Brightest self contained AA light recommands/suggestions please.

[Zero_Enigma]

My sister came back last week and we went for a mini night ride ~4km just to test out my lighting with her as she was using one of my bikes while she was here. I'm kinda of a safety freak in a way and she's more of a minimalist and as always with most girls.... styley >.<;

She was going out for a 14km ride on our hilly terrain to midtown and I was concerned about her safety as she may come back at dusk/night and because as a driver I know lots of distractions in the car as with enviromental haze/lighting/backgrounds can blend a cyclist into the road/background so I gave her my PB Superflash and told her to turn it on to flash mode during the day while riding. I equipped her with a PB 1/2W Blaze for 180 degree strobe, a NiteHawk 1W light which has proven very reliable being commercial made but low power, and added some black reflective tape to the back of my helmet which I gave to her to use.

Now the PB Superflash is easy to take off and mount on as with the PB 1/2W Blaze as they are self contained but the NiteHawk has a long wire as it is more for helmet/bar use thus the battery pack.

I'm looking for bright solutions as she is wanting to ride more to keep fit but cost is also a factor. I want the brightest and reasonably lightweight to size factor light as she has to remove the components when she rides. I'm trying to get her more into night riding but well she being a M.D on call we have our frictions over the night riding being unsafe as she's mostly a driver and sees the issues I see which many riders don't have lighting at night and views of it being unsafe. I could have given her my Dinotte tail light but I'm also afraid she'll lose it because of all the cables and such.

I'll have o bug her to take a photo of her bike so I can see how it looks like. I don't think she has a bike rack and no we're not living close. She's out in the cowtown out west of me. If she had a rack my options open up a bit more and try and fix a semi-permenant reflector/tailight to the back of her rack and drop 2xAA in and you're covered at night by turning it on and if powers out you still have the protection of the reflector.

Currently she is equipped with a PB Superflash and MEC 1W (yes I know sans 180 coverage and cost of 4xAAA but at the time it was the best I had to give her)

My thinking is max 3 items for her to put in her purse/bag off the bike. 1. tail light 2. blinky 3. headlight (also open to this with a blinky option)


She's not as serious a rider as I am trying to ride everywhere then drive but still if it's lightweight it makes it more appealing to carry off the bike and with you hoping to simulate her to ride more.

Oh yes.. provide links to your recomends/suggestions. Once again .. self contained units please. AA (prefer) or AAA so if for some reason she's out of power she can still get the cells locally at a corner store.

Thanks in advance.

 

[herulach]

My Commuting set up is the Smart B-Spoke kit. IIRC thats the UK version of Planetbikes Superflash kit, it has a 1/2w front lamp; superflash on the back. The kit is reasonably cheap over here, so presumably is in the US as well, really can't see needing much else for commuting (although I of course use everything I have, but thats just because it's fun, not cos I need to). Supplemented with generous application of reflective tape for side visibility (rims are good if she has disc brakes), those spokey reflectors most bikes come and a cheapish blinky/solid for the back of her helmet you should be good to go I reckon. Might be worth taking her out with you to demonstrate where to ride. Over here unless you ride in the middle of the road people don't even pull out to overtake, even when you're lit up like a christmas tree being abducted by a UFO.

 

[Linger]

iirc 4seven's clearance has some dyno-powered blinking pedals. They'll always be on her bike. They 'don't count' per sey, you've still gotta get her +3 lights, this just means that when she is kitted out she'll be pretty visable.

Put these on her helmet.
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_...older_id=2534374302692895&bmUID=1252990547005

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_...older_id=2534374302692895&bmUID=1252990547005
They're made to wrap the tail end around a bar and the elastic holds when looped around the front. Two modes, constant and blinky (constant nice on keychain but useless for biking, blinking is very bright) lasts 50-75hours. On on front and one on back of helmet is fantastic because it puts the light at eye level for most suv drivers. I totally recommend the mec frog blinky.

Go with these suggestions, (pedals + 2 blinking frogs) and she'll be seen. Now get her a rominsen of a twofish block, or two tact flashlights for the handlebar, and she can see too.

L

 

[BentHeadTX]

I put an old Fenix L1D RB100 on my wife's helmet equipped with an Eneloop single AA cell. She generally does not ride at night but gets caught by fading sunlight on occasion.

The single AA light puts out around 85 lumens at the LED and is enough for her 12 MPH cruising speed. It will run over 2 hours on "turbo" with the low self discharge Eneloop rechargable AA. If the light starts to get dim, a quick rotation of the head will put it in low mode conserving energy to get home. A quick tap on the light in "turbo" mode will make it strobe which is great in rainy weather during the day.

Next month should see the release of a new XR-G Cree LED light, my hope is that Fenix/Quark etc pushes out a new single AA light that uses that LED. Figure it will put out around 130 lumens with the same runtime. You can mount the light on the helmet with a big o-ring or helmet light mounts.

A very light weight light that is always there and since it is helmet mounted, works better for riding. The light movement is also easily seen since most lighting is fixed. I am using a Fenix L2D Q5 on my helmet. The heavier/larger 2AA light puts out around 180 lumens at the LED and it will be replaced with an XR-G variant when they become available.