Originally Posted by
masterofsilence
My existing light, which is of course a Magicshine chinese clone, said it was waterproof, so I submerged it into a lake and moments late the light flickered out. I fixed it though. One thing about these lights are that they're pretty simple to take apart, dry out, etc. So if one dies on me I'll just buy a new driver since that's probably the only thing that could go.
If you're happy with those - go for it. You probably represent the majority of people on this forum anyway. Reviews on the net are mixed and there are reports of units dying after a few months or a year as wel as people that said they have no issues and that its the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Personally I have no choice but to drive in heavy rain often (just the nature of weather here and a 7 day work week during the summer) and I got tired of drowning every light I bought. Yeah - most are easy to take apart and dry out - that didn't change that I was finishing the last part of my commute in the dark. Lights are a safety feature and some of that area has no lighting - as in no streetlights and no houses so no residential lighting either.
So I looked really hard for a light that not only claimed it was waterproof - but had a decent IP rating. IP ratings are used to define the level of sealing effectiveness of electrical enclosures against intrusion from foreign bodies and are defined in International Standard EN 60529.
So I found some last year from a US supplier and ordered a couple at $120 each to check out. And I submerged that light in a glass of water and plugged it in. An hour later it was still working. Two hours later it was still working. So I've been using those ever since and doubt that I'll ever have to buy another one since these have a limited lifetime warranty.
But the best part is that I don't have to give a second thought to commuting in whatever weather I have to deal with. During the past 15 years (and before going to serious light) I've had two minor encounters with automobiles. Minor in that I didn't recieve life threatening injuries, although in one case I did require stitches and in both cases there was permanent scarring.
However, in both cases the driver claimed not to have seen me before clipping me. In one case that wrote off a $900 bike and in the other it scrapped a $400 Marizzochi fork. In both cases I was lucky enough to have a police report and was successful in having expenses covered by the idiot's insurance company. And I wasn't killed like a few people a short while later in the same area.
So if those lights work for you - great! I definately agree that any light is better than no light at all. And relative to any accident costs - the most expensive light on the market is a pretty good deal.