Poor man's Down Low Glow?

[Jenerator]

I've added a couple of Knogs to my lighting system to, hopefully, add some side visibility. I wrapped the red one around my rear hub and the white one on my fork. The red almost gives the impression that I've got a glowing red disk wheel. I tried it on the front with the white, but it tended to blind me each time the light came around. The light on the fork does light up the front wheel.

Not quite the same effect as the down low glow, but a lot cheaper.

[7rider]

Interesting.
Eden, did you get the Nalgene OTG bottle?
It says the Firefly works on "wide mouth" bottles and was wondering if that was wide enough.
I suppose, tho', that it eliminates your being able to actually DRINK from the waterbottle - while on the bike - right? My second cage holds my coffee thermos (and I'm not giving THAT up!), so I'm kind of running out of real estate on the frame. I could, tho, squish the thermos in the panniers.
Hmmmm....always like more light!

[SadieKate]

Is it just the picture, Eden? It doesn't look like your version puts out anywhere near the same amount of light that the DLG does. The photos of the DLG show colored circles of light even when the bike is in fairly well lit areas - like under street lamps, at store fronts, etc. That's a heck of a lot of light. It's powerful enought to throw light on the ground and on the rider.

And, I assume the DLG's battery is rechargeable? Can AAA's be recharged? It seems that AAs chargers are the most common. You'd have to take the batteries out of the unit, recharge and replace. My little pea brain would constantly leave home without them.

BTW, for those using knogs. My experience is that they are invisible in ground fog.

[Trek420]

Well, we didn't say "better than DLG" the thread is "Poor man's DLG".

One could do all of them; DLG, cool bottle thingies, knogs, illuminite socks, firefly shoelaces ....

Nobody ever got stuck on a night ride and said "woah, dude, that's too visible, better leave some of that at home"

And there's a Blackburn Quadrant Mars 3.0 Light Combo on Steep and Cheap right now

[Eden]

Regina - yup, that's the bottle. It does have a standard wide mouth sized cap, so the Firefly fits on just fine. You can have drinkable liquid in it, but yes, it is a screw cap so drinking on the go would be somewhat out of the question. My coummute is short so I'm not really worried about having water for it.

SadieKate - no, I don't think that it is as bright as a DLG (but we are talking 70$ less dough too....), but it does cast a pretty nice looking glow on the ground and is nice and bright from the sides. I'll have to see if I can get some better photos. It takes 3 AAA batteries and I have NIHM rechargables - they are just like rechargable AA's (they use the same charger as the AA's even). If the battery life is anything like any of the other LED devices that I have I expect they will last a long time between charges and I have enough that I can have a set charged and waiting when the first set runs out.

[KnottedYet]

And there's a Blackburn Quadrant Mars 3.0 Light Combo on Steep and Cheap right now

I have that. I'm happy with it.

[GLC1968]

Wow, this is a really great idea! And the first thing I thought of was my husband's old Trek 520 - it's got holes for a third third bottle cage on the bottom of the downtube, so it would cast even more light onto the ground. This would be a great idea for anyone with a touring frame that has that third bottle cage! Very cool!

[KnottedYet]

oooh, yeah, that would work really well!

[KathiCville]

Here's another possibility that might be worth checking out? Cordless rechargeable "work lights." I poked around a little on line and came up with a few models on amazon.com and automotive and tool sites. Here's one that received an overall good review from The Gadgeteer and three reviewers on another website.

http://the-gadgeteer.com/review/terr...led_work_light

And here's a link to a company that carries this one and a few other similar rechargeable TerraLUX lights.

http://www.genesis7supply.com/index....ATS&Category=5

Pricing is half or less than the down low glow.....I've only seen white ones---'cause they're work lights---but you could probably come up with a cheap, translucent cover if you wanted color.......

In terms of mounting, looks like all you might have to do is use velcro straps? Or some other easy bracketing system for your down tube, similar to what DLG suggests?

I also wonder if there any really bright mini-lanterns (battery-operated LED) for camping that might drop easily into a bottle cage??

Just a thought......

[KnottedYet]

Oh, baby, those Terralux lights are GREAT!!!!!

Like having 60 Guppies or Knogs all lined up!

I'd rather get one of those at this point than a DLG, and use some contact film to make it orange or red or something.

(that would leave me enough money that I could buy a couple Terraluxes. Maybe put one across my pannier rack... Hellooooo visibility!)

[Eden]

Who knew how many LED products were out there these days...
LED flashing jewlery (and lots of other stuff too...) http://www.dida-co.com/eng/led-flash...bracelets.html

[Eden]

First commute using all my new lights. I stopped to see what the total effect was and I'm pretty pleased. 1 flashing tail light, 1 flashing front light, 1 red and 1 white Frog Knog on my messenger bag, my bottle light and a head light that I usually only turn on when there are no street lights. (from looking at other cyclists I've decided that flashing lights are better for being seen, while a steady light is good to see by)

[KnottedYet]

Wow! That bottle really shows up great! Is that just one LED in there?

Thanks for the pics, Eden!

[RoadRaven]

Very cool pix all, thanks...

Eden, from a drivers viewpoint, the best cyclists at night are the ones with a flashing light AND a steady light on the front. The flashing one is def the most visible, I know it is a bike, and I never mistake it for a tin or road marker like I have with one steady light.

However, the flashing lights give no easy perspective until I am close to the cyclist. Because the light flashes, there is no constant point of referral to judge distance or how quickly the bike is moving.

I strongly recommend you use both

[Eden]

Wow! That bottle really shows up great! Is that just one LED in there?

Thanks for the pics, Eden!

I'm pretty sure there are 3 leds. I do have to make sure its turned all the way up - its got a dimmer.... (for mooooood lighting when you are camping)

Raven - around here in the city, where there mostly is a fair amount of light from streetlights, I've found as a driver I don't always notice a steady light unless its a really, really bright one that overpowers the ambient light, but a flashing one gets my attention right away and I know its a bike (as opposed to a scooter or a motorcycle). I think it also helps that most flashers are white, while the streetlights are orangish sodium vapor lights. I turn my steady headlight on when there aren't many street lights around, but I've had it run out of battery charge right in the middle of my darkest section of commute, so I've taken to shutting it off during the lighter portions.