Lost a lumen duel tonight

[Stress_Test]

Wasn't exactly a fair fight though!

I was out running just after nightfall. I took my Fenix L1D with me and set it on turbo, and held it cigar-style in my hand so that as I ran the beam would swing back and forth from my feet to about 25 ft out in front of me. This was mainly to let the oncoming cars know that I was there (I wasn't shining it at the cars though :nono: )

Anyway, I saw this one pickup truck coming (30mph zone btw) and I moved over into the drain gutter to give plenty of room. I saw him slow down, then he turned on his high beams!! (ack! OWNED)

Just to be on the safe side I jumped further left onto the edge of a yard as the truck went by, but he just went on with no further notice fortunately.

Afterwards I started to wonder why he turned on the high beams and I think it could have been one of three things:

1) he was pissed that my light was shining at him and he decided to give me a taste of my own medicine! lol

2) he just wanted to **** with me

3) he was wondering what the heck was the bright bobbing light off in the distance coming towards him, and he turned on the high beams to see better

Because there wasn't any profanity or road rage involved, I'm guessing it was basically #3, and he was having a "WTF is that??" moment


So in case any of you were wondering, a 100 lumen light is plenty bright to shake up the locals! haha

Good thing I wasn't carrying a TK10 or something like that -- there would have been a flood of 911 calls and UFO reports!

 

[Sgt. LED]

OK load up a killer mag mod and head back for round 2.
:tinfoil: It's not over till you say it's over!

 

[StarHalo]

+1 for Mag mod, this is why I carry my TLE-300 Mag to the mailbox - you'll need more than car high beams to outshine me :devil:

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

My bike has been in the garage needing new tires, so for the past month, I've been mostly commuting to grad school on foot. On the way home, I carry my Guider in one hand, swinging my arm up and down. It lights the way for me and lets oncoming cars know "There is someone here who does not want to get turned into fresh roadkill." I do not hold it in their face; I just swing up and down.

Every now and then, I'll catch a car/truck's attention from way off, and instead of just flicking their high beam's once or twice to either:

a) see what I am, or,

b) see where I am


they leave them on in my face! I can understand curiousity, but there is never a reason to blind someone.

 

[ltiu]

If you are interested in safety, wear some reflectorized arm and ankle bands.

 

[greenLED]

If you are interested in safety, wear some reflectorized arm and ankle bands.

Get an Amphipod reflective vest, it's the best (pardon the pun).

 

[StarHalo]

I carry my Guider in one hand, swinging my arm up and down.

The key is to have light at both ends, as my TLE-300 Mag does :thumbsup:

 

[GLOCK18]

Whats the red thing on top?

The key is to have light at both ends, as my TLE-300 Mag does :thumbsup:

 

[Illum]

Generally I've had similar experiences...its best to point your light at the tires of the car to let it know your on the road...whenever I do my night jogs with the L0D-CE hanging from behind with the strobe on...usually a coming vehicles at first sight would light the high beams....

so yeah, in a way it could be of annoyance, or reassurance...or simply dampening his focus on attention to the road [or maybe he/shes a cpfer who happened to be reminded by you that he/she needs to buy him/herself one :nana:]

 

[GPB]

For some reason, normally intelligent and considerate people, who would never shine their high beams at an oncoming car, think nothing of blinding a pedestrian, jogger or biker. I frequently jog on a dark country road and very often have people shine their high beams right at me. It screws up my night vision for the remainder of my run !!! I have come to the conclusion that these are people who never venture outside on foot ( or pedal ) and just haven't considered that oncoming high beams are a nuisance for non-drivers as well as drivers. If I am on a long straightaway I will flip my flashlight up very quickly as a reminder and some people get it and some don't. Its hard to resist the temptation to just shine it right in their eyes as they drive past but that doesn't do anygood. Now that it's a little cooler I wear a baseball cap and I can just tilt my head down so the visor blocks it all out.

 

[Stress_Test]

Could do the reflective clothing thing, but I need something that produces light and not just reflects it The light flicking back and forth over the pavement lets me know if any bad patches are coming up.

I really wasn't "blinded" by his headlights. I wasn't looking at them in the first place; I was pointing my light down at where I was jumping to, and didn't have any trouble seeing.

And of course, the LAST thing I would want to do is to try and blind HIM, because I didn't want him to swerve or something and run me over!

I did miss my chance though -- I could've switched back to "low" light two cars passing on a highway! lol

 

[Patriot]

Sometimes when walking with an HID light the drivers slow down to a crawl just to see what the heck is going on. In the end they discover it's just a guy with a light and not an aircraft trying to land.

 

[BlueBeam22]

Sometimes when walking with an HID light the drivers slow down to a crawl just to see what the heck is going on. In the end they discover it's just a guy with a light and not an aircraft trying to land.

I have experienced that a lot also. I always walk with my POB and cars will slow down at the sight of either the beam in the sky or it lighting up the landscape with many times the brightness and intensity of a vehicle's high beams:laughing: (I am always careful to keep it pointing away from the drivers so the spill doesn't get in their eyes).

Once I was walking on the quiet dark country road across the street which only has 1 car drive through every 30 minutes or so, and I was lighting up trees 1/2 a mile away with my POB, and then a car stopped near me for about 1 minute and the driver was staring at the POB's beam like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

 

[StarHalo]

Whats the red thing on top?

It's a Glo-Toob Flash-Cap, a tailcap LED light/beacon. See it here: http://www.flash-cap.com/main.html
and see my review here: http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showpost.php?p=2170942&postcount=15

 

[Sgt. LED]

It's a real shame they don't make a C version.

 

[CostcoAAcells]

If I were driving along and saw a running pedestrian on the road, and if it caught me completely by surprise, I would probably 1) slow down immediately and 2)turn on my high beams to make sure there aren't more of them that I might accidentally hit or run over.

I can kind of understand why a driver might want to use a highbeam on a pedestrain--to make sure there aren't more of them so that he might not accidentally kill them.
And course, there's always the possiblilty the driver is just being a jerk and is enjoying the pain he thinks he's causing on the pedestrian.

 

[PhotonBoy]

+1 on any reflective gear: vests, arm bands, etc. Cheap and effective, no risk of annoying drivers.

 

[LEDAdd1ct]

Get an Amphipod reflective vest, it's the best (pardon the pun).

Actually, I bought an Ampipod off e-Bay for 2/3rds the price on your recommendation, greenLED! :thumbsup:

 

[Illum]

Sometimes when walking with an HID light the drivers slow down to a crawl just to see what the heck is going on. In the end they discover it's just a guy with a light and not an aircraft trying to land.

:lolsign: I refrain from kicking in the high beam on my N30 while on the road, the 6 LEDs does a good job already, but once the pavement turns to dirt road [aka off road:nana:] the fun starts

 

[hangn_9]

I am looking at lights I will have the option of blasting the occupents of auto's. as a conductor I have to ride the rear of the train when backing it up. Its usually dark,rainy,snowy ect. anyway I have to get there attention in a way that says "stop or die". I dont think its rude if your trying to save their life.

Fussee's work good but they also blind me

hangn