A Damn Fine Review of Bike Tail Lights
by Ted JohnsonThe community blog for Bicycles Stack Exchange has this excellent review of 16 bike tail lights, and boy am I pissed off.
I’ve been building up to publishing my own version of the best bike tail light review the world has ever seen, and the author, “nhinkle,” has outdone even my grand ambitions — with fancy data graphs and graphics.
Screen Shot: Bicycles Stack Exchange
Who is this nhinkle?
nhinkle
All I’ve been able to ascertain is that he (or she) looks like this.
I’m going to go with a masculine pronoun, based on that avatar.
He covers lights by some of my favorite brands: Cygolite, Planet Bike, and Portland Design Works. But omits some other obvious brands, such as Light and Motion, and Busch & Müller.
Yeah. I’m nitpicking.
(Most of the Busch & Müller tail lights don’t even blink. It’s a German thing.)
In his final analysis, his choices are tail lights for which I already have a favorable bias: the Portland Design Works Danger Zone, Planet Bike Superflash Turbo, and the Cygolite Hotshot.
But his “best value” choices are a couple of lights that weren’t even on my freakin’ radar: The Blackburn Mars 4.0, and the SE 6-Way Flasher.
So if you’re thinking about bike tail lights, check out the very thorough article with all it’s fancy graphics. And when I finally publish my tail light review, I’ll try to approach the standards set by nhinkle.
Live long and prosper.
PDW Danger Zones totally rock! I clip them on my panniers, baskets and trunks. Extremely well made. Looking forward to your review though Ted!
In the 4/5/2012 update video to my CbB post Signal Pod Rhymes with Hot Rod (sort of), that’s a Blackburn Mars 3.0 blinking above the Signal Pod.
Blackburn says the Mars 4.0 is even brighter, so I say “Whoa! That’s a good light!”
If the Cygolite Hotshot is almost twice as bright as the Mars 4.0, then I say “Yeow! I almost PITY the drivers who are coming up behind you!”
no MagicShine taillight? dead to me.
It sounds like you an NHinkle will end up to be really good friends!
Matt, do you have experience with the MagicShine tail ligth (that funny round one with 9 leds….)?