George's Weblog

I spent the last few months looking for the best lights to get for my commute. It's about 17 to 19 miles each way depending on the route and now that we're back on Eastern Standard Time it's dark when I leave work. Soon it will be pretty dark when I go in too.

There are lots of choices out there. My current setup is a Cateye headlight that puts out about 100 lumens and a Planet Bike Superflash rear blinky. These lights work in a pinch but the front light is too much of a spot to illuminate enough of the road, especially if you're going fast. The rear blinky is actually very noticeable and I used to think it was pretty bright.

Recently I was out with the Suburban Cyclists Unlimited on a few evening rides that got pretty dark toward the end. A few folks had rather bright light setups including one fellow who had a two-watt rear light that was impressive. I decided that I just had to have something like that for myself.

When you shop for lighting you will find a big deficiency in the rear lighting department. Even high-end manufacturers like Niterider are severely lacking in bright taillights. Instead they have lights that flash and blink but they are pretty low power so that they have long runtimes. I guess maybe that's important to people. Personally it's not all that important. What is important is that people see me and respect my presence on the road. I can always charge up the light at work, home or both.

After plenty of Googling and reading I came upon a lesser-known manufacturer located in New Hampshire. The name is DiNotte Lighting. Being an engineering type I really liked their design philosophy which includes not pushing the edge with components and making safety a priority. They also offer reasonable pricing on extras and replacement batteries. Every review I read raved about their customer service. I have to admit that my own experience was also extraordinary.

I ended up getting the 1200L headlight which has dual quad LEDs and the 400R taillight. I opted for four-cell lithium-ion battery for the taillight so that the batteries would be interchangeable. That way I could switch them if I was running short on one or the other.

The ordering was straightforward on the website and I included a note asking if they could ship right away as I was in dire need of adequate lighting for my commute. I was not disappointed. The shipment went out Express Mail and although I didn't get it the next day (this is USPS after all) I received it on Saturday which meant I had plenty of time to explore my mounting options before my Monday commute.

The batteries took the full charge time (4 hours). I followed the manufacturer recommendation and just left them alone until the charger turned green for both. Meanwhile I looked at the mounting hardware. The headlight is a no-brainer. It straps right on the handlebar with a rubber strap. The strap looks pretty durable and I'm hopeful that it will hold up okay. The battery isn't very long (about 3") and I was able to strap it right to my handlebar stem. The connectors are rubber and fit snugly. When you take them apart they make a popping sound from the suction being released suggesting that they will probably remain watertight in operation.

The taillight took a little longer in my case. Since I have a rack on the back the ideal place to put the light is on the back of the rack. I sorted through the many fittings suppled and found one that fit pretty good on the rear bar of the rack. I wanted to use the quick release option so that took a few extra minutes to assemble. The screws for the quick release are really small so you have to be careful when you're assembling them and you'll need a pretty small Phillips screwdriver to do the job. The battery for the taillight was easily strapped to the rack but in operation I just put it inside my rack top bag.

On the way into work I turned on the taillight and put it into the fast strobe pattern. The light has a constant low level (still very bright) with three bright flashes in the pattern. I couldn't help thinking how annoying it would be for a fellow cyclist to be following me at night in this mode. I could see the light plainly during the day. Luckily, the mode can be switched to constant and the light level reduced to the low setting which should be less of a problem. For traffic the flashing pattern works well.

The real operational test was coming home from work today. I took an alternate route which included a piece of the Schuykill River Trail so that I could try out the lights before hitting the dark streets. For the trail I opted for the pulse (I think medium setting) on the headlight. It made me visible to oncoming riders and walkers/joggers. People walking in my direction also noticed the flash of the light from far away and stayed to the right so I could pass.

When I left the path and hit the roads it wasn't completely dark yet so I left it on flash for a while. Then I changed it to steady mode (requires powering off the light momentarily with a long press then holding power button for six seconds then turning it back on). I found that medium power was plenty for seeing the road but it was nice to be able to crank it up to the high setting when there is oncoming traffic. On low-traffic roads I put it down on low and it was still adequate. The beam covered a wide section of road and projected plenty ahead of me so that I felt comfortable even on roads I didn't know that well moving at a speed of 18+ MPH.

I'm sure I'll be writing more about these lights as I use them more but I really couldn't be happier with them. Yes, they are expensive. But I would rather pay for good lights than have an accident.