On 14/11/2013 15:44, sms wrote:
On 11/14/2013 7:33 AM, Jay Beattie wrote:

A flasher can be useful this time of year when my commute is in dreary
conditions, and a solid beam can be lost in the light noise. I switch
to flasher mode in a few places along my commute route. I would like
that option on a dyno light, although it is not critical.

I also like a lot of light when riding in the rain at night, so the
Super Nova makes sense. OTOH, I don't think a truly symmetrical beam
is very efficient. I've never used a light with a hard cut-off, so I
don't know whether I would miss the spew of my current light (which
has some, minor beam shaping). I do know that the spew is handy for
the climbing and descending portions of my hilly route home, but I
waste a lot of lumens lighting the tree boughs and sidewalks when
riding home on my flatter routes. Someone should design a light with
variable beam patterns.

I rarely see any adult commuters without a daytime flasher anymore (OTOH
I see a lot of school-age kids riding with no lights at all, day or night).

It would be incredibly clueless to not use a flasher if your lights have
that functionality, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a battery powered
light without a flash mode.

While I almost never see anyone with dynamo powered lights, for those
that do choose that option they can either use a Planet Bike Blaze
Dynamo in the daytime (to get the flash mode) and switch to a Supernova
E3 Triple at night (to get sufficient illumination and an optimal beam
shape) or simply add a separate battery powered light for flash mode in
the daytime.

The thing about a powerful daytime flasher is that it helps prevent
drivers from doing stupid things. Not always of course, but enough to
make using one a very intelligent thing to do.

Anecdote from Tuesday evening. Driving along an unlit A-road at night. I
saw the cyclist with a normal headlight. 30 or so seconds later I saw a
brief flash out of the corner of my eye, and realised that was a cyclist
I'd not seen at all coming the other way. His flasher was hidden in the
noise of the cars coming towards me.