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Cateye automatic tail light?

Old 10-07-19, 10:40 AM
  #26  
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@ThermionicScott, I'm not convinced a steady taillight is sufficient for me to be seen. I also use a battery-powered blinky taillight. It needs charging only once a month or so, and that is a lot less burdensome than charging a headlight. I charge it every month or so, but I don't even know how long I can run it without charging it. A decent battery-powered headlight needs charging every two days, and that's cutting it too close for me, so a dynamo-powered headlight is a huge win for me.
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Old 10-07-19, 11:18 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by noglider
@ThermionicScott, I'm not convinced a steady taillight is sufficient for me to be seen. I also use a battery-powered blinky taillight. It needs charging only once a month or so, and that is a lot less burdensome than charging a headlight. I charge it every month or so, but I don't even know how long I can run it without charging it. A decent battery-powered headlight needs charging every two days, and that's cutting it too close for me, so a dynamo-powered headlight is a huge win for me.
It might help to mention that I developed some "charge anxiety" during PBP 2015, and don't like the feeling of "will my batteries last?" if I head out on a long night ride. In my book, if my light batteries poop out before I make it back home, that's as irresponsible as not bringing lights in the first place.

Battery-powered lights are truly amazing these days, and perhaps if I quantified how long they lasted on a charge, and then kept track of it, I'd always know exactly how many hours of run time I had left. But I already keep track of too much stuff.
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Old 10-07-19, 11:25 AM
  #28  
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@ThermionicScott, exactly how I feel. I could ride one evening, knowing I charged the battery yesterday and I should be fine. And then it conks out, and I remember, oops, I charged it the day before yesterday. That's not OK. I kinda-sorta know the charge state of my light, but that's not good enough. With a dynamo-powered light, I absolutely know it's going to work as long as the bike rolls. That's a huge difference (for me) from kinda-sorta knowing.

At the moment, my commuter bike doesn't have its dynamo lights installed. Long story. I am using a B&M Ixon Core headlight. It always shows the charge state, which helps. It has a 1-5 readout. And as far as I can tell, it seems to be able to go three or four days between charges, so my extra layer of safety is my practice to recharge it every two days.
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Old 10-07-19, 11:29 AM
  #29  
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That's a nice feature, @noglider. My battery taillights did/do gradually get dimmer as the batteries die, so it's not that I had no indication.
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Old 10-07-19, 11:37 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by ThermionicScott
That's a nice feature, @noglider. My battery taillights did/do gradually get dimmer as the batteries die, so it's not that I had no indication.
Getting dimmer is a horrible indicator. I don't know of any other lights that have charge indicators. It makes a big difference.
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Old 10-07-19, 12:42 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by noglider
Getting dimmer is a horrible indicator. I don't know of any other lights that have charge indicators. It makes a big difference.
Yeah, I should have said "warning" instead of "indicator." I could judge whether my old 2xAA Cateye (RIP) needed new batteries by whether it hurt to look straight at it. I still had plenty of time after that was no longer the case, but it got me thinking ahead.
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Old 10-07-19, 02:17 PM
  #32  
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You look straight at your light to see if it hurts? Oy, stop that.
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