kudude

Congrats on the weight loss. I'll add my review once I get mine. I'm sure others will chime in.

Not the Slowest

In defense of STINGRAY66, I beleive there was a few months a go a reviewer of the Magicshine unit who took it apart giving us someinsite into the mecahnics of the product. the reviewer had discussed some addition of thermal paste as a preventive measure. He also noted the short thread in the housing and the risk of it breaking due to stress.
I BELEIVE, this is the link to his page, NOT the original thread which solves his concern and is an additional mounting solution.
https://classifieds.mtbr.com/showprod...t=39767&cat=27

I didn't have time for the homework, but look in MTBR.com for more on the original thread.

In anycase, I will agree (hey I don't own one yet) that if Geoman says the charger is good, then it is. Besides, if it does blow up its easier to find him in the US of A than overseas (insert neervous laugh here Geo).

Also Geoman whats up with the 5 mode now vs the 3 mode on your site?

ahmose

So any opinions on how useful the new blinking modes on the new batches of the Magicshine for daytime/before sunset ?
Using the bike light during day time (be seen light) is important to me. However, if the new blinking modes are useless (like it's been hinted at) then i need to look for a different bike light.

Not the Slowest

I for one like a strobe type mode, BUTTT I don't think anyone said the version was bad. They did state that they would rather not the FAST STROBE or the SOS mode.
I would assume that what and if they were to get one it would be a slower speed with power options H/M/L option.
Yes, the current set-up is an annoying fast flashing strobe light. It will be annoying to the person that gets the light directly in their eyes, but you'll have gained their attention.

I use a AA Fenix-like unit with 180 lumens on strobe for sunset- through my commute home. It does what I WANT. My Dinotte also works and gets peoples attention with 3 speed flashing options.

ahmose

Thanks a lot @Not the Slowest for your advice, my intention is to get noticed (i've had a couple of close shaves lately) and if the fast strobe accomplishes that then that's all i need.

ItsJustMe

Yes, if your read my review from about a month ago, I pulled mine apart when it arrived, and it has all of the complaints that I've read about from early this year addressed. There are NO metal flakes inside, the wires going to the LED die are silicone insulated, and there is thermal paste on all the relevant places.

I have run mine twice from a full battery to dead to test runtime, on high, and the temp of the case never exceeded about 120 degrees even if I turned the fan off for a few minutes. I didn't do that for long since it's not recommended to do that.

I personally have NO qualms about this light whatsoever. I've spent a lot of money on lights in the past, and honestly, if someone handed me $1000 to get a headlight for my bike, I'd buy this and spend the other $900 on a new bike.

stingray66

Ok I found this on the mbtr sit


Funny, I fired off an email to the Magicshine folks last week asking them to program the Magicshine with 100%, 50%, 10%, and flash. So far they've incorporated every improvement I've passed on including lengthening the lighthead cord, thermal paste, and some other minor improvements. They seem intent.

Geo
__________________
GeoMan
We Ride!
www.geomangear.com
•Cycling Computers
•LUPINE, NiteFlux, Magicshine, Sigma, & Airbike LED Lights<<<

stingray66

I was on this site and there was a guy who took the thing apart I think this was the site I was on
By the looks of things there is a guy Named Geo man and he is working on getting the bugs out
Please let me Know if this going to be a good light
I can not aford to waste money on something that will not work

socalrider

Geoman is the BF member who sells the MS light here in the USA..

https://www.geomangear.com/index.php?...roducts_id=138

Not the Slowest

AHMOSE, Glad I could help, but I've had close calls myself WITH the lights.
The reality is this:
A) Most pedestrians are not looking for THEIR own safety when they walk in the street.
B) Most drivers are too distracted
C) Most drivers and pedestrians do not look for cyclists, other cars or mothers pushing strollers
D) Most mothere pushing strollers into the street will stand on the curb with their stroller IN THE STREET.
E) In order for you to be noticed (NOT HIT) they have to see you and allow you to pedal in the street.

Good luck, safe riding and remember
"OUR GOAL IS TO GET HOME ALIVE, BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY"

keesue

I ordered one based on the reviews and recommendations here. I should have it by first of the week.

coldfeet

OK, mine arrived this morning's post, 6 and a bit business days, not bad for cross border stuff.
No duties or taxes were charged by Canada Post, for other Canadian residents, don't bet on that happening for you, Canada Post seems to change their minds with the wind direction.
Very impressed with the general quality, went to the back of the warehouse, and turned the lights off for a test, comfortably floodlit the whole 75x20 foot section.

Tomorrow morning have to come in early, and it's been getting dark, perfect timing.
Will report in the AM.

OBXCycling.com

I ordered my MS last week when it was out of stock and got the shipping confirmation email today....I ride at 5 am with almost no ambiant light so I expect this to crush my Blackburn Flea.
Don't let me down, Geo!


and please don't burn my house down.

Jay

mr_antares

I've charged mine overnight several times. Neither the battery nor the wall wart are warm to the touch.

bmclaughlin807

Just put in my order! Looks awesome, can't wait for it to get here.

seeker333

I took my MS apart last week to shorten the wire. Couldn't get the driver apart from the heat sink, didn't want to break it only a few hours before a ride, so I decided to cut the wire on the outside for the time being, connect by twisting wire and reinforcing with 2 layers of heat shrink tubing.

While I was in there, I noticed the thermal path from the pill to the housing is poor - worse than the P7 flashlights. There was a white paste which clearly marked the interface between the pill and housing/body of the MS - a ring about 1.5mm wide by 35mm diameter, or about 0.53 sq. cm of physical contact area. The problem is the pill sits on the edge of a bevel in the housing. It's as if it was designed to minimize physical contact.

You get more contact area via the retaining ring on top of the heat sink / emitter. The threads of the retaining ring are twice the width of the pill-to-body contact area. Both combined are still less than that of the average P7 flashlight, where the pills are normally over 10mm in height, but smaller in diameter.

I reassembled the MS with genuine AA on bottom of pill and bottom and sides of retaining ring. Then just to amuse myself, I packed Al foil into the void between the shell and reflector, which probably won't do much to conduct heat.

The body of the MS looks nice with the heat-sink cutouts, but the pill is in fact hardly touching the body. It looks nice, but in fact is doing a very bad job of pulling heat away from the emitter. All that pretty CNC machining and anodizing is wasted. It's probably a good idea to run the MS for extended periods only when moving (bicycling).

After a few more rides I am still of the opinion that the reflector is wrong for this application and produces a sub-optimal beam. The bright area around the periphery of the beam (visible in a number of pics of the MS by multiple owners, even in this thread) is most likely caused by the gap between the emitter and the reflector at the contact point. The opening is ~2mm in diameter larger than necessary - it's plainly visible looking into the MS front the front. This bright light at the periphery is simply wasted. It should be reflected/projected narrower so that the light is shone further towards the middle or center, say within +/-20 degrees of the projection axis. This could probably be accomplished for no significant additional cost.

And while they're at it, they should redesign the pill and shell so that they mate together precisely for maximum contact area and optimum heat conduction to outside.

seeker333

Me too.

The MS charger is not a very fast charger - it takes 4.5-5 hrs for full charge. My DX charger can do 2 18650 cells in ~1.5hrs, and they do get warm. The MS is charging 4 cells with twice the voltage.

Recharged today and measured end voltage @ 8.41v (4.20v per cell). Earlier (#76) I measured 8.37v. So, it seems consistent.

stingray66

OK I found were I read about the charger problems This was on the MTBR site
More on this light on https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=527707

socalrider

So you based all your bashing of this light from 1 person who calls himself an electronics numpty, he states it right in the link you provided.


numpty

1. (pejorative) A person that embarrasses themselves by making a mistake based on ignorance. or
A reckless, absent minded or unwise person

stingray66

Well I think I am going to get this light but for geoman. form what I am reading he stand behind this light and has good And reliable service

tarwheel 

If you don't want a MS light, don't buy one. But don't bash something you haven't even tried, and good luck finding something with comparable lighting for $90. I've got a Fenix LD20 that I bought for $20 less, but it also puts out a lot less light. For an additional cost amounting to about three 6-packs, the MS puts out 3-5X more light. I still use my Fenix as a backup light on my helmet, but the MS floods it out.

ItsJustMe

Here's a picture I just took of the charger that Geoman shipped me a couple of weeks ago. No UL listing. Honestly, I'm not worried about it, I have many adaptors and chargers with no UL listing and they all run totally cool. This charger and battery barely get warm when running. But if some of their chargers are UL listed, it's only SOME of them.

But it doesn't worry me. I have two of their chargers, one for work and one for home. I plug my light in and let it charge overnight without worry. If it were a rapid charger I might be more concerned, those get hot. But this isn't charging fast enough to get all that hot (5 hours to charge).

Thunderchicken

Just my $.02...

After several years using an ancient VistaLight 520 set-up (10 watt High Intensity Discharge) whose battery long ago went "toes up" and has been replaced by a Werker 6 volt Sealed Lead Acid, the $90 for a MagicShine seemed like a good bet...

When I got mine from "Geoman", I was very pleased...Quick shipment, bright light (several times brighter than the VistaLight...), great run time (I have 3 hours on "high" before electing to recharge it so it would be primed for my two hour commute...) from tiny batteries (my Werker SLA weighs about 2 pounds...the lithium-ions for the MS can't be more than a couple ounces and smaller than the mouse on my computer!. As far as heat goes: it isn't any hotter running than my HID and the charging process is much cooler than my Werker charger on my SLA...It's actually about the same as my HP laptop power supply...

I might have done the mounting a little differently, but the O-rings work fine and with a little "friction tape" on my light bar, it stays put but can still be aimed "on the fly"...

Count me among the happy campers!!!

Jon Paschka

stingray66

OK I was thinking about getting two of these But IS one light good enough???
With the Task Force light one was NOT enough for me.
I do know two would do better than one so for those who went with this how are you running
Them?

AcornMan

I cannot imagine why anyone would need two of these. I ride in pitch darkness out in the country every morning before the sun comes up and this thing illuminates the road more than enough. Oncoming bicyclists have mistaken me for a motorcycle before. In short, no, you do not need two.