Visibility is never more important on your bicycle or ebike ride as nightfall arrives earlier with the end of daylight saving time. Be sure to get a quality taillight so motorists approaching from behind can, hopefully, give you a wide berth. And look into lighting products with additional features like radar warning or a rear-facing camera to enhance safety on the road.
The Serfas Thunderbolt throws 35 lumens of red light in its highest setting via its strip of 30 miniature LED lights housed in a water-resistant silicone body. It offers high-beam and low-beam settings and two flash modes. Run time ranges from 1.75 hours (high-beam mode) to 9.5 hours (low-blink mode).
The Thunderbolt’s removable straps enable it to be mounted virtually anywhere on the bike. It also has a charge indicator, and the light fully charges in 3.5 hours via USB cable.
In addition to serving as a bright 100-lumen taillight, the Fly6 is also a rear-facing 1080p HD camera that captures footage at up to 60 frames per second. It also records audio. If you're ever buzzed by a motorist or struck from behind while riding, the Fly6 is designed to tell the tale for you with its black box incident protection and looping video.
It’s operated simply via two buttons, and the unit can be removed from its mount quickly with just a one-eighth turn. A nanotech coating keeps out dust, dirt, and moisture, and run time is up to seven hours using the camera only.
When the battery runs low, a HomeSafe mode kicks in to keep the taillight running up to 30 minutes. The Fly6 recharges in about two hours.
Garmin's Varia RTL510 Radar Taillight makes you visible from as much as a mile away, and its built-in radar gives you visual and audible alerts when vehicles approach from as far as 153 yards aways. A green light signals no threat; amber means a vehicle is approaching; and a red light signals that a vehicle is approaching at high speed.
The radar function requires pairing with a dedicated radar display or compatible Garmin device (sold separately). Those devices include Garmin’s Edge 1000, Edge 1030, Edge 130, Edge 25, Edge 510, Edge 520, Edge 520 Plus, Edge 810, Edge 820, Edge Explore 1000, and Edge Explore 820 GPS computers.
The taillight has three modes: solid beam (20 lumens), night flash (29 lumens), and day flash (65 lumens). Run time ranges from six to 15 hours, depending on mode selected.
