Flashing Lights

[Hollyhillian]

Hi

I've found that my flashing front light makes me a little disorientated when riding home in the dark.
It's very dark with no street lights when I ride home (deepest ,darkest West Country) and I have noticed that the flashing and movement ,especially going slower up hills, make me slightly uncomfortable .

I have switch my light over to a solid beam and hey presto no more strange feeling but wonder if anyone else has experienced this.

Not a huge problem obviously as I've sorted it but one that someone else might not have realised is the cause.

HH

 

[jonny jeez]

yep.

A while ago I was off roading with pals in Biggin hill (around the back of Hi Elms golf course) I was borrowing someone's large lights with the separate battery packs (I forget the name...it's more than 6 months ago so they are probably obsolete now anyway).

Even on fixed beam the rapidly moving shadows caused me to get a little disorientated, I got used to it after a bit by kind of focusing past the lights.

But then one of the guys switched the lights onto pulse and I was all over the place...it had a real strobe effect as the cones and rods of my eye could not adjust to the extreme variance in bright to total dark in rapid succession.

I would always ride on the road with a fixed beam if I were you

 

[Twenty Inch]

I won't be doing the Dunwich Dynamo again for this reason - a three mile long stream of flashing red LEDs through Epping Forest gave me a migraine last time.

 

[Bman]

I'm not a fan of flashing bike lights. I can see the advantage of having perhaps a low powered strobe light somewhere on the bike, but I think it should always be a backup/addition to a solid light on each end of the bike.

Its good to ensure your noticed, but anything more is just a distraction (IMO)

 

[dustystreet]

there's a couple of places on my commute where it's very dark and i've encountered cyclists coming the other way with flashing lights. i found them quite dangerous because firstly they're very bright and ruin your own night vision and secondly, more importantly, they make it almost impossible for other cyclists to judge the oncoming bike's distance, direction and speed.

i really think cyclists who use them should consider the disorienting effect they have on other cyclists and maybe switch for example to the low-light green ones as a marker of their existence and use a solid beam for lighting so that other cyclistspedestrians can safely navigate going past.

extremely bright white strobe lighting isn't clever or funny to other traffic.

 

[downfader]

Flashing lights have their place. Lets not throw the dummy out the pram just yet on this one, haha!

The best flashing lights I find are large bodied with several LEDs spread over an area. (Like Knogs skinks/toads, Cateyes LD610s or 1100s, etc). They should always be used in conjuction with a fixed light imo.

I mount my fixed high, and flashing lower usually (though have a backup on the HB)

If there is no street lighting then always stick with fixed and constant lighting. Very bright flashers (oo-er) also have a benefit in day time with low sun or poor weather.

 

[rh100]

Hi

I've found that my flashing front light makes me a little disorientated when riding home in the dark.
It's very dark with no street lights when I ride home (deepest ,darkest West Country) and I have noticed that the flashing and movement ,especially going slower up hills, make me slightly uncomfortable .

I have switch my light over to a solid beam and hey presto no more strange feeling but wonder if anyone else has experienced this.

Not a huge problem obviously as I've sorted it but one that someone else might not have realised is the cause.

HH

I've noticed this the last couple of nights. When riding home, not a problem as streets lit with the orange (sodium?) lamps. But when I wheel it up the entryway at the side of the house, it really throws your orientation, it's a fairly small cateye model, but quite bright.

 

[fossyant]

Fixed lights with a flashing to confirm it's a cyclist.....

I thought I was being abducted tonight ..............



Sat in traffic, behind a transit van....both Hope's lit the back of the van up like day, and my little Knog Toad was flashing away...

I become aware of this BIG white flashing bouncing off the van and floor.....WTF..... police car....UFO......, it get's closer....., and closer....... and an MTB shoots past inside the traffic...phew........

Anyway, traffic going again, and I quickly catch bike again....the floor was lit up flashing in front of the bike....blooming heck.....

I wait at the next traffic lights and the guy rolls up....

Me..."Is that a Magicshine" - "yes" he replies......yadda yadda we go, "annoys them" he says..........

Crazy light on flashing, especially as it was his only front light. Blooming bright. In his credit, he had it angled right down to the ground in front of the bike.... must get one !!!

Anyway, a steady backup may have helped a little.....

 

[Cubist]

My commute changes from city streets to country roads. I have a small back up strobe on the front with a front lamp to see by. That's on flash on the urban bits, but straight to solid beam for the unlit roads.

 

[ufkacbln]

There is also a reason for flashing!

It conserves the batteries.

I use an Enduro Maxx which will just about see me in to work and home with about ten minutes to spare.

However if at the half way mark in the morning as it gets brighter I switch to flash then the saved power increases the battery life to a about a 30 minute resrve if I decide to take a longer route home for any reason.

The other thought is the legality. I have my main lights as RVLR compliant cateyes - the Enduro is just a backup!

 

[Tharg2007]

I am still convinced that flashing lights on a bike lets drivers know you are on a cycle and therefore renders you invisible. My theory is, and am sure ive seen it written before, that the key is having bright enough lights so as other traffic doesn't know what you are or assumes you are a car/bus/lorry.

 

[gaz]

one flash one steady, for front and rear.

 

[fossyant]

I am still convinced that flashing lights on a bike lets drivers know you are on a cycle and therefore renders you invisible. My theory is, and am sure ive seen it written before, that the key is having bright enough lights so as other traffic doesn't know what you are or assumes you are a car/bus/lorry.

Bright light(s), on steady (aimed at number plate), plus a flasher..(my flasher is what the London lot think's OK for a main light on BR/LFGSS)............ B)..

PS KNOGS (even the BIG ones) should not be your main light......


There said it..............

 

[gaz]

PS KNOGS (even the BIG ones) should not be your main light......

true that!!!

 

[downfader]

Bright light(s), on steady (aimed at number plate), plus a flasher..(my flasher is what the London lot think's OK for a main light on BR/LFGSS)............ ..

PS KNOGS (even the BIG ones) should not be your main light......


There said it..............

Just bought 2 Skink and 1 Toad for pressies. Man they're good lights, very cool for the money too. I agree though that they should be used with a decent light source too.