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Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on January 19, 2015 at 9:52am

I love this product. I hate strobing super bright tail lights. 

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Permalink Reply by Tom Z on January 19, 2015 at 11:30am

Seems like a lot of money for a folded piece of plastic.

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Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on January 19, 2015 at 4:53pm

Personally, I use bicycle lights to be seen buy others and therefore I aim mine at driver eye level.

The city is pretty well lit and potholes/debris on the road fairly visible.  I find my 2 Watt bicycle headlight isn't powerful enough to illuminate the road far enough ahead to be very useful.  On trails, I generally clip an orange blinky on my chest to be seen, turn off my headlight and let my eyes adjust to dark.  If it's really dark, no moon/heavy foliage, I point the light at the ground ahead, but I find I 'outrun' it at anything more than 12mph.  Faster than that I'm unable to stop by the time a potential hazard is illuminated.

In darkness, motor-vehicle headlights illuminate the road ahead for hundreds of feet.  They can be easily seen in any conditions, even angled at the ground, because they are so much brighter.

I think the original megawatt headlights were designed for riding trails at night.  I understand why people do it, but riding around the city with these aimed at eye level is kinda rude. 

Obviously tail lights, like the one depicted with this product, are designed merely to be seen.  I think anything that diminishes their viability is a bad idea.  I, too, am annoyed by bright taillights in group rides, but I think bright=effective.  Most taillights can be switched from strobing to solid.

Regardless, the claim that the inventor of this product "...was forced to stop so I would avoid diving head first into the curb." because somebody with a bright taillight passed him is kinda laughable.  As is the claim that most taillights cannot be seen from the sides.  Most ridiculous of all is the indygogo footage of him riding around without headlight :-/

Cameron 7.5 mi said:

The problem with bike lights isn't that they're too bright, it's that they're poorly aimed. Too much of the light is directed up at nothing, or into the eyes of others. Car and motorcycle headlights concentrate the light and aim it down at the road where hazards are, so even though they're brighter than bike headlights, they're less blinding. Most bike headlights send light every direction.

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Permalink Reply by Davo on January 19, 2015 at 7:55pm

I think that you could get the same effect using some diffusion gel that is used in theatrical lighting. or cutting up a milk jug. Also I doubt that most people who have bright lights even think about it. I wonder how people would react to strangers trying get them to use this.

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