Hot answers tagged headlights
26
The short answer is that 'safer' is subjective and depends on your requirements.
You are both correct. Movement attracts the eye, so your blinking light is noticed. It is easier to judge the position of a steady state light.
For a motorist to pick out your tail light, particularly, from a sea of noise is very difficult. The surface area of the light is ...
16
There is some interesting research here (pp 56-60), in amongst some decent comparisons of methodologies, they suggest that reflective material on the major joints makes the real difference in having cyclists being identifiable and identified. The thinking, as I understand it, is that lights are just lights and could be on (more or less) anything but ...
9
The main advantage, in my view, is that you can more easily add/remove battery-powered lights.
Why this may be desirable:
Theft resilience. I take my lights off the bike and carry them with me if I'm parking my bike outdoors for longer than a few minutes. Caveats: This can be more of a downside than a benefit, depending on your situation. (I can't imagine ...
8
As well as getting a powerful set of front lights on your bike, get yourself a good head torch (or helmet light). You wish to light what you are trying to look at that may not be in the same direction your front wheel is pointing.
Combining two front lights so you have a wide beam and a long beam can work well. By using two lights you have a backup when ...
8
Helmet lights are good. Usually in addition to one on the handlebars.
The pro of the helmet light is that you can light up things that are not directly infront of you. The pro of having an additional light is that it increases the chance of being seen and adds extra illumination for you.
The con is that if you are looking to the side and a car is ...
7
Cheaper, easy to fit, more widely available - and don't take any effort!
Probably most people's memory is of the side wheel dynamo systems when they were a kid that wore away tires, put out a feeble light and turned off when you stopped.
7
There are a few terms bandied about that have significance. Watts, Lumens and Candlepower (Candela). In my experience lumens has the most significance in that it typically reveals, generally speaking, how bright the light is going to be. What it doesn't refer to is what type of beam pattern it will have, how bright it will be at the centre as compared to the ...
7
What the code is saying is that your headlight has to be visible on the sides. That's why most modern bicycle headlights have those little clear plastic channels on the side for the light to seep through and be seen from the side. ( The idea isn't to blind people GordonM )
Maybe it really reaches 300 feet, maybe it doesn't, the traffic police probably ...
6
i have been using the Supernova e3 Triple for night-time singletrack missions for the past two winters.....all I can say is awesome, completely awesome. 870 Lumens. bright.
I used a Shimano Alfine dynamo hub and built a complete 'night wheel' with a DT 4.2d rim, it has rubber and a rotor mounted so swap-over time is very quick. We have months of mud, ice ...
5
If you're just riding city streets, with street lights, you aren't going to need much in terms of illumination. More likely you will need a light that is bright enough so that The other drivers can see you. I picked up a 7-LED head lamp light from my local dollar store for $2, and mounted it to my handle bars. You can get a second one and mount it to your ...
5
The Dinotte series of lights is great, and I love mine. I can get almost 2 hours out of my 200L on high mode. It meets all of your requirements, except for the one about bumpy/gravel roads -- if you mean by that something durable, then it meets all your requirements.
Dinotte 200L headlight and battery mounted on my helmet.
5
I would go with a helmet mounted light, as this meets your swapable requirement, and if you're riding at night, you should always be wearing a helmet anyway.
As for the light itself, a name brand light from a bike or specialty manufacturer (Bontrager, Light & Motion, etc, etc) LED lamp should give you the best bang for your buck. Also don't forget a red ...
5
You should fully charge the battery after every use.
Ignore outdated concerns about early NiCad batteries that exhibited a 'memory effect' when discharged repeatedly to the same Depth of Discharge (DOD)/ State of Charge (SOC).
Almost all secondary (rechargeable) batteries will benefit from regular, complete charging. The less you discharge a battery, the ...
5
Ay Up lights
I have two sets of these lights, one on my handlebars and one on my helmet. They are:
Amazingly bright, I've never seen a brighter light
Very light - even with the light and battery on my helmet it's not uncomfortably heavy
Long lasting - The battery lasts 3-6 hours on a charge!!
Incredibly rugged - There is a lifetime guarantee on the lights
...
5
This ultimately comes down to money, however there are plenty of other factors:
Form factor - a bike light with a battery held onto the frame with velcro is a PITA to take off the bike and put back on, not what you want to be spending five minutes on whilst you pop into Tesco's for a pint (568ml) of milk.
Beam focus - LED lights have came a long way but ...
5
I think the biggest advantage of EL wire is that it would increase your side visibility. Front and real lights aren't that great for that.
On my folder, I have wheel lights installed - with the small wheels on the folder, they make a very distinct pattern, very noticeable to drivers that are otherwise likely to T-bone me.
5
I don't believe these are "better" or "worse" than other lights, rather they are a supplement to other lighting systems. I think the inventors' claims about forward and rear illumination are somewhat questionable as it won't compare to a real head/taillight of similar cost.
However, I think they would provide some improvements in side and off-angle ...
5
The best light I've seen on AA batteries is the Busch & Muller IXON IQ. It is a solid commuter light and can run on AA batteries and can run for 5 hours on high.
However, my opinion is that there are so many usb rechargable lights that are much brighter and that you would be better served with something like a cygolite metro or nightrider lumina and ...
5
The obvious places are on the basket, on the fork crown, or on the fork itself, although they may require mounting hardware or a different light altogether. Reading this may get you some ideas. Looking at the Reelight line-up may also spark your imagination.
Or you could also go with unconventional solutions like Revolights.
5
There are various extension mounts you can buy or build to reposition lights and other handlebar-mount items. I have a purchased unit that can be adjusted maybe 2" higher than the bar, and which can mount on either the bar or the stem. You can also craft something with a short piece of plastic pipe, a few screws and brackets, and some cleverness.
4
Peter White has done a lot of testing of dynamo headlights and has even put together comparisons of luminance. I have the Schmidt Edelux and love it.
3
Yes, with easy to spot 'caveats'...
On 'Critical Mass' bike rides there are all kinds of imaginative lighting setups that give individual riders individuality. We like creativity in cycling and how everyone is different. Undoubtedly these lights are cool and would be fab on a Critical Mass ride. Therefore, for that reason 'yes'.
Caveats...
LED lights are ...
3
Tyre driven dynamos can slip in rain or sleet. Hub dynamos can't slip, but do have a tiny amount of drag even when turned off. For a commuting bike, it's not enough to worry about, but on a high performance bike that you hardly ever use in the dark, with battery lights you don't have any drag from something you aren't using (and can leave them at home if you ...
3
Sorry no idea what the el wire looks like. As a driver the best features especially in town are flashing LEDs front and rear, reflective ankle bands (these work from any angle) and relflectors attached to the bike wheels.
If you have never driven, do remember that just because you can see the car does not mean the car driver can see you. Car drivers are ...
3
Reasonable cost could mean a problem depending on your budget, because a good LED light for dynamo-hubs should not be cheap.
My suggestions, based on what I've seen (at night, during some randonneur events) are:
From Busch & Müller, the IXON models. Their light is obscenely strong, reaching 100m+ with a good cutoff, thus without annoying other riders ...
3
As a rather quick solution and possible permanent fix if the look suits you, you could get a piece of plastic PVC pipe just long enough and the approximate diameter of your handlebars, and just affix the plastic PVC pipe to the front of the basket, and mount the light on the PVC tube. If the basket is the wire type, you could slot the bottom of the pipe an ...
3
It's not clear from your question whether you ride regularly a bike, but really the best way to understand the requirements for a product like this is to get on a bike and do a bunch of riding around at night.
When you do this you'll find that the visibility of signalling at night is not as big a problem as all that. First, the proper approach to making a ...
2
I'm extremely happy with my Knog Gator. It was a bit pricy, but definitely worth the money. The battery lasts about 5 hours if you have the light on full power, but it has 4 different settings to make the battery last even longer. And it takes a few seconds to swop between bikes, handle-bar mounted
2
After reading the journal article @Unsliced linked I think the answer is undoubtedly yes. Also interestingly, it's good to learn that the benefit of fluorescent, non-reflective material is apparently little more than wearing all black once the sun sets.
I'll add my 2c: IMO the best luminescence-for-the-buck is the "ansi class 2 vest" - i.e. construction ...
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