And broke it. 🙁

So, what’s the rear light du jour then? Needs to be stupidly bright, flashing/strobing and constant, as well as having good side visibility (Something the mighty hand grenade excelled at)

Budget? Up to around £50, I reckon.

exposure flash (or is it flare)?

Couple of cheapo ones instead and change for a bottle of Bolly? 🙂

I was expecting a you tube clip of some hapless soul blowing himself up….

your wish is my command:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Kjj-jsWfU&feature=related[/video]

I’m using one of these at the moment, it says visible up to a mile away.
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/LISMRTR2/smart_lunar_r2_rear_light

Well made waterproof and tough.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/LISMRTR2/smart_lunar_r2_rear_light
“Brilliant”, bdum tish.

A fine replacement for the holy hand grenade

EDIT: Gah! Beaten by richiesmartiepants.

Yep, same as above Great little units and if you loose one, not the end of the world in cost. They’ve doubled in price since November though (which is when I bought a pair)

I just got
these
to frighten/warn car drivers 😀

BTW £50 budget for a rear light ,are you serious?
You can get an army of lights for that money 😉

Rich, Stoner, what’s the bracket/mounting like on those? Smarts haven’t really impressed me on that front before….

BTW £50 budget for a rear light ,are you serious?

Fully. If it takes £50 to buy the best, brightest light I can find, and that light means I’m seen in the visual maelstrom that is London traffic at night, then I’ll pay that much. Maybe even more.

It has a belt style clip which is what I wanted to clip onto a bag. This then slides into a secure seatpost or seatstay bolt on mount.

I’ve never been impressed by how to get the batteries in and out of smart lights… I like the gently-turn-the-end opener on the hand grenade, I don’t like the hope-the-clips-don’t-crack-or-break-off opener on all the smart lights I’ve seen. My hand grenades have lasted years, I would be surprised if my smart ones last that long.

(Unless there’s a knack I haven’t mastered?)

that youtube vid is great.

Poundland had some surprisingly decent ones. Need a bit of weather proofing but have held up so far.

Get 50 and go Tron-a-like.

your wish is my command:

Thanks for that…all is now right with the world…

Get another hand grenade, and then you’ve got a spare mount for your other bike.

loum – Member
Get another hand grenade, and then you’ve got a spare mount for your other bikeS.

That’s a very good point.

Phiiiiiiil, I agree on the flimsy feel of Smarts, hence my question about the bracket. Will have to try and have a look at one. Just as well I have a back up light with me today! (Shitty little Knog thing I got as a helmet light. It’s rubbish)

rear smart lights do seem to be the brightest, but their waterproofing is poor, especially if your light gets all the spray from the rear wheel.
I saw a guy the other day with a light on his helmet – it appeared to be attached to the back of an Exposure Joystick-type light and it was EPICALLY bright – I tried to catch up with him to ask what it was…
might have a search…

might have been an Exposure Flare – I could see this guy through the traffic from about 200m away

rear smart lights do seem to be the brightest, but their waterproofing is poor,

They can be ,but it’s not hard to waterproof them up.

Captain
It’s was the idea of putting out £50 on one unit.

I would always go for the multiple lights/reflectors
stopping short of…

Get 50 and go Tron-a-like

😀

Prefer fibre flare’s myself, not stupidly bright (but that means you don’t make drivers shut their eyes as they drive past you…) but they are very visible

This ones good. Meets all your criteria too.

I saw a guy the other day with a light on his helmet – it appeared to be attached to the back of an Exposure Joystick-type light and it was EPICALLY bright – I tried to catch up with him to ask what it was…

If it was plugged into a Joystick it’s more likely to be a Red Eye the Flare is a self-contained unit.

Really like my Flare, get the rechargeables though.

I too lost a Hand Grenade on the way to work, though not today. Replace it with another the same, but better secured.

They are a good light!

I’ve just broken the bracket for my grenade, so I’m using a Cateye Rapid 3 at the moment and pretty happy with it. Relatively cheap too. But it does seem to be missing a mode (central LED on steady and the other 2 flashing).

Not the brightest out there by a long way I’m sure, but if you’re not interested in the arms race it’s bright enough.

I expected a story of a disgraceful incident in the cubicles and resultant Johnny Cash tendancies!

I have the deal Extreme rear light, it pisses over anything else and they’re available for £43 here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Magicshine-MJ-818-Rear-Cycle-Light-Insanely-Bright-/140667906375?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Cycling_Bike_Lights&hash=item20c075e947.

If you have a DX light, you’ll now have a spare battery for it and if you buy the y-cable also on ebay you can just plug the light unit into your existing setup.

Cateye Rapid 3 (£20) plus a B&M Toplight mounted on the rack. Plus a Topeak Alien on the seatpack for a bit of fun. That lot comes to about £50.

Rapid 3 on full single is as bright as the Flare and half the price. It also takes a single AA battery.

I would avoid the Cateye Rapid 3 mine was awful, rattled out of the mount and when in the car its broke in half and I lost the batteries.

Ah, good point. I use the older mount from previous Cateye rears. That seems to hold it more firmly.

Mulletus, that looks really good! I like it! 🙂

Cheezyfeetedone, I can only apologise. 🙂

Speshpaul – Member
that youtube vid is great

Yeah! It took the logo clean off his t shirt 🙄 the build up was better than the end result.

Bright Light, Bright Light

The Hand Grenade is dead! Long live the Hand Grenade!

Found an ex-demo light hanging around my LBS, so have scavenged it for parts. End cap/battery retainer had broken on mine, so I now have a spare, as well as a full spare body to go with it. Which is nice.

However, thought I’d treat myself to a new helmet light anyway, and got one of these

Frankly, it’s offensive. I had it on epileptic-fit-inducing-strobe mode today on the ride to work and another rider came up behind me at the lights and said two things;
“(Expoletive deleted) that light’s bright! Any chance you could turn it off at the lights, it’s damn near blinding me!”

And then, after a little chat,
“Where can I get one?”

🙂

so are you going to tell us anything about it? 🙄

If you insist! Moon Shield 60. USB recharger (Sadly not the same lead as my phones, but no real hassle to carry!)

Three different settings on constant – Bright, Really Bright and OH MY DAYS THAT’S BRIGHT!
Then, two flashing modes. One is a subtle on/off flash at the latter of the above settings, and the other is a franky mental strobing effect, also at the brighter setting. All seems very well screwed together, pretty weatherproof (yet to prove/disprove that, though). Bracket is a rather clever strap-on that works well with my helmet (Giro Xaaaaaaaar), but would also be a good emergency strap on to put on one of the other bikes. There’s also the clip-on option, but that looks pretty small and therefore not one I’ll be using.

Retail is around £45, I think.

so are you going to tell us anything about it?

like, the name of it, you div!

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/moon-shield-60-rechargeable-rear-light/

Now now, Stoner, no need for that! 😉

emergency strap on

fnarrfnarrfnarr