Rear light

mingmong

Good afternoon. Lovely commute ahead this afternoon!

My rear light is giving up the ghost. My commute is not/not very well lit in some areas and I need some advise please on a good rear light.

I need it to be bright. My commute is 25 miles e/w (once or twice a week).

My budget is up to £40.

Any shinning examples (sorry) please :?:

Thank you.

Kieran_Burns

You can get an LD610 and LD1100 for that - get both

Or two LD610s or two LD1100, but just make sure you get two.

cyberknight

Smart r2 , very very bright ......

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=56550

Or for a bit more .....

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/exp ... gn=froogle

Scrappaman

I have a Cateye Ld1100 and I'm really pleased with it. The fact that it has two rows of lights with so many different modes means that you can have a very eye catching setup.

I compliment it with a rear helmet mounted Trek Ember on strobe and a constant Topeak Headlux on the top of my helmet. I like to be visible!

I wanted to go for the Exposure Flare but the relatively short run times and expensive batteries put me off.

Having been behind some of the Smart lights I can vouch that they are eye-hurtingly bright also.

Let us know what you go for!

Long_Time_Lurker

Blackburn Mars3.0 if you can still find one. (chain reaction have them for £17). The V4 is good, but the three is a lot cheaper. Very bright, waterproof and has flashing modes to make you noticed amongst traffic.

Phillprice

I have on 610. It's amazing for £12.50 on wiggle. Yesterday I dropped a bottle and stopped to pick it up. It's bloody bright! Not sure where I'd put the second one though?

asprilla

Exposure Flare. Beats everything else hands down.

chaymck

RSP Astrum can be had for app £13, very bright. While riding chain gangs last winter the other riders made me ride at the back as the light was to bright to follow!

principia2000

+1 for the Cateye LD1100.
Very visible, longish battery life, waterproof (so far).
But one of the major pros for me is its visibility from the side. There are 2 leds on each side as well as the 6 or so facing back.

Mr P

+1 RSP Astrum

mingmong

Thanks all.

The Exposure light looks fiddley.

I've had a Smart in the past and it was good.

However, nothing ventured... Going to give the RSP a try.

Thanks again.

Avezius

I was looking for a new rear light last week.

Ended up going for a Smart Lunar R1 - 2 normal led's plus a 1watt LED. Can run with the two minor lights on constant & the (blindingly powerful) main LED flashing - just what I want. Runs on 2xAAA's too - poundland (11 x AAA = £1) will be my friend this winter!

I'm going to Vaseline the joints & add tape to avoid the publicised issues with water ingress - hopefully this will give a little longevity too. they can be had for about £15 delivered online, or a couple of quid cheaper from PlanetX if you buy something else to get free delivery.

Received today & very impressed.

My Cycling Guru has an Exposure flare - these really look slick, but battery & overall cost put me off (but may be in your price range).

FWIW I had the two lights on, side by side in a dark room. The Exposure's "pulse" looks cooler, but the smart just edges the power/brightness. You cannot look into the main light of either lights!

davis

Exposure. Never needed to buy another light. Bullet proof build, and retina-searingly bright.

fossyant

Magic shine MJ-818 :shock:

cjcp

Also worth getting some reflective strips for the seat stays if you don't mind sticking these on your bike. I bought mine from Evans.

I've got them on the seat stays, the head tube and, in the case of my crosser, on both forks, too.

Also on the back of my helmet.

yenkee

Does any one have any good experience/recommendations of rear "clip on" lights? i.e. ones that clip onto seat bags, bag covers etc..

I've got cat eye light my seat stay but with the days drawing in I'm thinking that I should get a secondary light as back-up. I've not got room on my seat post because of my bag.

I did have a "clip on" on my bag last winter however lost this on a pot hole, only realising when I got home . Also had tried a clip on attachment for the cat eye but this seemed to bounce off quite frequently.

johnboy183

cjcp wrote:

Also on the back of my helmet.

Ouch sounds painful and can it be seen from behind?

Sorry :oops:

cjcp

yenkee wrote:

Does any one have any good experience/recommendations of rear "clip on" lights? i.e. ones that clip onto seat bags, bag covers etc..

I've got cat eye light my seat stay but with the days drawing in I'm thinking that I should get a secondary light as back-up. I've not got room on my seat post because of my bag.

I did have a "clip on" on my bag last winter however lost this on a pot hole, only realising when I got home . Also had tried a clip on attachment for the cat eye but this seemed to bounce off quite frequently.

Some lights come with smaller brackets which you can attach to the seat stays.

DrLex

The Smart rear lights clip on to bag loops as well as their mounting brackets. I've not lost one in a year and don't expect to. On the other hand, my colleague's exposure fell off when the strap snapped.
Awaiting the Moon Shield 60 to come back into stock for an upgrade to running two Smarts.

asprilla

My secondary light is a Fiber Flare. It gives great all round lighting and I can clip on to my seat stay or to the compression straps on my bag. It's also flexible so you can bend it to make it fit.

doyler78

The cateye lights mentioned above the, 1100 and the 610 are both very good lights however I have lost both over the years so the brackets can't be that great having said that I have replaced my tl-ld1100 with another one.

As regards the using the bag loops also be aware that if they are a fabric loop ie not very solid then it will twist on the loop and angle itself slightly downwards. Still noticeable but I'd prefer it straight ahead or angled slightly up. Again having said that as I run 2 sets of lights I'm happy to put up with that too.

I also have the R2. There are complaints that the R1 and R2 are susceptible to water ingress which will kill the light. I so far haven't experienced that problem and I used most of last winter and over the last couple of weeks.

t4tomo

Still have a smart R1 - no water problems also a Smaert R2 which is very bright on full bright mode. Knog is a very good second light , I have one clipped around teh back of my skid lid which works a treat, plus on the the front for a "be seen" light.