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I thought it would have been covered recently but the search threw nothing up. What's a really good rear light for the ride home? Extra points if it can be rack mounted.
smart lunar R1
proper bright - you can't look directly at it anyway
battery life isn't as good as other lights, but it's not a disaster either
I changed the batteries twice over a winter of commuting (rather than the usual once for other rear lights)
Have been using the Cat Eye TL-LD1100 for a few years now and have been very impressed by brightness and battery life
Cherry Bomb
I must say, the LD1100 has caught my eye. Heard stories of them falling out of the brackets though.
[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/its-dark-so-its-new-rear-light-time-suggestions-for-this-year ]earlier thread on this subject[/url]
Blackburn Mars 4.0/3.0, both can be rack mounted on the rear plate if you have one on your carrier. ****in' bright too.
Got myself an [url= http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/LIELREAR/electron-led-rear-light ]Electron one from On One[/url] recently that I use on the commuter, and it's a) very bright, b) stays put and c) has a very good / eye catching flashing mode. Seemed to be quite cheap and stacks up well against the others that I've got. I had a Blackburn Mars that used to drain the batteries even when switched off, that finally unmounted itself in the middle of nowhere. It was very bright when it was on though.
Exposure Red Eye if you have a joystick. Retina burningly bright!
Exposure Flare is much, much brighter than anything I've used before. It is easily visible even in daylight.
Another vote for the Blackburn Mars 3 (or 4). Retina searingly bright!!
like the post above i have been using the Cat Eye TL-LD1100 for 3-4years and has been ultra reliable.
Another vote for the Holy Hand Grenade of Cateye here.
I've got the cat eye TL-LD610 which is pretty good I think but that so called hand grenade looks brill. Get that.
I've got a TL-LD610 (in black/red rather than white/clear). Plenty bright enough, although I had some problems with the clamp over rough surfaces. Seems a bit better now that I have put some tape round the seatpost.
I wonder if that big Cateye would get caught on baggies more often?
it's £30 though
Had blackburn mars 3 and 4. The 3 was awesome until the bracket broke and I lost it. Had 2 of the 4's first one packed in after getting water in it, still using the second one.
For streetlit roads I'd edge towards the Cateye Holy Hand Grenade thing. Very visible from front, back and side. The bracket isn't great - mine bounced out as the retainer broke, the one on my Roadrat it's now glued in with No More Nails so can't take it off without unscrewing the bracket (though that's a minor hardship I guess). Good that you can have one row on constant and one on flash too.
The Exposure Flare is very good indeed, amazingly tiny and bright, sort of casts a pool of light behind you on unlit roads and the flash mode is a constant light with a bright pulse every second which I think is very visible. Decent side vis, and about the size of a champagne cork and weighs alomst nowt. Can't say much about battery life as not had it long enough, but I have the rechargeable so reckon charging up once a week will see me right.
The Mars 3 is OK but mine doesn't seem very waterproof - seems to let rain and spray in very easily. Fortunately it still works but seems to only go on constant mode and eat batteries even quicker than normal.
Don't know about rack mounting for any of them, sorry...
Assuming the LD1100 is "the holy hand grenade" then I think I might give that a try. Thanks for all the comments.
Cateye also do a nice rack mounting clip for it.
Yep, LD1100 = Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
The Lunar mentioned earlier is current favourite amongst the night riders on my regular ride. The 1/2 watt flash is plenty, but you do have to keep an eye on the mounting - the light's belt clip slips out of the bike mount adapter too easily on some of them.
M8 was running a fibre flare tonight, very interesting I thought, worth a gander.