Blindingly bright rear light

[dalifnei]

I was behind a bike tonight, and he had a blindingly bright rear light. I always thought it would be a good idea to have a very bright light (I currently have 4 fairly bright rear lights!) but being behind this super bright one was awful!

It was totally blinding, and worse impaired my vision. No chance of seeing the state of the road or all of the traffic. It forced me to drop right back.

I'm really surprised and will stick to what I have!!

[thirdcrank]

I don't remember if you ever mentioned which bit of Scotland you hail from but we used to have an active member called Edinburgh Fixed. There's a bit of a debate on here between me and him about the benefits or otherwise of his home-made powerful rear lamp.

I was doing Grandad's taxi duty the other evening, and I ended up stuck in traffic behind a large teutonic exec auto with vast arrays of LED's on the back, which looked like original equipment. The driver was using the foot brake instead of the handbrake and the effect was very uncomfortable.

[dazza500]

I've got a Cree T6 hesd torch and is far too bright for Road cycling.
Off road another matter it illuminates the path at least 400m in a very
Natural white light in front of me.

[dazza500]

Its rated about 1800lumens but I think this is definitely on the conservative side!

[Cunobelin]

It is down to positioning, and unfortunately rear lights are not particularly flexible.

I use ultra bright rear lights (Dinotte 400 x 2) but they are angled down

I have taken an old piece of tube, and fitted to the rack using a set of brake washers. This allows me to angle the beam down and avoid ths issue

Other cyclists have commented on the brightness, but in a complimentary way

The brightest rear light available in the UK at the moment is (I think) the MagicShine

[irc]

Past a certain point I think bright rear lights add nothing for safety and make it awkward for following cyclists. a pair of lights like the Cateye Ld600, LD610, or the Smart 1/2W lights etc are ample for being seen from a distance. I still see more cyclists without adequate lights though than overbright lights. Rucsac mounted lights pointing nowhere near direcly back are common along with barely visible lights perhaps from a combination of low battery (only one rear light used) and mud on the lense from not using mudguards.

[dazza500]

I use a pound shop five led rear light. It is very bright in flashing mode but not bright enough to blind.
Highly recommended, very waterproof and only £1!

[dazza500]

And three months out of a single set of AAA so far.

[meic]

The Poundland LED is bright, very bright and certainly adequate for the job.

However the things being talked about here like the Dinotte are many times brighter, often referred to as "weapons class" lighting and not much like what most people think of as a cycle light.

[Mistik-ka]

I use a flashing Dinotte on roads — especially busy ones — that I share with motor vehicles during the day. I use a smaller blink-and-steady led taillight at night (if I must ride at night, though I prefer not to. On bike or shared paths I turn the Dinotte off. This question is quite sincere: is this an inconsiderate policy?

[LondonBikeCommuter]

What in terms of lumens is 'too much' for a rear light? Am currently using an Exposure Blaze rated at 80 lumens.

[Rob Archer]

I was giving serious consideration to getting one of these 'super-bright' rear lights recently. That is, until I rode the Dunwich Dynamo in July. Being stuck behind a couple of these for just a few minutes is extremely unpleasant and I tried to overtake or drop back as quickly as possible. They really do affect your night vision. The basic (probably a lot of them pound-shop jobs) were just as visible even at a distance.

I'll stick with my £10 Cateye (not sure what model it is. I've had it years.

[irc]

I use a flashing Dinotte on roads — especially busy ones — that I share with motor vehicles during the day. I use a smaller blink-and-steady led taillight at night (if I must ride at night, though I prefer not to. On bike or shared paths I turn the Dinotte off. This question is quite sincere: is this an inconsiderate policy?

Sounds reasonable. Superbright for daytime sensiblebright at night.

[sore thumb]

Exposure have made a new rear led light called tracer. Same power as the blaze but half the price. Same as old rear led they made but this one has a internal battery and the optics seem much better. Fantastic reliable light off the price.

[dazza500]

I stick with my pound shop light. It's easy bright enough and we v don't want to give
Professional cyclist bashers any more ammunition re over bright lights.