Light up my stroller

November 20, 2021 8:35 AM

We have a Baby Jogger City Mini 2. It is starting to get dark at daycare pickup time and would like suggestions for lights and reflective material we could add to it to increase visibility. Stuff that would be convenient to leave attached even when the stroller is folded up would be best.
posted by grouse to Pets & Animals (12 answers total)

Google - led safety lights walking rechargeable - and get a set of arm band lights that you can loop around spots that are unproblematic for the folding.
posted by brachiopod at 8:50 AM on November 20, 2021 [2 favorites]

It's hard to find non-Amazon and non-ULINE suppliers online, but retroreflective tape is probably easy to find in auto parts stores and hardware stores, and you could use it to wrap any plastic or metal part of that stroller. (For some reason there is a company that sells reflective tape on Etsy??) I add strips of it to bike helmets; doesn't replace the need for actual lights but is a nice backup for visibility.
posted by misskaz at 9:05 AM on November 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks! Any suggestions on specific lights to buy? This is the sort of thing where a search tends to get an endless series of cheap electronics on Amazon and I'm never really sure which ones are OK and which are garbage.
posted by grouse at 9:08 AM on November 20, 2021

There are also lots of bike lights that use stretchy bands to fit around handlebars and seatposts; they could probably fit the bars of that stroller as well. Downside is the good ones can be expensive and you'd have to remember to take them off to charge them. I have the Knog blinder set and they are truly blinding and have lots of different strobe and flashing modes.

For arm bands, Niteize is a legit light brand; I've used their spoke lights on my bike wheels. I don't know how you'd keep the arm band high enough up on the frame of the stroller and still be able to take it off to recharge now and then; it'd probably be easier to wear it as intended.

If you want to be really obnoxious and are ok wearing something vs keeping on the stroller, there's the Noxgear Tracer vest. I have one for cycling and LOVE it though it's not bright enough for dusk; the darker it is outside the more visible the glow is.

I feel this struggle; not just a cyclist but also just bought LED collars for my dogs for our early morning walks. No one stops at stop signs and I'm so tired of near-misses.
posted by misskaz at 9:18 AM on November 20, 2021 [2 favorites]

I have two strands from Brightz for my bike, but they have a lot of different clip-on or frame-wrap options that might work too; I could see the Go, Cruzin or Cosmic all being good choices for a stroller. These are bright and very visible from the side.

You can buy reflective stickers/decals (try googling both) for some simple add-ons as well. A visit to a local bike shop might have some options you can try in the store and see how well they work.
posted by curious nu at 11:47 AM on November 20, 2021

Canadian Tire stocks reflective tape suitable for sticking to bikes and vehicles that you can cut to size for different parts of the frame if you want to supplement the lights.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:35 PM on November 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Seconding that Noxgear vest if you want to light yourself up in addition. Promotional code 907RUN always gets you whatever their top discount is (usually somewhere between 35 and 45% off).
posted by charmedimsure at 12:37 PM on November 20, 2021

Rydesafe reflective stickers are made for bikes, but I'm sure they'd stick to the hard parts of a stroller just as well. They're very highly reflective, and thin enough that I don't expect they'd interfere with folding.
posted by box at 12:58 PM on November 20, 2021

+1 Knog is a good brand in this area. Also Blackburn and Planet Bike.
posted by Mid at 2:29 PM on November 20, 2021

Cygolite has good rechargeable bike lights around $30. These are the kind that are bright enough to use as a flashlight or emergency flare. If you're just looking for visibility lights, any cheap but legit bike lights will do. If you avoid Amazon and look at outdoor or even big box stores, you'll avoid the weird garbage electronics. There's a range of quality in bike lights, but the cheap ones do tend to function, just at a lower brightness or with fewer features.
posted by Comet Bug at 11:39 AM on November 21, 2021

I'll 2nd Niteiyes being a solid brand (and would have done so in my first answer but missed the wraps in their product line) I've had their Spoke-Lits for a couple years and they're well made.
posted by brachiopod at 6:00 AM on November 22, 2021

Fiks reflective decals are very similar to Rydesafe, but they do have some different styles and whatnot.
posted by box at 2:44 PM on November 23, 2021