Portland Design Works Danger Zone Tail Light

We've been using three of the Danger Zone tail lights for 4 years and we still love them.All 3 of the lights still work great. Very bright flashing light, night or day.We love the battery life, these go about a year between battery changes. In the past we used USB type tail lights(niterider/specialized), which needed a recharge every 1-2 rides.If PDW made a flashing headlight that worked on AAA batteries, we'd buy a few right away. We mostly do daytime riding on the street.

The media could not be loaded. On the left is this product, and on the right is the Planet Bike Superflash.The Planet Bike Blinky Super Flash Tail Light has been the gold standard for many years. It had a single half watt LED and two additional less bright LEDs that flash using a flash-pop arrangement that keeps at least one lamp lit almost all the time so that drivers of cars can always see it. Off axis visibility was good, so that it didn't have to be aimed directly at the driver. It was waterproof and you could drop it repeatedly without breakage. I own several of them and have been very happy with them.But they suffer from a few shortcomings. First, they have a short repeat sequence. Drunk and high-on-drugs drivers can get mesmerized by such a sequence and will run right into a light like this like a moth to a flame. So I've been using the superflash on the sides, not the back. Second, they are very bright up close, but from a distance, with lots of other distracting lights, they get lost in the crowd. A half watt isn't very bright when there are many other 12 volt sources of light. So in a big city, they are less effective.Enter the Portland Design Works Danger Zone. It has two half watt LED that punch through the clutter of other lights in a city, and a longer repeat pattern making a drunk driver less likely to hit you with one of them. You can see from the video that it seems much brighter, though if you stop the video right at the end, both lights have a single half watt LED on at the same time and you can see that, at least at that moment, they are both identical. Otherwise, it seems well built, waterproof and off axis visibility is just as good, just like the superflash. Clip and mounting capabilities are almost identical. It's a little bigger than the superflash.However, the brightness comes with some drawbacks. First, the battery life will go down. Second it's more expensive.However, I think for a rear light, it's worth it. For a side light (I use one on each side for drivers exiting driveways and parking lots, and cross traffic), I'd stick with the superflash, due to cost and battery life issues.

Great little product. Worth the money.Clipped onto my "Osprey" brand backpack easily, as expected.The plastic feels thick (seems like it would be hard to scratch). Also, the batteries (x2 AAA's) are protected in a very "sealed" area (e.g. normal rain or splashes have not broken or shorted-out this little guy yet).There are three modes (x1 fast blinking, x1 slow blinking, x1 always on - - - the blinking modes rotate which of the two lights is on and the slow blink fades out of each light blink. The always on mode keeps both lights on full intensity).The light produced is MUCH brighter than I expected. In fact, it is blinding at close range - even outdoors on a sunny day. (e.g. Don't look directly into it! I just did and see red tracers every-time I blink).Also came with mounting equipment for a bike (which I did not use) - but the equipment looked and felt strong enough for me for me to say that I would be comfortable using it to mount this piece onto a bike.-----------------------------------------Last thoughts/future updates:-----------------------------------------Battery. This product came with the x2 (AAA) battery's already installed. They are "Excell" Brand - non-rechargeable. I don't know how long they will last, and have not tested any other "name-brand" batteries to see if the light can be made even brighter. Finally, I do not know how many hours these batteries will last for. If they ever run out, I will update this post to give an estimate of how long the batteries lasted for - as well as which mode I used the most.

Good light, bad mount. I've used this light for 6 years, and just picked up a new one for a new bike. I'm pleased to say the light is still excellent. It's bright, and the modes are highly visible. Having two main LEDs means you can have it flash without ever having it turn off completely. I generally use the fast pulse during the day, and the slow pulse at night. Battery life is good. It uses standard AAA's, which I consider more convenient than custom battery with USB recharge, since you can always swap in some fresh ones (I use rechargeables, and they work fine). Battery life is as advertised for me, really don't need to change them frequently at all, despite the brightness.The mount is bad though. It's certainly easy to attach, just stretch the rubber and pull it around to hook it on to the seat post, which might be nice if you are switching between bikes and don't want to buy another mount. The fit is reasonably secure, but I wouldn't be shocked if it slowly shifted position when riding on rough surfaces. The real problem is that seat post is the only place you can mount it, and even then it has a fixed angle, so it might be aimed poorly depending on the geometry of your bike. If you want to mount it on seat stay or be able to adjust the angle you'll need to buy another $8 mount. The old mount didn't have this issue. There's also no other options included for other popular mounting locations, though you can buy a rack mount. Also I'm sure a tool-less mount increases the risk of theft. Sure someone could always pop the light off, but that seems even more tempting if they can steal the whole usable unit, and even with the light off, there's always the risk that someone will pop off the mount just because they're a jerk.