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I know the majority of lighting talk on STW is concerned with forwards facing, rabbit melting death rays, but I recently realised my 6 year old, 4 LED Cateye main rear light seems pretty much outgunned in terms of brightness by the cheapo £2 disposable jobbies I’d been supplementing it with and it was probably a bit on the dim side considering I don’t really fancy getting hit by cars…
What I’m after is a nice bright rear multi LED rear light, with a couple of modes but it will probably be kept on constant 90% of the time, something with good battery life, possibly something like the Blackburn Flea I spotted, which is USB rechargeable, making it ideal for commuting (assuming it’s actually any cop) it’s going to be used for a few hours commuting during the week as well as the odd off road night ride so probably needs a solid mounting system, but at the same time is going to be used on more than one bike so shouldn’t be too fiddly to remove and re-mount…
Anyone got any other ideas? I’m reasonably open to suggestions, what’s hot and what’s not in the world of red lights…
If you want something bright that's seen from the side and the rear you need the Holy Hand-grenade from Cateye.
The battery life isn't spectacular, it isn't rechargeable, but it is bright!
You can also have one row flashing and the other constant.
You can buy additional mounts for it too.
[url= http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/550 ]Linky[/url]
Blackburn Mars 3. 7 LED's, 4 modes, sideways facing amber lights, very very bright. £15
Looks like Wiggle have sold out of the Smart ones. Brilliant (literally!) light. Much brighter than the Blackburn I swapped it for.
http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/smart-1-2watt-led-rear-light-inc-batt-id35013.html
I have one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electron-Nano-5-LED-Mountain-Bike-Rear-Light-EHP281_W0QQitemZ290301133510QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_SportsLeisure_Cycling_Bike_Lights?hash=item43974bc2c6
It is lightweight, very bright and easy to swap between bikes with different seat post sizes
I do have one of the Cateye 'holy handgrenade' lights but use this now for simplicity and convenience
So nobody using anything with an integrated rechargeable battery? USB, or otherwise?
That surprises me, I’d have thought in terms of convenience a light that you could plug straight into a charger/USB port would be an absolute winner…
I don’t really mind it at the minute but my current one uses 2xAAA which means I have to have 4xAAA rechargeables (one set in use the other charged up in reserve), I’d love to be able to cut that Faff out altogether…
Just ordered this to strap to camel back lower loop......
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26812
and this to put on seatpost or somesuch......
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3639
If they work well then good.....if they don't , total cost only a measly£5 incl postage.
Will wait and see 🙂
I have an Exposure Redeye wired up to an 18650 two cell pack, lasts for hours, no flash, though i've never seen anything brighter for a rear light.
I had it anyway from when i sold my Exposure lights, and had the cells and turboferret holder already lined up for another project, so in effect cost me nothing.
I have a couple of these:
http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/cateye-tl-ld610-item132807.html
Not quite as good as the grenade, but still very visible, and as far as I can tell the batteries last forever. Naturally it has about 50 modes, of which most are 80s disco, but the flash and solid lights are both great- I've seen other people using these and they're pretty ace. Only downer is there's no belt loop style attachmant and they don't mount well vertically.
I've got one of these - very bright & flashs in random fashion in many different directions.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8278
I've definitely noticed that, on the whole, drivers have given me a wider birth when using the cateye "grenade". I put it down to the side LEDs.
I use duracell rechargeable batteries (2650 mAh) and they seem to last a long time between charges.
Cheers
I use Cateye LD610s. Nice and bright, good flashing modes, excellent battery life. The new clear lens version is pretty cool too.
I've got the older flea lights, which use an AA battery to recharge, they are really good for the size, very bright and excellent battery life, the front one is really bright for the price, brighter than my wife's 4AA cateye jobbie. Top quality construction too, thoroughly recommend them!
Oh, and free is you subscribe to What MTB at the moment!!