Magicshine diffuser optics
 

One of the things I hate about my Magicshine is the optics - it is really just a flashlight with an external battery. On paved MUTs, I can hardly stand to use it on high because of the glare off the asphalt.

Lens Diffusers to the rescue. This guy found some optics that fit the MS and is selling them at a reasonable price (2 were $17 incl s/h). Beamshots here. I bought the soft and elliptical and rather like them.

His site doesnt always answer or work right, so here are some extra pics. The eliptical/wide is on the left, soft on the right:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...Y/lens01-1.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...Y/lens05-1.jpg

The optics are the exact size of the MS crown so they slip right in. The fly in the ointment is that they have to replace the reflector and glass lens because of the feet on them. That dims the light a fair amount because of the black interior. Rob has instructions here for cutting a pseudo reflector out of tin foil or other thin, shiny/reflective material. (The instructions are not linked from the home page).

This shows one with the quasi foil reflector on and the strip for the other one.
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...lens15-1-1.jpg

It works but the optics are just acrylic, so I decided to try cutting the feet off one. They come off really easily with a Dremel to make cuts in the plastic and then smooth rough spots. Guess what - it fits in the reflector perfectly. Just leave out the glass lens and O Ring. In theory, it should reflect more light forward because of the way it extends down around the LED further than the tinfoil collar does.

Base trimmed back on the left one:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...lens25-1-1.jpg

They both spread the light out nicely making it more of a Dinotte-like flood. Naturally, spreading the light out more makes it seem dimmer, and the optics are likely eating some photons as well. One thing that would probably send more light to the optics is use a smooth instead of OP reflector. Cutting it back to just a lens might help too, but I wasnt sure it would seat correctly.

I got the elliptical one because it seemed like it might be good for road use, spreading the light left and right and less so into the eyes of oncoming traffic. I am not wild about it, but havent road tested it, just ceiling tests. It also has to go in correctly else it spreads it vertically, and there appears to be an up and down.

The soft lens is great, but again needs a road test. No more hot spot, so it would no longer be a thrower, but appears to put all the light in a box in front of you.

In both cases the strobe mode looks worse on the ceiling. Since people seem incapable of looking away from a flashing light, being diffused might make it tolerable on the road.

I think these fit the Gemini as well - his site had a note that he was going to test it. Rob did a good job on the foil instructions and was really quick on shipping.

If you are looking for something more floody, this might work. A pair of MS, one throwing and one diffused would be really great.

Look a lot like:
http://www.sekonix.com/upload/p7-1.pdf

Very similar. Those appear to be an optic with interchangeable lenses or filter that clip one as do these http://www.led-tech.de/en/High-Power...2_106_146.html. The ones I got are different units. Really, just the clip on lens over the glass might work.

The specs on some of those claim 95% transparency (provided you dont scuff up the unit grinding off the base).

This sounds like a good idea.

I agree with you, the std MS900 reflector leaves a lot to be desired beam-wise. To me it seems that there's a lot of light wasted at the very periphery of the beam, then a dark region between it and the center hot-spot. I'd prefer a more uniform illuminated area, with a narrower beam angle.

I was a little disappointed when I bought my second MS900 unit recently - it had the same reflector as the first. No one apparently thought to try and improve on this aspect of the headlight.

Very nice, I might just buy one of the wide lenses.
I couldn't figure out his site, the beam shots were all cut off and nothing worked, then I realized it's one of those sites that really doesn't work at all without Javascript, so I had to enable that for his site. I don't know why people do that, it's completely pointless.

UPDATE:
The optics are now available with an optional metal reflector of some sort - of something more than tin foil - for $2 more. It seems worth it - it is like adding a smooth reflector to the deal. Since I cut the feet off to use the stock reflector, he might upgrade me for just s/h (nice guy!).

Consider getting 2: 1 costs $12 the second costs $5 extra.

The weather is horrible (cold I can handle, 8" of snow - not so much) that I cannot get out to field test it. On the ceiling, the SOFT looks better; but across the room on the wall, the elliptical looks better. I was initially partial to the SOFT version because it is so much like the no-hot spot beam of Dinotte; but the elliptical leaves some of the throw while spreading it out. So I am still undecided and glad I got both.

It also looks like there may be more light loss than I first realized. It is hard to tell because without the hot spot, it will SEEM dimmer. Of course the light is also spread more evenly over a wider area. The smooth reflector should help though it likely wont make a world of difference.

Cheers

EDIT: He has also verified that these work with the Gemini.

:)
I might try getting another Gemini Light head and put the widest flood optic on that and leave the second light head as the thrower.

UPDATE #2
I should mention that he has to order these from overseas. If you are interested you might want to order because if he runs out it can be several weeks to get more.

He is also replacing mine with the metal foil reflector for s/h - very nice guy. Now I can cut one down into just a lens and see what that does.

Colleen, if you are serious, he is selling the Gemini used for testing the optics. $97 and I think he is throwing in an optic. I am sure that will go quickly.

I"ll check it out. Thanks.

I ordered a couple on Monday and received them today Wed. My initial impression of the wide elliptical lense with the metal foil is good. I like the way it spreads the light out in all modes. I run SOS often as the roads are well lit and I really like the way the light spills onto the side streets offering a quite a bit more visibility. In the other modes the beam is also great. I am very impressed with shipping times and the free q tip and marine grease:p

I had mine out on a medium length ride yesterday. I like the Elliptical more than the Soft too - still has a modest 'hot' spot just ahead with lots of light thrown to the sides. That was with the feet ground off using the OP reflector - my replacements should be here tomorrow.

Thanks for posting these here Plutonix.

These don't seem like an improvement to me. The beam on the MS is already too wide for my tastes (I'd estimate it at around 30 degrees) and diffusers just spread the beam around more. In situations where the road is wet, the current beam all but disappears. I'd like to see a narrower beam...more like 12 degrees...especially for helmet mounted applications.

I really miss my narrow beam halogens. Don't miss the weight, just the light.