Originally Posted by
dwilbur3
A great article. Hard to figure why anyone would buy anything but MagicShine at those prices!
Up-front cost isn't the prime consideration for everyone
I want the NR Pro 1200, not just from the beamshots, customizable outputs and feature set, but also from going night-riding with some guys who've got them. As Darth Vader would say... "Impressive."
The Lupine Betty is also impressive in terms of sheer output, but the Pro 1200 still tops it with the custom-tunable mix of spot versus flood, which I'd find very useful.
They look to me to be more suited to MTB than road use. The way they illuminate the tree in the photos so high up indicates that they could be pretty blinding to other road/MUP users.
For off-road use, bar-mounted lights need to have some fill light because the bars aim all over the place on a trail ride. Using the NR Pro 1200 as an example, if I were into a rock garden or technical descent, I'd probably switch to flood-only mode for an even view of the entire scene.
Helmet lights can be a bit more spot-oriented, but some fill light is still useful to provide context.