Does this rear light make sense?

[squeaker]

Uphill at low speed I will hug the kerb. Its all pretty obvious.

Not to me it isn't! That's a classic way of encouraging a close pass

[squeaker]

.....or just a larger evenly illuminated area (eg like a B&M linetec Topline or more so: I would prefer the entire area of that lamp to illuminated (thus lamp size increased by the area of its reflector).

Like one of these? IIRC Velovision reviewed one a few years ago (still on one of Peter's bikes, I think) but, at 4"x6" with 4 AA batteries and no simply rack mounting, not something that tempted me.

[SA_SA_SA]

Like one of these?

Its a nice size but not quite as evenly illuminated as I meant i.e. there are 18 LED dots unlike an oldfashioned car lamp with prisms/diffuser.

[mjr]

... I doubt that most drivers will take much account of the actual speed. But it does two things that I like. One is that it may help drivers (even a few!) realise that I'm not going 2 mph. The other is that it works as a brake light, getting brighter as the speed goes down. I would *love* to have a brake light. I'm quite cautious about stopping suddenly in traffic because of nearly being hit from behind a few times.

I'm not sure. I fear that some drivers will see it as a challenge to see how much they can make riders speed up by stalking them.

As for braking, http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1005/ ... -80mm.html seems a better bet but I've not nearly been hit from behind as far as I can recall, so I'm not a good reviewer.

[K.S.G.]

It would make much more sense if it were on the back and front of cars. I don't think there would be any advantage of putting one on a bike for anything other than novelty value.

[[XAP]Bob]

I'm considering EL tape as a replacement or accompaniment to my retroreflective tape.

Big, even illumination, I suspect insufficient brightness though...

And getting dynamo power might be interesting...

[squeaker]

I would *love* to have a brake light.

For a few dollars more....

[edocaster]

Not to convinced about all the gimicky bits . . but a rear lamp that size seems sensible to me.

Problem is, if you constantly do 11mph, visibility drops somewhat.

88mph would be good! But then you'd need a flux capacitor...

[mjr]

For a few dollars more....

OK, did anyone else forget after a while it was in the US and then think "they could be a lot safer if they weren't on the wrong side going around that bend?"

That light looks like it's too slow-flashing/dim in its non-braking mode to be used as your only tail light and I think going from dim/slow flash to lit up like that is a bit confusing because it's surprising. I had a similar problem watching the ladder-in-a-pickup example suddenly showing a red light - I suspect I'd spend at least a moment going "what the heck?" rather than reacting to the truck brake lights.

[SA_SA_SA]

http://gadgets.guardianoffers.co.uk/ByBrand/Ventus.html

[squeaker]

http://gadgets.guardianoffers.co.uk/ByBrand/Ventus.html

Neat (review here): I feel my wallet twitching