Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - MagicShine MJ-816E run time????

I just purchased a MagicShine MJ-816E for my wife's trike... charged it when new, first run out after that- the indicator button was shining red- indicating less than 25% charge after only about an hour on full lighting... it got us home, but made me wonder if this is reasonable for this light?? Their advertised runtime is 2-1/2 hours on full brightness with all 3 LED's lit.
Thanks for any guidance. If I have a weak battery pack, I'd like to know early on, for exchange purposes with Amazon- where I purchased the light from.
Wes

depends which battery pack came with it.. I see it specd with 2cell - 18650 packs and 4 cell - 18650 packs..

MS lights are notorious for crap batteries. I've used up 5 batteries in 3 years. Two worked for 3 months before they began acting up, one went a full 10 months, the other two went in 4-6 months. I'd say 5-6 months is average life for a 2s2p battery powering a single emitter MS used 4-8 hrs a week.

When new, most of my batteries would run 3.5 hrs on high, longer than the claimed 3 hr spec. I actually measured run time on 3 of them when new, all went 179-190 mins until low voltage protection shutoff (P7/808 types).

The chargers and head units fail too, to a lesser extent than the batteries, but overall MS reliability is below average for bike lights.

Get your money back while you still can.

If you choose to buy MS, at least buy it from Action LED, or Geoman if Action is out. They are reputable sellers with real warranties on MS products. Action offers 12 months warranty on head/charger, 6 months on battery.

http://www.action-led-lights.com/

MS lights are notorious for crap batteries. I've used up 5 batteries in 3 years. Two worked for 3 months before they began acting up, one went a full 10 months, the other two went in 4-6 months. I'd say 5-6 months is average life for a 2s2p battery powering a single emitter MS used 4-8 hrs a week.

When new, most of my batteries would run 3.5 hrs on high, longer than the claimed 3 hr spec. I actually measured run time on 3 of them when new, all went 179-190 mins until low voltage protection shutoff (P7/808 types).

The chargers and head units fail too, to a lesser extent than the batteries, but overall MS reliability is below average for bike lights.

Get your money back while you still can.

If you choose to buy MS, at least buy it from Action LED, or Geoman if Action is out. They are reputable sellers with real warranties on MS products. Action offers 12 months warranty on head/charger, 6 months on battery.

http://www.action-led-lights.com/

So since emitters are actually pretty inexpensive, and the cost of a battery normally represents over half the cost of a light unit, the question is: Is MagicShone really selling inexpensive lights? Or are they actually selling overpriced batteries? I guess it depends what you expect.