Bright lights?

[Voodoo Sally]

lph, yes, I have experience with the EXTREMELY bright lights. They are the HID type, and they are in general the brightest lights available. They're the incredibly expensive lights. They've been popular in the night mountain biking crowd for several years now. In my opinion they're too bright and not worth the money. I used them for a few years night mountain biking. They were brighter than my companions' halogen lights and I had to take care never to look at my mates' faces during breaks, or I'd really blind them. I also felt that too much light was cast on the trail, the light was too bluish, and I couldn't see shadows very well (I couldn't see the relief of the terrain well enough therefore). The image of the trail I perceived seemed to be very flat and at speed this was a bad thing. I missed the old halogen lights, which gave a duller, yellower, light. I finally said "what is all the hype about" and ditched the HID for night mt. biking.

Then, I did use the HID commuting for a while. At first I liked it, because I thought I was safer. If it looked like a car was about to cross me, I could train the beam at the driver's face. That worked alright, but upon consideration, I realized that this is bad for the driver and kind of overkill for my safety.

Finally I think I have the right kind of light for commuting (and mountain biking). I'm using a much less powerful LED light now, helmet mounted. It's bright enough to light my way in unlit places, bright enough for cars to see I think, and not blinding to motorists.