Originally Posted by
bpcyclist
How many lumens or lux are those lights, by chance? Are cars flashing their brights at you? Are peds and other cyclists complaining that your setup is too bright? Just curious. One of my Cygolites looks like it's dying and I am in the market for a new light.
Yes, I understand your point. I'm being sensitive to that. I mostly ride farm roads, which are lightly traveled. When I have on-coming traffic I'm mostly averting my own gaze to protect my own vision, which means my helmet lights are pointed at the ground in front of me. But I go through some settled areas where I could remember to turn it down. Eventually I'll replace my cheap 120 lumen handlebar light with a proper one with a proper mount, and then I'll be able to run the helmet lights at a lower level. No, I've never had lights flashed at me. I basically never see pedestrians, except in one neighborhood where people walk before work, and in 15 years I've seen people on bikes nine times. (The ninth was yesterday -- he was circling at the exit from a neighborhood and looking like he was waiting for a friend to join him -- we traded big hello brother waves). So essentially I live out in the sticks.
From that map you posted recently it looks like you're a lot closer to a central downtown area.
I think the helmet flashlights were advertised 1100 lumens, on eBay, cheap Chinese imports, which means, what? 550 actual? I'll see if I can find the link.
Here's my helmet set-up:
https://www.bikeforums.net/21164635-post7.html