Taillamp: Spanninga Plateo xds
Specifications:
StVZO approval no: K670
Mass: 52 g (with nuts).
Size: 104.3 mm width, 43.2 mm height, 19.8 mm thickness.
Light source: a red LED.
Mounting method: On the rear rack, 50 and 80 mm bolt distance (take out the bolts and place them in other openings to change the width).
Cabling/connectors: There are 2 connectors for 2.8 mm female plugs as used on standard double strand wires you can buy from a bike shop. There's also a plastic connector included to instead connect bare wires to those 2.8 mm connectors.
Construction: Plastic, with plack painted bolts sticking out, zinc plated spring washers, and black painted nuts.
Price: ca. € 18,-
Pictures:
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Beam shots
See the camera settings page for more on the setup and settings to make pictures of the beams of taillamps. Note that yellow is in fact red, but of higher intensity. This colour change is caused by the camera.
Out of a corner (showing how much light is cast upwards, forwards and to the sides) [ F3.9 & F1.8 ]:
Wallshot (showing the beam pattern):
Visibility from various angles (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°) [ 0.5m, zoom x3, F3.5, ISO80, 1/250s & 1/60s ]:
Comparing taillamps
Experiences
The whole reflector lights up which is good, but the LED shines also directly towards following traffic at a ridiculous intensity, not diffused, which is goddamn annoying for anyone following you (this is a problem because on narrow cycle paths you can be stuck behind someone for a while). I experimented with white tape to obscure/diffuse the direct light from the LED and this made it very good.
Annoying for following traffic until which distance?: ≥25m
Visibility: Reasonable, but sideways is poor.
Visibility by reflection: To be tested.
Ease of connecting wires: Good for 2.8mm plugs, for bare wires a small plastic thingy is included which isn't too bad I suppose, but it's something small that you can lose...
Design- and thus review considerations for taillamps
See Theory for taillamps.
Conclusion
The Spanninga Plateo xds has a good concept of illuminating the entire reflector, and exactly that what I want to see in a taillamp, but it's alltogether a poor taillamp because the direct light from the LED annoys following cyclists a lot. The point source is even dangerously blinding as it is hard to see anything else but that point source at close range (this is a problem similar to what oncoming traffic sees when encountering a Magicshine MJ808 headlamp). Not recommended.
Criticism to the manufacturer
I sent a web message dd 2011-10-6, and though I doubt they will do anything with it, they need to be told that point sources of ligh are bad. The original (web-bericht-spanninga-2011-10-6) is in Dutch, I will add an English translation at a later date.
Last modified: Sun Mar 3 21:55:20 CET 2013
