One Watt Tail Lights Compared: Planet Bike Super Flash Turbo vs. PDW RADBOT 1000

My wife will tell you that I have something of an obsession with bicycle lights. I don't stop riding when it gets dark and I'm a big fan of things that light up and reflect. LED technology keeps evolving and the lights of today get far more light from a pair of batteries than the lights of just a few years ago. Since there is still no free lunch in the physical world, lighting designers have to make trade-offs between battery life and brightness. I personally use several different tail lights on my bikes, some simple ones where the batteries seem to last forever and some lights in the "blindingly bright" category that are quite visible even in daylight but whose battery life never matches the optimistic claims that decorate their packaging.

Several years ago Planet Bike introduced the Superflash, a dazzling tail light that used a half-Watt LED and a couple of smaller LEDs. The Superflash quickly became quite popular with randonneurs, commuters and anyone looking for a very bright tail light.

When Dan and Erik left Planet Bike to start their own company, Portland Design Works, one of their products, the RADBOT 1000, pushed tail light brightness even further. The RADBOT 1000 uses a one-Watt LED, has a built-in reflector and was noticeably brighter than the Superflash. PDW also makes a half-Watt version of the RADBOT, the RADBOT 500. While the RADBOT 500 was basically directly competing with the Superflash in terms of runtime and brightness and was the light that Dan and Erik both use on their own commuting bikes, the RADBOT 1000 far outshone the RADBOT 500 both in brightness and sales. The market seemed to say, in terms of brightness, more is better.

The folks at Planet Bike don't stay on the top of the bike lighting game by sitting on their hands, so this spring they are releasing a one-Watt version of the Superflash, the Superflash Turbo. It's not in stores yet, so I don't have a link where you can buy one, but the good folks at Planet Bike did send me one of their lights so I could review it. And by the way, the people I've dealt with at both Planet Bike and Portland Design Works are good folks. Both companies are staffed by genuine bike geeks and both contribute a portion of their profits to bicycle advocacy.

The Planet Bike Superflash Turbo is the same size as the original Superflash and it has the same switch mechanism and mounting hardware. The switch toggles the light between off, flashing and steady modes. As you can see in the above photos, the RADBOT 1000 is a bit bigger than the Superflash Turbo, but both lights use basically identical mounting hardware and can interchange in their brackets. BTW, the RADBOT lights come with one more bracket that the Planet Bike lights, a handy bracket for mounting the light on a rear rack.

I didn't take photos of both lights with fresh batteries but the lights are basically identically eye-searingly bright with fresh batteries. Think painful. Think about not staring directly at these lights. Think about Nazis opening the Ark of the Covenant in that Indiana Jones movie. That's about how bright these lights are. They overwhelmed my camera's settings, so I gave up taking pictures of the lights with fresh batteries.

I do know that marketing claims of "up to 100 hours on 2 AAA batteries" are basically fiction. Maybe in flashing mode with lithium batteries or something (and even then I'm very doubtful), but I figured I'd test these in something close to a fair "apples to apples" comparison. I loaded each light with freshly charged Rayovac rechargeable AAA cells. Now to be fair to the lights tested, these are pretty low capacity rechargeable batteries. Read the battery review here.

Jun Nogami ran an interesting test on battery life comparing the Radbot 1000 to the original Superflash. Now that I had both lights in hand, I set out with my lights and my batteries to recreate his test. I don't have a test bench or even a very good camera but I did record some results the old fashioned way. I turned the lights on to their solid mode and checked them every half hour or so. Here's what I found.

At 4.5 hours, the PDW Radbot 1000 was noticeably dimming. The Planet Bike Superflash Turbo still was going strong.

At 5.0 hours, both lights were visibly dimming. The Planet Bike Superflash Turbo was about twice as bright as the Radbot 1000 at this point in the test.

At about 6.0 hours, the Planet Bike Superflash Turbo shut itself off. The Radbot 1000 was still glowing dimly. Less than half an hour later, the Radbot 1000 also shut down.

These results are consistent with Jun's findings. Letting the lights "rest" for a bit and turning them back on, they'd light for a bit (ten minutes or so) and then shut down. This doesn't mean these are bad lights, but it does show that bright lights draw a lot of power. And that you shouldn't believe the packaging.

My own approach to lighting is redundancy. I'll use a very bright light like the Superflash Turbo or a RADBOT 1000 but after every ride I check the brightness of the lights and change batteries as needed. I carry spare batteries with me. I also use lights that use lower power LEDs to get more useful light out of a set of batteries. And, as someone is sure to comment, a generator hub is one of the best, most reliable ways to ensure you have lights that will run all night.

Keep 'em rolling. And, if you ride at night, keep 'em lit.

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

Portland Design Works Fenderbot: A Review

Back in May I reviewed the Portland Design Works RADBOT 1000. I'm happy to report the RADBOT is still going strong and it's still my favorite tail light. At the time of that review an astute reader posted a comment noting that the shape of that light and wondered if it could be modified to mount onto a fender. It turns out the fellows at Portland Design Works were already thinking along those lines and they now make a light specifically designed to mount on a fender. It's called the Fenderbot.

As you can see by the pictures, the Fenderbot looks very similar to the RADBOT. Like the RADBOT, it has a built-in reflector and it is powered by 2 AAA batteries. Close inspection reveals that the Fenderbot isn't just a repackaged RADBOT, however. Instead of the RADBOT's myriad quick-release mounting options, the Fenderbot mounts permanently to your fender. You drill two holes in your fender and bolt the light in place. The holes in the package serve as a handy drill guide.

It took me a grand total of two minutes to mount the Fenderbot on Christine's bike. I didn't even need to dig out my drill, the reamer on my Swiss Army Knife did a fine job drilling the two necessary holes. An 8mm nut and lock washer hold the Fenderbot in place.

Like the RADBOT, the changing batteries in the Fenderbot involves loosening a single screw. This screw is right above the reflector, just below the power switch and you can change the batteries without having to unbolt the light from the fender.

The Fenderbot is bright, but not as bright as the dazzling RADBOT 1000. Still plenty visible even in daylight, but drawing less power. Based on the ratings on their respective packages (200 hours vs 50 hours) the Fenderbot draws 1/4 the power that the RADBOT requires. The Fenderbot can be set to either flash or steady but lacks the the RADBOT's fancy flash-flash-POW pattern.

The Fenderbot seems light enough that it shouldn't weigh down a fender too much. If your fenders run super close to your tires I suppose clearance for the mounting bolt could be tight but it clears fine on Christine's bike. Being bolted in place, the light looks nicely integrated with the bike and (at least in theory) a bolted down light is less likely to be stolen by some light-fingered scumbag.

You may have to hunt a bit to find a Fenderbot. It's a fairly new product and Dan at PDW tells me that at least one big bike shop supplier thought the Fenderbot was "too much of niche product" and decided not to stock it. By the way, it's disclaimer time. PDW sent me this light for review and I don't have to give it back, so make of that what you will. I've known Dan through the internet since the days back when he was at Planet Bike and I was with the Bike Alliance of Washington and he helped me get a great deal on lights for our Get Lit project. Dan and the crew at PDW are folks who ride bikes and care about the stuff they make. In my last email conversation with Dan, he was really excited about the "PDW company car" which is an Aherne Cycle Truck.

So that's the lowdown on the light. Good light, secure mounting, made by good people.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent

Portland Design Works RADBOT 1000: A Review

With a name like the RADBOT 1000 you might think this device has been sent from the future to wipe out mankind's best hope in our upcoming battle with the machines. In fact, the RADBOT 1000 is actually designed to protect humans, specifically bicycle-riding humans, from rear-end collisions. Yes, it's a tail light. It's the brightest damn tail light I've seen to date. Yes, it's brighter than the previous holder of the brightest damn tail light title, the Planet Bike Super Flash.


The RADBOT 1000 has both an EU conforming reflector and a 1.0 Watt LED. Like most modern tail lights, the RADBOT 1000 has a couple of blinking modes plus a solid option. The modes are described as "zZz" and "zZzPOP!" and "rock steady" and those are pretty good approximations of the light. The "zZzPOP!" is by far the most attention grabbing and the most obnoxious for those of us who do group rides after dark. Randonneurs will opt to keep the light running in "rock steady" mode and will want to make sure the light is pointed straight back and not into the eyes of your riding companions. In the photo above the light looks yellow, but that's just because it's very close to overwhelming my camera. In real life, it's very bright red. Dazzling. If you look straight at it, you'll be seeing spots.

The RADBOT 1000 comes with a seat post clamp, several sizes of rubber shims, a seat stay clamp and a rack clamp. It also comes complete with two alkaline AAA batteries. The packaging assures me the batteries will power the light for 50 hours, but I haven't owned it long enough to test that out.


Some lights have the annoying habit of turning on or off when they get jostled on bumpy roads or trails (or in a pack) but the folks who designed the RADBOT 1000 have solved that problem in a clever way. You have to hold the switch for two seconds to turn the light on or off or change its mode. Random jarrings are quicker than that, so they shouldn't affect the light.

So far, I've had no water issues with the light. One problem with the otherwise excellent Planet Bike Super Flash was the bottom-mounted switch and a few randonneurs had problems with water shorting out the switch. The RADBOT 1000 has the interior electronics and switch mounted fairly high in the light so even if water does seep in, the chances of a short are lessened.

If you've read this far, you can probably tell I like this light. Now here's where I put in my disclaimer. We sell these lights at the shop where I work, the Bicycle Center of Issaquah. We sell 'em 'cause we like 'em. I liked one of 'em well enough to buy it (yes, I get a shop-worker discount). If you buy one at my shop or via an Amazon link here, some of the money goes to me.

It's a good light, it's bright as heck and I think it's a good deal.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent