Your recs. on Bike Lights

I just bought this yesterday....

http://www.cygolite.com/products/new/TridenX/TridenX_Lion.html

Well made and VERY bright. I was looking for something that would actually illuminate the road, not just so other people could see me.

So you're looking for a rear light only?  

I have bought the regular flea front and rear lights.  The front light is wonderful for being seen by others, I actually hear pedestrians commenting on how bright it is as I ride past all the time.  I did not find it useful though as a light source in order that I might see however.

Regarding the rear light, again I just have the regular flea not the mars.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed in it.  It wasn't as bright as I expected but having said that it did die on me about 2 months in so perhaps I had a faulty product.

I have the Planet Bike Blaze 1 watt headlight and SuperFlash taillight.  http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3047.html

It is a great set up.  Even if you get a different headlight, I don't know if there is a better taillight for the money.

For a front light I love all of the NiteRider products, in particular the USB rechargeable lights.  Nothing beats the convenience of a USB for charging the battery.

 I use the Blackburn Mars 3.0 for my rear light.  Very bright plus it's visible from the side.  Uses two AAA batteries and I've never had to change the batteries in 1.5 years of use and I probably do half my rides in the dark.

thanks everyone!

I use a Nightrider USB.  It is really bright almost like a motorcycle headlight.  It is so I can see and be seen.

Fleas are good for being seen.  Not so good for improving what you see.

I have two of these Nite Rider lights. One mounted on the handlebars and one mounted on my helmet. Work great for my rides on back country roads at night with no other lights around.

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1096655_-
1_400056_400014_400014

I have two of the Planet Super Flash lights. One on the back of my helmet, one on my seatpost. That work great for taillights.

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1064923_-
1_1554500_20000_400159

I also wear a reflective vest/jacket.

I have been very happy with my Cygolite Hi Flux II. Perfectly fine for seeing where you're going in the city, and good for some unlit sections. If I was doing a lot of riding away from street lighting I might want something a bit brighter. Certainly very bright, and easy to recharge.

http://www.cygolite.com/products/new/HiFlux2/HiFlux2LED.html 

I use five lights for my commuting, which often has me leaving when it's dark and returning home in the dark.

I use two planetbike superflash lights - one on my seatpost and the other on my backpack.

I recently bought a Light and Motion product called the 'Vis 360'. It's a helmet mounted system that has a front light that can either blink or use two brightness settings - the rear light is always blinking. The front light throws over 100 lumens and is quite bright on its own. However, I use the front helmet light on blink mode so that I can turn it to drivers coming from side roads - so far it's been very effective.
http://www.bikelightingsystem.com/vis360.html#

For my other light I have a Magic Shine 900 lumen light. Magic Shine makes some great lights at very affordable prices - mine was only $90 and throws a beam that makes it easy to ride at any time of night.
http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_41

I've begun riding all the time with lights on, partially due to Jordan Rapp's accident this past year. Jordan has won a few Ironman races, but had a horrible accident where a driver hit him. Most people don't think lights during the day are necessary, but with shadows and other distractions like solar glare, I've decided it's worth it to use them at all times. I use the Vis 360 for all rides along with one superflash on my seatpost.

Have the Niterider MiNewt 700 dual  for the  front and the Cherry bomb for the rear.

Edited by Buddha4 2010-11-11 7:59 PM

Another vote for the Planet Bike Super Flash for the rear, that thing is bright as heck, and inexpensive.

+1 for the Planet Bike Super Flash.  Incredibly bright strobe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBFjzcSotzw

I guarantee you will find no better bang-for-buck light than the MagicShine 900 light from geomangear.com. 

600 legit lumens for $100, and 3-hr runtime.

You will have to be $400+ at an LBS for sometime comparable. It's for real - rave reviews on all bike forums.

Forget all the LBS stuff and just buy it. With it, riding at night is no longer an issue.

The Magicshine rearlight is also awesome. As bright as a $200 rear light from Dinotte.

I have tried most of the above mentioned lights and the MS is over 3x better than most of them. 

I'm also looking for a new set of lights for a commuter I'm have built.  I checked out the MagicShine at the site agarose2000 listed, but it looks like they are not selling them at the moment "GeoManGear has temporarily discontinued sales of Magicshine lightsets due to our concerns regarding the quality of Magicshine's lithium-ion battery..."

On my current commuter, I just use a Planet Bike Blaze 2W.  It's okay, but I want something BRIGHT.  I've also been looking at the Cygolites and the Light and Motion Stellas.  Still haven't decided.

For the rear, I currently place two Planet Bike Superflashes.  Only light both of them up when it's raining.  Super bright and kinda obnoxious with their blinking pattern, but my goal is to be seen and not get hit from behind, so they work well in that regard. 

I just noticed this too on the bikeforums and on geomangear. In his defense, there have been a ton of reviews on them, and the most recent generation batts received almost no complaints, so I'm nto sure if he got a new bad batch that he didn't like the QC of.

I got mine within 4 days of ordering it when he had it available - his cust service seemed excellent based on hundreds of posts from other users on bike forums.