Car LED/flasher/hazard lights?

My wife called me tonight pretty shook up. Once I got her calmed down, she told me she had hit a deer that jumped out in front of our minivan. It's not too surprising since Missouri hunters killed something like 144,000 deer during OPENING WEEKEND of deer hunting. That's just the weekend!!

I went to pick her up since I didn't want her to drive PLUS the deer took out both headlights. She's alright and thankfully wasn't injured. The deer dragged itself into the brush to hopefully die quickly so it won't suffer. That leaves the minivan which looks pretty bad.


Anyway, it started me thinking that I should carry some sort of hazard/flasher lights in the cars for this reason. I'd like them to be LED (I think) so they would last a long time if needed.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Turboflares are pretty good! There were some sold here awhile back (I was one of the sellers, but I don't have any left for sale). I've seen them on eBay.

I'm sure there are some other alternatives (Inova 24/7, eternaLights, I do have some of these for sale).

Now that I hear Costco might be carrying the Inova 24/7 my vehicle and every vehicle of my family will be getting one for the holidays. It's a very versatile light and I think GreenLED and a couple others have taken to throwing them in the bathtub/pool/toilet to see how waterproof they are.

I lost a headlight on my 1972 Honday Motorcycle and the magentic mount and high white mode got me home safe & sound. I've never had to use the 3-color strobe mode but if you ever had to you will be seen!

Add to that a pretty bright red mode and it's about perfect. With the regular pulsing strobe I'm not sure why they have the cheesy SOS mode. If I was in the wilderness and wanted to attract someone it would be slow strobe mode and then the 3-color if I heard a plane/chopper.

A few suggestions might be:
Powerflare: http://www.powerflare.com/

This new glo-toob: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/102722&highlight=bike

Not LED but really bright: http://www.lightmanstrobes.com/xenon.htm

Another vote for Turboflares! They're bright, waterproof, easy on batteries and inexpensive.

Has anyone done a side by side comparison of Turboflare and Powerflare? Looks like the Turboflare is about half the price?

Any other suggestions?

Wow, glad your wife is ok. Bummer about the car. I've hit one at 70mph in my car before. I got it back together though. I'm seeing so many deer in town right now even. On the east side of town if you ever go out that way, I see about 10 on the side of the road, and sometimes there will be one or two just standing in the middle of the road and won't get out of your way!! And my dad has told me he sees about 2 killed on the side of the highway every day he drives it to work. The hunters have a lot of work to do!!

I used to carry a highway patrol flare in my car. It has a nail so you strike it and jam it into the asphalt. It of course doesn't use batteries, so you don't have to worry about it being dead when you need it. I don't remember who I got it from though... IIRC it was expired but should still work and was a freebie. After striking it though you need to be careful not to let the hot slag drip on you of course.

I have a 24/7 in my car - the strobe is bright and will do it's job of alerting oncoming traffic. That said, I've been eyeing the TurboFlares for a long time (I should just get it over with and buy a couple). I got to play with the PowerFlares at SHOT Show, and they are built like tanks! Those things are super tough and almost entirely covered by a rubbery material. They're twice as expensive as the TurboFlares too.

Sig, you should organize a GB for the TurboFlares.

greenLED said:

Sig, you should organize a GB for the TurboFlares.

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I think my source was more of a "one time opportunity" that allowed me a "couple extra opportunities" and now the supply seems to have dried up! I'll keep my eyes open though...

I guess you could use these as an economic alternative. The magnetics on the clips will allow them to be attached to the car and they have strobe feature https://edcdepot.com/merchantmanager/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=92

I used to live out in the Northwestern part of NJ where they had a major deer problem. 25 years only one accident and I wasn't driving. It's a very scary experience because they seem to come out of nowhere. Probably the only thing I don't miss about living in the country.

Sharpdogs said:

I guess you could use these as an economic alternative.

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I have one of those; IMO, not nearly bright/consipicuous enough to give any significant warning to oncoming traffic.

Nothing better and simpler than a reflective warning triangle. The reflected head lights from the oncoming car is far more powerful than a few flashing LED's, and can be seen from further away. If you are going to use the LED flares, you need quite a few and place them quite far away from your car to be effective.

I just triple-checked with the TurboFlare people: lithium AA's are safe to use in the TurboFlares.

A TurboFlare Group buy would be handy right about now!


Hadn't thought about the reflective triangle...guess I just wanted the extra gadget!

dchao said:

Nothing better and simpler than a reflective warning triangle. The reflected head lights from the oncoming car is far more powerful than a few flashing LED's, and can be seen from further away. If you are going to use the LED flares, you need quite a few and place them quite far away from your car to be effective.

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You know, I've been thinking about this, and I'm not 100% convinced the triangles are superior. True, their reflective properties are good (based on how I see reflections from street signs 3-4 blocks away just by using my bike light -a GL3), but:

1. Plastic reflectors are not the same as reflective street signs, and
2. they are "passive" markers (ie. they don't flash, and they're most reflective when light is shone directly at them)

From the two ideas listed above, I think the "passive vs. active" nature of these markers may make a huge difference. I notice flashing LED bike lights farther away than what my bike light can illuminate (probably 6-8 blocks). I'm not sure if this is because the LED's are brighter than a reflective surface (such as the triangle), because of their "active" nature (the flashing color), or a combination of both? Or, maybe it's the conditions where I'm perceiving the LED's and the reflective surfaces (at night, semi-urban area with street lighting in some parts).

It'd be neat if someone placed some emergency triangles alongside LED flashers and did a direct comparison.

BugLightGeek said:

A TurboFlare Group buy would be handy right about now!


Hadn't thought about the reflective triangle...guess I just wanted the extra gadget!

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I have been thinking about getting the reflective triangles; but after reading the comments, TurboFlare seems like a better choice. Thanks ^^

I might be buying a case of (5) Turboflare 2-packs and would consider selling 3 of the 2-packs if anyone was interested.

I'm not sure on a fair price so I was thinking $23 for (1) 2-pack, shipped CONUS.
Anyone interested?

BugLightGeek said:

I might be buying a case of (5) Turboflare 2-packs and would consider selling 3 of the 2-packs if anyone was interested.

I'm not sure on a fair price so I was thinking $23 for (1) 2-pack, shipped CONUS.
Anyone interested?

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Count me in.

BugLightGeek said:

My wife called me tonight pretty shook up. Once I got her calmed down, she told me she had hit a deer that jumped out in front of our minivan. It's not too surprising since Missouri hunters killed something like 144,000 deer during OPENING WEEKEND of deer hunting. That's just the weekend!!

I went to pick her up since I didn't want her to drive PLUS the deer took out both headlights. She's alright and thankfully wasn't injured. The deer dragged itself into the brush to hopefully die quickly so it won't suffer. That leaves the minivan which looks pretty bad.


Anyway, it started me thinking that I should carry some sort of hazard/flasher lights in the cars for this reason. I'd like them to be LED (I think) so they would last a long time if needed.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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Take a look at a cycle store, some of the newer rear cycle lights are pretty nifty, LEDs, BRIGHT, long runtime, funky flash patterns, all you need to do is make a simple mounting thing to attach them to (most come with a fitting to clamp to a cycle seat tube).