OBXCycling.com

Too many grams!


j/k...at my weight I couldn't care less. I would rather not have so much stuff hanging off my bike though. I'll probably end up getting a whole other lightset and a Y cable and seeing which works best. If the battery is only going to last 300-400 cycles then I might be better off using one at a time. I usually ride about an hour and half in the dark so that should work out. I rode 3 hours this am and the light did great! I saw things I never would have with my Blackburn Flea...the biggest of which were 3 deer just off the road in the bushes. I did throw my Flea on my helmet and now I don't need to use the backlight on my comp.

BUY THIS LIGHT NOW!
It is well worth the money.

seeker333

It's unlikely it will get hot enough to melt, even with the poor thermal design of the MS. However, as it heats up the resistance across the led wire junction increases, and the light output drops. You start losing light at ~95F, and at 150F you've lost 10-15%.

I agree that warranties are useless from an obscure, small Chinese flashlight maker.

8.4V li protected battery packs are inexpensive, as little as $25 when I looked at batteryspace.com. I think it's not worth considering since the MS driver circuit will probably be rendered inoperative from prolonged, excessive heat damage (circuit break from expansion/contraction cycles) long before the battery sees 500 recharge cycles.

ItsJustMe

By "melt" I mean "destroy itself."

Cornflakes

On the 21st of Sept I ordered the MS with the expectation of waiting for the next shipment with delivery around the Oct. 6th. Two days ago I get an email from Geoman letting me know that my light been shipped and I could expect it in 2 days. Well it came in today. WOW! Very happy camper/customer. I quickly plug the light in and check it . WOW again. Very very happy camper/customer. High, medium, low SOS and psycho strobe. Everything normal.I plugged in the battery to top it out and every thing is fine. A few hours latter it has the green light so I get ready to go out for a night ride.......


***** NOW HERE IS THE THING******.....I plug the light back into the battery pack and the light comes on immediately and NOW I have HIGH, LOW, and normal (3Hz) flash. Some how it re-programmed itself. Any ideas? I like the 3Hz flash but I also liked the 3 brightness levels. Anyone else have this happen? Geoman, any ideas?

keesue

I received mine today. It took one minute to mount it. I attached the battery pack to the top tube and tucked the excess wires into the pack. The light was charged so I took the bike out for a spin. This light is BRIGHT. It is akin to my car lights. The road is lit up in front of me with nice side light as well. Funny thing: I was turning a corner and a bunch of gum chewing girls were sitting on the porch of the corner house. They yelled at me to get that light off of them. You just gotta love it.

I have had many lights but this one tops them all. For the price with free shipping... Jeez, now I sound like a shill - except I heard about it here. :-)

Well done and a no-brainer of a purchase.

Cornflakes

Keesue,

I would be giddy also if I had not had this slight hiccup with my light. I have not heard of anyone else having this particular problem . Waiting to hear back from Geoman.

coldfeet

So, tonight I ended up doing my homeward commute in complete darkness. I wasn't at work but, never mind, not important.

I had no concerns about out-riding the light, I'm not the fastest rider, but a couple of times I got going at about 25mph + on some downhills, on completely unlit pathways, there was a half moon, but the trees made that moot. On the twisty bits, a little bit of weaving was enough to cover the path that needed covering.

Here's the thing that really delighted me, one of my concerns that prompted me to get better lighting, at this time of the year, I have twice just missed a porcupine, both times he was just leaving the pathway and I missed him by inches. Didn't see him until almost past. Tonight, at about 30-40 feet, "What's that just off the pathway?" Yup, Mr prickly. Bear in mind, he wasn't in the hot spot, but in the side wash. Given how hard that sucker is to see, (the gray spines seem to fuzz out his outlines) I wonder how often I've ridden past them unaware?

Consider me a satisfied customer.

keesue

Thanks...I'll have to check that out. I'll report back.

robp

I am going to order mine soon and was wondering if there is any way to aim the light side to side when mounted?

coldfeet

Yes, temporarily, at a tight 90 degree turn last night, I just pulled the lamp against it's o-ring mounting and pointed it to the side. Worked well.

Cornflakes

Problem solved! I will return it for a new one. Thanks Geoman. Wonderful customer service.

operator

So without reading 9 pages of thread. Is this actually 900 lumens or just blowing smoke?

bmclaughlin807

Just to indulge your laziness: It's BRIGHT. Well worth the $90. Brighter than any other light you'll find for anywhere near the price. In fact, the only way you'll get a brighter light for even twice the price is to buy two of them.

socalrider

a fellow Bf'er had it at 750+ lumens, right in line with most quality P7 lights.. You can buy a name brand light and get about 200 lumens for the same price.

Giro

Measured at 764 lumens on this very subforum HERE.

seeker333

Some of the brightest P7 or MCE lights you can buy were tested at a maximum of ~600 lumens (most <500) by this guy here with a light integrating sphere:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=229135

I can tell you with certainty that the Magicshine is less, because I have some cheap DX P7 flashlights that are brighter than the MS.

operator

Thanks for the help guys. I actually did just read through 9 pages anyways but I appreciate the extra tested for lumens information. I will almost be certainly ordering this as I was initially extremely skeptical. For the cross borderprice to Canada it would've gotten me the Dinotte 200L (which I indeed had purchased a year or so ago).

I'm only worried about one other thing - waterproofness of the whole system. I live in vancouver and undoubtedly it will be pouring here 90% of the time. Anyone have any info on that aspect?

ItsJustMe

Whatever the actual numbers are, as someone who switch from a Dinotte 200L to the Magicshine, what it actually puts out is "HOLY **&#, that's bright!". It also puts out smiles as I'm never squinting or slowing down because I can't quite see as far as I'd like when riding anymore.

kudude

Different testing procedures (on DIFFERENT PIECES OF EQUIPMENT) and results within 20% on batch electronics sounds good to me.

If you think your eye can accurately integrate a beam pattern, take into account the optics and give a result meaningful enough to have "certainty", then by all means come with me -- I've got some real estate to show you.

RapidRobert

Measuring light with an integrating sphere is easy if you just want to compare different sources, and hard if you want an absolute calibrated measurement of the total amount of light. The sphere distributes all the light over its entire inside surface, removing the effects of beam pattern and capturinng all the light from a widely emitting source. A detector poking through the side of the sphere samples the light there, and you do a calculation involving the percentage of the area represented by the detector and the reflectivity of the coating inside the sphere. Then you need the detector and meter to be calibrated to a known constant source (the expensive bit).

Bike headlight makers are really concerned about how much light their product puts out. That's where they compete. Flashlight makers are more interested in design, marketing, the bubble packaging at the point of sale, and price. I can certainly believe that a flashlight could put out less light than a bike headlight with the same emitter in them, and I need a flashlight so I'll look for one with a p-7 emitter and do my own comparison. But I don't think my technique for measuring them is giving me a false high.

fiataccompli

should I expect it to be brighter than one of these?

KLW2

Does anyone know if the charge indicator light on the light unit draws enough power over a few days to worry about?

Cyclist0383

It's a lot brighter than that, which is about 150 lumens at best. There is no comparison.

zoste

On page two of this thread:

So, if you mean the greenish light on the back of the lamp casing...sounds like the battery is going to need recharging before the drain significantly affects run time.

KLW2

just getting old I guess......