Turn signal Bike Gloves... good? bad? other?

okay, the world of Kickstarter has brought us another intriguing bike light idea. This time it is a case of integrating turn signals into bike gloves so that you can signal your turns easier. A goofy idea, maybe?? I don't know. I kinda like the way that it is very easy to actuate, and puts the light out away from center, to make it easier to notice.

Details are here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zackees/zackees-turn-signal-gloves

Personally.. most of my night riding is in the winter, and I use a variety of gloves. As such, I'd like something that I could slip over big or small gloves. Also, I just like making own stuff (it keeps me out of trouble), so I'm kicking around ideas based on an elasticized wrist strap or some such thing.

Anyway, what do you think? Are there ways to improve on the idea? What would you build or buy?

From late fall until early spring I ride with reflective straps around my sleeves. I even have loops on my sleeves to keep the straps in place. When I have the choice of simple effective no-maintenance solution, I generally go with the simple. In my observations of pedestrians in the evening, their reflective elements often work better than attached LEDs. The advantage of the Kickstarter proposition is though in the pulsating light for which the period can match that of car signal lights, yielding immediate association.

Steve K said:

Anyway, what do you think? Are there ways to improve on the idea? What would you build or buy?

Click to expand...

A small disembodied light at that height, with no clear connection to the rider, will not necessarily be recognized as a turn signal. For an actual self-lighted turn signal, an illuminated sleeve would work much better.

I sometimes apply iron-on reflective material full-length down my riding jacket sleeves and the back of my gloves for a similar effect, but of course that's only effective when the viewer has lights ON and aimed at me. But when those conditions are met, it's clear "oh, that guy just extended his arm to point left," rather than "huh, a small light (or reflective strap) just appeared to the left of that bike rider."

LED gloves is a good design, I like this.

picture:

http://www.self.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bike-Gloves-With-LED-Turning-Device-Main.jpg

Image tags removed see Rule #3 Do not Hot Link images. Please host on an image site, Imageshack or similar and repost, Spam link deleted – Thanks Norm

boy... you can tell that winter has hit the northern hemisphere and the days are very short! The bike light threads are relatively busy again.

Just this morning, I was thinking about LEDs for the bike gloves again. I'm working on making some reflective bands to wrap around my heavy gloves, and wondering how hard it would be to add a small battery and LEDs. Adding LEDs wouldn't be as hard as actually finding time to work on it... <sigh>