cyccommute 

Yes, the "clones" are clones of a clone but it's a convenient way of talking about them. There are so many of the Magicshine "clone of a clone" out there that we need a shorthand to avoid having to type too much. The first models of Magicshines had an output of around 450 lumens but they have changed the LED emitter over the years and the output has risen. My first Magicshine wasn't as bright as my second Magicshine and neither is quite as bright as my current Magicshine "clone" but they all 3 have different emitters.

As to the battery, I have several batteries from Magicshine, batteries that came with a clone and batteries that I've purchased from separately from a light. All of them has similar run times. With my light set on high, I get roughly 2.5 hours out of a battery made from 2s2p 18650 Li-ion cells no matter who makes them. They have all performed about the same.

Personally, I would call the Magicshine and the most of the Magicshine "clones" (the quotes get annoying after a while) very floody lights compared to my old MR16 halogens. I've used 12° and 25° bulbs during my halogen days and I consider the 25° to be very floody. I would estimate the Magicshine and the clones to be more like a 35° flood. I don't really like them for that reason. I have a set of clones that have bulbs that are between 12° and 25° and I much prefer those. I just don't find that I need to throw a lot of light off to the sides.

You won't get any argument from me on this score but expect to hear howls for your head from many, many, many others because you are "blinding" those poor put upon motorist

I have 3 clones which I've found to be far better than the original Magicshines. They are brighter and narrower. I have a new Cyclebeam on order which is tiny and relatively cheap. Let's see how it performs.

sci_femme

I am riding with Lezyne Deca Drive and love it self-contained design.

rmfnla

Pulled it apart but no corrosion in sight; it's just a cheapo switch with too much slop and a too-weak spring.

This one goes back to dog-walking duty...

nathan_bldb

Hey, I'm Nathan, and I created The Bike Light Database. The whole site is literally just me, plus the occasional help with testing or second opinion on something from friends and family. I bike almost every day - to work, for errands, and for fun. I also take my time to do thorough testing before I write a review - I ride with every light I review for at least three weeks unless an obvious deal-breaker turns me off of it sooner. While it's true that some "reviews" really just restate a press release and add some photos, I focus on details like how easy the buttons are to use with gloves, whether the mount is sturdy on bumpy terrain, and what the beam pattern is like. I do extensive quantitative testing too, like measuring light output vs battery life, and real lumen output.

I also keep close tabs on the bike lighting industry, so when there's a newer version of a product I'll make sure to update the recommendations, whereas the average rider may recommend something they have which is now 2 versions old, not knowing there's a better options now.

Obviously it's good to get many different perspectives and do your own thorough research, but I wanted to chime in since I noticed some traffic coming from this page and saw your concerns about the relevance of reviews. If you or anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer them for you!

RidingMatthew

Hey Nathan welcome to the forums and thanks for giving me some more insight into how you write your reviews. I do appreciate your system for reviews plus the actual battery life vs what the manufacturer says and the real lumen output.

Do lights perform better in cold weather or warm? what has been your experience.

nathan_bldb

Thanks Matthew. Lights generally perform better near room temperature, and will experience performance degradation at extreme high and low temperatures. LED efficiency goes down at higher temperatures, and battery capacity goes down at lower temperatures. The battery effect is the more noticeable of the two, and you'll experience a drop in runtime and possibly max output with most types of batteries as you head into negative temperatures.

The good news is lights with the battery integrated into the same package as the light will tend to do better in low temps than those with external battery packs. LEDs produce a fair amount of heat, which will help keep the battery a bit warmer.

I would actually really like to do some qualitative testing of light runtime/output at different temperatures sometime, but I don't currently have access to an environmental chamber to do that in. It's on the list of "things which would be nice to do" though.

kickstart

I'm a proponent of dyno systems but understand they're not in everyones buget, of fit their needs.

I do use battery lights as backups, supplemental tail lights, and on play bikes.
A great combination for under $100 is the USB rechargeable cygolight dash, https://www.cygolite.com/products/dash320.html very small, and bright enough for all my needs, with a DLR, 3 power levels, 2 strobe modes, and a modulating mode. It's listed as only 320 lumen, but they must be honest lumens is its as bright as other lights with much higher ratings.

The taillight I really like is the cateye LD560, TL-LD560-R | CATEYE and use it on several bikes. Its a large light thats also a reflector, has several flash patterns and a steady mode. it uses 2 AA batteries and runs up to 180 hours.