Bright Rear Lights

[xeney]

I had one of those TL-LD600s, but I gave it to my husband and he mounted it vertically on his seatpost. On our first night time ride together I was really horrified by how not visible it was. Horizontally, you can't miss it. Vertically, it seemed to really disappear. Fortunately (!) he left it on the bike and somebody stole it.

[pooks]

xeney -- where/how do you have your cateye TL-LD1000 mounted?

I ordered a couple -- one for me and one for my husband. They won't arrive for awhile, though. I took advantage of free delivery to the local REI and that always takes longer.

[xeney]

Well, it's not mounted anywhere at the moment, but I just had it attached to the seat post. Like pretty much all CatEyes, it doesn't mount well to a rack or anything, so I use an old Vistalite on my commuter. But as far as seatpost-mount lights go, the LD1000 seems to be the brightest I've found.

[nuthatch]

xeney -- where/how do you have your cateye TL-LD1000 mounted?

I ordered a couple -- one for me and one for my husband. They won't arrive for awhile, though. I took advantage of free delivery to the local REI and that always takes longer.

I've got the 1000 mounted to my Brooks. Luckily, the Brooks seat has the little metal tabs for seatbag mounting and I just bolted a crosspiece between the tabs (from my son's old erector set!) and the light snaps securely over that thin crosspiece and never moves a bit.

I don't know how many lights I've watched (or heard) go skittering down the road - it seems like they all get shaken off unless they're snapped into their own mounting system on the seatpost - which you can't use if you also have a seatbag as well as panniers.

[7rider]

I have that Cateye 1000 on the seatpost of my commuter. It's great and very bright. I've never tried to move it or mount it anywhere else. It's there year 'round....set it and forget it.
I had a Vistalight (don't recall which one) that I used to mount to the daisy chain around my panniers (Performance brand), but it disappeared on day. I don't know if someone lifted it in the parking garage where I lock my bike, or if it went flying during the ride home.
I prefer the secure mount of the seatpost, so long as your saddlebag or panniers don't block it.
I've been pondering that mini Cateye with the rope attachment - http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...slisearch=true - to put on the zipper of my REI sling bag for a light high-up.

[Geonz]

I like my reallite even though I've abused it to death, I think. The guarantee is almost worth the purchase price; if I send the pieces back, especially with a good story, it will be replaced. (Guarantee is effective against armies of killer bees, among other things.)

[pooks]

Here's a review of another one:

http://hiawathacyclery.com/blog/?p=98

[JmcG]

I have the Blackburn Mars 3.0 and it's super bright - it also has side lights on it so that you can see me if you're coming up to an intersection. (Scroll down to see it or click on Mars 3.0)
http://www.blackburndesign.com/lights.html#mars_3

I also put a small light on my bag - one of the Firefly Supernovas from RoadID. It is really bright, and small enough to clip onto my bag.
http://www.roadid.com/firefly.asp#supernova

I ride a lot in the dark around here and it's scary on dark roads to not have bright enough rear lights, especially with how aggressive people drive around here. I almost hit a biker last night b/c he was dressed in all black and he did have a rear light, but it was so dim that at first looked like just a reflector until I looked over when I passed him and realized it was just a super dim light. Scary! I'm super cautious with bikers too, except when I don't see them, then I don't have enough time to react (and I was driving slowly too, probably around 30 mph coming up on him). On the same road, just about a half mile earlier there was a lady riding with super bright rear lights on both her bike and her bag and she lit up the road - it was great.