Ok, it doesn't exactly fit your criteria but hear me out: My Dinotte 4xAA (NiMH) 3W LED 200L(umen) light is worth every damn penny I spent on it.

It's incredibly compact, it lasts for a few hours on a single charge (even at full strength, it lasts REALLY long if you choose one of the blinking modes), it lights up like daylight, and it takes AAs, so you can trivially carry spares (or, in a real pinch, use alkalines)

The problem is: they want to sell you a kit. With a (craptacular) charger, batteries & a helmet mount (ok, that might be useful, if I wasn't worried about where the mount ends up in an accident)

Every once in a while they put them on sale minus all the cruft for $99. If you can wait a bit, that would be my strong suggestion. Yes, it's more than you really want to spend, but you will absolutely be glad you did.

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so...apparently you can delete the charger and batteries from the order, but it only takes $20 off the price.

If it's as good as you say it is, I might consider getting it, but $150 is still pricey, even at $5/gal gas:

$150 / ($5/gal) * 30mpg / ( 18 miles of commuting /day) = 50 days of commuting on the bike to break even.

(which assumes that the only thing holding me back is the lack of a light AND that bike commuting is going to otherwise be zero cost)

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It is pricey, I can't argue that point, and I had a lot of trepidation about it being worth it that evaporated the first few days I used it. It really is incredible.

(Granted, my old ViewPoint halogen[*] light was just barely hobbling along and it was December, so I was immediately very happy with the switch)

From a purely financial perspective, if the light encourages you to ride 1 (extra) day a week for a year (and in the winter, that's the difference between a light and a ¡LIGHT! :) it pays for itself by your calculation (which assumes $5/gal, I realize. What's it up to anyway? I haven't filled up since March. :-D)

Bike commuting isn't zero cost. But car commuting is more than just cost of gas. It's wear and tear on the car, and on your psyche & soul ;-`) Seriously, though, there are health benefits, and mental health benefits, as well!


[*] Which, come to think of it, I quite probably spent more on when I bought it 10 years earlier. Wow, I hadn't put it in that perspective before. (I was tired of lights to be seen, I wanted a light by which to see!)


Edited at 2008-06-19 12:27 am (UTC)

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Gas is currently ~$4/gal here, probably $4.6-4.8 in your neck of the woods.

And yeah, the ancillary benefits - including having the motivation to ride more in the winter - are huge, but all those health benefits which seem great could also be instantly negated due to the dangers of biking in PGH. That's not to say I'm terribly concerned about being hit by someone, but it is just to say that it may not be an apples-to-apples comparison.

But yeah, if it's that good, I'll probably go for it. Having it recommended by you (specifically) gives me a lot more confidence in the product, whereas spending $150 on something that I'd never used and no one has heard of increases the trepidation by quite a bit.

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Actually, that dovetails right into something else I was going to say but forgot: I had trepidation, but I rationalized it as "safety equipment." Not something it's worth skimping on. (and easier to justify in December when my ViewPoint battery stopped holding a charge for a complete ride)

As for getting hit, you probably should be more concerned than you might otherwise be. You're invisible out there, they look straight through you. Worse, commute times (dusk, especially) are the most dangerous times to be on a bike, the lighting sucks, and makes it hard to be seen, and everyone's distracted. A light helps, but it's often safer to ride at night than at dusk. Seems counter-intuitive at first.

Make sure you're careful out there. Plaster yourself with blinkey lights. The life you save may be your own. Good luck.

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yeah, i guess what i meant was that i have trepidation, but that it's not going to deter me and all I can do is "best practice" safety/illumination methods and go to it.

I have gloves and a helmet: what else is there? It might actually be worth upgrading my helmet too...Hm...I mean, mine works, but I always feel like I want to have greater "wrap around" protection and these things never seem to cover as much of my head as I'd like...

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Making sure the helmet fits properly is probably more important than the size of the helmet. Folks wear them loosely enough that if you hit face first, the helmet slides over your head as your head hits the ground... which doesn't help much.

That said, for a lower cost light, maybe a Petzl headlamp?

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Actually, do you need to make this decision right now? The longest days of the year are upon us. Are you commuting home after 8pm? If so, I would strongly suggest shifting your schedule (maybe not to the 7-5 that I'm (normally) doing, but a bit) It'll suck at first, but the end result (even just socially) will be worth it!

If you put it off a few weeks, it could be argued the Dinotte would make a great (earlyish) birthday present. I'm just sayin', is all. ;-`)

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I don't need it right now, per se, it's more that I'm thinking about it right now. Currently I'm working long hours a few days a week and it's enough to discourage me from the ride in.

I *could* take my mountain bike in (have done it before) and it does have a crappy LED headlight on it, but for the hilly 9 miles (and me being out of shape) the road bike is SO MUCH NICER. Well, when i don' t blow out tires on pinch flats due to not having a floor pump (or a pump that doesn't suck) to keep my presta-valved tires all good and rock-hard. But that's a different issue (and I'm about to by a floor pump now...recommendations also welcome).

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I use a crappy $12 target back and front light kit. The back light is fine, the front not so much. But the reality of it is I'm far more concerned with a car hitting my then me running into something else.

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I hear ya. That's all i have on my mtn. bike currently, and it's functional. My big concern is for the road bike: given PGH's potholes, I figure it's a good idea to see where I'm going. :)

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I find that most bike lights are pretty crappy overall. Unless, as you're seeing you spend $100+ on a light...

For a more economical choice, a standard Petzl zipka plus works *really* well and lets me see where I turn my head, easily moves between bikes, won't get stolen off a parked bike and is great at the burn -- even without a bike. And three AAA batteries seem to last forever...

And its only $50: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O04HR8

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