Brightest Rear Light for Daytime Use

[Mick F]

You cannot compete with the low winter sun (at least not without doing something illegal like strobing or dazzling) so it's usually better to maximise the contrast of your silhouette by leaving the lights off.

+1

[Ellieb]

You cannot compete with the low winter sun (at least not without doing something illegal like strobing or dazzling) so it's usually better to maximise the contrast of your silhouette by leaving the lights off.

+1

How on earth did the OP manage to see these lights?

[[XAP]Bob]

More important than ‘can you see these lights’ is ‘do these lights make a difference to your safety’

To make a difference they have to be the difference between being visible from somewhat less than the motorists stopping distance (since you are moving as well) and not being visible in that range.

At 50mph stopping distance is quoted as 50m ~4s (yes, I’ve massively simplified)
At 12mph the cyclist has covered 20m in that time.
So the critical distance is 30m.

If you can’t see a person at 30m you shouldn’t be on the road. Full Stop.

[De Sisti]

I'm interested to hear what fellow members consider to be the brightest rear lights for daytime riding?

The other day I was in my car and noticed two cyclists quite a distance ahead who both had very bright identical flash patten rear lights, unfortunately they took another route before I could reach them to ask what make / model their lights were.

Dinotte Daytime 400R. Be aware, you will still have motorists skimming past your elbow
if they're deterined to get past you and into the gap ahead.

£222.53...!!

When I bought mine in Feb 2010 the price was $229 ($244 inc postage). I acquired it after one of our
CTC club members was killed after being rear-ended waiting to cross a crossroads by a guy in a Range Rover; who said he didn't see her.

I've had two car drivers say that they were impressed with its brightness, one cyclist coming up behind
me saying that it was too bright; but worrringly, you still get drivers skimming close to your elbow if
they're determined to get into a gap ahead of you.

[De Sisti]

Going through through my (cycling purchases) emails I've discovered that Dinotte refunded the postage.

I bought a second battery (double capacity) in November 2010 and only started using it last year.

[NickJP]

I have a couple of sets of See.Sense Ace lights and swear by them.

Yes, I've been pretty impressed with the See.Sense Icon+ front and rear lights that I bought a few months ago - exceptionally bright, and the battery life is excellent, as well - they lasted me through a 400km randonnée without any problem.

[mig]

i'm not convinced that any light will make a difference to being hit from behind if a driver is paying more attention to a phone/sat nav/passenger than the road ahead. instances of drivers not 'seeing' a thousand sets of brake lights from a motorway carriage coming to a stop ahead and yet still ploughing into the back of them!

looks ahead 100 yards......look at that light on that bike......that's bright!.......drives on......now what did that text say?........oh burgers for tea....

[mjr]

You cannot compete with the low winter sun (at least not without doing something illegal like strobing or dazzling) so it's usually better to maximise the contrast of your silhouette by leaving the lights off.

+1

How on earth did the OP manage to see these lights?

By looking? Cube Rider would probably have seen the riders in plenty of time anyway, being a careful driver.

When I bought mine in Feb 2010 the price was $229 ($244 inc postage). I acquired it after one of our
CTC club members was killed after being rear-ended waiting to cross a crossroads by a guy in a Range Rover; who said he didn't see her.

Possibly true but the root cause was probably that his eyesight was too poor or simply that he didn't look through the big window in front of him and no amount of light will change those things. I hope he lost his licence because it sounds pretty clear that he did not meet the required standard to drive, regardless of the root cause.