best (led) bike tail light

For the last few days I've been cycling up and down to work every day. Since the day's are getting shorter I am looking for a good tail light for my bike.

I currently only have a standard stock light on it, and the cars are passing my very close, so I'm looking for something to keep them at a distance.

I've done some research, and came up with these:


nightrider tail light, costs about $50, and is extremely bright acording to some reviews. Problem is that you have to atach it to a nightrider batterypack, which you get with the (quite expensive) front light. I couldn't find a place where they sold it seperatly. I also didnt find any specs of it, so I don't know if it is possible to bild something myself and power it by AA batteries.


The powerflare

It's a interesting light, can do lots of things with it. mainly suitable for firefighters, but they say you can use it as a bike light, but I'm not sure if they provide mounting stuff for it. costs about $50

The last one I found is not a led powered one:

Lighhtman xenon strobe.
It's a light that is also used by the police, and acording to some reviews extremely bright.

So, now my question is, are there any better tail lights on the market than the ones I found? or should I just buy one of them?

the powerflare is kinda big for a bike taillight but it works great

i use a carabiner to hook it to my bike seat and this pattern should keep most cars away

They are worth a shot. Living near a college town I'm always on the lookout for people on bikes. It is *far* more common for me to catch a brief silhouette of dark against dark than to see the normal flashing red LED that are used. Usually by the time they are visible it would be to late. Even walking on a dark country road with reflective vest and blinking LEDs, the most common thing I hear is that they did not see me untill they saw the whites of my ----- legs.
That said, my new illuminite vest has slowed and in one case stopped traffic. The guy wanted to know where I had got the thing.

I woulnd't use a turbo flare as bike blinker. Not because oncoming traffic won't see it (those things are annoyingly bright and conspicuous) but because they're designed as emergency beacons and may give the wrong impression.

I used an Inova 24/7 as bike strobe for a while. Now I use the regular LED blinkies that you can get on Nashbar.com. I felt the 24/7 was being "wasted" just used as a strobe. Anyway, those blinkies are plenty bright and should be around $5-6 or so. There are some that have side-ways pointing LED's as well, just browse around. I use red pointing back, and yellow/green forward. I also have a green Digilight marker strapped on the straps of my pack, which serves as side-blinkers.

On the subject of reflective vests, Amphipod makes the most conspicuous ones. There was a review by Consumer Reports that I linked a while back - the Amphipod beat any others hands down. I always thought Illuminite was good until I saw the pics on that review. Here, I just dug the review out:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...5-reflective-vest-reflective-jacket/index.htm
You can't even see the Illuminite jacket at 220 ft, and only marginally at 50ft, and they're almost 3 times as expensive. :green:


Here's a link to the Amphipod vest they reviewed (I bought one for my bro), but browse around for the other styles:
http://amphipod.com/401-402/401.html

Ride safely! Even with all sorts of blinking paraphernalia, high intensity lights, and reflective tape all around I almost got hit by a distracted driver last winter. That's an experience I'd rather not repeat.

The best blinky light for primary batteries is the Cateye LD1000. This is what I use.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AO9VP6/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Planet bike now makes a model that seems to use a Luxeon. the Superflash Tail Light. The lux has a very narrow beam pattern though. I have not seen one in use. It would lightweight but be a bit underpowered with 2 AAAs.

I highly recommend a reflective ankle band. The up and down motion really attracts attention and imediately identifies you as a cyclist.

I've been behind someone with the xenon strobe and I thought the LED light he had was more noticeable if you were directly behind. plus it only blinks once a second. Cars can cover a lot of distance in that time.

I have a used 12v model nightrider taillight i'll sell for $20
Maybe you could splice 3 Lion batteries to it.

cave dave said:

The best blinky light for primary batteries is the Cateye LD1000. This is what I use.
http://www.amazon.com/Cateye-Power-Opticube-Taillight-TL-LD1000/dp/B000AO9VP6
...
I highly recommend a reflective ankle band. The up and down motion really attracts attention and imediately identifies you as a cyclist.

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Here's the small LED blinkers I use, and this is what a friend has (I think it's better).

I wear pants with a 1" 3M reflective strip along the legs (outer side), and a 1/2" strip on the back (vertically on the calf). I also added loads of 3M reflective trim to my jacket.

Ditto on the Mars. The mounting system is crap, though; you have to tape it to keep the clip from pulling out of the holder. The triangular Blackburn (name?) is better for racks; it actually screws on.

Blackburn is the ****:
http://www.blackburndesign.com/images/pop_mars_3.jpg

This site has some good info, including mods...
http://www.myra-simon.com/myra/bike/tips.html
http://www.myra-simon.com/myra/bike/vistalite.html

Cateye and vistalite seem to be good choices...
http://cateye.com/en/product_listing/57

Yeah, I'd have to agree with most of the posters here...a simple 2xAA (or even 2xAAA) "blinkie" light plus some reflective bands on the heels/ankles should do you just fine. Anything too different might lead to you being recognized as something other than a bicyclist!

greenLED said:

Here's the small LED blinkers I use, and this is what a friend has (I think it's better).

I wear pants with a 1" 3M reflective strip along the legs (outer side), and a 1/2" strip on the back (vertically on the calf). I also added loads of 3M reflective trim to my jacket.

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I've worn and seen the "small LED blinker". Not impressed with what I've seen and people have not noticed it on me.
Especially in typical small town situations where street lights tend to be far apart they just don't show up until it would have been to late. I've seen the biker before the lights probably 80% or more of the time.

We have 3M on most of our gear and the guy I mentioned before was a firefighter who has not been happy with it's properties. Not that *anything* makes us or the engine visible when there is an accident to gawk at.
The little hand held signs with STOP on them seem to mean Steer Towards Our Position.

greenLED said:

You can't even see the Illuminite jacket at 220 ft, and only marginally at 50ft, and they're almost 3 times as expensive. :green:

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That's curious. I had a big truck hit his brakes when I rounded a corner wearing illuminite and he was about 1/10 th of a mile away when he first saw me. Google Earth says the guy that stopped to talk to me was 330 feet away when he first saw me and was very impressed with the brightness.
...
I just took a short walk. My car is in teh dark and I'm under a street light. At about 160 feet my ModaMag, which is more of a flood, than a thrower lights up the illuminite brightly. I can see the reflective material on the orange vest beside it but no reflection. The orange vest is slightly more visible than the car the material is hung on.

I've been lurking on this group for a few weeks, and finally have something to say. It is a very interesting group and I look forward to learning more.

I have been using blinkies for years, first with a little 9v incandescent "Belt Beacon" thirty years ago. I just discovered and bought and happily use the best bicycle tail light I have ever seen: the Dinotte tail light. This little jewel uses a 3W Luxeon, red, with constant and flash modes. Runs on 4AA or a two cell Lithium ion battery. The Dinotte has really great throw and an excellent spillbeam. Nothing else I have ever used even comes close. Nothing! Nothing!! I have mounted it on my helmet and ride before dawn and after sunset, and I have complete confidence that automobile drivers behind me know I'm there. It is great!!! But don't take my word for it; check these links and do a search of your own. (the first link contains user reviews, including my own).
http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Lights/product_127192.shtml and http://www.dinottelighting.com . It is a little pricey at 129.00, street price 119.00, I bought mine at www.westernbikeworks.com, worth the bucks. BTW, I bought the Niterider tail light pictured in the first post and found it to be fairly bright but very narrowly focused and unidirectional. And it is not nearly as bright as the Dinotte. Not even close.

Dinotte claims 140 lumens, which is what I have seen claimed for the red 3W Luxeon. If I had confidence to swap leds, I would try the Luxeon 3W red/orange at 190 lumens. Not that this light needs more, believe me. But I'm sure I don't need to explain to this group why it is so tempting! Problem is, I don't know jack about removing and replacing leds, and would like to start with something less expensive. I did buy the Diamond 3w Maglite replacement in red/orange, and it is very red.

osalsa said:

Nothing! Nothing!! I have mounted it on my helmet and ride before dawn and after sunset, and I have complete confidence that automobile drivers behind me know I'm there.

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I used to drive an amblance with big bright blinking lights all over it.
One night, sitting in the the southbound lane in front of a hospital under street lights, with all those big bright blinking lights on I watched a car in the northbound lane for over a block. I waited until his open window was in front of my vehicle before hitting the siren (no wind up on electronic sirens). That was when he noticed me.

But I'm sure the motorcycle riders here will tell you how noticable you are, day or night, lights or not.

Wow, check out this weird animal

Mike Painter said:

That's curious. I had a big truck hit his brakes when I rounded a corner wearing illuminite and he was about 1/10 th of a mile away when he first saw me. Google Earth says the guy that stopped to talk to me was 330 feet away when he first saw me and was very impressed with the brightness.

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I'm just describing what the pics on the Consumer Reports webpage show. Did you have any other type of marker on you (blinkers, reflective trim on your bike, etc.)?

While the reputation and quality of Dinotte lights is unquestionable, I have not yet invested to that level for my riding. I use reflective armbands. While I have not yet affixed this tape to my bike, I have the same type of alternating red & white reflective tape that you see on the rear of semi tractor trailers. This is currently affixed to my bike rack that mounts in the trailer hitch receiver.

I use two $10 (?) red taillights that are attached to my seatpost -- one clamp mounted above the other. If the line of the top tube of the bike frame is aligned North for my explanation, then my 5-wide red LED lights are fixed in (roughly) SSE and SSW positions to get the attention of cars approaching at angles --- not only directly behind me.

Similar to this (this product used as example only) :

Lighhtman xenon strobe. I have a few of these in various colors there verry bright & noticable but I wish the flash rate was a little faster but you could run 2 on the back of the bike

Lucero said:

While the reputation and quality of Dinotte lights is unquestionable, I have not yet invested to that level for my riding. ...

...my 5-wide red LED lights are fixed in (roughly) SSE and SSW positions to get the attention of cars approaching at angles --- not only directly behind me.

Click to expand...

:lolsign: Yeah, I'm not quite there yet. In fact, I think I'd rather build something myself with a red Lux. (hmmm... there's another project I'll never finish)


That's a great idea with the angled blinkers! I think I'll do that too.

greenLED said:

I'm just describing what the pics on the Consumer Reports webpage show. Did you have any other type of marker on you (blinkers, reflective trim on your bike, etc.)?

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No. I've been walking this route for years and with the suspender type vest I had a friend sew, I'm aware for the first time that cars are responding to me from a distance.

I just hung them on my garbage can and drove down the street. From about a tenth of a (google) mile I can see them clearly and can't see the trash can. (And if you get asked you know nothing about the guy driving on the wrong side of the road. It's a small town and it's after midnight.)

They are not bright like a reflector but show up clearly as white objects.
I was not aware they had any color reflector other than white as shown in the pictures.