LED Tail & Stop Light

[Juvecu]

I'm looking to get a replacement LED tail & stop light. I used to have one on my eBay watch list from a bloke in Germany that was only a tail & stop light, didn't have the integrated indicators (I don't want those.) He only sells the smoked version of it now and I really can't tell how it's different from the hundreds of ones sold by Asian sellers. The one from Germany is more than twice as expensive too.

I've considered changing the bulbs in my own unit to some special LED ones that give light rearwards and sideways. Red LEDs with a red lens gives the best light for the tail & stop light unit. Has anyone used these, how is the visibility from other angles other than directly behind your bike?
Part number LD24RST: http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffyleds.htm

There seems to be two different tail lights sold by the Asians, one has a matrix of LEDs mounted on a non reflective back board, the other has a matrix mounted with a reflective back board that cups each LED.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390544871037
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390604458996

Has anyone used any of these? What did you think of them? Were they reliable? What's the build quality like, acceptable?

I'd prefer to have a clear LED tail light even though the smoked ones look much better (cosmetically.) Am I being daft wanting a clear one? Is the light still brighter on a LED smoked rear light than it would be on a normal rear light?

[Descolada]

Not sure if this helps, but I have just finished adding two red BikeViz bullets to the rear of my ride and an LED strip as an additional brake light. Give me a moment and I can set you up with a photo?

... OK, here we go.

This is just the ignition turned on with the Rear BikeViz Bullets for extra 'visibility'.



.. and this is the new read LED strip in action tied into the brake light (thus the wonky photo, sorry).



Not sure if this helps, but maybe gives you other options.

Des

[Juvecu]

Thanks for the effort, Des

Is the tail light still the stock one? It looks about the same brightness as the LED. I was under the impression that the LEDs are much brighter than a normal bulb. Or is it just a case of the camera not showing the intensity well enough?

[greywolf]

LEDs are rarely as bright as the stock bulbs. At least I haven't found any.

[Descolada]

It's the stock bulb in the tail. Regardless of brightness, expanding the visual field has got to be a good thing. It's unfortunate that the BikeViz people don't do something "strip-like" because these do seem much brighter and they are a different colour temperature so seem to stand out more (the front BikeViz are considerably brighter).