Following on from all the excitement about the new and very cheap front lights flooding the market, has anyone picked up a good rear light recently? These don’t seem to have moved on in design at all…

Maplin. Reduced from £15 to £10. Rear light with two modes. Two standard leds and one half watt.
Plus a standard front light with a 3 watt cree fitted. And batteries. Works a treat.

Hope district 3. Visible from space almost and battery lasts forever

There’s been an influx of those rear lights that ‘paint’ a laser footprint on the ground but I did read somewhere on t’internet (so it must be true) that there were question marks over their legality.

By far the best bang for buck IMO is the Smart Lunar R2.
2x 1/2W LEDs, visible from a mile away. Good light pattern.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/smart-lunar-r2-rear-light/

EDIT: Only £16 from CRC

I received one of these recently having contributed to their KickStarter project.

Not particularly cheap, but virtually theft proof and you don’t need to think about it at all. Turns on and off automatically, batteries should last ages.

Very pleased with mine.

Cheers, Rich

rich – is there much side light on it?

All very purty, but no pic of the light from the side! 😉 I think I know the answer…

Nobby – good call on the funky laser rear light- gonna get me one of those!

Virtually no side visibility, so from a purely safety point of view of everyone seeing you, there are much better lights around, certainly.

From a nice bit of design perspective and fit-and-forgetability, it’s good.

Cheers, Rich

yep, they are nice. but $125 nice? 🙂 😯

Used my District 3 for one of the first times in traffic the other day, angled sensibly downwards on low setting. Cars were giving noticeably wider berth.

Got the above Smart Lunar R2 which I leave on random flashing mode and a Fibre Flare on my seatstay, switched to steady. Seems like a good combo and most drivers give me a decent bit of room when overtaking.

Edit: they’re not actually supposed to be bent like in the photo.

yep, they are nice. but $125 nice?

You make a good point, and only you can answer that, but it was $100 as an early adopter.

If I was in a shop and presented with a series of options with price tags, I probably wouldn’t have gone for the BlinkSteady, but supporting a KickStarter project isn’t quite the same, you feel like you are investing in the future of a company.

Would I buy another? Possibly not, this one will most likely live on the bike which does the most commuting.

Cheers, Rich

District +1

Side visibility = Holy Hand Grenade of Cateye

I have a Moon Shield 60 in addition to the above. Superlight, fits on helmet, scary bright and recharges from a USB. Tidy.

Side visibility = Holy Hand Grenade of Cateye

This, plus a fibre-flare I clip on the neck of my jacket, hanging down my back.

do they still make the holy hand grenade? it was rear light du jour 4 or 5 years ago…

Yep, still made and still serves a purpose, IMHO. Fits very well on to a rack (With Cateye’s rack bracket), is tough, light and still has the best all round visibility of any light out there, I think.

Combined with another, flashier, number, I reckon it’s the ideal set up.

Nobby – Member
There’s been an influx of those rear lights that ‘paint’ a laser footprint on the ground but I did read somewhere on t’internet (so it must be true) that there were question marks over their legality.

Mine’s mentioned in this thread.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/revolights-tron-is-amongst-us

And I tell you what – sod legality (as we all did when LEDs weren’t ‘legal’) – they get you seen and going by my first ride with it, cars give you more room! That’s good enough for me.

I use the smart Lunar one and am very happy with it. I do want something to put on my bag though. Was think a flare thingy. Would this be cheaper in the states as im off in a couple of weeks…

Been running a Moon Shield for around a year now – USB rechargeable, super bright, neat and compact with rubber mountain strap gizmo. Only issues are that the USB port cover is held on by a very thin bit of rubber that inevitably breaks with use after which it needs lots of care not to lose it when charging and the battery only holds charge for a day or so, so you need to charge it up regularly.

Also just bought a tarty Lezyne Micro Drive rear light for the road bike, which I’m quite impressed by initially. Again bright, USB chargeable, very neat with rubberised seatpost mounting for easy bike swaps. It’s a snap fit into the mounting bracket which looks slightly precarious, but it’s very positive and I’ve added a thick rubber o-ring just in case, but tbh, I think you’d have to try hard to lose it.

And I still have a Holy Hand Grenade sat around which I use occasionally.

Mostly ride unlit roads, but bright flashing rear lights also work well on wide, fast A-roads during the day, you just seem to get a little more space.

I have to say that I seem to get given more space by car drivers when using my District.
It’s very expensive but I’m glad I have one.

Smart Lunar R2 here, plus whatever the wide Cateye is with 5 leds. I have that on blinky blinky with the R2 on constant & a tempremental old Smart light on my pack, seeing as it was laying around.

I have considered something that clips to your neckline or back of helmet & actually shines onto your back, illuminating you.
I was also considering a translucent ‘rain cover’ type thing with a light inside that would get diffused & create a large area glow. Kinda like a flash umbrella works…

The other thing that works for me is a Joystick with the Exposure Mini Redeye mounted on the back of it on the helmet – the Redeye is permanently attached with a bit of thin cord and sits under an o-ring when not in use. Also great as a lightweight emergency all-in-one lighting solution if you get caught out in the dark unexpectedly (well, almost unexpectedly).

Good if you already own a Joystick with a Smartport, but if you don’t find some way of attaching it, you’ll lose the Mini Redeye for sure.