Time for a new "what light" thread...

[TimC]

Perceptis, who own www.magicshinebikelights.co.uk, no longer sell Magicshine lights with the manufacturer's batteries because of their concerns about poor quality. The 870 we have came with a German-sourced Open Light battery, and I believe that Perceptis now only offer Open Light batteries. They cost more, but the overall deal is still very good value.

[Hot Flatus]

There were problems with the early models of batteries.

I'm hoping they are rectified now. 

[mrcharly-YHT]

I'm amazed at some of the basic brackets on some of the more expensive lights.

Maybe it's just the supreme crapness of the roads I commute on, but I can't imagine those brackets surviving.

I use Fenix's own light mount for my Fenix torch - but have had to put normal nuts and tighten them with a spanner. For the Saik, I use a Saik bracket, but it kept rotating round the bar - so I drilled a small hole in the bar and put a screw through the bracket and bar. The first screw lasted about 40 miles before sheering off!  It now has a much larger 3mm screw and that seems to be holding.

[Bledlow]

In a fit of trigger-happiness I now have a Magicshine 868 1000 lumen (pinch of salt) lamp on it's way. ...

Looks quite good, but the battery is expensive. Will you let us know what the light's like?

Since the switching is on the light head, and they do supply heads separately, you could buy a Magicshine light head only and make your own battery or use any 3rd-party one - it's 7.2V so very standard, 6x NiMH would be nice and cheap, you do have to check for the correct polarity before connecting up!

Good point. 6 x AA NiMH plus a battery box, a bit of cable & a suitable plug, some simple soldering. Depending on the batteries & bits, maybe £15 - for which you'd get about half the life of the £60 cheapest battery sold for the Magicshine lights.

The 808 light head is £45, battery £60, handlebar mount £5, helmet mount £10, charger (not needed for home-made battery pack) £8.

Complete set including charger, frame mount bag, &  mounting bits £90.

I'd be inclined to buy the set & think about any home-made battery as a spare.

[Hot Flatus]

Well, the 868 has arrived. Build quality looks surprisingly good. Tiny little metal head unit, and excellent neoprene battery bag with fully rubberised battery.  The thing looks really well made, no sign of tattiness at all. Even the packaging is good.

Battery arrived fully charged and I can't be arsed going out in the rain so I shone it down the garden. Looks to have a nice solid spot (which is what I wanted) and a much weaker halo (again,wanted).  Not sure about the 1000 lumen output claim but, reliabilty to be proven, I'd say at £75-90 (depending on where you source it) this light is a contender.

Will get up extra early for total darkness tomorrow and report back later.

[Hot Flatus]

It's really good. Was like having a 100m lightsaber mounted on my bars.

[Tewdric]

My MJ-808 has just arrived.  I'll give it a spin later and report back.  It seems to be well made.  I've read that they've solved the combusting batteries issue but I am charging it on a baking tray just in case! 

[Bledlow]

What's the low setting like?

[Tewdric]

It seems like it will be like a  pair of Fenixs but I can't really tell in daylight.  More later..

Later..

I took it for an hour loop through the woods on my mountain bike along a mix of fire roads and singletrack.  I started in twilight, which is always a tough test for a light, but it got fully dark ont he ride which is when the power of the thing became apparent.  It doesn't turn night into day, but it does have a useful centre bright area for seeing which way the trail is going and a good halo bright enough to see the detail of what's in front of you.  I was quite happy riding steep downhill singletrack at the same speed I would in daylight.  I could do this with my old lumicycle plus fenix torch combo, but with some nervousness.  The Magicshine makes it as comfortable as riding in daylight.  The rubber band mount worked fine and didn't slip.  I took in some very muddy bits and deep puddles which sprayed light and battery with a lot of water, but they didn't bat an eyelid.  It remains t be seen how they do under a prolonged downpour though.

I rode some lanes on the way back and the light is good on-road too.  The low setting is roughly as bright as my Schmidt Edelux and full power is massively brighter.  Again, not the night-into-day miracle that is claimed in some of the online reviews, but a 30mph-ish descent down the valley was fine.  If anything it's too bright for road use given the spready beam pattern.  It comprehensively dazzled the couple of cars I met who just gave up and stopped.  I had to dip the Magicshine by twisting it forward on the bars.  Imagine a dipped beam pair of car headlights but badly adusted vertically and you're about there, or maybe this thing is a bit brighter.  It's not car full beam strength but it's not that far off.

Build quality seems great, they didn't spontaneously combust when I charged the battery and it was 70 ish quid from Deal Extreme.  I have no complaints at that price.  We'll see how it lasts.

[bobb]

I'd say at £75-90 (depending on where you source it) this light is a contender.

Where did you source yours? I quite fancy one of these....

[Hot Flatus]

X-lights on eBay for £92. You can go via their magicshine.co.uk site and pay £12 more if you want.

I think dealextreme do them cheaper, but if customs get you it will cost, plus you'll be waiting 3 weeks for it. I don't know if the light head is any better than tewdrics but it does have a 5.6mA Samsung battery in an excellent holder

[Chris N]

I'd be interested to see how your 868 compares with other lights.  It seems as though the Cree XML LED is the current state of the art, but I'd like a light that runs off AA batteries - I've already got a bunch of batteries and a charger and don't need yet more, different types.

The only XML based light that I can find that does is the Dinotte XML-1 AA: http://store.dinottelighting.com/xml-1-aa-headlight-p182.aspx. There's a review of the Li-ion version here: http://reviews.mtbr.com/dinotte-xml-1-2012-mtbr-lights-shootout, though it seems as though the AA version might not last as long, or be as bright.  Not as cheap as the Magicshine though, looks like it'll be a bit under £100 with shipping.

[Jaded]

CLINT and I are trying to arrange a midnight tryst to take some comparison shots. Maybe tonight.

[Hot Flatus]

I have a dinotte xm-l, lithium. I'm having issues with it though. It is very good, but more double the price of the 868, and not as far reaching.

I think you should give an 868 a try. I haven't tested the runtimes yet but the low setting is brighter than my e3 triple, and I'd anticipate a run time of 5 hours.

[frankly frankie]

I'd be interested to see how your 868 compares with other lights.  It seems as though the Cree XML LED is the current state of the art, but I'd like a light that runs off AA batteries - I've already got a bunch of batteries and a charger and don't need yet more, different types.

Then consider buying a light head only and make your own 6-cell pack.  See above.
Magicshine light heads

[Chris N]

What will happen if you run a 7.2V light off a 4.8V (4xAA cell) battery pack?  Dimmer, shorter run time, or both?

[mrcharly-YHT]

If it was an LED light, then it probably wouldn't light up at all.

[frankly frankie]

Depends how the light head is regulated, if at all.  If it's not regulated, you'd get a rather dim but very long-running (several hours) light. 
If it's fully regulated you'd likely get a good bright light that runs for about 10 minutes.
Most lights are what I'd call partially regulated but also most of them have a low voltage cut-off to protect the battery (see several threads about the Hope V1) which means you'd get no light at all.  The cutoff for a 7.2V light would be in the region of 6V I guess, maybe a bit lower if a Li-ion pack is assumed by the manufacturer.

I've done this (light head with home-made battery pack) using a Lumicycle light head, and in that case, very usefully, there is no low-voltage cutoff.  Its a nominally 14.4V light, but it runs dimly in 'commuter' mode off a PP3 battery (9V).

[Chris N]

Thanks.  The nice thing about the Dinotte I linked to above is that it's designed to run off 4xAA, so one full charger of batteries.  Using 6 or 8 is a bit more awkward, but possible.

[Hot Flatus]

It isn't as straight forward as that. If you make a home made battery with AAs you have the faff of taking them all out to charge. You also have two other issues that I had with the dinotte aa light I had years ago: waterproofing is almost an impossibility and battery boxes rust surprisingly quickly. The cells bounce out of the box very easily and you have to have a lash up to stop this happening.

...which is why I am now glad of water proof lithium units that fasten easily and take seconds to plug into a charger.

[Bledlow]

... Dinotte XML-1 AA: http://store.dinottelighting.com/xml-1-aa-headlight-p182.aspx. There's a review of the Li-ion version here: http://reviews.mtbr.com/dinotte-xml-1-2012-mtbr-lights-shootout, though it seems as though the AA version might not last as long, or be as bright.  Not as cheap as the Magicshine though, looks like it'll be a bit under £100 with shipping.

Depends on whether Customs & Excise catch you.

Thanks.  The nice thing about the Dinotte I linked to above is that it's designed to run off 4xAA, so one full charger of batteries.  Using 6 or 8 is a bit more awkward, but possible.

Indeed. See my post #78.

I run a Dinotte 200L* & a Light & Motion Stella 120** on packs of 4 x AA, which is fine for the evening rides I usually do, but would be a pain on longer or overnight rides. I'd have to change batteries.

The lowest capacity Magicshine battery should give almost twice the run time of a set of 6xAA. Although I prefer to be able to use generic batteries, the Magicshine sets, with an Openlight waterproof battery, bag to sling it under the top tube, etc. look tempting. Maybe Mrs B would like one, so she can stop nicking my Dinotte.

*Nice bright spot, medium setting adequate a lot of the time, good for pootling around streets on low setting. Beam a bit narrow.
**Excellent beam coverage, but not as bright as Dinotte high.
The two lights work together well. They work in pouring rain, but you have to use the supplied plastic bags (& replace them when they get leaky) inside the battery pouches, &  take care that water can't run into them.

[TimC]

Although I prefer to be able to use generic batteries, the Magicshine sets, with an Openlight waterproof battery, bag to sling it under the top tube, etc. look tempting. Maybe Mrs B would like one, so she can stop nicking my Dinotte.

The 868 isn't available from www.magicshinebikelights.co.uk who are, I believe, the official UK importer* and who provide the Open Light batteries as a matter of course. www.magicshine.co.uk do it for £110 plus shipping, but they use Samsung batteries.

*Edit. Actually, both these companies are official stockists rather than importers, and magicshine.co.uk are now also doing Open Light batteries as an option.

[Rig of Jarkness]

I've just augmented my bar mounted Ixon IQ with a helmet mounted Joystick.  What a difference !  I only need both of them on their lowest settings and it's more than enough to ride with confidence at 30-40mph descending the unlit country lanes of my commute.  I'm now most definitely a convert to helmet lights.

Yes I appreciate that the OP excluded helmet mounted lights but that was 7 pages ago.

[eck]

I'm tempted by the AYUPs for when Santa comes.  David Martin OTP kindly lent me some a couple of years ago, and I was mighty impressed with them.

Does anyone know if they can be mounted under the bars? I'd like to be able to use them with clip-on tri bars.    Also, as far as I can see, they are only available direct from Oz?

Still happy with my Ixon IQ, but my Dinotte 200L has just died. 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

HK uses a set of my Ayups. Mount them above, below or in front of the bars, just make sure the plug-in lead won't fall out over rough patches. The lights are very adjustable and the beams are symmetrical. Recently they started offering different width beams in a single head. I think that would be better than both the same.