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I was riding home from a party late the other night and a few of my friends were chiding me about how bright I was lit up. Frankly, I was glad to hear it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out riding and suddenly caught up to cyclists riding around at night with just one light, or even none at all. If I didn’t see them from a block away and I was only going 15-20mph, how are drivers going to see them at 25-35mph (or faster)?. So, I’ve got a pair of red flashing tail lights on my backpack, and quite often I’ve got a third light zip tied to the back of my helmet. Lately, that light has been the new SuperFlash Stealth tail light.
If you’ve been using an old SuperFlash, you can skip the rest of this review. It’s the same light with a new “stealth” color scheme. For the benefit of those who aren’t so familiar, the SuperFlash combines a ½-watt super-bright red LED with two regular-strength red LED bulbs. Planet Bike claims this setup can be seen up to a mile away. Perhaps more importantly, the SuperFlash casts a bright red glow in multiple directions, making you visible from different angles. I also like the fact that Planet Bike kept things simple with three modes—steady, flashing and off.
The plastic casing is pretty much as good as any. It’s durable, weatherproof, and offers the standard choice of clipping it to your person or mounting it to your bike. The on/off switch is fairly well concealed, which makes it difficult to accidentally turn it on or off. I know that sounds pretty trivial, but I’ve got one light with a big, fat on/off switch that occasionally gets flipped to “off” on the ride home, and another light that often gets accidentally turned on and left overnight. The latter is less of a safety concern, but certainly a battery killer.
Speaking of batteries, Planet Bike claims the SuperFlash gets 100 hours of run time out of the two supplied AAA batteries. The SuperFlash retails for $30. Visit www.planetbike.com for more info.
I’ve got the non-stealth version of this light on the back of my helmet too, and it’s great with one exception. It’s funny you mention the power switch- this is actually the only thing I don’t like about the light. It’s one of those that you press once to turn on to blink mode, once more to turn it to steady, and one more time to turn it off.
That’s all well and good, but the problem is that the switch mechanism itself is a tiny button hidden behind the plastic casing of the light itself. You actually bend a thinned segment of the casing in to actuate the switch. This makes it a relatively water-resistant design, but there’s no “clickyness” to the switch at all, so you can’t really know if you’ve triggered it or not, especially through full-finger gloves.
The light is so bright that you can see whether or not you’ve succeeded if it’s dark out, but during my commute (these days at least) it’s pretty much full sun both ways and if I don’t remember to turn it on before I put my helmet on, I need to take it off again to make sure it’s really on–and it isn’t about 25% of the time. I’d love it if the superflash 2 (or whatever the eventual update to this design) had a silicone membrane instead of hard plastic between the switch and the outside world.
If you press and hold the switch, you can cycle it from on to off without “scrolling” through the flash option, too.
+1 on the switch design — I never gave it much thought, but I agree. A tactical “click” would be much more satisfying.
Um…I meant “tactile”.
100 hours is accurate, for the flash mode anyways.
I once put my bike away on friday and got it out monday evening and found that the light was still on, still flashing away four days later. This wasn’t even on a fresh set of batteries.
I run the non-stealth version on my seatpost for the daily commute and it works wonderfully. I even had a cop comment on how he would like to see more of these out on the street as they are so visible.
The one addition I make to my flashiness is the Planet Bike BRT Strap, which I wear on my left arm. At least in my mind, the addition of the arm band light not only lets the cars behind me know I am there, but how wide a berth I should be given. Check it out at http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3030.html
And yes, a cliky switch on the blinkie would be great!
I’m not a big fan of mounting LED tail lights on backpacks and helmets. Even something like the superflash, which I have used on my bike, is pretty directional. So it’s going to work well only if your backpack or helmet is at the right angle to the cars behind you. You move your head a small angle, or sit up straighter on your bike, and the brightness will fall dramatically.
So I highly recommend mounting LED tail lights onto the frame of your bike, either the seatpost, if you have no rack, or the back of the rack. Unfortunately, you need a special mount for the superflash to mount on a rack.
My only critic of the superflash is that I’ve twice lost one when the front part detached from the white base that it snaps into. I imagine this isn’t a problem when you mount it on your helmet or backpack since it will experience a lot less vibration. But I still don’t think it is a good idea for your primary tail light.
And don’t forget headlights. They are just as important as a tail light.
What color is the light from the LEDs in this stealth model? Is it red or is it white?
Tommy, the LED color is red, just like the original.
@ peteathome:
Man, now I’m kinda worried about my order of the SuperFlash Stealth. Got it at a great price, and is yet to arrive. Thing is, I hope mine doesn’t fall off like yours. No offense, I hope your two were from a small defective batch if you get my point. I hope this problem isn’t common. I like to go fast when it’s safe, like many of us cyclists.
! You do point out a great point in your comment about this. The entire weight of the light, the board & leds + batteries, are contain on one side of the light. Thus leaving only the black/white clip part held securely onto the mount. I’m planning on using it on my bike as a primary rear light, along with a secondary NiteRider TL 5.0, and a stock red reflector. (I have plans for helmet rigs later). If the SuperFlash dismounts and falls, it could drop the ground hard and fast, or hit the rear tire… I really don’t want something that has an MSRP of $30 to be shredded. Just ABS plastic would NOT cut a nasty fall like that or more.
BTW: To everybody here my first and current rear light, that I’ve been using for a year now is the NiteRider TL 5.0 as I featured above. I’d recommend it. It’s got a long life, durable, rain proof, can take the “slip out of your hand fall”, and has 5 LEDs with 180 degrees covered (3 cover the back, 2 cover the sides). Just another great brand, but I ain’t going to shell out hundreds for their signature headlights lol.
That’s the only Superflash we’ve heard of falling apart. Illinois roads are rough and they survive here. Nobody likes rigging stuff to stay put, but a small piece of electrical tape on the bracket before you slide the light on will hold it tight.