DiNotte Ultra-Tail light Review
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/articles/4/1/DiNotte-Ultra-Tail-light-Review/Page1.html
Gadget Guru
By Gadget Guru
Published on 10/18/2006
 | Prepare to change driver's habits! We review possibly the brightest cycle tail-light on the planet - the Dinotte Ultra-Tail Light. |
DiNotte Ultra-Tail light Review
Introduction
Manufacturer: Dinotte Lighting www.dinotte-lighting.com
UK Distributor: On One Ltd www.on-one.co.uk
Price: £89.00 + p&p
Availability: Now
USA Manfacturer Dinotte Lighting have this to say about their light:
If you thought there isn't a tail light that could ever be bright enough, think again and don't say we didn't warn you. The world's first bicycle tail light to project a beam on the road. A light this bright encourages motorists to slow down and move out of your path when passing you.
UK retailer On-One are the distributors for Dinotte products in the UK.
What's in the box
The packaging for the Dinotte was pretty poor, arriving in just a plastic bag. There also weren't any instructions supplied so we had to download the User Manual from the Dinotte website ourselves.
In the packaging you get:
Specifications
140 Lumen 3 watt Super LED
Weight: 220g with batteries installed
2 year warranty
The tail light uses standard AA batteries and you can either use normal alkalines or rechargeables.
There are four modes of operation, low, medium, high and flash.
Performance and operation
Once you get past the packaging, there is no doubt that this is one seriously bright light as soon as you connect up the battery pack. A few quick flashes highlight the fact this light is something special. The supplied O-ring is used to mount the light to your seat post and the external battery pack is fixed using a strip of velcro to the frame.
One the rear of the light there is just a single button which allows you to cycle through the various modes. There are three steady modes, low medium and high and a flashing mode which is more like a strobe. Both low and flashing are claimed to provide the best battery life at 12 hours. High is the hungriest at 3 hours.
Conclusion
It's not hard to be impressed with the Dinotte tail light. It's easily one of if not the brightest light on the market and will surely get you seen. You could argue perhaps it is too bright and may blind other motorists. But from our experience on the road with this light, other drivers gave us plenty of room and were patient in their overtaking manoeuvres.
On the downside the light is rather fond of batteries and using regular alkaline AA's will be an expensive option. Lithium AA's gave significantly better performance but at much greater cost so most customers will most probably invest in a decent set of rechargeable batteries and a charger.
We give the Dinotte Tail Light a resouding Pedelecs Thumbs Up !
Manufacturer: Dinotte Lighting www.dinotte-lighting.com
UK Distributor: On One Ltd www.on-one.co.uk
Price: £89.00 + p&p
Availability: Now
 | With the dark nights upon us, one of the most important things we need is good lighting. There are many powerful front lighting systems on the market ranging from a few pounds up to many hundreds such as the Edison lights from Lupine. Unfortunately there haven't been any comparable rear lights until now. |
USA Manfacturer Dinotte Lighting have this to say about their light:
If you thought there isn't a tail light that could ever be bright enough, think again and don't say we didn't warn you. The world's first bicycle tail light to project a beam on the road. A light this bright encourages motorists to slow down and move out of your path when passing you.
UK retailer On-One are the distributors for Dinotte products in the UK.
What's in the box
The packaging for the Dinotte was pretty poor, arriving in just a plastic bag. There also weren't any instructions supplied so we had to download the User Manual from the Dinotte website ourselves.
In the packaging you get:
- The Light
- External AA battery box (holding 4 x AA batteries)
- External battery bag
- Velcro fastener to attach the battery bag to the bike
- O-ring
Specifications
140 Lumen 3 watt Super LED
Weight: 220g with batteries installed
2 year warranty
The tail light uses standard AA batteries and you can either use normal alkalines or rechargeables.
There are four modes of operation, low, medium, high and flash.
Performance and operation
Once you get past the packaging, there is no doubt that this is one seriously bright light as soon as you connect up the battery pack. A few quick flashes highlight the fact this light is something special. The supplied O-ring is used to mount the light to your seat post and the external battery pack is fixed using a strip of velcro to the frame.
One the rear of the light there is just a single button which allows you to cycle through the various modes. There are three steady modes, low medium and high and a flashing mode which is more like a strobe. Both low and flashing are claimed to provide the best battery life at 12 hours. High is the hungriest at 3 hours.
Conclusion
It's not hard to be impressed with the Dinotte tail light. It's easily one of if not the brightest light on the market and will surely get you seen. You could argue perhaps it is too bright and may blind other motorists. But from our experience on the road with this light, other drivers gave us plenty of room and were patient in their overtaking manoeuvres.
On the downside the light is rather fond of batteries and using regular alkaline AA's will be an expensive option. Lithium AA's gave significantly better performance but at much greater cost so most customers will most probably invest in a decent set of rechargeable batteries and a charger.
| Strengths Unbelievable bright Small compact size Light weight | Weaknesses Expensive Eats batteries Battery pack is not waterproof Lack of mounting options |
We give the Dinotte Tail Light a resouding Pedelecs Thumbs Up !