reflectors are - even at a relatively high level. Same goes for all relective clothing. And, if you have a flashing light (a "given" in this discussion) they'll have seen you - the solid light is (as the argument goes) to help the driver judge distance.

DrLex

ride_whenever wrote:

The moon lights are fairly new, we stock them in the shop [...]

If you've stock around £45 and it's not against forum rules, can you namecheck your emporium of cycling delights? Ta!

tomb353

+1 for the Smart R1 , got mine last year and no real problems with water ingress. Good value at £15, very bright. I've had a rider behind complain about the brightness when I've left it flashing in daylight. Even allowing for the cost of a couple of USB battery chargers it seems hard to justify getting anything else.

(this year getting a couple of hong kong import rear LED's as backup lights to the smart, only a couple of $ each on ebay, same supplier doing P7 1200 lumen front light for just over £30 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SSC-P7-1200Lm ... 3a682a82a5 )

Kieran_Burns

Sevenfold wrote:

Cateye LD1100 has 10 leds set in 2 rows of 4 plus one on each end. Each row can be set to flash or on constant independent of the other. Very bright & effective. About £23 from Merlin when I bought mine.

+1 on this, but then I also subscribe to the 2nd rear light argument as well. I have a LD610 mounted on the seat post as well as the 1100 on the rack. I figure 15 LEDs out the back of the bike should make me fairly visible down a country lane.

Koncordski

As I already had the hope vision2 front light I just upgraded to the district rear which runs off the same battery pack. It's 'insanely' bright and has loads of different flashing modes plus two solids. Pricey but the quality of the engineering is fantastic. Going to have to be careful to angle it down so as to not blind anyone following.

cyberknight

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Sevenfold wrote:

Cateye LD1100 has 10 leds set in 2 rows of 4 plus one on each end. Each row can be set to flash or on constant independent of the other. Very bright & effective. About £23 from Merlin when I bought mine.

+1 on this, but then I also subscribe to the 2nd rear light argument as well. I have a LD610 mounted on the seat post as well as the 1100 on the rack. I figure 15 LEDs out the back of the bike should make me fairly visible down a country lane.

I have just upgraded to the smart R2, thats a very bright light with 2 of the flashers .



I also run a standard smart flasher on each pannier and i cant say i have had a close overtake when this set up is on.

fossyant

Magicshine MJ-818 - blindingly good.

stuj15

RSP Astrums - The brightest rears I'd seen on my commute at the beginning of this year. I asked the girl (shaftesbury cc club rider) what they were and bought two of them online when I got home. They only run in 3 modes, 1 solid and 2 flashing so I have them on the different flash modes.

unixnerd

I was thinking about upgrading my lighting. Does anyone know if it is possible to buy a read light that can bit lit constantly while also flashing at the same time?

I think you're better having two lights with a bit of spacing so that drivers have a better chance of seeing one higher up in traffic. A good one on the seatpost and a second on the helmet. On the subject of which can anyone recommend a good helmet mounted light that's not too heavy.

I'd also be sure your pedals have (clean) reflectors. Not only is it a legal requirement but if you see two orange reflectors going up and down in the distance you've no doubt there's a cyclist in front and not a faster moving motorbike. I run Shimano M520 spds on the commuter and they have a clip in section with reflectors.

thescouselander

I also run M520s - didn't know you could get reflectors for them. Where can I buy them?

unixnerd

My M520s came with them when new. Ask your LBS if they have any spare.

whitestar1

pdw wrote:

Yeah - I tried hard to find a USB rechargeable light, or at least one that I didn't need to open up to recharge. I looked at the Light & Motion one, but couldn't justify £90 on it.

Ended up with a pair of R1s and use rechargeable AAAs. Be interested to know how the shield compares in terms of brightness.

Guess you didnt come across the Blackburn Flea 2.0 4 LED front light USB 2011

pdw

Guess you didnt come across the Blackburn Flea 2.0 4 LED front light USB 2011

I did, but I would have felt a bit silly putting it on the back of my bike

I also looked at the Flea rear light. I can't remember what I didn't like about it - perhaps a belief that they weren't as bright as the R1.

SaintMark

I'd also be sure your pedals have (clean) reflectors. Not only is it a legal requirement but if you see two orange reflectors going up and down in the distance you've no doubt there's a cyclist in front and not a faster moving motorbike. I run Shimano M520 spds on the commuter and they have a clip in section with reflectors.

Couldn't work out how to get pedal reflectors on SPDs so I've got reflective tape round the axles on mine, it works almost as well as reflectors. Tape £2.99 from Halfords and loads left over to put wherever else you like.