Sugoi’s new Zap jacket takes reflectivity to the next level

[[[[[ Oh, come on! How long b4 it's superceded? It's like the flamin' arms-race. How about a jacket festooned with 50 blinking integrated LED's, half of them popping out on 12-inch stalks at weird angles? Now there's something drivers couldn't miss...could they?
I'll get me coat. (It's actually a race-cape)
P.R.

Very cool tech, nice to have a jacket that doesn't make you look like a lollypop lady. The strobe they use in the video however I dislike. Flashing lights (to this extent) are distracting to other road users and you can only see them for 50% of the time, meaning a quick glance may render the rider invisable.

Been done before or not it's a brilliant idea, i have a spare light which i can put on pulse shining back at myself which would make me ultra visable.

£99, worth it in my opinion.

Anything that can help to make you seen can only be a good idea.

There are definitely differences between urban and rural, I don't do a lot of urban commuting but can see the above posts point of bright colours there, where there are street lights and other vehicles and generaly busy roads even at early hours that your lights etc blend into.

In the countryside however you may ride for miles in darkness on a national speed limit country road where being seen from a much greater distance is a priority as the vehicles approach you at much greater speed, 60 at best and upwards!

This jacket would be worth consideration more for those in town, but if you ride in the darkness of the back roads like some, you want to be seen a mile ahead and that will only be achieved with good quality lights.

Each rider has to consider the best setup for them based on their given situation, each of which will differ.

taking off my helmet and sticking on the satnav, mp3 player, blue tooth phone etc in my personal high speed safety cage I think from the rear on unlit or poorly lit roads reflective/pedals/overshoes are great as they move and are very distinctive - but on busier roads with traffic moving in lanes they are usually obscured so as well as good rear lighting a jacket that is picked out helps give an early indication that a cyclist is there (lights on the back of helmets as well) - a main road near where I live has a fair number of commuter cyclists and at peak periods it can be very hard when trying to pull into the traffic stream to spot even quite bright cycle lights - that's why I always run a front flashing light as its doesn't get quite so lost in the stream of lights and anything else that adds to the picture must help and reckon I'll be buying one soon - nothing of course is idiot proof (that's not an argument for nude cycling! ) just possibly gives a better chance of being spotted by those who are actually bothering to look

Its a fair point, a serious road accident can cost many thousands in public expense. Obviously there are sympathies with any victim of such an incident. However their injury AND thousands of £'s expense could have been prevented by common sense and riders realising they have a responsibility to make themselves seen.

I do a lot of driving and cycle commuting in early hours, in rural areas and it can be very difficult to see people who put reliance on a night vision style jacket over some good lights.

I reccomend to anyone to put their gear onto a partner and set them off down the road and see for yourself what you actually look like to drivers, then approach them in a real life situation, ie 60mph on a country road and see just how close you get before you see your dummy self, it might just make you change your thinking on your own visibility!

I think one of the above points of moving reflective panels on the backs of overshoes is very valid.

I presume this is illuminite. If so, it has two problems:

1. It's completely non-breathable;

2. It doesn't shine when it's wet.

I have a Mont-Bell illuminite cycling jacket that's about 5 years old - since then Mont-Bell have added panels of non-reflective breathable material on the back and sides which I take as an implicit admission that my version wasn't a success ... or terribly well tested before being put on sale.

'At night, you really need a combination of refective panels and bright material.'

No, you really need lights. Decent ones, not pathetic little flashing things which give off the same light as an epileptic firefly.

Reflectives are secondary. If you're relying on reflectives to be seen, you need to look at your lighting.

Concur with visible booties. If it moves, like pedal reflectors, catches the eye much more. Although jacket good with reflective arms for visible signaling.

What a great idea, step in the right direction and cheap ish too, anybody know the overshoes? I want glowing feet too

For the road, and the rave...

You'll still get smidsied, but at least you'll look like an extra from a Daft Punk video.

Don't want to be a pessimist, but unless you're directly shining a bright light at this jacket it is just another dark coloured jacket. At night, you really need a combination of refective panels and bright material. If the base jacket was brightly coloured, it would have been much more visible in a wide range of lighting conditions. When you get one of these jackets, perhaps you might like to address this issue, by comparing this garment with a standard hi viz jacket, just like you do when testing different lights.

Fluorescent colours aren't bright in regular car headlights since the lamps have no UV component to fluoresce.

And this Scotchbrite-type reflective medium comes in different qualities - some don't work very well when wet. That's why you often see the reflective patches on industrial gear sealed under clear plastic to stay dry and clean.

And those aren't pixels any more than they are pixies. They are retroreflective glass beads.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/business/28heltzer.html?_r=0

After a plethora of overpriced 'UK designed' clothing it's good to see this.
I'm in line for the first gilet they make with that material.

If that's genuinely £100 for a properly waterproof (and not boil-in-the-bag) jacket that reflects that well, sign me up.

Ooooh I like ShinyShiny things!!

Genius - good price too.

His overshoes are more impressive than the jacket if you ask me.

Hey look! His beard is reflecive in the last picture too!