[Slartibartfast]

Anyone else noticed this year there’s an increasing number of overly bright front (and rear) lights, or is it just me? My commute has an extended part over an unlit moor but mostly lit cycle paths and I’d say people have their lights on the wrong setting or pointing at eye level approx 50% of the time.
Maybe my eyes have just got more sensitive but I’m finding myself having to ask people to please turn their daytime strobe off as I can’t see where I’m going.

Topic

[brooksby]

Has anyone else noticed the

Has anyone else noticed the trend for dog walkers to wear those head-lights, too? 

The ones right at eye level and dazzlingly bright so that they can see Fido’s poos.

[OldRidgeback]

Hmm, it’s overly bright car

Hmm, it’s overly bright car headlights that bother me most TBH.

[bensynnock]

I’m not sure that 800 lumens
I’m not sure that 800 lumens is enough for a pitch black off road trail. I switched from an 800 to an 1800 and now I can actually see where I’m going in the forest.

[matthewn5]

I’ve got dynamos running B&M

I’ve got dynamos running B&M StVZO compliant lights. They are bright, but they have a hard upper cut-off so they don’t dazzle. They light up the road brilliantly too.

[quiff]

I have two StvZsvotVso

I have two StvZsvotVso compliant lights, or whatever they’re called, but there’s still room for human error as they need to be angled appropriately. At what *I think* is the right angle, I no longer get oncoming pedestrians shielding their eyes – but the flip side is I can be alarmingly close behind an all-in -black pedestrian in the unlit park before the beam picks out their ankles.    

[CyclingGardener]

My very first LED front light
My very first LED front light – a present, so possibly expensive – proudly stated that it was visible half a mile away or something, then in the next breath ‘Do not look directly at the light as it could damage your eyes’. I can remember thinking at the time that this was fine for me, sat behind it, but a bit hard on the poor b****r coming towards me!
As LEDs have become more common everywhere, I’ve often wondered . . .

[S.E.]

I have to protect my eyes

I have to protect my eyes with my hand sometimes, like I would do when looking something close to the Sun…

I’m trying to fix my light so that the most powerful beams don’t reach above the horizontal (relativately easy to estimate by facing a wall). To me 800 lumen seem fine for the trails, the lowest setting at 100 lumens is enough for the city, just to be seen.

I had the same issue with early car LEDs, it was just painful for my retinas to drive at night…

I’ve later found studies describing how LEDs can damage retina cells, even at powers used for indoor lightning!

[Slartibartfast]

I’ve just taken to shouting
I’ve just taken to shouting (as has my 6 year old cycling next to me) that people need to turn their lights down. The worst is the strobes on dark shared paths at night crew. They can’t see where they’re going with that light, at what point do they realise this?

[Matthew Acton-Varian]

I have a fairly powerful

I have a fairly powerful front light, owing to the fact I do go on and off road, and sometimes in total darkness. However I chose one with various output settings, and I almost exclusively use the lowest setting anywhere that visibility is aided by street lighting. I also check the beam position every time I use it. But I can understand that the faff might be off-putting for some more casual users.

[brooksby]

I appreciate that it is

I appreciate that it is coincidence and confirmation bias, but in the last couple of evenings I’ve actually had to stop on a couple of occasions until the oncoming cyclist has passed me (as I couldn’t see a bl**dy thing beyond the glare of their headlight).  Roughly the same place, too: my commute is on a narrow shared-use path, and if I can’t see but move over anyway then I run the risk of getting tangled in the ivy on a wall my left.

[Secret_squirrel]

lesterama wrote:

Not just the lumens, but also the legislation. Bike lights that aren’t dipped are a menace.

We need to be like Germany, and only allow lights with beam control on sale. Otherwise we’re just giving bike-haters another stick to beat us with.

I’ve been using Ravemen front lights for years. I won’t ever use a strong non-dipped light again.

 

Of all the things cycling needs it’s not more legislation or ammunition for another culture war.

It’s a meaningless trivial problem – get some perspective.

[lesterama]

Not just the lumens, but also

Not just the lumens, but also the legislation. Bike lights that aren’t dipped are a menace.

We need to be like Germany, and only allow lights with beam control on sale. Otherwise we’re just giving bike-haters another stick to beat us with.

I’ve been using Ravemen front lights for years. I won’t ever use a strong non-dipped light again.

[Slartibartfast]

Yeah, I’m seeing a lot of
Yeah, I’m seeing a lot of super bright front light on town bikes (electric or analog). Presumably there’s a way to tip a front light down, but no one seems to.

[andystow]

These things and other cheap

These things and other cheap ebikes are the culprit around me. At least they have lights, but there’s no beam cutoff or even brightness settings.

They have much brighter lights than the one that came on my wife’s Townie Electra, which cost more than twice as much.

[chrisonabike]

But this one goes up to 1511

But this one goes up to 1511 lumens, though?

Nothing new I suspect.  Where manufactures can with new tech, some will, then gradually most will.  And “excellent” yesterday becomes inadequate because many folks judge by a combination of price and where the thing sits in relation to other products available now.  (Whether they have a scoobie-doo or not).

Anyway – very happy with my up-to-3-W of dynamo-powered-lighting for most (sub)urban pottering.  I think most of my salience (where people are looking for cyclists, or looking at all) comes from moving reflectives.  But my lights are enough to see by and be seen by pedestrians on shared-use spaces.

BUT on a rare late-night country ramble, yes, I’ll amp up with some rechargables.  FWIW am just old enough to remember how bad the Ever ready battery jobs were – even with far more acute youthful eyes …

[Author]

Replies