Originally Posted by
colleen c
Agreed! $700? Yes the theory of "see and be seen" seem to work for me and my MS light. At $700 that a little out of reach for me. Honestly speaking, I probably would have grin it and bear it if that was the only light out in the market, but for now at that price and the economy the only thing I see is a big bill. If it was in the $300-$400 range, that would be a different matter.
You know, I totally hear what you're saying. If I wasn't in the position of having extra cash the blow on the best possible light (I'm not saying it *is*, it isn't even out yet, I'm just saying I'll be spending money hoping to get the best possible light) it's kind of ridiculous.
It's worth it to me to spend more money than the Magicshine, on something that's -
1. Durable and well made - I haven't heard the best things about the durability of the Magicshine. Mostly cables fraying. Usually it's pointed out (validly) that if it lasts half as long as another light, you can simply buy a 2nd one and you're still coming out way ahead financially.
2. Has a nicely shaped beam with even light distribution on the ground. On my dynamo hub bike I have a Lumotec Cyo, a highly shaped beam that puts out an even amount of light over the entire road - it's really great. I need somewhat more light off to the sides, though, and a little more light in general, but it's limited by the power put out by the dynamo hub. I've also had several Dinotte lights. A 200L which has been decent. A 600L which I found super disappointing - it didn't really go further down the road than the 200L, and it's super bright beam in front of the bike made it difficult to see outside the limited area it lit up. I've also used 2 Dinotte 400L's, which once I played around with the different lenses was a pretty decent light. If money was tight I would have stayed with it, but I did find myself wanting something that lit up farther down the road as well as better off the the sides. I'm probably be picky, but hey, it's my money LOL.
I've also had a Seca 900, which I did like more than my Dinotte 400L combination (also cost more). If I was going straight, it was nearly the perfect light. First light I've had that still completely 100% lit up the road in front of me (well, to the extent that a handlebar light could at it's height I think) - and continued to do so regardless of car headlights. I actually ran it on medium a lot of the time when I wasn't encountering much traffic. First light I've had which didn't make me cringe to see off to the sides because of it's more-even beam pattern.
It was a really solid light. It's main drawback was that I still wanted a little more punch down the road for big downhills, and if I wasn't going straight it wasn't quite wide enough to light up a curvy road, I felt like if I wanted to go all-out I would need a helmet light. This was all for road riding. I'm definitely picky - some people thought I was nuts for wanting for throw than the Dinotte 600L gave me, LOL. But it sounds like the new light was designed to be wider and have more throw - sweet. That just leaves having a "cutoff" for MUP riding (that you could turn on and off), and more control over the exact amount of light output on my list of wants. Well - and who doesn't endlessly want more battery life? :-D
* 3. Waterproof - I took this off, it seems like in the last month or two they've started selling a waterproof version of the battery for the Magicshine, the rest of the light has apparently been ok with water.
I would agree with what you're saying, though - seems like with the $90 Magicshine, it would be worth it to have those advantages for like $300 to $400, but $700 seems kinda ridiculous in comparison.
I'm still kinda excited, though. :-D If other people can spend thousands of dollars shaving some grams from their wheelset, spending a few extra hundred dollars on a premium light may be slightly frivolous, but sounds rewarding anyways. :-) Plus - it looks like the cost of the other Seca lights like the 900 will drop, and that's pretty cool.