Rear Light

delete_my_account

As title, I'm after a rear light. I have a Lezyne Femto Drive. It's not very bright in my opinion.

I'm after one which is as bright as possible,
has some sort of quick release mechanism so I don't have to have the mount or light on there during the day
Possibly rechargeable. I imagine brighter ones will kill batteries faster so this would be nice.

Cheers

dj58

Have a read through this: viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=12984513

metronome

I don't think you can fault Smart's Lunar R1.

1 watt red LED and 2 smaller LEDs. 3 AAAs last for 40 hours (flash) and it has group ride mode (also flash and constant). It's very small unclips easily and is visible for a mile. It's very bright.

£12 from High On Bikes. Bargain.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smart-Lunar-R ... 58b5a7d0c5

I also have an R2 (2x 1/2 watt LEDs) but it's not as bright as the R1.

mitchgixer6

I just bought one of these for £20 online.

http://www.cateye.com/intl/products/detail/TL-LD700-R/

Very bright, good side visibility and is USB re chargeable, and easily taken off for daytime use. Yes the Smart lights are good but I've had 3 fail after water got into the switch so time for me to try something different.

bobinski

Planet X have a moon shield copy. Great light. Less than £20.

HebdenBiker

metronome wrote:

I don't think you can fault Smart's Lunar R1.

Except that they stop working in the rain

OP, RSP Astrum. As bright as the Smart, but waterproof.

jordan_217

Subscribe to Cycling Weekly and get the Moon Shield and XP 500 as a welcome gift. I got them last year. Brilliant lights.

pippi_langsamer-2

Moon Shield at Merlin is on offer at moment for about £29. You probably won't get a better rear light for the money at that price.

I've got a Lezyne Micro Drive which is also extremely good.

There's not much between the two although the Lezyne is a more solid build.....not that it matters a great deal.Im actually tempted to pair my Leznye up with one of the Moon Shields at that price. I will quite literally look like a car from traffic approaching from behind...

trailflow

I don't think you can fault Smart's Lunar R1.

Even better get the Smart Lunar R2 USB rechargeable. It has 2 VERY bright bulbs and the battery last ages when you only use only 1. It also unclips from its bracket. i have taped the edges of mine with electrical tape to waterproof it more. Still going stong after a year. Great light and only weighs 60 grams including bracket.

redvee

Pippi Langsamer wrote:

Moon Shield at Merlin is on offer at moment for about £29. You probably won't get a better rear light for the money at that price.

Areo Shield for £18? Does it look familiar?

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIARSURRL/ ... rear-light

ilm_zero7

HebdenBiker wrote:

metronome wrote:

I don't think you can fault Smart's Lunar R1.

Except that they stop working in the rain

OP, RSP Astrum. As bright as the Smart, but waterproof.

+1 for the Astrum, but the Moon Shield for around £32 beats it hands down - super bright, small, usb light

schlepcycling

davidmt83 wrote:

I've got a Phaart Bleep Dual 0.5 Watt LED Rear Light:

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIPHBPDRL/ ... rear-light

Don't be fooled by it's cheap price - it's an excellent rear light and very bright.

+1

lakesluddite

I've had one of these for a couple of years now, and it's never let me down:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cat ... t-ec007955

The body of the light comes away from the mount in an instant, and clips back in effortlessly. The mount would be a bit more time consuming to remove - I just leave mine on the bike, it's not obtrusive at all. Although it's not rechargeable, I find 2xAA Lithium batteries will last the whole winter, and you can pick these up for about £4 a pair. It has two strips of LED's which can be used independently, I find I only use one strip, but you can, for example, have one strip on constant and the other flashing - there are various flashing modes. It also has an LED on each end for side-on visibility.

snowley

bobinski wrote:

Planet X have a moon shield copy. Great light. Less than £20.

Just got mine, brilliantly bright, USB rechargeable and easy mounting.

PK1

Don't let water get in the usb port on the Moon shield / Areo shield as it will die ! However a great light and extremely bright. I am tempted to get another at the Planet X price.

redvee

snowley wrote:

bobinski wrote:

Planet X have a moon shield copy. Great light. Less than £20.

Just got mine, brilliantly bright, USB rechargeable and easy mounting.

Had mine for two commutes now and would prefer a way of mounting it on the rack but had to fit it on the seatpost, think I need to angle it down more.

Rodders30

LakesLuddite wrote:

I've had one of these for a couple of years now, and it's never let me down:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cat ... t-ec007955

The body of the light comes away from the mount in an instant, and clips back in effortlessly. The mount would be a bit more time consuming to remove - I just leave mine on the bike, it's not obtrusive at all. Although it's not rechargeable, I find 2xAA Lithium batteries will last the whole winter, and you can pick these up for about £4 a pair. It has two strips of LED's which can be used independently, I find I only use one strip, but you can, for example, have one strip on constant and the other flashing - there are various flashing modes. It also has an LED on each end for side-on visibility.

I have one of these and it is good. I sometimes have one strip flashing and one constant.

On dark mornings, I have it on constant and also a 'exposure flare' rear light.

One set of batteries last the cateye all winter (on my commuting, maybe not everyone's)

epo.wks

Exposure Blaze. Expensive but goodbye eyesight when it's on!!

ravenvrider

2 times smart lunar R2's one on my bag and one on the bike....One failed last year in a big storm...hence why I use 2 now with tape on joins...batteries last ages....use 2 smart 35 ' s on the front as well

Bar Shaker

epo.wks wrote:

Exposure Blaze. Expensive but goodbye eyesight when it's on!!

That's good, for the drivers coming up behind you.

epo.wks

Bar Shaker wrote:

epo.wks wrote:

Exposure Blaze. Expensive but goodbye eyesight when it's on!!

That's good, for the drivers coming up behind you.

:roll:

marpick

Knog Blinder, fantastic light, quick release mount, looks good to!

freefall_junkie

Tried lots of different rear lights but now have an Exposure Blaze. Quite simply the best - unmatched build quality, searingly bright in its brightest setting, more than enough to be seen in daylight, it pulses rather than flashes, and the battery life is outstanding. Expensive, but along with the Exposure Strada front light, one of the best bits of bike kit I have ever bought.

secretsam

In all seriousness, what's the legal position on some of these insanely bright lights? I'm sure I saw somewhere that it's now possible to get a bike front light that's brighter than car headlights-are there no laws about this?

bendertherobot

SecretSam wrote:

In all seriousness, what's the legal position on some of these insanely bright lights? I'm sure I saw somewhere that it's now possible to get a bike front light that's brighter than car headlights-are there no laws about this?

Broadly speaking, in relation to cycles, the law is geared towards minimum compliance rather than limiting what you fit.

So, of course, many of use who are running good lights (and many of them) are illegal because we don't have our pedal or front and back reflectors.

There are arguments that most lights are not standard compliant but, generally speaking, times have moved on and you'd be highly unlikely to be charged in relation to not having an Ever Ready light mounted on your fork.

bendertherobot

http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/ ... egulations

Is pretty definitive. And shows how out of date we are.

Legally speaking, it's best to buy a cheap BS approved front and rear which are generally not up to any job whatsoever (and quite hard to find) and supplement them with, for example, an Exposure, or Magicshine or Lezyne. (etc) This ignores the "it is too bright argument" of course.

ben@31

Are any of these rear lights helmet mountable? For example, securing onto the helmet straps at the back.

I already have a rear rear on my seat post (Exposure Flare) and I want to buy another rear light as I do a lot of cycling on unlit B-roads.

I have a Cree T6 upfront and despite the questionable Chinese build quality and eBay-ness, on it's highest setting it's probably the "near car headlight brightness" that SecretSam mentioned. I once had it on flash mode just before sunset and even though it wasn't dark yet I had an oncoming car flash their lights at me in protest. It definitely definitely lights up unlit B-roads at night.

Before the Cree T6 bucket of instant sunshine, I had some AA battery powered Cateye fitted and the illumination was so poor it was dangerous on unit roads... I was going along a straight road then almost went through a metal gate into a farmers field on a sharp bend , as I did not see it coming up. If the front light only illuminates a small patch in front of you, 90 degree bends soon appear out of nowhere when your doing 17 -18 mph :shock:

The Exposure Flare isn't bad for it's small size, but the countersunk concave lens means it collects dirt and grime. I'm sure it's not as bright as it used to be. Apparently it's got a pulsating mode and a steady mode but as theres no buttons you twist the lens to turn it on and off, its not easy to change modes. I like how you can get a mount to suspend it between the saddle rails.

Thanks.