There's no chance it's 2000 lumens.

Also, it's a chinese seller with a warehouse in the us.

I disagree that it couldn't be 2000 lumens. If you visit the CREE website you will see that the white CREE T6 bins can produce 1070 lumens per LED so it is quite possible depending upon what current is put through the LED.

I did read what was quoted and I don't agree that it's such a big deal. As I noted, you have to use shims under almost all other clamps as well. Even the screw on clamps like the Cygolite have rubber bits to keep them from rotating. At worst, it's a minor inconvenience.


IHonestly after reading about LEDs on this forum for at least 10 years, your's is the first time I've read about a wiring problem on the battery. It's rare.

No, there is no wiring on the Cygolite Metro but it has other problems that you completely ignored like proprietary batteries and low run times....perhaps you should read what you quote as well. The battery on the Cygolite is one fourth the sized of a 2S2P external battery pack that you find on the Magicshine clones. I can get about 3 to 4 hours of run time out of the 2S2P battery pack compared to the 80 minutes for the Metro. I consider the short run time to be a serious flaw that trumps the rather minor flaws of the Magicshine clones.

There is no "extra assembly" in using a holder for a cage mount. It simply requires slipping the batteries into something like a Rocket Cage or other container. It's simple.

As for "waiting a month", yes, some of the lights come from China but there are a number of suppliers here in the US that ship quickly.

I've compared the Chinese Crees I own side by side to the Expillion and the output of the Crees is slightly brighter than the 800 lumens of the Expillion. No, the claimed 1800 lumens isn't correct but they are still as powerful as the Cygolites at a fraction of the cost.

Part of the reason that I don't "look at the measurements" is because there aren't a lot of measurements being made on the inexpensive Chinese Crees. There are just too many of them. That said, they aren't that bad in terms of light output. I've had brighter lights and I've certainly had dimmer ones.

The whole point of the diffuser is to spread the beam out more than the reflector does. Putting on a diffuser exacerbates the "floodiness" of the light which is already a pretty wide flood light. The diffusers I've seen aren't a "rectangular beam" but a wider oval beam.

I agree that I don't need to see birds flying overhead nor see the tops of trees. A wide flood light that has been diffused to make it wider does exactly that. A narrow beam doesn't shine into the tops of trees.

I did visit the website that Staypuft1652 provided. I can't find any link that you have provided. According to We Test Lights, the Expillion 850 claims 850 lumens and outputs 832 lumens. That's 98% of the claimed value. If disagree, provide the link.


The MSRP price of the Cygolite Metro 700 is $77.90 which is the price I was quoting. You can find it for $60 to $70 on-line but that's still quite a bit more expensive then what you can find the Magicshine clones for.

And, if you bother read what you are quoting, the light I linked to is from Amazon. No auction involved.

As for output, I've already admitted that the output isn't the 1800 lumens claimed but it's slightly higher than the much more expensive Cygolites which have an output of about 850 lumens. I've been able compare them directly.


I don't have to use a suboptimal flashlight on my helmet. I use the same light on my helmet as the 2 lights on my bars. The battery pack is held in my Camelbak. All three of my lights use the same mounts so that if there is a problem or a need to move the light, I can easily do so.

As for using less light, I just don't see the point. If the light can't provide illumination at the highest setting for the time that I need it, it's useless.

Which is it? One Chinese Cree failing or multiples? And, according to your other posts, you still use them. If they fail so frequently for you, why do you still rely on them?

People on the BikeForums aren't shy about holding back on products that don't work and I've not seen posts from too many people about Magicshine clones failing. Lots of other people other than me suggest them.

Are there any of these magicshine clones that run on AA's and/or last for more than 3 hours?

You get the 4 cell 18650 battery pack and charger with this one.
Mine run 6 hours on Low.

The Strobe is amazing.
https://www.amazon.com/AGPtek®-HeadL...+bicycle+light

High capacity battery packs are available, depending on the light one was to use with said battery, its quite possible. But best to get battery packs from a reputable seller, of high quality cells.

I use these. Great Connectors

https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/...0-battery-pack

Seems like buying expensive batteries would defeat the cheapness of the solution which is really the only thing interesting about it.

The Light is Fantastic, The Battery and connector are the weak points.
I have four of the lights.

The battery charger is good.

Agreed. But some people do exactly that. As the battery packs of cheap "cree" lights (which is a misnomer, because they are manufactured by various chinese company's and advertised as having cree brand LED's but alot of times dont) often times have poor quality battery cells from recycled laptop's or even fake cells, but you can buy a good battery and multiple light heads incase one dies. I have multiple cheap amazon lights with no problems with lights or batteries but I do not need 3+ hours of runtime but as output of these lights is usually some amount lower than claimed, or vastly lower, even with included batteries you may or may not get 2+ hours at least.

Not that I've seen. They usually run on 18650 Li-ion cells in a 2S2P (two batteries in serial and two pairs of serial batteries in parallel). The voltage of this configuration is 7.2V to 8.2V which would require 5 AA batteries for the same voltage. The output of a AA alkaline battery is about 2 Ah while that of an 18650 Li-ion cell is about 4.8 Ah. You'd need at least 10 and probably closer to 15 AA alkaline batteries to have the same run time as the Li-ion battery pack.

You can also get 26650 battery packs which have about twice the capacity of the 18650 packs. They are about double the size, however. I can get between 5 and 6 hours at full output on the 26650 packs.

I'm going to get one just to try it even though I don't really need another headlight and really like my Ixons. I've spent twenty bucks on stupider things.

That's the spirit.

Just added it to my cart. Now I need to find another thirty-two dollars worth of stuff to get free shipping. Can't wait to hit people with the strobe on the MUP when the come at me with their blinking lights so they can see what it's like.

Free Shipping

DARK KNIGHT LR-2 Bike Light Headlamp-16.99 Online Shopping| GearBest.com

Free Shipping
https://www.fasttech.com/products/16...-bicycle-light

https://www.fasttech.com/products/1420/10004539/4115601

That one looks cooler with the two lights, and GearBest has the Bike Warning Heart Shape Rear Tail Bicycle Light which I've always kind of wanted to try too.

Go for it.

Which do you recommend? The Fasttech, DARKNIGHT, or AGPtek® 2000LM CREE XML T6 from Amazon? I'm only going to get one.

Fasttech Free Shipping

But may take 2/3 weeks to get it.

If your shopping at gearbest, for $40 they have a light called "yinding". Its actually supposed to be a pretty decent light.

Read all the details before buying.

You do need a charger which Fasttech Lacks

yinding looks like it comes with everything you need for forty bucks.

Any idea how long the battery lasts on that one? I couldn't tell from the description.

User review: YINDING YD-2XU2 (Gemini Duo clone)- Mtbr.com

I dont own one so cant say, the above link will probably tell you more than you need to know. These folks take lights very seriously.
I do know from all I've read the light itself seems to be built of higher quality than most anything else out there. Theres one other one that people talk of being above average chinese quality, https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00R1...VyL&ref=plSrch
I dont see that it has a strobe mode though, and it may not be the best suited for road use, and its $60.

Edit: For the yinding people seem to be saying 2+ hours. I would have already purchased the yinding, but am far too impatient to wait on shipping from china. The other, I missed it on amazon when it was $25 for just the light.

"Now I need to find another thirty-two dollars worth of stuff to get free shipping." That's exactly I stopped buying things on Amazon. I'm not an Amazon prime customer and I can almost always find the same or similar product on eBay with free shipping part of the price. The APGtech light has only one XML-T6 LED so it can't deliver more than 1070 lumens (which is plenty bright). Here is the same light with the same battery on eBay for $16 postpaid with the supplier located in NJ so it doesn't take 3 weeks to arrive. US Shipping 2000Lm CREE XM-L T6 LED HeadLight Headlamp Bicycle Bike Light | eBay
I have a similar light that uses the 8.4V 8800 mAh battery that came with a larger headlight and It is plenty bright. The $5 diffuser will work on any light as long as the lens is 39 mm diameter.

Good Price w Free Shipping.
US Shipping 2000Lm CREE XM-L T6 LED HeadLight Headlamp Bicycle Bike Light | eBay