Blinded by the light

[Jon in Sweden]

You should see the full beams here in Sweden!

Most vehicles have supplementary LED lighting to fully light up 3-500m in front of them. This is, I believe, to give the best chance at spotting deer and moose. One of our cars has them, the other doesn't. With the one that does, it's like driving in daylight.

I reckon because the main beams are so bright, people are pretty careful to not leave them on when there is oncoming traffic. I've not had any instances of being dazzled, either on the bike or in the car.

My bike headlights are very bright though - the two together give me 2400 lumens. I always dip them for oncoming traffic.

That said, at night, there is scarcely any traffic. I did an hour last week doing hill reps on one of the main roads into our village at 21:00 and didn't see a single vehicle in that time.

But regardless, it's important to remember that the dazzling goes both ways, so ensure (as a cyclist) that you dip your beam.

[PH]

But regardless, it's important to remember that the dazzling goes both ways, so ensure (as a cyclist) that you dip your beam.

I don't know what your lights are, so this isn't a comment on them, but rather to point out that this is isn't well understood by many cyclists - Most bike lights can't be dipped enough to not dazzle and still provide adequate illumination for the rider. You can test it yourself against a wall by seeing how far away it still illuminates the ground without illuminating the wall above the lamp height. I did that with my 700 lumen Niterider, an excellent light used in conjunction with a dynamo lamp (My dipped beam), I can't remember the exact numbers, between 5 - 10 meters, which even at a modest speed is only a few seconds ahead.

[Jon in Sweden]

But regardless, it's important to remember that the dazzling goes both ways, so ensure (as a cyclist) that you dip your beam.

I don't know what your lights are, so this isn't a comment on them, but rather to point out that this is isn't well understood by many cyclists - Most bike lights can't be dipped enough to not dazzle and still provide adequate illumination for the rider. You can test it yourself against a wall by seeing how far away it still illuminates the ground without illuminating the wall above the lamp height. I did that with my 700 lumen Niterider, an excellent light used in conjunction with a dynamo lamp (My dipped beam), I can't remember the exact numbers, between 5 - 10 meters, which even at a modest speed is only a few seconds ahead.

I have a Gaciron speed 1600x and another light that I'm can't remember the brand of. Come to think of it, I might have closer to 3000 lumens as there isn't much difference between the two lights. I have two so that if one runs out of battery, the other is still there. Equally, I can run them both on a lower setting and still have lots of light.

The way I run them is to have the Gaciron (which is on a fixed handlebar mount) always dipped and the other one has an elasticated rubber mount, which is easy to manually dip (by nudging it forwards).

I don't want to be dazzled and I don't want to dazzle anyone else either