Lights? What do you use?

Im looking at getting out on the bike, round the lanes at night, but want to make sure Im seen!
I have a Hope HID and Vision 4 for the front, so that's not going to be a problem. I have a Exposure flare for the back, but cant help but think another light wouldn't go amiss. Ive been looking at the Hope District+ and Exposure Blaze. What do you use and any advice? Especially with the two listed above?

The Hope District+ is very good. I've seen them when in my car and have a friend with one who I ride with sometimes. They have a diffuser which seems to make the light seem bigger than it actually is from a distance and yet not dazzling when up close.

For the back I always go for one flashing plus one constant. The flash attracts attention, but the constant one allows better perception of distance / position by drivers. Smart or Cateye always work well for me.

I ride with 2 Smart rear led ones in constant mode, on the front I have a couple of the CREE ones from ebay which for the money are excellent.

Does anyone having flashing lights on the front ? are they legal ?

Flashing on the front is legal these days (the law changed around 6-8 years ago IIRC). I tend to use a Cateye EL135 blinking around dusk to attract attention.

I think you're right, flashing lights are legal, front or rear: http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/ ... egulations

I have a Blackburn Mars 3 on the rear: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... ight-29565. I always have it set on flashing and it's pretty bright.

On the front, I have a Cateye Nano Shot Plus: http://road.cc/content/review/72875-cat ... ront-light. Quite expensive, but it gives out plenty of light for completely unlit roads and the "hyperconstant" mode where it pulses between the high and low settings is very attention grabbing, and because it's never completely off you can still see the road and the numerous potholes well enough without having to change to one of the continuous modes.

I also have enough retro-reflective stuff on my regular night riding bike to ensure that even the most myopic motorists have little excuse to use the "sorry I didn't see you" phrase.

thanks for all the replies, I went out tonight round the lanes with Hope HID, Hope Vision 4 on high and a Exposure Joystick on flashing on the front and a Exposure red eye (static) and the Exposure Flare (flashing) on the back, both with beacon diffusers. Soon noticed, lights have really come on since I used bike lights, I bought all these around a year ago with the idea of me and the wife riding out together, but shes not been interested after a long ride round Rutland water and they never actually got used. I was worried that even with the Exposure lights on the rear I maybe missed on the road, but my doubts soon evaporated when I noticed the amount of room cars were leaving to over take! I was honestly laughing with the room people were leaving compared with previous experiences from over 15 years ago with old cheaper leds. The fronts must have been bright, oncoming traffic down single track lanes were actually slowing down and moving over to let me pass!! So for now Im going to hold off buying another light. Really happy with my setup and im now going to get out and ride more when I get in from work. Looking into reflective stuff, but a lot of my biking clothing is littered with reflective strips anyways.

To be honest your setup on the front is probably too bright. The cars were likely stopping as the were blinded by your 1500+ lumens. The intensity of those lights is probably greater than that of a cars main beam as all that light is coming from a relativley small surface area.

Hmm, think I will have to shine them up the the road at the wife to see if its too bright, for me it looked fantastic as I could see round the lanes with no problems.

I have wondered this about my front lights, getting the balance right between seeing the road ahead in time to stop/brake/swerve potholes etc and not blinding the oncoming drivers.