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MagicShine 900

M

Mike B.

Turbo Monkey
Oct 5, 2001
1,522
0
State College, PA
A friend of mine just picked up two with their racer pack (extra battery and mounts I think). He liked them enough after the first ride to order two more. He'd been considering the NiteRider 1200 prior to trying the Magic Shine.
 
splat

splat

Nam I am
Apr 27, 2002
14,751
318
Well Maybe Windows is Bearable ! Unix Rules !
HID is DEAD long Live LED !!!

Berkshire_rider ( rides with Both Magic shine and HID , Magicshine is Brighter )
SilverTurtle
RV55 ( who Abandon his HID for it )
SLoMoJo
Bo_

I have the Parts on order ( the geek in me )


go for the Set that Comes with 2 batteries and the Helmet Mount
 
moff_quigley

moff_quigley

Why don't you have a seat over there?
Jan 27, 2005
4,402
2
Poseurville
I'm probably picking up a couple from Geomangear in the not too distant future. Even if they crap out in one or two seasons you are still ahead if you bought a couple Lupines etc.
 
UNHrider

UNHrider

Monkey
Apr 20, 2004
479
2
Epping, NH
i just picked up the racers special for my lady friend. very tempted to pick one up to compliment my now outdated niterider classic.
 
N

NuMexJoe

Monkey
Aug 20, 2007
178
2
Mine's been working fine for a couple months now, and lasts far longer than either of the L&M Arcs that are along on our night rides.
- Joe
 
Arkayne

Arkayne

I come bearing GIFs
May 10, 2005
3,738
15
SoCal
OH heeeey, a new light and crazy cheap!! Anyone in San Diego buying? Add me and we can split shipping.
 
I.van

I.van

Monkey
Apr 15, 2007
188
0
Australia
Mine crapped out after 3 road rides, then got fixed under warranty. There are/were some known issues with the quality of soldering in the battery pack. According to the new Australian distributor, these issues have now been rectified from the factory.

I am yet to give these lights some off-road testing, but if the new fixes work, the light is awesome value for money.
 
johnbryanpeters

johnbryanpeters

Hero
Sep 27, 2001
36,124
16,585
Making moss sad in New Haven, Vermont
eric strt6 said:
http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/2010-mtbr-lights-shootout/
Click to expand...
Not up there with the brightest, but kicks ass on cost per delivered lux.

Brand/Model Price Claimed Lumens Measured Lux Normalized lumens Normalized lux Cost/lux
Magicshine MJ-808 $85 900 37 0.51 0.22 $2.30
TrailLED Darkstar $420 1,200 81 0.69 0.49 $5.19
Baja Designs Stryker $298 700 52 0.40 0.32 $5.73
Lupine Betty 7 $1,019 1,750 165 1.00 1.00 $6.18
Adventure System $233 400 34 0.23 0.21 $6.85
NiteFlux Max Extreme 20 $480 1,350 70 0.77 0.42 $6.86
Lupine Wilma 5 $459 920 66 0.53 0.40 $6.95
Exposure Diablo $249 700 34 0.40 0.21 $7.32
Ayup 2010 helmet $233 400 31 0.23 0.19 $7.52
Niterider Pro 1200 $649 1,200 82 0.69 0.50 $7.91
Lupine Tesla 4 $420 700 52 0.40 0.32 $8.08
Quad $495 1,000 60 0.57 0.36 $8.25
Exposure MaxxD $399 960 48 0.55 0.29 $8.31
Exposure Toro $339 700 36 0.40 0.22 $9.42
Niterider Pro 600 $499 600 46 0.34 0.28 $10.85
 
Last edited:
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,483
20,286
Sleazattle
Can anyone comment on beam quality? Orvens video makes it look like it has a very bright hot spot with a dim but wide pattern outside of that.
 
N

NuMexJoe

Monkey
Aug 20, 2007
178
2
That pretty much captures it, Westy. The spill isn't really dim, but the central hot spot is so bright that the spill is less useful. It works well bar-mounted, but IMO it's much better helmet-mounted w/ something more floody on the bars.
- Joe

Westy said:
Can anyone comment on beam quality? Orvens video makes it look like it has a very bright hot spot with a dim but wide pattern outside of that.
Click to expand...
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,483
20,286
Sleazattle
NuMexJoe said:
That pretty much captures it, Westy. The spill isn't really dim, but the central hot spot is so bright that the spill is less useful. It works well bar-mounted, but IMO it's much better helmet-mounted w/ something more floody on the bars.
- Joe
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input. Looks like it has the same beam as the home made systems I have tried. I don't like riding the home-made systems because of the hotspot. They cost a hell of a lot more but I think the multi LED systems might work better for me. The price is so tempting but I think I prefer quality of the beam over the quantity. I ride much better with old dim halogen systems with new bright spotty single LED lights.
 
profro

profro

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2002
5,617
314
Walden Ridge
I just tried my Magicshine lastnight on the bars w/o any helmet light and I thought it was impressive. It was brighter and had more flood than my buddy's Light in Motion HID.
 
Hunter

Hunter

Monkey
Sep 14, 2006
793
0
The Right coast
I've been riding with one on the bar for about two months, probably a 100 miles of trail riding. Can't beat it for the price. I've got an airbike p7 on my helmet. About the same light output, though the MS is a bit more focused of a beam pattern. I've ridden in rain & mud, and routinely do 3' drops and have had no issues with it at all. Bunch of friends have bought them recently, and have had no complaints or failures from our little crew. Hopefully this will lead to a wider selection of affordable, bright lighting systems for bikes.
 
berkshire_rider

berkshire_rider

Growler
Feb 5, 2003
2,552
10
The Blackstone Valley
Westy said:
Can anyone comment on beam quality? Orvens video makes it look like it has a very bright hot spot with a dim but wide pattern outside of that.
Click to expand...
Beam quality is excellent. My lights' pattern in real-life is better than the video shows, and it has a much bigger/better hot spot then my Trailtech HID.

Once they are back in stock, I'm ordering a second one for my helmet and selling my HID. My actual trail tests have shown the Magicshine CLEARLY outperforms my HID in all areas, except the HID gets 4 hours from the battery, where the Magicshine gets ~3. It's so good that several people I ride with purchased one after seeing mine.
 
Orvan

Orvan

....................
Mar 5, 2002
1,492
2
Califor-N.I.A.
The spill ain't great but the hot spot is awesome. I seriously want 3 on my handlebar, one on the helmet and one on the top tube pointed straight down. Screw light pollution regulations. I want lights.
 
gtastro

gtastro

Chimp
Apr 22, 2002
43
0
in the 253
Westy said:
Can anyone comment on beam quality? Orvens video makes it look like it has a very bright hot spot with a dim but wide pattern outside of that.[/QUOTE

I came from a NR halogen setup bars and helmet. Have had the MJ 900 for a couple of weeks. Took it out to my local trails plenty bright. Initialy I thought there was too much spill and not enough hot spot, but after a hour in the woods I found that pionting the bars down and shallow while leaving the helmet at natural eyesight it seemed to just pierce the night. I have read of people putting tape or cling wrap over the lens to difuse the hot spot. I never tried HID but these just might make me ride at night again, plenty of single trak light with one on the bars and one on the lid.
Click to expand...
 
johnbryanpeters

johnbryanpeters

Hero
Sep 27, 2001
36,124
16,585
Making moss sad in New Haven, Vermont
They seem to be selling as soon as they arrive:

Magicshine 900 Lightsets - Temporarily out of stock but many more are currently enroute.
Expected Arrival
Nov 20 to Nov 23
Are we taking orders now?
YES, but you will be charged immediately and we will ship as soon as they arrive.

Racer's Specials
Expected Arrival
Nov 20 to Nov 23
Are we taking orders now?
NO
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,483
20,286
Sleazattle
Just got a magicshine today. I didn't want to buy the Chinese made blatant Lupine knock off but I'm unemployed so I must purchase on price alone. I'm pretty impressed by It. Daylight tests show it does have a bright spot in the middle but it isn't as bad in real life as the online shots. Interestingly taking out the reflector give a beautifully consistent beam pattern but I think a good chunk of the light gets wasted.

This thing gets hotter than hell. It seems to be constructed with the same parts they use for the P7 style flashlights. This probably doesn't provide as good heat transfer as a bike light designed from the ground up but explains how they can get the economy of scale to make so cheap. I'm guessing they use a cheap thermo grease if any. I might try taking it apart and applying some Arctic Silver thermo grease. Stuff does miracles for cooling down CPUs. Heat makes an LED inneficcent so this might work well for getting 10-20% more power for little more than a few bucks of grease.

Can't wait to try it out on a trail and hopefully burn all of my NiteRider garbage.
 
nauc

nauc

Monkey
May 14, 2007
475
3
Westy said:
Just got a magicshine today. I didn't want to buy the Chinese made blatant Lupine knock off but I'm unemployed so I must purchase on price alone. I'm pretty impressed by It. Daylight tests show it does have a bright spot in the middle but it isn't as bad in real life as the online shots. Interestingly taking out the reflector give a beautifully consistent beam pattern but I think a good chunk of the light gets wasted.

This thing gets hotter than hell. It seems to be constructed with the same parts they use for the P7 style flashlights. This probably doesn't provide as good heat transfer as a bike light designed from the ground up but explains how they can get the economy of scale to make so cheap. I'm guessing they use a cheap thermo grease if any. I might try taking it apart and applying some Arctic Silver thermo grease. Stuff does miracles for cooling down CPUs. Heat makes an LED inneficcent so this might work well for getting 10-20% more power for little more than a few bucks of grease.

Can't wait to try it out on a trail and hopefully burn all of my NiteRider garbage.
Click to expand...
cool

ps, ive never heard of the thermo grease. were would you apply it?

thanks
 
splat

splat

Nam I am
Apr 27, 2002
14,751
318
Well Maybe Windows is Bearable ! Unix Rules !
Westy said:
Just got a magicshine today. I didn't want to buy the Chinese made blatant Lupine knock off but I'm unemployed so I must purchase on price alone. I'm pretty impressed by It. Daylight tests show it does have a bright spot in the middle but it isn't as bad in real life as the online shots. Interestingly taking out the reflector give a beautifully consistent beam pattern but I think a good chunk of the light gets wasted.

This thing gets hotter than hell. It seems to be constructed with the same parts they use for the P7 style flashlights. This probably doesn't provide as good heat transfer as a bike light designed from the ground up but explains how they can get the economy of scale to make so cheap. I'm guessing they use a cheap thermo grease if any. I might try taking it apart and applying some Arctic Silver thermo grease. Stuff does miracles for cooling down CPUs. Heat makes an LED inneficcent so this might work well for getting 10-20% more power for little more than a few bucks of grease.

Can't wait to try it out on a trail and hopefully burn all of my NiteRider garbage.
Click to expand...
THat is an Issue I have read with the Magicshine. it depends on where you bought it. If you got it through geoman he supposedly opend them up and adds some ( I'm sure more won't hurt )

Leethal said:
Every bike light I have had gets hot unless your moving.
Click to expand...
Me too.
 
Konabumm

Konabumm

Konaboner
Jun 13, 2003
4,384
87
Hollywood, Maryland, United States
I have one and love it - I get about 2hr 45min burn time on high, I think it's a little less because of the cold.

After I picked mine up three other friends bought one and we all have nothing but good things to say. For that price I say GO FOR IT
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,483
20,286
Sleazattle
Looks like Magicshine has a new bizarre looking 1400 lumen model. They seem to have just bolted on a couple of 150 lumen lamps to the side.

 
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