Had a series of lights, and replacements, stolen in a short amount of time. Trying a new things, I installed this induction light and then deliberately mangled the hardware to deter thieves.
Anyone have experience with these? What's the obvious downside I'm missing? Been riding this for a month or so and am surprised they're not the default option after years of messing around with taking lights on and off, charging, replacing batteries, etc
What am I missing?
What's the problem with induction lights?
byu/Fast_Ad_1337 inbikecommuting
by Fast_Ad_1337
9 Comments
Is there a problem?
the only problem is when you’re stopped at lights etc. I remember in the UK the law says it has to be a constant ligfht source as well (although thats dumb and never enforced)
For me 2 downsides
1. Not bright enough to be seen during the day
2. They don’t run when stopped, or at least they don’t run for very long when stopped.
Pretty much every close call I have is a car making a right turn on red or left turn on green. Both mean the driver is looking for cars and not looking for cyclists.
During the day, bright flashing lights when I’m stopped at an intersection really seem to help them notice me.
Mmm seems like a great thing to have on all the time by default, but since it would be dark when waiting at a light it doesn’t provide sufficient safety in that really critical spot.
It sounds like if it’s safe for you to ride around without lights at all, or you ride around already without lights at all, these lights would be a huge upgrade because you would have an increased visibility in ways you don’t currently have.
But it sounds like they are totally not a replacement for anything that requires running lights or constant illumination.
To be honest, this is why I was thrilled when I ended up purchasing a 170cc gasoline powered scooter. It’s a little bit like a Italian style Vespa, it has lights that are always on of course, but also brake lights, high beams, turn signals, a huge wind protection for my legs, storage space, and it can be locked just by using a steering column lock, doesn’t need to be chained to anything.
It wasn’t cheap, but at 3,500 out the door and another few hundred in helmets and gloves and cell phone holder, because it’s a whole vehicle replacement it felt like the cheapest thing for the best value thing I’ve ever spent money on
The problem is marketing.
There’s a good study showing day time running lights on bikes (in this case, the Reelight induction lights) reduce the accident rate (in Denmark if I recall, I’ll see if I can go find the paper).
Other kinds of lights have some intuitive advantages, like brighter and on-when-stopped. The downsides (running out of battery, forgot to turn it on, it got stolen) are not obvious.
Reelight has gotten a lot better about brightness & stand lights in the last 10 years or so, but it’s still hard to beat:
– permanently mounted
– always on
– no maintenance
Personally, I went for dynamo lights as even the best induction lights isn’t good enough for night riding. But if they work for ya: do it!
The biggest downside I found with induction is they have to be very tightly aligned with the rim for best results, and rims go out of true.
They’re never as bright and they stop working when I’m stopped.
I had some on a former bike of mine. I forgot the brand but I liked em a lot! As you pointed to, they were screwed on there and difficult to steal. I never had to worry about charging them before a ride. They stayed on for may 10-20 secs after stopping. The front light wasn’t bright enough for me, so I had a second one (chargeable) I put on the cross bar.
As others have mentioned, the output is very weak in person, they are fiddly to keep aligned, and where they need to mount is often not the most visible/useful place for them to be. They are also easy to break.
Don’t get me wrong, I love that they are cheap and that they don’t contribute to battery waste. But people who really care about that tend to be opposed to buying half-measure products that will just wind up in landfill anyway, and will skip to a dynamo setup if they can.
A few things: during the day blinking front and rear are a real advantage
At night they are not
You can get a front light to see or to be seen. Usually not the same thing
Dynamo lights with stand by capacitor that meets EU standards for duration are fantastic
USB powered lights, both ft and rear, are crazy limited as to duration of charge, charge time, and output
AA or AAA powered rear blinking lights makes too much sense. The cheap Cat Eye will pretty much blink forever on 2 AAA batteries.
I run a Shutter Precision hub with Super Nova ft and rear lights. Expensive, bulletproof
Daytime I have a cat eye blinking on the rear