Comments on: The Best Bicycle Taillights of 2013

By: Jon Clay

Jon Clay — Mon, 11 May 2015 20:44:00 +0000

Using a Yamaha VStar 650 to ride when I can with Patriot Guard. Preparing to do a Funeral Escort they ask for "flashers on" which the Harleys & some higher end bikes have. My 2002 bike does not. Have 2 Solas 2-watt flashing red strobes for back, need 2 AMBER flashing battery powered strobes for the front. Any suggestions?

By: CyclingFool

CyclingFool — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 18:00:28 +0000

Issues with the old Planet Bike Superflash are quite annoying. The switch cover on the back of mine had cracked and part of the plastic was missing. I spent half an hour trying to jury rig some sort of DIY solution/fix. Then I remembered that Planet Bike is good about selling small replacement parts. I just ordered a new back cover complete with rubberized switch for $5 w/ free shipping. Hooray for giving new life to an old and trusted light. I do love that about Planet Bike.

That said, for a few months I've had a PDW Radbot 500 I managed to pick up for cheap. I prefer it to the Superflash, though both are decent lights. I like the Radbot's reflector and flashing patterns more, plus with the screw that's incorporated into the design, I don't have to worry about losing the business half of a PB Superflash, something that did happen with my first Superflash - sadly.

By: titanmanus

titanmanus — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 09:01:48 +0000

I had the Mars 4 and also bought one for my wife. The problem that mine is broken after 7 months. Bad design because the switch is on a PCB but this quadrant to another PCB. Every time you turn off or on is a tiny breaking mechanism. Lifetime guarantee? They refused to repair. My wife didn't use it too much but after 14 months it also broken. No more blackburn. :) Bye

By: nhinkle

nhinkle — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 18:36:52 +0000

Thanks for the comments Frank. I've since stopped using the hand-held light meter for measurements because it's difficult to get accurate, repeatable results, and the hand-held meter only measures at one point, not the total output.

If you check out my bike lights site that's superceded these blog posts, it has some more details. I'm currently arranging a collaboration with Light & Motion actually to use their integrating sphere to accurately measure the output of various lights. The data isn't up yet on the site, but hopefully will be by the end of the summer.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 18:51:38 +0000

Having currently owned several of the lights tested I have to say I disagree with the results. I own the Light & Motion Vis180 (not the Micro), Blackburn Mars 4, and Planet Bike Super Flash Turbo. According to the test results the brightest of the 3 they tested that I have should be the Blackburn Mars 4 with 13,700 followed by the PB SF Turbo at 12,000 and the least is the L & M Vis180 at 9,000, I did not see that as being the case whatsoever. When I turn all three to max settings and shine on a wall 5 feet away the VIS 180 completely overpowers the other two, and when I do it outside against my garage wall at 75 feet it's the same result with a very visible beam coming from the L & M but not so much from the others, and again shining them across the street to my neighbors house at about 200 feet away the only one that shows a red cast is the L & M! Another test I did was having all 3 lights mounted to my bike and had my wife come at me in the car from 4 blocks away, even she said the L & M was stunningly bright compared to the other two. So once I saw those results I kept the L & M instead of returning it if it had failed any of those tests.

By: nhinkle

nhinkle — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 06:02:23 +0000

Hi Dave, the newest information is posted on my dedicated site for bike light info, The Bike Light Database. I posted photos on the Serfas Thunderbolt review over there, showing how that works.

By: Dave Mansfield

Dave Mansfield — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 15:33:38 +0000

On the Thunderbolt you said that you discovered that it can be attached underneath the seat if the seat rails are spaced the right distance apart – pictures coming soon! Do you have the picture yet? I have a Thunderbolt and I'm very interested in this mounting option.

Also I have a DiNotte 140R-AA and it's very bright even in the sun. I've never seen anything close to a DiNotte. I also like the o-ring mounting I can move it from bike to bike in seconds without any cost for additional mounts.

By: Tom Perkins

Tom Perkins — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:13:35 +0000

Thank you VERY MUCH for such comprehensive help research for a novice cyclist like me.

By: Mark Kulp

Mark Kulp — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 03:15:54 +0000

A great article, and I'm glad you mentioned DiNotte lights. I do have to take exception to your statement about DiNotte: "these products are just too expensive to justify." Well, what is your life worth? $190 bucks? Mine is worth way more than $1000 bucks!

After seeing a cyclist while I was driving, because he had a BRIGHT DiNotte tail light (and I was fooling around with the radio; yeah, I know - stoopid!). I flagged him down and inquired where he got such a bright light (I didn't say I almost killed him because I was stoopid). So I bought my wife and I a DiNotte pkg of front and back lights ($800) and have had several motorists THANK ME because they SAW me and did NOT KILL ME!

The other lights are cute and cool, and fine if riding on paved trails, but if you're going to ride on a road with dumbass drivers, get THE BRIGHTEST you can get!

BTW, I do NOT work for DiNotte, have no stock (I think they're a small private company). But when (in the few instances) I find a product that outshines the rest (sorry for the pun), I will recommend them to everyone!

By: Larry in SC

Larry in SC — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 13:31:29 +0000

regarding my previous post: My tail light is a Knog Gekko, not Frog...don't know what I was thinking...maybe the excitement of groundhog day!