Inexpensive bike saftey light options?

[Tree]

Hi all,

My wife and I have been riding bikes with our 2 year old son in the evenings and I wanted to get some saftey lights (LED of course /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif), any reccomendations? I saw this for the front and this for the rear on ebay. I don't need a powerful light in front for illuminatoin as we are only riding on the street at a slow pace, but some light in the front would be nice for the areas without streetlights.

Any thoughts?

Edit:
I saw these cheapie lights on ebay, but couldn't bring myself to buy them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Also, I saw this for the front and this for the rear at Brightguy.

Edit again: Rechargeable or lithium batteries would be a plus since it would only see intermittent use.
Here's another cheap set.

 

[Stanley]

I would recommend something like the Glo Toob FX for rear lights (in red of course), as I find that the cpntinuous blink function catches attention of drivers (or anyone) very easily, and its quite glaring too... For front maybe you wanna look at some of the cheaper Cateyes, which may not be the best in terms of illumination but at least its cheap and you can mount it on the handlebar with little or no hassles.

 

[Lurker]

CatEye and VistaLite brands are both excellent and will meet your needs. Alkaline batteries will last a looong time, so don't bother with rechargeables. Look for one that has both the LEDs and the reflective surfaces so they will look even brighter when car headlights strike them (and also work if you forget to turn them on or run out of battery power). Get something designed specifically for cycling and don't scrimp. The good stuff is not that much more money and may save your life. When it comes to car/bicycle collisions, you probably only get one. Good luck and ride safely.

 

[greenLED]

flashing lights are more visible (draw more attention) if you're riding at night.

 

[hank]

Reflector tape and, with some searching, reflector fabric -- the stuff that goes on safety vests -- is a LOT more visible than any kind of small electric light, from the point of view of a driver whose headlights are pointed in your direction.

The difference is enormous. My approach has been to put the reflector tape all over bike frame and flat surfaces of carrier and sew big strips of the reflector cloth to outseams of pants and shirt and around the helmet and chinstrap.

The result is a brilliant white bicycle and rider that is unmistakable in the headlights -- which also has some little red bits of bright light here and there.

If the driver is _trying_ to scare or kill you, this is not a good outfit to be wearing, and yes, that happens -- stealth is safer on rural roads at night.

But for fairly well occupied city streets, be brilliant.

 

[Velcro]

[ QUOTE ]
Tree said:My wife and I have been riding bikes with our 2 year old son in the evenings and I wanted to get some saftey lights (LED of course /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif), any reccomendations?

[/ QUOTE ]

So you need three frontlights and three taillights. I own all the lights you mentioned, let me tell you:

[ QUOTE ]
I saw this for the front and this for the rear on ebay.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a good light at a good price. It uses 2 AA batteries, has white LED's and the lens also acts as a reflector. I dunno about the 'Schwinn' taillight, there are better taillights available. Vistalite makes a very nice taillight that would go great along with that frontlight. No Quick-Release on them though (if that matters). Costs $7.98 at www.pricepoint.com

[ QUOTE ]
Edit:
I saw these cheapie lights on ebay, but couldn't bring myself to buy them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Those are crap and will last a short time. I speak from experience. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I saw this for the front and this for the rear at Brightguy.

[/ QUOTE ]

The frontlight is nice. Although with 3 white LED's and 2 AAA batteries, runtime will be a little low. For $7 more you can have a light with 2 AA or 4 AA batteries. I wouldn't go for the rearlight. It is too expensive and uses 2 N cell batteries, which are hard to find and runtime will be less then AAA or AA.

[ QUOTE ]
Here's another cheap set.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have those and I wouldn't recommend them. They are fairly bright at first but because of the low capacity of the batteries (CR2012) the output will be fading quickly. They're more like novelty lights or to keep as spares in case something happns to your main lights. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The Vistalite Super Nebula will be the best taillight at that price. If you buy it, make sure it is the 5 LED model and not the 3 LED. I'll see if I can find a reasonably cheap frontlight online somewhere (I regularly browse such sites anyway).

 

[BentHeadTX]

I just picked up a Cateye 10 LED rear flasher (6 facing to the rear and two to each side). It has two rows of lights so they can be run together at different timings which makes it more disturbing.

I feed it two lithium AA batteries for loooong run time, works better in cold weather and stays much brighter over the life of the batteries. It costs $30.

My wife uses an $8 Bell she picked up at Wal-Mart. It uses 5 red LEDs and a reflector and is very bright on the two lithium AA batteries.

Since I ride all the time, my front light is a modified minimag running a high grade (R2H) Luxeon at 500mA (1.65 watts). Custom built a mount to attach to my helmet and can see at 16MPH in pure darkness. Drivers notice that brilliant white light when it moves around easily.

The rest of my family has 3 white LED lights (Sigma?) that run on two AA batteries. Pretty worthless to see were you are going but very noticable to other drivers. They ran $20 a pop at the local bike shop.

If Proton puts out their 60 lumen single AA cell, single LED light in June...I will get some for my wife and kids helmets to actually see with. One can hope!

 

[Mike Painter]

Most of the lights mentioned are not likely to be seen very well on city streets. On dark country roads I've worn vests, steady lights, and lights that blink. We didn't see you until we were right on top of you and saw your legs was theh most common comment (I know the people in the area.)
I finally stopped wearing anything and just carried something fairly bright that I could turn on if there was a problem. The sudden appearance of a light seems most effective.

There are some vests and jackets
Illuminite that look interesting but Don't depend on the lights to be seen.

 

[Tree]

Thanks everyone! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

Reflector tape is a good idea I might use that on the back of the seat my son sits in to help reinforce the plastic reflector back there. Thanks for the personal insight on thos specific lights Velcro.

 

[Tigerotor77W]

I think an amazing light for the front is a zéfal hf635... I have two and they are great. Very bright and they feature a quick release. I bought mine from a bike shop... not sure where else they're available.

 

[Tree]

I wound up buying a Bell Night Trail set from Wal-Mart. Did some riding in the evening and it worked great for what I needed. It installs easy and the LED's in front light up just enough to see where you are going. The incandescent has a horrible beam, but it's pr based so maybe I can replace it with an Everled eventually. The front light uses 4 AA and the rear 2 AAA. I keep the LED only on the front and the rear blinks so the batteries should last a good long time.

I'll post beamshots and maybe even a short movie later this evening if I get the chance.