ecrider

Before I consider shelling out serious coin, I have to ask, "Do Dinotte lights really make a difference on commutes?"

wneumann

Make a difference compared to what?

10 Wheels

Have you seen one in the day time?

dwr1961

Oh, yes... DiNotte taillights are truly in a league of their own. Probably the best safety item you can have on a commuter bike. The headlights are excellent, too - you can choose from several degrees of retina-scorching intensity. Very well made. Excellent customer service. Made in the USA, too.

Yes you will pay more than you would for Magicshine or P7, but I doubt you'll regret it. I highly recommend DiNotte.

deltabear

Yes, the Dinotte makes a huge difference if you want to see and be seen. My co -worker commute friends say the light (tail) can be too bright ... but what evs ... It's money well spent (imo).

mechBgon

If you're asking about the DiNotte taillights, they do make a big difference. One of their greatest strengths is that you can be highly noticable from long range even in the daytime. One easy way to see the effect is to ride down the shoulder of a four-lane divided highway in daylight, and watch the semis in your helmet mirror. Turn the DiNotte on in flashing mode, and professional truck drivers will start changing to the left lane when they're still hundreds of meters back, if they can get an opening.

sonatageek

I have the 800L head light and it is great. Very bright and very well constructed.

MulliganAl

Do any of you folks use your Dinotte as a helmet light? I'm thinking about getting one as a helmet light and transferring my NiteRider MiNewt to the back. I have a Ortlieb handlebar bag on my road bike and can't find a way to mount my NiteRider so I may have to go with a helmet light in front. Very 'Fred' like I'm sure.

ks1g

Yes. 200L (AA battery model). Works fine. Strobe modes are great for getting the attention of drivers entering the road I'm on. I use drop bars, so the only trick is mounting the light so it isn't illuminating just a few feet ahead of me. Depending upon your set up, you may want to get one with a longer power cord so the battery can reach to a backpack or jersey pocket. I have the case attached to the back of the helmet.

There are many threads on Dinotte lights in the electronics forum. You and OP should check there as well. A lot of people like the high-output LED flashlights; I question if the lights are as well made and designed to run for long periods of time; they do not come with Dinotte's support.

MilitantPotato

Bright lights in the daytime/dusk really stand out.
Check out Ayup. I snagged one pair, when funds permit I'm grabbing a second for the rear of the bike.

LeeG

there isn't a brand name on photons

SSP

But there is for ruggedness, lighting modes, waterproof performance, reliability, and customer support.

DiNotte FTW.

SSP

I'm starting my third winter with DiNotte lighting. I started with just a 600L headlight and PBSF tail light. Later I added a 140L taillight. Then I purchased a 400L headlight on sale (omitting the batteries and charger, because I already had them). My final upgrade has been to the 400R taillight.

So, now I'm running 600 lumens from the handlebars, 400 lumens from the helmet, and 400 lumens of taillight. That, plus reflective tape on the bike, and an ANSI Level II vest, makes me very visible. If anyone hits me, I'm going to own their a$$.

10 Wheels

I have the 140L TL.
What difference does the 400 TL make?

mechBgon

The 400-series has two emitters, for twice the output on full power and a slightly larger visible target. The minimum output on steady-burn mode has been reduced a little, although I still wouldn't use it in any mode on an MUP. Another big difference is the mounting system and button location.

I'm pretty satisfied with my 140. If I rode in dense fog a lot, I'd strongly consider upgrading to the 400... fog is bad news.

10 Wheels

Thanks, I have never seen one.

SSP

Realistically? Probably not that much. I'm pretty sure that the 400 is just two 140's mounted inside the same case. And both are very bright.


Besides the extra lumens in the 400:

a) it's easier to check battery status than the 140,

b) the mounting bracket for the 400 is much more solid and adjustable than the O-ring mount of the 140.


I run my 400R taillight in "5-flash strobe" mode whenever I'm on the bike (except on MUP's).

I've been told that my 400 can be seen from half a mile away in full sun. And thanks to its unique flash pattern, most drivers react with a "WTF is that?", when they're still far away. At night, I find that drivers routinely move across the center stripe to pass me...even when I'm well off the roadway in a 10' wide bike lane!

So far, I've not been hit...and I've had quite a few strangers comment on how well lit up I am.

Dirt Farmer

Not as much as a "difference" as Monkeylectric

Sighs. What's this ol' world coming to?

IronMac

A 400L on my helmet and it really makes a difference to be seen by those drivers across the intersection. I have another 400L on the handlebar but that may be blocked by vehicles right ahead of me. I really don't like the idea of a driver quickly turning into my lane after the car ahead of me makes a turn or continues forward.

Be sure to get the smaller battery for a helmet mounted light. I don't mind much the larger one on my head but I don't know about you.

nickbubblehead

I bought the 220L (AA)type. The unit is lightweight and compact and I really love the fact it uses AA batteries as I have many. I just purchased the Duracell Permacharge batteries and like the fact that they can hold most of thier charge for a year! This is very important to me because I am constantly charging the batteries to insure they have a full charge. Now for the light itself. The DiNotte has a nice beam pattern, nice even flood pattern. The brightnest is good. It will certainly light my way during normal speeds. I am little spoiled as my previous light system was 32 watt NiteRider dual beam system and drivers would flash thier highbeams at me to tone it down. Unfortunately the big down side was the water bottle battery weighed about 8 lbs. Anyway, I am satified with the 200L and with the "permacharge" batteries, maintenance has dropped down considerably. I also purchased the Planet Bike Superflash Taillight. Although it is not nearly as bright as the DiNotte tail light, it serves its purpose confidently and at much reduced cost.

Hot Potato

My first Dinotte was a 400r tail light. I had heard so much about the 140r, I went to buy one. Seeing that the 400r was available, I figured more is better. Only disadvantage to the 400r is no quick release mount.

Dinotte's are awesome. My niterider trinewt went in for warranty service, and I realized that this was just the excuse I needed to buy some more Dinotte. Now I have the Dinotte 800/400 front package. 800 handlebar mount, 400 helmet. With the 800 on low or medium, I use the helmet on high or medium. With the 800 on high, I usually leave the helmet light off (its there for backup). Of course, the 400r tail light is on low continuous with high power flash. Seriously bright from any direction, people think you are a motorcycle from real far away, then don't know what to think when the get closer, and usually leave you lots of room once they figure out what you are and pass.

It is expensive, but the package deals on the Dinotte website come and go, wait for a good deal on the components you want. The quality is superb, the service is excellent. And if you kill off your batteries, its only like 40 bucks for a new lithium ion replacement, niterider wants $200 for a trinewt replacement battery.

edit: how would a minewt be run in the rear, red lense or cover?

Double edit: consider buying an extra charger from Dinotte if you buy all three lights at once (handlebar, helmet, tail light). Its a lot easier to keep the batteries juiced up that way. Tail lights on low continuous and high flash last a real long time.

ItsJustMe

Can those really be seen from 1/2 mile back directly behind the cyclist? I don't think so. Also, it's paying money for a goofy toy that seems as likely to be a distraction as anything else.

ItsJustMe

Speaking only for taillights: what Dinotte brings to the party that nobody else currently has is a combination of really bright light, fairly wide dispersion, and great flash patterns.

If mine were stolen, I'd mount all three of the PB Superflashes that I own to last the 2 days that it would take for Dinotte to ship me a new one. The only difference is that I might upgrade from the 140L to the bigger one.

That said, I do think there's a market for a cheaper light. These days you could build an equivalent to the 140L and probably sell it for no more than $60 or so. Just look at the Magicshine light; there's no reason in the world that the LED in that couldn't be red, and there's no reason that the controller couldn't have different flash modes. The LED change would actually make it cheaper. And you could probably drop two of the 4 batteries in the pack and for a taillight it would probably still run for 5 or 6 hours (lower power and flashing). And the Magicshine sells for $85, with a LiIon battery and charger. Clearly someone COULD sell a light that would be probably equivalent to at least the 140L, and maybe the 400L, WITH a rechargable battery, for < $100.

But right this moment, the Dinotte is still the way to go. You can pick up the AA 140L for about $100 if you watch for the sales and provide your own batteries.

tarwheel 

The Planet Bike Superflash is a great inexpensive option for a tail-light, but the Dinotte really is in a league of its own. I've got 2 Superflashes, mainly as backups to a Dinotte 140 (plus I got them first). The Dinotte blows everything else away. Is it worth $100? Only you can decide that, but if you ride a lot in traffic, then the answer is probably yes. It is the only tail-light that is really visible in daylight.

Plutonix

I actually think there is an apples and oranges thing here.

The 140R is not just a bright tail light, it's distinctive flash pattern is at least as notable. So, a functional equivalent of a Dinotte would require 2 red LEDs (or dual element LEDs) as well as a controller(s) specifically programmed to run them independently. I am not suggesting it would be prohibitively expensive, but I think that sort of sophistication puts you near, or over the $100 mark. More importantly, any incremental expense does not seem to fit the Chinese business model. They are simply assembling off the shelf parts in various configurations to make cheap - but bright - lights.

The the reason that so many of the Chinese lights STROBE insanely and flash "SO" (every one of them seems to be missing an S in SOS) is that none of them have bothered to invest in their own drivers or ones specifically for bike lighting. The myriad of flashlights are confined to about 5 main body styles for similar reasons.

The result of the Chinese model is a BLSF (Bike Light Shaped Flashlight) albeit a bright one.