I ride a lot at night, but always on well lit city streets, so illumination has never really been a
problem for me. I use blinking red (rear) and green (front) LEDs and reflective clothing, and
navigate by streetlights.
Recently I bought a somehat more serious headlight, a planet bike 3 LED cam mount with 3xAAA batts.
Not exactly 10W of halogen, but what a huge difference! Tonight there was a power faliure in my
neghbourhood, and I took it for a ride in complete darkness, something I rarely get to do.
Despite what people claim, it did quite a good job a lighting the ground, even pointed straight
ahead. I wouldn't want to barrel along at 30MPH over unfamiliar surfaces, but for cruising my
neighborhood it was perfect. Street signs lit up at the end of the block. I could see cats and
raccoons scurrying around in the darkenss. I could see potholes, and curbs. I went through the park,
and dodged all the tree roots and weird features that would normally make me go around it. I could
even see people walking around in dark clothing, off to the side.
I think I might get another one, I'm told having two lights is a plus in traffic, and they only cost
$20 CDN. And it made a better flashlight than my duracell peice of garbage that runs off D-cells.
And LED lights can blink, something halogen bulbs aren't good at. And the batteries the light came
with will probably last as long as most halogen bulbs. And it's small enough to drop in my bag when
it's not on my bike. And now I can steer my bike though the tiny alleyway between my house an the
neighbours without smacking into their (black) garbage can that's always in a different place.
So yeah, I'm pretty happy with it. Highly recommend it to those currently doing without. Next I need
to find a way to mount two red blinkers to my rear rack
Adam