Which light is brighter?

[fossyant]

Nope. one of them is c&b seen rear light. I doubt it is what it claims.

Nah it's not what's claimed (having got two), it is however flipping bright compared to the magicshine, and built better. I like the modes as well. What's the other ?

 

[gaz]

Nah it's not what's claimed (having got two), it is however flipping bright compared to the magicshine, and built better. I like the modes as well. What's the other ?

Dinotte 400R which costs around 4x as much but is 10x the quality.
Having used things like magicshine and other cheap lights and comparing them to similar lights which cost quite a bit more. You can see where the money is going.

The C&B seen stuff looks good and feels good. It's CNC alu like the other top lights. Comparing it to the CNC that USE do on the exposure lights. and the quality difference between the two pieces is just incredible.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Is there any legallity about how bright a bike light can be? I have had people flash me before when I have had my light on full (when I first got it I had it on full on the roads).
I know it is polite to turn down the light when you see a car coming but what is the legality on the actual brightness? My light claims to be 1800 LM (doubt that) and there are people on here with much brighter.

I see someone else has highlighted the HC provision on dazzling others with lights.

The Sunday Times ran a piece a couple of weeks ago on cycle light brightness:
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1238554.ece

"The brightness of 10 popular light-emitting diode (LED) bicycle lights was tested at a photometric laboratory. On their lowest setting and with angular adjustment to account for pointing down at the road, eight of the lights exceeded the legal maximum level for dipped car headlights. At their maximum brightness setting, nine of the lights were brighter than a car headlight.
The lights can also be set to flash, often at a brightness near maximum, giving an intrusive stroboscopic effect that could distract other road users and impair their ability to judge the cyclist's distance or speed."

The Government's Road Safety Minister has admitted that the law has not kept pace with improvements in the design and performance of bicycle lights and said that the law will be reviewed.

There are certainly too many riders who seem intent on testing the "retina burning" claim of the manufacturers of these lights.

GC

 

[Archeress]

I see someone else has highlighted the HC provision on dazzling others with lights.

The Sunday Times ran a piece a couple of weeks ago on cycle light brightness:
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1238554.ece

"The brightness of 10 popular light-emitting diode (LED) bicycle lights was tested at a photometric laboratory. On their lowest setting and with angular adjustment to account for pointing down at the road, eight of the lights exceeded the legal maximum level for dipped car headlights. At their maximum brightness setting, nine of the lights were brighter than a car headlight.
The lights can also be set to flash, often at a brightness near maximum, giving an intrusive stroboscopic effect that could distract other road users and impair their ability to judge the cyclist's distance or speed."

The Government's Road Safety Minister has admitted that the law has not kept pace with improvements in the design and performance of bicycle lights and said that the law will be reviewed.

There are certainly too many riders who seem intent on testing the "retina burning" claim of the manufacturers of these lights.

GC

I wanted to read the article but I'm not a subscriber

Hugs
Archeress x

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I wanted to read the article but I'm not a subscriber

Me neither, I read it in a copy I was using to start a fire. It's pretty much summed up in the section I quoted though.

Hugs
Archeress x

Ooh, em, thanks, that was nice.

GC

.

 

[siadwell]

I'd like to know how the next sentence in that Sunday Times article concludes.

"At least 100 cyclists are killed on..."

Anyone have a sub?

 

[gaz]

I see someone else has highlighted the HC provision on dazzling others with lights.

The Sunday Times ran a piece a couple of weeks ago on cycle light brightness:
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1238554.ece

"The brightness of 10 popular light-emitting diode (LED) bicycle lights was tested at a photometric laboratory. On their lowest setting and with angular adjustment to account for pointing down at the road, eight of the lights exceeded the legal maximum level for dipped car headlights. At their maximum brightness setting, nine of the lights were brighter than a car headlight.
The lights can also be set to flash, often at a brightness near maximum, giving an intrusive stroboscopic effect that could distract other road users and impair their ability to judge the cyclist's distance or speed."

The Government's Road Safety Minister has admitted that the law has not kept pace with improvements in the design and performance of bicycle lights and said that the law will be reviewed.

There are certainly too many riders who seem intent on testing the "retina burning" claim of the manufacturers of these lights.

GC

The article was a load of rubbish. The Times failed to list what popular lights they tested or how they deemed them to be popular. Any light can be dazzling depending on it's angle and distance to the observer. Most people who use good quality lights are also careful about how they angle them. Yes, a minority are not but there are also a minority of other road users groups that are not good at using the correct lighting at the correct time. i.e. fog lights when it's not foggy.

If we look at several online stores and look at the top 10 popular lights we get something like this:

Evans:
Cateye EL135
Cateye Uno
Cateye HL-LD270
Cateye EL-340
Hope Vision 1
Cateye EL530
Raleigh RX 3.0
Cateye EL135
Cateye EL120
Cateye EL520

Wiggle:
Exposure Race Mk7
Moon Mask 5
Gemini XERA 850L
Lezyne Femto drive
Smart 7
Lezyne Super Drive XL
Smark Lunar 25
Exposure Six Pack mk3
Lezyne Mini Drive XL
Cateye SL-LD100

CRC:
Oxford LED Silicon sketelon
Electron milli
Nite Ride Lumina 640L
Kong Frog
Blackburn Flea 2
Blackburn Voyager 2.0
Knog Blinder
Lezyne Super Drive XL
Topeak whitelite II
BBB Stike

Only a handful of those 30 lights are bright enough to really dazzle other road users if used in the incorrect fashion. Some of them aren't even road lights but instead MTB lights, and that is probably the biggest issue as they don't have any cut off.

 

[gaz]

I'd like to know how the next sentence in that Sunday Times article concludes.

"At least 100 cyclists are killed on..."

Anyone have a sub?

"

At least 100 cyclists are killed on Britain’s roads each year." end of paragraph​

 

[fossyant]

Ah Dinnote 400 vs the c&b no contest but there should be no contest at those costs.

 

[gaz]

Ah Dinnote 400 vs the c&b no contest but there should be no contest at those costs.

Dinotte claims 240 lumens, C&B seen claim 500!

 

[fossyant]

The c and b is more like 150 to 200.

 

[gaz]

The c and b is more like 150 to 200.

I suspect so. I'll be doing a test in a few days with the magicshine as well.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

The article was a load of rubbish. The Times failed to list what popular lights they tested or how they deemed them to be popular.

Unless you're convinced there aren't ten bike lights readily available capable of high output, I don't see that that matters. Maybe you should ask them directly which lights they used in their test.

Any light can be dazzling depending on it's angle and distance to the observer.

The report does specify "...On their lowest setting and with angular adjustment to account for pointing down at the road, ..."


GC

 

[gaz]

Unless you're convinced there aren't ten bike lights readily available capable of high output, I don't see that that matters. Maybe you should ask them directly which lights they used in their test.



The report does specify "...On their lowest setting and with angular adjustment to account for pointing down at the road, ..."


GC

The article states "The brightness of 10 popular light-emitting diode (LED) bicycle lights" they a. don't state what lights they used. b. don't define how a light is popular. I did ask both those points in the comments, but alas, no response.
As I said above, only a handful of the top 10 from popular online stores could dazzle road users from afar. Most of the lights in the top ten are cheap cateye or knog lights that are pretty much useless at lighting up anything.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

As I said above, only a handful of the top 10 from popular online stores could dazzle road users from afar. Most of the lights in the top ten are cheap cateye or knog lights that are pretty much useless at lighting up anything.

It didn't say they were the top ten, just ten popular lights.

GC