Reviews of Planet Bike Blinky "3" 3-Led Rear Bicycle Light

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List Price: $14.99
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The purpose of any LED tail light is to make sure cars coming up behind you know you're there. The Planet Bike Blinky 3 does a fine job at that, stays put, has great battery life and doesn't cost much. You get two mounting options a big cheap plastic clip for the seat post and a smaller clip for a rear side strut. I put mine on the seat post. In past years when I had a baby seat I would have used the side strut. You also get two settings steady and blinking. That's the only negative in my book. I can't imagine using anything but blinking.

This is pretty much a no brainer. My wife's has been through almost 8 years of abuse and has had only one battery change. I didn't think twice when it was time for my bike and my son's to get this safety enhancement. I now bike a lot during the late night. I haven't had a close call with a car coming up from my rear yet. Enough said.

Update 8 months later (6/5/09): I added a bike rack over my rear wheel and had to re-mount this because the rack's cargo obscured the seat post. Neither included mount fit the small gauge bars of the rack. I was able to use the small mounting clip by adding a small strip of black rubber (cut from an old inner tube scrap I had lying around). Because of the orientation of the rack's bars my light is now sideways. This arrangement works fine for me. I'm still on my original set of batteries and I use the light at least once a week.

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This rear light can be seen for BLOCKS!! A great feature is the clip--it can be either clipped onto its seat post attachment or to a piece of clothing, if you walk at night. Battery life on blink (which is IMO much safer than constantly on) is weeks, if not months. Small enough to easily fit into a pocket, if you need to take it with.

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Nice and bright, different flash settings, great visibility, mounting needs a little improvement. If there's one piece of advice I can give is check your seat-post before using this light. The seat-post is the ideal spot for placing this since you want the flashing to be as high as possible. Unfortunately my Raleigh SC40 has a seat shock post which is far too wide to use the mounting :( The rear forks also do not accomodate the mounting so there are precious few places this can be done. Unfurtunately, this means my flashing light is relegated to operate from a plastic bag dangling from my seat :(

Honest reviews on Planet Bike Blinky "3" 3-Led Rear Bicycle Light

With today's cheap electronics and LED technology it's trivial to make a super bright bike tail light. What you are really paying for here is the housing and mounting bracket.

I bought four of these when there was a blowout sale at REI. They're not terrible as other people have mentioned (cheap, small, light, bright, cheap, long running, clip for clothes, cheap, and did I mention, cheap?)

What I don't like is that the light snaps together this is not unusual but the plastic on mine are thin enough that dropping the light onto a hard surface means you might be chasing the batteries on your hands and knees. Also, it's the plastic on the mount/clamp isn't very sturdy and if you put it on a mountain bike, it will need to be adjusted after every hard bump. Basically the plastic is so thin that you can't really tighten the adjustment screw sufficiently to keep it from slipping.

Do a search here at Amazon or the other online bike retailers it appears you can definitely do better for the same price or even get something better for less!

Cateye makes top notch stuff, and it appears they have one which is the same price. (LD-130) I ended up with a more expensive Cateye tail light LD1100 and do not regret the extra $20 I paid for it.

Princeton Tec, Marwi, Blackburn and Topeak make good stuff not as good as Cateye but certainly better than this.

Ride safe! Be seen!

If you've found this review to be helpful, please let me know!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Planet Bike Blinky "3" 3-Led Rear Bicycle Light

This is a great product for the money. The mount was a cinch to install on the seat post of my bike and took only about 10 minutes. It comes without instructions, and I was a little puzzled at first as to how to install the batteries. That was a minor hurdle and certainly no reason to rate the light down at all. It was a simple matter of pulling the red lens cover away from the black part. It takes a little effort, and I was afraid of breaking it. However, it proved to be up to the task so don't be too worried about that--you should be able to do it with just your hands easily enough. I can't speak to the battery life at this point, but the light is BRIGHT! When I held it at arms length I was seeing spots afterwards. A driver would have to be asleep at the wheel not to notice me.

Discount Outback Magnetic Indoor Bicycle Trainer

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I have had this trainer for just under 2 months and am fairly happy with my purchase. I knew going in, that I wasn't going to get a Cadillac (or BMW) for a hundred bucks, but it does a good job of helping me keep in shape during the cold winter months. To give you some kind of idea as to my normal work out level, I generally ride out doors about 2,000 miles per year. With my retired 20+ year old Fuji Palisade mounted in this trainer at high resistance, and top gear on the bike, I can get a full cardio workout.

I used the free shipping option, and received the package a few days earlier than originally expected. Assembly was completed in a 10-15 min time frame, using the instructions included in the box. I didn't need to use the included skewer replacement, as the stock quick release axle on my Fuji fit fine. The paint finish looks great, and the only thing I might have added would be a quick release between the bike tire and the resistance unit so I don't have to re-adjust the tension each time I ride. NOTE: You do not want to leave the tire locked in when you are not riding in order to prevent the tire from denting. Noise is not an issue for me. Sure it make some noise, but it is not so loud that I can't listen to my MP3 player, and the more I ride, the less I notice it.

One final note, if you are going to buy this or any other trainer you really should consider a stabilizer for the front wheel.

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For the price this wasn't bad.

I experienced a few minor frustrations. The assembly pictures weren't really clear, but putting it together was fairly self explanatory so I could live despite that.

The only real issue came when I went to mount my bike. I have a Mongoose Mountain bike, and this is most definitely set up for a street bike.

if you don't have a quick release latch on your rear tire you may need to purchase one. the one that is supplied is extremely small if you have a mountain bike (Mine requires almost a 1/4 inch shaft the one supplied is considerably less than that)

However I was able to improvise by tightening the bracket on to my lugs and it works fine.

Is rather loud, but I attribute that to my knobby tired more-so than the unit itself, which when I tested it was very quiet

All said and told a good purchase, just wish they had supplied more information (such as the latch) before purchasing so i could have been better prepared.

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This product was purchased as a gift for my wife. We have had it for one month and she has been using it since Christmas. I found the assembly to be easy and the instructions easy to follow. Before purchasing I was almost scared off by other reviews that had talked about excessive noise. While it is far from quiet the noise is no more of a distraction than a running refrigerator. My wife listens to the radio while using the trainer with no problems. She uses the trainer in our garage on a cement floor.

Honest reviews on Outback Magnetic Indoor Bicycle Trainer

i love this thing. and i paid more for it in a bike store so this is a deal. snap to set-up. takes 15 minutes maybe. there is a gentle hum but not loud. i have chronic fatigue so this is perfect. I was looking for a very easy low impact workout and this is it. I used to be an avid bike rider but not suffer from CFS and i'm hoping this thing will bring me back. so if you need and real easy work-out and have cfs this is as good as it gets. I love it. and this price is a super deal.

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After looking for a trainer for about a week I reluctantly purchased this one. I say reluctantly because everyone and everything told me to go for the cycle ops brand by saris. Friends had them and liked them, all the bike shops in my town exclusively sell them, and they just look better. I however did not want to drop the money for one. So I went with this one, and was very pleasantly surprised when it arrived and found out that it is made by saris!

First thing I liked about it; ease of setup. It has no parts to assemble, you just unfold it, attach the resistance unit using a bolt, screw in the adjustment knob and it's ready to go. It took about 5 minutes and most of that was cleaning a space to assemble it in.

Second; resistance. If you have a triple gear bike you will have no problems resistance. This trainer easily gives me a work out, and I have been riding trails at least four times a week for a year now.

Third; transportation. This mostly stays in my office with a bike on it, but occasionally I take it outside. This unit easily folds up and is not too heavy.

Now the other details, and these all involve the tire not the trainer.

Noise. If you have a mt. bike tire on it, it is going to be loud.

Ride quality. Again a mt. bike tire is going to slip easily due to the knobs which will not give you a smooth ride. It will also cause it to heat up the tire and give an awful burnt rubber smell.

These are two things I see talked about negatively towards all the trainers I looked into, and they are so easy to fix. Get a slick tire.

The noise is drastically reduced and the ride is much smoother. You also don't get that awful smell that many complain about.

This is a great product and I'm very happy I bought it.

Discount Sunlite Bicycle Tube 650 x 18-23 (26 x 1) 60mm PRESTA Valve

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These tubes have worked great for me so far. They pump up great, have lasted a long time, and are super easy to replace. If they fit your bike, I recommend them.

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I bought 2 of these tubes and installed them on my bike. I inflated the tires and left the bike sitting for about a week. When I went to go riding for the first time , both of my tires were flat. I haven't determined where the leak was coming from but after reading some of the other reviews, I realize these tubes are garbage.