Cheap vs Quality Tail Lights?

[teskow]

Name-brand tail lights usually offer better reliability and performance compared to cheaper Chinese ones.

I would venture to say near 100 percent of them are made in China and am betting the consistency of them is, well inconsistent.
I drive a 30 mild stretch of country road where people train for tours so I see lot of different brightness of rear lights. Some I can easily be seen from a mile away others most not so. I have been tempted to try and stop one to find out the brand. Hard to stop a biker in the middle of his routine though.
I went through a few bicycle bells to find a decent one with enough volume and a pleasant sound. If you try 10 of the same on a display rack you will find they are not all the same volume and sound.

 

[m@Robertson]

My idea of what constitutes a good light is

• Has to be exceptionally visible in broad daylight as a daytime running light.
• Internal battery has to last quite awhile. Ideally for a week so I can do a regular Friday charge or similar.
• Has to be weatherproof enough to last for at least a few months, or forever. In particular the rear lights are going to get loaded up with grit and water from the road.

Price doesn't factor into these parameters. So you find cheap lights and expensive ones that will do the job well. You just have to accept you may find a loser here and there.

I learned long ago that trying to find one light to do your job is a big mistake. Front lighting, for instance. What you want is a light pattern that goes wide up close, and reaches well out in the center, but doesn't blind traffic coming at you. A pear shaped beam pattern. That is best achieved with a spot (or two) reaching far forward from the center, and beams with wider patterns pointing down closer. Using a Victagen light and two cheap Blitzu chiclet-box lights tucked up so they shine at an outboard angle does this for under $50 total. The Victagen will light up the next county on full power which is great if riding where there are no street lights, and it has a mount that will let it stay steady despite its heavy weight.

Best setup I've ever done is this one below. A couple of spot lights whose beams are so narrow they are not usable on their own, but put one on each fork blade down low and straight out, focused side by side, and they bathe the road right in front of me even on the lowest of their three brightness settings. Then, a Fisher Fabrication House light up high and centered on the handlebars. I have added a beam cutoff to it so it doesn't blind oncoming traffic. Much. And I use it on its second lowest setting, saving the 3000 lumen (for reals) setting for... well, pretty much never. It taps in directly to my BBSHD display and battery so never needs charging.

And look at the side of the bike. Those are LED COB light strips, and they light up the ground underneath and around me so I am a large visible halo of light on the ground as well as everything else I am doing to be visible. Not much effect in this twilight pic but when it gets dark... everybody sees you and nobody is blinded.

Also centered at the top of the forks is a Knog Big Cobber that blinks. Not illegal in my jurisdiction. Since I have had three forward facing lights before and still got T-boned by an inattentive motorist in a SMIDSY, fuk 'em I'm throwing all the spaghetti against the wall to try and stay alive on the streets. Its been 6 years since I was hit and started using the blinkie so can't be such a bad idea.

Also, lights like the ones on the forks and the COB lights can plug right into a USB power bank which lasts for a huge amount of time.

Which Front Bicycle Lights Should I Use?

What front bicycle lights give the best beam pattern? Are blinking lights safer?

talesontwowheels.com

 

[spokewrench]

It appalled me that the tail light of the RadMission, on the right, had no reflector. I bought an auxiliary rechargeable headlight that included a rechargeable taillight. The headlight was supposed to last 12 hours on a charge, with a readout to say how much was left. The taillight was supposed to last 30 hours. I figured I'd be fine if I charged it when I charged the headlight.

The third time I rode with it, it was off when I got home. It worked, so I figured I must have forgotten to turn it on. That was hard to believe. It was off again when I returned the next night. This time I turned it back on and waited. In a few seconds it went off. I experimented. Each charge lasted 2.5 hours, not 30 hours. False advertising about battery life was particularly callous because when it switched itself off, a rider would never know unless he made it home alive.

Reflectors are more reliable than taillights. I bought a big round one for a dollar and screwed it to my plywood layback seat support.

 

[m@Robertson]

Reflectors are more reliable than taillights.

I snagged a big roll of red prismatic tape (same stuff they use on street signs) and I'll typically do something with a rear rack deck, upturned and lined completely with a sheet of the stuff to make the world's biggest passive reflector. In addition to the taillights.

Years ago I scored a few street sign blanks way under market price (which ain't cheap for the full-thickness municipal kind not the man-cave variety on Etsy). Used them for rack decks and bent up a back section to make a kicktail that kept the water off of me and housed one hell of a lot of red stop sign tape. Highly recommend this if you can get the materials to do it.

 

[Imchud]

doubtful and often their brightness and such are over rated. I just got a nightrider taillight and this thing is so bring its crazy and it works with any voltage. plus it has 6 modes so set it to what you want and forget about it.

Emax+™ 150 Electric Bike Taillight

Emax+™ 150 is NiteRider’s first taillight specifically made for electric bikes. It comes with a power line that's pre-wired for connection to the eBike’s battery. Power line cable measures approximately 52" in length. Taillight powers ON with ignition/ power switch. Features six modes—Steady ON...

www.niterider.com

Looks like a good one... My problem is I would have no idea how to wire it into my existing system. The thought of me cutting into some wires on my bike gives me heart palpitations. I know you can get some that are stand-alone battery-operated ones, but I like the idea of tying it into the system. Come to think about it, could I just splice into my current brake light, and if so, would it come on like the current brake light?

 

[fooferdoggie]

Looks like a good one... My problem is I would have no idea how to wire it into my existing system. The thought of me cutting into some wires on my bike gives me heart palpitations. I know you can get some that are stand-alone battery-operated ones, but I like the idea of tying it into the system. Come to think about it, could I just splice into my current brake light, and if so, would it come on like the current brake light?

I did not have a choice our fender got mangled and that cut the wire. then I just used heat shrink connectors to add it. usually there is extra wiring for a brake light.

 

[Imchud]

I did not have a choice our fender got mangled and that cut the wire. then I just used heat shrink connectors to add it. usually there is extra wiring for a brake light.

Thanks... I am going to try and tie into my exsisting brake light wiring... I don't see why that won't work.

 

[AvalancheRun]

Mid range : Garmin Varia 515 (preferable to 615 hardwired). Radar with light that blinks for each car.

Cheap: specialized stix - great light that happens to be cheap

I see a lot of crappy Amazon lights and many of them are blinding. Get products designed by cycling engineers.

 

[Rome]

Cheep blue lights works fine for me.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

Cheap ones have been fine the last year, or so.

CONHIS MOTOR Ebike Headlight and Tail Light Sets Electric Bicycle Latest 24V/36V/48V/60V Front Rear Warning Lights LED Night Spotlight Headlamp with Turning Light, Brake Light and Horn https://a.co/d/bPOtVuP

As long as you have lights. Anything is better than nothing.

 

[spokewrench]

Mid range : Garmin Varia 515 (preferable to 615 hardwired). Radar with light that blinks for each car.

Light or no light, I think a big reflector is important at night because you can count on it to work and be bright like headlights.

Does that light really have radar? I find a big, flat mirror, well above the bars, vital for situational awareness. I've used the kind in photos 4 and 5 more than 60 years. Nice, big picture, adjustable while riding, give way without damage if hit. Photo 1 shows one that I thought was flat, but I mistakenly ordered the convex version. It can't be adjusted without wrenches, and the image is half size. Photo 3 was another mistake that's half-size convex. It would be easier to miss something than with the one in Photo 4. Photo 2 is 1/6 convex. The day I mounted it, I heard a car close behind on an overcast day. I studied the mirror and couldn't see it. It was a gray car on gray pavement.