As a continuation of Part One, let’s take a look at two more powerful bicycle tail lights that I’m convinced will improve your visibility and contribute to your safety on the road.
The TL-LD1100 is Cateye’s top-of-the-line bicycle tail light with 10 super bright LEDs – six that point rearward (aligned in two rows of three) and two on each side.
What I like: Each row of three LEDs that face to the rear can be toggled through several settings like a) constantly on, b) flash, c) cylon mode (side-to-side display) and d) random. Choosing a different flash pattern for the top and the bottom row can yield a very eye-catching overall pattern that is sure to be noticed by motorists.
What I don’t like: This is a big damn light. I find this to be a minor drawback since this light fits perfectly on the end of my bicycle rack. That said, I could how this light might be unwieldy for someone clipping it to a backpack, clothing, etc.
The CherryBomb features a half-watt LED powered by two AAA batteries.
What I like: The flash pattern is noticeable and a variation of the popular PlanetBike Superflash design where two smaller LEDs fire before the brightest LED fires. In this case the two smaller LEDs fire from top and bottom while the more powerful LED fires immediately afterwards in the middle. In addition, this middle LED has a lens covering that tends to diffuse the light not just rearward but also to the side. I also like that this light has a reflector built-in so that if your batteries die, the reflector built-in will be picked up by headlights and still offer some visibility.
What I don’t like: At least for me, the default clip for this light had far too much of a gap for it to hook on my Topeak bicycle bags in the designated place on the rear of the bag. I solved this problem by wrapping some duct tape around the clip to “bulk it up” enough to close that gap to keep the light from flying off the bag at the first big bump.
Here is a shot of the Cateye light on the back of my Topeak Explorer bicycle rack:
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