Which Magicshine should I buy? Or ?
 

I've been thinking about buying a light for awhile now. I like the brightness and price of Magicshine. Which one do you recommend? I'd like to keep the price around $100-$120. I've also seen that Niterider has a cordless 600 - any thoughts on this light?
Or, should I be looking at some other light in this price range? My rides are around 6pm and no more than 1 1/2 hours. Thanks for your input and advice.

I'm still not sold on Magicshine. My MJ-818 taillight seems to be broken and I have yet to use the recently purchased 900 lighthead and Y-cable. The taillight was great when it was working, now I have to troubleshoot it. Buy from Geomangear in the USA, not dealextreme in Hong Kong.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...topped-working

Other than the battery recall which for me has been resolved I love the magicshine headlight and tail light. The tail light is bright enough to see over a mile away on the straightaway and I've had cops tell me its the brightest light they have ever seen. Mine has been going for over a year and no problems at all except as I said the battery issue. I will say that my wireless bike computer will not work sometimes if the wire to the light is too close to the unit but I've figured how to route the cord so its not a problem.

How do you post a thread that asks about a light you already "like." Have you used several?

I e-mailed MagicShine/Geoman about a question concerning the product and they very quickly responded with an answer, so thinking how great their service was I bought a MagicShine about 16 or 17 months ago and received it very quickly with a e-mail letting me know it was on it's way, then 2 months after I bought it quit working. I sent the light back via UPS with a tracking number and e-mailed that number to Geoman and letting them know the unit failed and was sending it back for warranty adjustment. 4 days later UPS confirmed they received it. 2 weeks went by and I didn't hear anything so I e-mailed them, no response, E-mailed again, no response, this went on for 3 or 4 months of me e-mailing them and getting no response. They had no phone number at the time or I would have called, not sure if they have a phone number now or not, their website doesn't currently list one. After several dozen e-mails and getting no responses I finally gave up and chalked up to a lesson learned that if it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't true.

Now with all the recall problems and other problems it's no wonder they only offer a 90 day warranty. Some people have had theirs for 2 years with no problems, others like myself weren't so lucky, and at least one home caught fire due to failure of the battery. I'm not sure what happened to mine, my battery seemed fine in that it never got real hot, so I'm not sure if it was the battery or the charger, or maybe the light itself. about 2 weeks before it died it wouldn't stay lit for more then 10 to 15 minutes. It seems like to me that if you buy a MagicShine your going to get a mixed bag, it could be great or it could be a problem.

Also the rated lumens is way over stated. I bought a Cygolite ExpiliOn 350 and it seems almost as bright as the MagicShine. I then bought a Cygolite MityCross 480 and seems as bright if not brighter.

I'm very bias against MagicShine and Geoman because of my bad experience, and I will never buy another cheap wanabe $500 light again. I'll stay with Cygolite. I had a cheap Cygolite Metro dual beam 13 watt halogen light for about 18 years and that light still works; so I have very high confidence in Cygolite.

Great post. Safety and/or quality concerns with the MagicShine product are certainly not unmerited. What really bother's me though is that GeoMan went out and had their own batteries made (very highly promoted on their web site as being superior quality, not really questioning that) and they are pairing them up with devices such as the MS headlight/taillight. Why is this a problem? These lights have suspiciously low, low-voltage cut-off protection. If you just run them till they quit, they start going into "convulsions" (i.e. random flashing) while the battery voltage is being pulled down to between 2.5 and 2.6 volts. Under most estimations, this is a VERY hard discharge on the li-ion chemistry. The more conservative approach (translate, safety margin, extended battery life), would be to have the lights shut off with the battery voltage at or slightly above 3V. The extra run time achieved by going all the way down to 2.5 volts is trivial and completely unnecessary. Pure and simple, its just a bad design. To make matters worse, the Geoman battery self-protect cut-off doesn't occur until around 2.3V. So if there are some MS lights out there that go even lower than the ones I've tested, the battery could conceivably be getting drained to damagingly low levels. Under no circumstance should the pack's self-protect circuitry be used as the normal over-discharge protection. I sure hope that the GeoMan packs can stand up to the abuse that the MS lights are dishing out... that 90 day warranty may stink for the consumer, but probably a good business decision on their part, considering, as you say, they are dealing with a "mixed bag" for sure. To their (Geoman's) credit, I did have one of their 4.5aHr batteries fail, and they replaced it VERY quickly at no cost to me.

I'd recommend MagicShine MJ-816
 

MagicShine MJ-816 is an affordable bike LED light, about $125. I tested MagicShine MJ-816 and I believe it is a great light with 1400 lumens. I compared it with other high power LED flashlight such as JETBeam RRT-3 (1000 lumens), and I found it is brighter than RRT-3. MagicShine offers 1 year warranty for the light but only 180 days for battery.

Just as point of information, which I'm sure most are already aware of, the MS lights lumen ratings (as well as a LOT of flashlights) are "bit" overstated, especially for the P7 emitter. More like 70% of the claimed lumens. Just saying, you can't really judge a light by it's advertised lumen rating. Beam shape also plays a large roll.

I never realize that until I had the MagicShine, and not until it failed did I notice that when I bought the Cygolites. I guess it's like mini pumps claiming they can get to 160psi...I've found all mini pumps are overrated by at least 33%. But I'm not sure if the Cygolites are overrated or not, I know their battery run times are spot on, but in comparison the ExpiliOn 350 was close to the brightness of the Magicshine and the Mitycross 480 was at least the same if not brighter. So if the Cygolites are overrated then the Magicshine is even more so overrated.

have you checked http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/StoreFront ? would you rather get a flashlight (cheaper price) or magicshine ?

Does anyone try MagicShine MJ-868?
 

I heard that MagicShine MJ868 equipped with CREE MX-L LED and Samsung Li-on batteries. Did anyone try it? I am curious to know how it compares with MJ-816.

Look at that website, they compare 5 magicshine lights : http://www.bikespot.be

Those MagicShine lights are not that great. I have a friend that has a 1200 lumen MagicShine and my 480 lumen Cygolite Mitycross was more powerful in distance but the Magicshine had a bit larger flood cross section; plus my battery had a longer run time and it's quite a bit smaller then the bulky MagicShine lighthead and battery.

Now I have a Phillips BikeLight supposedly rated at 1000 lumens on the box, it's not only brighter then my Mitycross but it completely overwhelms the Magicshine. The Phillips has both a wider beam and a longer throw then the MagicShine, but the battery life is a little less then the MagicShine by about a 1 hour which only stands to reason with 4 AA rechargeable batteries carrying the load. Plus both the Cygolite and the Phillips is lighter in weight, and the Phillips does not have a separate battery pack to attach and wire up to the light head. I haven't had the opportunity yet to test the battery life on the Phillips, but the instructions claim 2 hours, I find that kind of hard to believe, I would estimate it to be closer to an 1 1/2 hours. The instructions do say that once the battery goes down to that 2 hour limit it will automatically reduce the light to low power and will run for another 1/2 an hour. I rarely ride for more then 2 hours in the dark anyways so it's not an issue for me, plus I will be using the Cygolite as a helmet light now, so if by some odd chance I get caught out longer then 2 hours I'll still have the helmet light burning.

The MagicShine is a BS light made of inferior parts which is why it's cheap. I had one of their first models when Geoman was alive, it lasted 2 months then it stopped working, I sent it back under the 3 month warranty provision and never heard a word from them after that. I sent dozens of e-mails since they didn't have phone number to contact, and never received a reply. ( I did get a confirmation from UPS that the light was delivered.) Supposedly Geoman died during the time I sent it back, but that's no excuse; their customer service and warranty handling is piss poor. I gave up after about 3 or 4 months of sending e-mails and just chalked it to a learning experience. Again, you get what you pay for. My friends MagicShine however has been working now for about 6 months and continues to do so. MagicShine has a spotty performance record which includes a rash of recalls for units catching fire and simply quitting like mine did. My friends MagicShine is a newer version of course, so maybe they got the bugs ironed out, but it still fails in overall performance compared to the two lights I tested it against; and then there's the question about customer service and warranty service.

I've been using my Magicshine for over 2 years now. I've had to replace the Y cable 3 times now, but they're less than 2 bucks each. I have their taillight as well, no problems.

However, if doing it over now, I'd use a pair of UltraFire flashlights up front and a Cygolite Hotshot and some other light in the back. I would only use one of the front lights at a time but I always want backup, I don't care if it's a $1000 light, it can fail, and I HAVE been stuck 4 miles from nowhere on a road full of potholes in pitch black with 2 hours until dawn. Lemme tell ya, it's no fun trying to ride by the light of a PBSF on steady mode held in your hand.

The perfect solution for me that eliminates any EMI with wireless devices has been the original Magicshine 808 helmet mounted to a Bell Sweep and battery pack kept in a rear jersey pocket via extension cord. In another pocket I keep a Magicshine flashlight for backup and run a PBSF on the tail. The Bell helmet design allows use of the o-ring attachment and proper loft setting with no additional hardware. Plenty of lumens and run time left with these old lights and batteries.

My perfect solution is to not use any wireless devices. I don't see any reason to go wireless, it just eats more batteries and makes things less reliable and more complex. Wired stuff always works.

But wireless independence is so trendy. Kind of like ditching the ethernet cable for wifi and suffering with speeds akin to old dial up connections. To enjoy my wireless freedom on a long night ride I merely have to carry 20 batteries for powering my 3 Magicshines, smartphone, sensors, and bike computer--okay 17 if you take away the two smartphone spares and an extra 18650.

rekmeyata, I'm sure your experience with Magic Shine has been sub-par. However, there are thousands of satisified Geoman customers. Geoman (or the company he started) has had excellent customer service and the company came through with the battery recall. I am still using my original MJ808 and recall battery 2.5 years after I bought the light. The light has been flawless and the new battery is great too. I'd bet your experience with MS is in the minority and with Geoman is a statistical outlier/fluke.

I'd be interested to see beamshots comparing your saferide to your MS. I also have a Baja Designs Strykr, so feel free to do beamshots with that too if you have one.

Actually a lot of people had problems with the older versions of the MS light, that's why they were eventually recalled and stop selling the product for a short while, so to say they rarely had a problem is incorrect. I recently sent another E-mail in regards to their light along with the copy of the UPS report and they responded saying they never received the light, they have no record of the light. Of course UPS won't pay because they showed they delivered it.

I never mentioned that I either owned or tested a Baja Designs Strykr, not sure where you got that.

The light didn't have problems, the original battery had problems. That's why Geoman started a BATTERY recall, not a light recall. The light-head rarely has problems. The new, replaced-under-recall Geoman batteries rarely (if ever) have problems.

That's correct, I should have more specific. I don't know what happened to my light though, it just wouldn't turn on after I charged it about the 8th time I used it.

To be fair, I had minor problems with my on/off button. I have to push it quite hard, using mostly my thumbnail, to get the light to turn on, change modes, or turn off. It still works, but it is a minor, noticeable irritation. I'm not sure why this is as there is a mechanical button inside the cover that is pushed. If fact, you can take off the cover and see the button yourself. Perhaps you're not pushing the button hard enough? Take the cover off and see if you can get the switch to work... that's what I would do.

I no longer have the light, I sent it to Geoman and never got it back. But I did try goofing with the switch, I looked for loose wires, bad connections etc and found nothing apparent. I'm not a electronics genius so I didn't take the thing all apart to try to figure out what happened, and besides it was under the 90 warranty period so I sent it back. If I had taken it all apart they, Geoman, would have voided the warranty for tampering with it, but as it was I never got the light back either fixed or replaced.

I have the older MJ-808E. After taking it apart and adding a little more thermal grease under the LED, I use it every day during the winter for 2 hours a day. No problems whatsoever.

I have heard the taillight isn't all that great though.

For the price, you really can't go wrong.

Agreed, though I would get the XM-L version if I was buying one today.