Although I will say there's such a thing as too expensive.... (Hope!)
So, which is best?
Blackburn Mars 3.0
Blackburn Mars 4.0
Smart Lunar R2
Cateye something?
I've looked for a thread and couldn't find one, but please point me there if I'm wrong!
Niterider Cherry Bomb. Last years 1/2 Watt one was amazing. Having ridden behind this years 1W model...eek!
It has a great lens on it which spreads the light out very effectively.
http://www.thebikechain.co.uk/NiteRider-Cherry-Bomb-1-Watt-2011083012/
I see that there's a 3W tail-light available for the Magicshine batteries too!!!
Exposure flare.
bought smart lunar R1 at weekend and my mate made me turn it off tonight out training because it was doing him in.
its miles brighter than the Mars which i run at the same time
Some nice choices there. I'm swinging towards the R2 at the moment = proable 2 of them at that price, one for the seatpost, one for the camelbak. I prefere all in one systems unless it's for a head torch which I'll live with.
If no such thing as too bright, then a pair of helmet-mounted ay ups, mounted facing backwards and with the 'saxon caps' fitted. Brighter than a bright thing, and ideal if you're riding unlit country roads at night.
Expensive solution though, so if not, then the exposure flare (as mentioned up there ^^^) are pretty bright - USB rechargable as well iirc.
For country roads at night it's more useful to have lots of reflectives.
I just bought one of those R2 lights from on-one and it is really very bright, decent visibility from the side too.
I use multiple cheap lights 3 at the moment one steady and two blinking at different rates - the idea being to have a wider area lit so one o the top of the seatpost, one on the bottom and one on the side of teh rack and lots of reflective on the bike as well
For country roads at night it's more useful to have lots of reflectives.
Always like the smart 1watt lights just ordered another and a rack mount cheap water tight and battery's last and most of all really bright. They are the Ronseal of lights "does exactly what it says on the tin" 
Some nice choices there. I'm swinging towards the R2 at the moment = proable 2 of them at that price, one for the seatpost, one for the camelbak. I prefere all in one systems unless it's for a head torch which I'll live with.
Get an R1 and an R2 then, from Planet-X. Prepare to burn out some poor sod's retinas though 
I'd go with a fibre flare if you want to be seen rather than just blind drivers coming up behind (which isn't a very smart thing to do :p )
I run a combination of 2 lights on the seat post if I'm venturing on to the road.
A Blackburn Mars 3 and an Electron Pico - for under £7 (at Merlin) the Electron is superb - it's bright enough to be seen a long way off and has an excellent slow flash option which combines well with the Mars 3 on solidly.
You can see the Electron clearly during the day too - at the weekend a ride with a mate ventured on to the road and he said it was like riding behind an F1 car with it's poor visibility light flashing.
I've got the magicshine light. It's decently bright but the only mode I use is the always on one, the flashing modes are too poor.
It's got seven small led's as well as the main one and the flash mode alternates between them. On top of this the flash rate is very slow, so the main LED only flashes every second or so, plenty long enough for someone to miss it when looking between different directions. The spread from the main LED doesn't seem that great either, so I'm now looking for something that flashes fast and wide to compliment it on the commute bike.
N.
In my experience the Cateye Holy Hand Grenade (see Snakebite's pic) is too wide, can't easily be mounted at 90degrees, and is heavy with 4x AA. Blackburn Mars are good, and have nice mounting bracket. Smart Lunar R2 is my most recent but due to poor switch (oftern takes a while to get it to click) and difficult to open/close design I've not been as impressed as with the Smart Superflash. However, the R2 is bright. If I were buying again, I'd get Superflash on the bike and Fibreflare for bag/jersey/helmet a la Matt Baker on his rickshaw.
Cateye Holy Hand Grenade (see Snakebite's pic) is too wide, can't easily be mounted at 90degrees, and is heavy with 4x AA
It takes two AA batteries not 4. No it's not easy to mount vertically if thats what you mean but then again that would make the side led's pretty pointless. And I've not found the width an issue.
I use a combo of lights on the back - one Cateye TL-LD1100 (as pictured above) on my seatpost one row flashing and one constant and one on my camelbak one row flashiing and one constant, one fibreflare on my driveside seatstay set to flash, one cheap flashing light under my seatpost, one on my helmet and one Cateye SL110 on the shoulder strap of my camelbak. Yeh I'm lit up like a christmas tree but I am visible.
If you have lights on your offside then drivers generally give you more space.
RSP Astrum 2 x 1/2 watt so very similar to the Smart R2 but with no reliability or waterproof problems. It's bright as fook with one LED providing flood and the other providing throw.
I have this one and it's very bright and usb rechargeable.
http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/moon-shield-60-lumen-usb-rechargeable-rear-light-id63872.html#info
I run a Holy Hand grenade and an assortment of Smart 1/2 watt and R1s.
No complaints here.
Got some Smart Lunar 1/2 watt lights here. Very impressed and plenty bright enough, even in fog. They are so small, light and cheap that I reckon it's a good option to fit two, so that you dont care if one fails or runs out of batttery (although they last ages).
No complaints here.
You probably can't hear them over the lumens
2 x Exposure Flare (seatpost mounted) and a Fibre Flare (mounted on the lower half of my rucksack).
Works really well. Always have at least 2 rear lights, if one dies midway through a ride at least you've got a backup.
Indeed crazy-legs, I see so many people on my commute with one rear light and its not a great idea. If it fails then you wouldn't know, its highly unlikely that two would fail. It's like jumping out a plane without a safety chute
I use these: http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/LISMRTMINI/smart_mini_led_light_set
Plus some 2 of these:
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.212-3106.aspx
Tempted with an Exposure Flare though.
My Exposure flare has died and Exposure aren't getting back to me about warranty on it.
Its going back to Wiggle, but why bother offering a 2 year warranty and how to return it on your website if you have no interest in conversing?
Its a cracker wee light when it works. But I fear the switch mechanism is a poor design and going to be prone to failure?
+1 on the RSP astrum. Very bright.
Much cheapness on Amazon at the moment too (cheaper than Cyclesurgery's 50% off offer)
lights are good, but a bright red light in the dark is basically camouflage. So don't forget the retro-reflectives, and the dorky ankle-straps...
i'm serious, they're very eye-catching.
You probably can't hear them over the lumens
You got that right. Noisey flippin bunch those lumens.
You should hear the front lights at full chat
If I happened to have a spare DX front light kicking about how would I go about converting this to a rear light? Could I ask a helpful maker of great lights to change the white led to a red one for example? Or would red acetate over the lens work?
ie this one
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