Good morning,
By reflector I meant a "silver" surface behind the light rather than a reflector as in the orange things we all have on our pedals at night as this is a legal requirement. :-)
Many rear lights are not equipped with such a layer and spew light in all directions and those that are make design choices similar to front lights, a compromise between flood and spot.
Given that a Tailfin is aimed at people using the "wrong" bike it is unlikely that the rear light will be powered by a dynamo or a great big battery in a bottle cage. This introduces a quick big compromise between running time and brightness, added to which rubber band mounting on the seat post seems to make many manufactures reluctant to put in big/heavy enough batteries.
My commute is 18 miles each way and takes between 60 and 90 minutes, with a few exceptionally longer trips when fog bound.
| | |
---|
LIght | Notes | Running Time
Full Power |
A | Brighest, internal battery,
| 70 minutes |
B | Sorta bright, internal battery, no reflector | 150 mins |
C | Dimmest, AAA batteries, reflector | 1,000 minutes |
Neither lights A or B are capable doing the out and back legs and A is incapable of even doing the whole of one leg.
So while A is incredibly bright spewing out light in all directions and is easy to see, it can't be used at full brightness unless set to flashing.
Light B looks impressive indoors or in the garden but on an open road it's useful range is much less than it appears at first glance. I lent the bike against a telegraph pole, walked backwards and I didn't have to go very far until the bike was less than obvious.
C is my backup light which I carry in my pocket
just it case. By modern standards it is a poor light but it is a lot better than A with a flat battery.
The reflector in C means that the low power LEDs can produce enough light to be visible at a distance most of the times, as cars approaching from a distance have time to see it as they will usually be in the narrowest bright zone.
Whilst A and B do have a quite wide spread of light, even they would be tested if hung in the location shown in the earlier post. That specific light mounting options are offered by Tailfin seems to suggest that even they agree.
Bye
Ian