# Bike lights on kickstarter - Sparse



## Scott B (Dec 1, 2004)

Seems like a kind of neat design, nice and clean. I would like to see one in person.

It seems like the main downside is if they are always on your bike you need to park next to an outlet to charge them. I don't have an outlet in my storage space where I park my bikes.

I do like the front that fits in the headset stack. Seems like it could work real nicely with some careful cable routing.

(I'm not affiliated in any way or a backer of the project at this point)


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## froze (Sep 15, 2002)

Those head lights are not very bright, there more a to be seen light and not to see light. 

The tail light however sounds promising, it has 50 lumens which is decent, about mid level in today's LED tail light world, and it has the LED's in a array that curves around the light to give good side illumination. Also the tail light is made of aluminum where most today are plastic.

The problem with them being so secure is getting your bike near an outlet so the cord can reach to recharge, or you have to remove your seat post and or stem to get the light off to bring it a charging source. I would find that to be a huge hassle for me.

Most lights today are really easy to take off and put on, and most are so small if your worried about theft you can take the lights off and put them in your backpack and you wouldn't even know their in their. Lights like the Cygolite ExpiliOn 700 (lumens) has a self contained rechargeable battery that is very compact but the light is very bright, all one piece so you don't have to fool with a separate battery pack, and it cost less then $120. The tail light, well there's several good choices like the Cygolite Hotshot, Serfas Shield, and the Light & Motion Vis 180 (in order of increasing price, and increasing brightness).


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## Scott B (Dec 1, 2004)

froze said:


> Those head lights are not very bright, there more a to be seen light and not to see light.
> 
> The tail light however sounds promising, it has 50 lumens which is decent, about mid level in today's LED tail light world, and it has the LED's in a array that curves around the light to give good side illumination. Also the tail light is made of aluminum where most today are plastic.
> 
> ...


Froze, I had many similar thoughts. I'm mainly at the "these look neat" place. Which, on the right bike is meaningful to me. I love how my Edelux looks (and functions), but I'm not going to put them on multiple bikes due to cost. I would love to see more better designed, not just brighter, lights available.


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## nhluhr (Sep 9, 2010)

froze said:


> Those head lights are not very bright, there more a to be seen light and not to see light.
> 
> The tail light however sounds promising, it has 50 lumens which is decent, about mid level in today's LED tail light world, and it has the LED's in a array that curves around the light to give good side illumination. Also the tail light is made of aluminum where most today are plastic.
> 
> ...


A run time "up to 4hr" is pretty crappy for a tail light. Yes, it's bright as far as tails go, but it would be nice to have a low power mode to get longer run times. They mention the 4hr should be good to get you to and from work for a week. That's a pretty short commute. Mine is 3hr round trip per day. I'd have to plug in every single day.


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## froze (Sep 15, 2002)

nhluhr said:


> A run time "up to 4hr" is pretty crappy for a tail light. Yes, it's bright as far as tails go, but it would be nice to have a low power mode to get longer run times. They mention the 4hr should be good to get you to and from work for a week. That's a pretty short commute. Mine is 3hr round trip per day. I'd have to plug in every single day.


You have long commute to work, that long of a commute is unusual, kind of wish mine had been that long! It would be great training ride time! The longest commute I ever had was just 6 miles so I had to take detours after work to get riding time in.

There are tail lights like the ones I mention earlier that will run longer then 4 hours, and are rechargeable and very bright. 

Here is a light photo comparison of the leading tail lights: Light Comparison Test | See side by side test of the most popular lights of 2012 | The Bicycle Repair Shop The 4 hour run times they speak of is if you use it on the steady mode, which is the mode I use my main tail light on because a German study showed steady was better...but I also use a tail light on my helmet and on my bar ends and those I put on flash mode because American studies showed flash was better. I do know that flash mode makes it more difficult for a driver to ascertain distance from them to you, and there is some possible connection to drunks wanting to steer toward red flashing lights. But flashing lights to wake a driver up faster and makes them try to figure out what the flash is. So that's why I use both methods, kind of like killing two birds with one stone, though I have no scientific reasons or studies to prove it works!!!


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## tlg (May 11, 2011)

Drawbacks I see are...

Charging.
You can't aim it. 
It's not very bright. 130-220 Lumens is ok for being seen. But it's not going to light up the road very well.
It mounts behind the cables which will throw shadows.


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## froze (Sep 15, 2002)

Those Sparse lights are not meant to be aimed because their not bright enough to cast a beam to see by, their simply to be seen lights with some up close, near the front wheel light casting on the pavement. But if they ever decide to increase the lumens then they'll have to put a adjustable head on it so it can be aimed.


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