visibility in dark commute

[Catrin]

Whatever light you decide upon, make certain you know how long the battery will last before you purchase it. I've the Stella Vis 360 helmet light that I use - but the charge really only lasts about 55 minutes. It is USB chargable and comes with a large red flasher for the back of your helmet. It is very easy to put on/take off your helmet.

Bottom line, if your commute is under 1 hour this wouldn't be a bad choice. If it is longer, then you would need to use one of the lower light settings to conserve the charge and I wouldn't be comfortable with that. It is bright enough at the highest setting, but not so bright that I would be comfortable using it in the country away from ambient lighting. There is lighting on the side of the front light as well, which helps to increase side-visibility.

[soprano]

Do you have drop bars? I do, and I find that the brake hoods block the line of sight between my headlight and cars coming up on side streets. I supplement my big main headlight with a little blinking Spok light on the drop of my right handlebar and way fewer cars pull out in front of me.

Or you can do a helmet light. I recently bought a new headlight, and while I was shopping around I noticed that most of the headlight manufacturers seem to be making a helmet mount these days. Sometimes it's included with the light and sometimes you buy it separately.

[ZenBiker]

I have a helmet mounted light that I love. Three out of the 4 employees in my office who ride to work this time of year use the same kind. It was made by GeoManGear but when I went to get a link for this message, I discovered they went out of business over the summer, which is really too bad. So all I can do is echo the advice to find a nice, bright, rechargeable light for your helmet. It lets you make "eye contact" with any driver that you think might be overlooking you - and gets an instant response!

The one I use is pretty heavy, and a little bit of a hassle to take on and off. In fact the light unit plugs into a battery pack that you carry in a pocket, so there's a cord running up my back and into my helmet. Not exactly elegant but worth it for the long battery life and brightness it produces. I put it on an older helmet, one that still has useful life in it but that I opted to replace with a better vented one for summer use. So instead of taking the light on and off, I just switch helmets for weekend rides.

edited to add: I also use these for side visibility - and because they're fun: http://www.rei.com/product/774213/ni...ke-wheel-light

[Jones]

When I put a blinking light on the front of my bike I realized I became much more visible to cars. Far fewer close calls. I use this light to see http://www.rei.com/product/826129/ni...750-bike-light and this light to be scene http://www.rei.com/product/843467/ni...350-bike-light. I never realized how much money I had invested in bike lights. Yikes.

[ZenBiker]

After discovering GeoMan Gear was out of business (see earlier post) I looked around and found that the light I bought from them is basically a Magicshine light like this one:
http://magicshineusa.com/products/li...men-bike-light

The specs on mine are very similar. The battery will operate 180 minutes at the highest brightness setting. I like how the power button on the light changes color to show how much charge you have left, and the brightness and span of light thrown. Like I said earlier it is kind of heavy and you deal with a separate battery pack and cord. But it's a lot of light for the money and can be mounted on a helmet or handlebars.

[Giulianna23]

I got this one on ebay...I love it...the actual light has about 7 differet settings and the laser lines has the normal solid setting and blinking setting as well.

[Sky King]

had to laugh at the DH last night so am bringing this up. He reset his generator powered light on his commuter and in the process cleaned the light. So he comes home and said "huh, amazing what cleaning your light will do to improve brightness" So on that note, grab the alcohol or windex or whatever you use and wipe off all your lights. I know it is something I don't think about.

[Eden]

I'll second all the suggestions for helmet, down lighting and side lighting. I look like a traveling carnival, but no one should ever be able to say they don't see me....from the front, behind or the side. I have a helmet light (Stella 200) a small flasher on my handlebars (Flea) Two rear red blinkers (Flea on my messenger bag, Dinotte on my bike), A blue bar LED on my downtube and a green flasher on my valve stem (cheapo from Toys R' Us, with overpowered silver calculator batteries put in it) Not to mention various reflective bits here there and everywhere. Most of this comes off pretty easily for daytime training rides - just the downtube light is zip tied on pretty permanently.