'The Best Bike Lights' for commuter: Wirecutter tested 90 over the last 7 years
10-23-21, 10:31 PM
#1
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'The Best Bike Lights' for commuter: Wirecutter tested 90 over the last 7 years
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...r-bike-lights/
I'm not in the market so didn't read it closely. Other stuff they have reported on has been useful to me
I'm not in the market so didn't read it closely. Other stuff they have reported on has been useful to me
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10-24-21, 04:52 AM
#2
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Seems like Cygolite got its money's worth ... 
I use Cygolite tail lights so I am okay with all that ... funny though that they panned the Blackburn for being slightly less visible from odd hours In The Daytime. Seems to me that daytime is usually ... sort of Sun-lit ... and if a person is beside a cyclist in the daytime and close enough to see the light from a side angle, said motorist is physically passing that cyclist---if the driver doesn't see the rider, it is the driver (or his/her cell phone) at fault, not the light.
The light they recommend has 3.5-hour runtime? So ... it dies near the end of the second long night ride? To me, having longer run time makes all the difference because it can happen that I forget to re-charge, or stay out longer than I had planned. I don't need 62 different flash patters---that is consumer-attraction crap. One steady flashing, on steady with strobe, and one solid are quite enough, thanks. Instead, give me a low-battery warning when I turn it on--not when I turn it off, when it is already flashing and the signal can be misinterpreted by a tired, sweaty, hungry old man---I want to know before I leave that I might not have enough power to make it---I have a few tail lights ready to go for exactly this situation, but none have power-meter buttons so often a light will die when I am riding and I won't know until a car comes speeding up and then drastically slows and flicks on the high-beams---a sure sign that my tail light was Not visible from half a mile away, because it had died on me.
Just bought another Light and Motion Urban headlight .... I might have tried the Cygolite had I seen this prior to buying but oh, well .... the urban is a great light anyway.
I use Cygolite tail lights so I am okay with all that ... funny though that they panned the Blackburn for being slightly less visible from odd hours In The Daytime. Seems to me that daytime is usually ... sort of Sun-lit ... and if a person is beside a cyclist in the daytime and close enough to see the light from a side angle, said motorist is physically passing that cyclist---if the driver doesn't see the rider, it is the driver (or his/her cell phone) at fault, not the light.
The light they recommend has 3.5-hour runtime? So ... it dies near the end of the second long night ride? To me, having longer run time makes all the difference because it can happen that I forget to re-charge, or stay out longer than I had planned. I don't need 62 different flash patters---that is consumer-attraction crap. One steady flashing, on steady with strobe, and one solid are quite enough, thanks. Instead, give me a low-battery warning when I turn it on--not when I turn it off, when it is already flashing and the signal can be misinterpreted by a tired, sweaty, hungry old man---I want to know before I leave that I might not have enough power to make it---I have a few tail lights ready to go for exactly this situation, but none have power-meter buttons so often a light will die when I am riding and I won't know until a car comes speeding up and then drastically slows and flicks on the high-beams---a sure sign that my tail light was Not visible from half a mile away, because it had died on me.
Just bought another Light and Motion Urban headlight .... I might have tried the Cygolite had I seen this prior to buying but oh, well .... the urban is a great light anyway.
