that time of the year again, and I wanna spend some dosh on a properly built waterproof quality rear light for my regular commute through towns and over the dark dark hills...
if brightness (from rear and side) plus quality and reliability are the highest priority - then what's the dogs bollox rear light and how much should I spend?
Seems these are in the running:
Exposure Flare
Hope District
L&M Vis 180
Dinotte 300
anything else?
(ideally should be rechargeable using Micro USB port)
I use a Blackburn Mars 3 on the seatpost combined with a Smart Lunar 1w on my pack and a couple of http://www.dealextreme.com/p/red-light-2-mode-tie-on-bike-light-keychains-2-keychain-set-26812 on the chain stays.
Mars 3 here too. Light output is nasty painful if too close! I use NiCads in mine, last ages. And uberwaterproof too. A really good piece of kit.
Have the magicshine one, bright and has kept shining through heavy rain. About half the price of anything else.
Just bought the one that fits into the smart port on the MaxX D...
Seems plenty bright enough!!
Just fitted a Smart 1w to mine, very impressed with the light ouput(have been since I saw my first at the end of last winter), not too expensive, and if it's as reliable as their other lights that we've been selling for years, then it shouldn't ever break down.
Hope District fits that bill, you'll not see a brighter rear light and bomb proof too!
just get one of these 
I have the esposure. Great tiny thing with awsome output. Still on original battery with 15 ish hours use. Have bought a charger/battery set from evans as they had them on offer. Might still be discounted as it was only a couple of weeks ago.
Got the Hope for commuting. Very bright but the 'must mill everything from aluminium' bracket is pretty rubbish, will be making my own out of old cat eye ones.
I use multiple cheap ones - 3 at the moment. Nice and bright - flash and still, flash at different rates. don't matter if one stops working or gets nicked as there are two more
I think illuminated area is as important as brightness. Don't forget reflective stuff as well
Fibreflares get my vote, very visible but not dazzling. I just use that + have a small back-up LED thing.
Smart 1/2 watt models - there are a few. Cheap and offensively bright. Not rechargeable but I'm yet to replace the batteries and I've had them a year.
Flare, great light but the bracket can drop off if/when things get a little bumpy.
I put an o-ring through mine and around the seat post, if it does drop off it won't be getting left behind.
thanks all - interesting that so many of you still rely on what to me are poor design lights..
Smart and Cateye are not reliable enough in the depths of winter imo... water ingress and sub zero temperatures kill them.... thus pretty useless as a commuter light in proper winter conditions.
on the basis that I've bought about halt a dozen different lights in the last 2 years and all of them failed on my one way or another (mainly due to the sub zero wet conditions) - I'd prefer to spend the same money on a single properly designed bit of kit that I can rely on.
I used to have same problem with front lights when using Halogen lamps, as the bulbs couldn't cope with damp and extreme cold. but once I moved over to L&M Stella LED light, I've never had a problem...
so I recon a rear light should be as bright, reliable and bomb proof as a front...
seems to me that Exposure, Hope and L&M are of the same opinion.
may I be the last to suggest that super-bright is not helpful, front or back ?
large beats bright IMO (I don't practice what I preach but then I only use a rear light - ded bright - in the daytime)
Any really "blindingly" bright, tiny point source of light on a rainy night is hard to place unless you already know what it's likely to be. SInce many drivers don't seem to be aware of cyclists at all, that's not at all guaranteed
I'm serious; I drive to work and so get a driver's view of the 2000 lumen commuters - and you're not doing yourselves any favours. Wear high-viz and shine a bright light or two onto yourself if you want to be safer.
This may seem like a left field option, but in my opinion it is the best setup possible. I have an Alfine dynamo front hub, and a Supernova E3 Pro front light, combined with the Supernova rack mounted rear light. I also use a Smart 1/2 watt as a backup. That setup has lasted a couple of harsh Glasweigan winters, and as the lights are bolted to the bike I never worry about theft, I never have to recharge them and I honestly cannot feel any drag from the setup.
Like you ive been through a few lights. L and m vis 180 didnt last long, about 3 months last year.
I still have 2 mars 3 lights.
I bought from wiggle and have used their No quibble replacement on the mars 3 twice. Which makes it rather good value! 
2 cheapo lights.
1 on your bike.
1 on your back/helmet.
the slighty-out-of-sync movement is much more eye-catching than 1 really big light. The world is full of really bright red lights, 1 more is basically camouflage.
oh, and get some of the reflective ankle straps - the uppy/downy pedalling motion really stands out.
(or pedal reflectors)
The dinnotte rear is nice (140 version I think, 80lms??), leaves and huge light patch behind you. Don't cheap out with the aa version though, the battery pack connector is crap. Ours did fail after a commute through very salty water with ingress of somekind (which also destroyed the chrome finish). Was easy enough to get repaired though. I'm making my own for this winter with 2 of the 5W red luxeon leds which should be super bright, however if I didn't already have the bits I'd probably be buying to Exposure Flares as they seem to be the neatest and most compact design to me.
For regular commuting, proper lights bolt to the rack, not the seatpost. I have one of these BM for the rear - it's the Rolls Royce of rear lights
I've also been impressed with some of the Cateye rear lights, but have mounted them either to a rear reflector bracket or the mudguard. Never found a seatpost clamp i've been truly happy with. A small supplementary flashing light mounted to the seatpost is an additional option. I have one of these flashing for fun... Just not a primary light source.
Hope district. No problems.!
Don't own one, but a mate does, uses it on a 15mile each way commute, he was even using it in summer in daylight (well, what daylight there was) and was getting fists from dazzed motorists.
I think you can rig a front lamp off the same battery pack/ control unit too?
The Hope comes with a splitter lead so you can power it off the front light's battery pack.
Another option is the Lumi-cycle rear light - I have used them for years but my last 16V Li-ion battery has died, so I've retired them and bought the Hope.
NB if anyone has 16V (4 cell) Li-ions and wants a used Lumi rear light module super cheap, drop me a mail.
Smart and Cateye are not reliable enough in the depths of winter imo... water ingress and sub zero temperatures kill them.... thus pretty useless as a commuter light in proper winter conditions.
I've got two Cateye Holy Handgrenades and a Smart 1/2W on mine at the moment - waterproofing and longevity are entirely fine (they've been there at least a couple of years each) PROVIDED they are out of the direct spray line from the rear wheel - i.e. fit some mudguards! 
I'm serious; I drive to work and so get a driver's view of the 2000 lumen commuters - and you're not doing yourselves any favours. Wear high-viz and shine a bright light or two onto yourself if you want to be safer.
I've got to say I disagree on this. Far too many people round here rely on dim lights and reflective kit - by far the ones that get widest avoidance are those who're piercingly brightly lit.
I agree with Coffeeking. I used the Hope District all last winter and it's the only light I've had where cars slow down behind me and wait to overtake, don't know if they think it's a motorbike braking or are a bit dazzled but as long as they're slowing down it's good for me....
PROVIDED they are out of the direct spray line from the rear wheel - i.e. fit some mudguards!
indeed, totally agree, but already have set of full mudguards... wouldn't be capable of my regular 15mile commute across the Peak District and Cheshire plains without a proper set of guards.
the problem for the lights seems to relate to the fact my commute is often in freezing fog conditions when going up over the tops of the Peaks here... so the 1hr each way in such conditions seems to be a real test for these items.
the problem for the lights seems to relate to the fact my commute is often in freezing fog conditions when going up over the tops of the Peaks here... so the 1hr each way in such conditions seems to be a real test for these items.
I'm out then - the few times a year I have to commute through freezing fog (I'm about 1hr each way as well), the lights have been fine, it's been the various mechanical components (particularly the brakes!) starting to ice up/stick!
It really does sound like you need a proper dynamo setup then, given the conditions you ride in. Why put up with battery lights in cold conditions that are detrimental to li-ion battery life?
When I was commuting regularly last winter through urban and unlit country lanes, my rear light arsenal was:
1. Cateye HHG on seatpost
2. Smart Lunar R1 on backpack
3. Twinkly Tesco LED on helmet
4. Aldi reflective/flashing ankle bands
This was combined with my Lumi LED3 up front, gilet with reflective strips, reflect hump backpack cover, Aldi wrist bands, reflective mudguards for side on.
It's that time of year again already or should that be 
Facing a similar dilema, last year I ran a Cateye HHG and a Smart Lunar on the bike (Ribble Winter with full length 'guards) and on very rare occasion I found one or other had failed.
(Also run one of the multi led Electron's on the helmet).
Just don't want to risk light failure so was thinking of going for an Exposure Red Eye.
Be interesting to see someone test all those on your list on the same bike through the same conditions all winter.
It really does sound like you need a proper dynamo setup then, given the conditions you ride in. Why put up with battery lights in cold conditions that are detrimental to li-ion battery life?
Timely (...if a slight hijack) - I've run my front dynamo light in anger for a week now, and it's been great. Although the cabling will be a bit of a faff (the reason I'm still using battery LEDs for the moment), what's big in the world of dynamo rear lights? What's going to give me the biggest bucket of (red) sunshine for my 0.6W?
I have one of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/magicshine-mj-818-ha-iii-ssc-42180u-3w-3-mode-led-bike-tail-light-set-4-18650-included-42077
Its very good, 2 minor gripes:
1) if you want it mounted properly horizontal for even greater effect, you have to make you own mount
2) it dosn't have a plain flash mode. I'd rather have a plain 'flash' than the alternating modes offered.
Blimey! I've just had a flashback to when the only lights available looked like this
And our parents used to wonder why we'd rather dice with unlit death?
I've just bought a Smart Lunar 10, worn conspicuously on my Camelback. I was politely asked on last weeks night ride to turn the bloody thing off, once we were off road, as it was blindingly bright
Blimey! I've just had a flashback to when the only lights available looked like this
binners - LOL - jeeze that brings back lots of memories... those really were crap lights... but it was the time of Margaret Thatcher and the miners strikes... and Leyland still made cars... it was a crap era.
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