Are expensive bike lights a rip off?

[Doomanic]

Apart from the price can anyone shine any light on how these two products might be different?

MagicShine Monteer 3500

Olight RN 3500

They are made by the same company and look and perform identically according to the blurb. Both are linked to U.K distribution.

I know that Magicshine have put the prices up recently. Maybe this is a seasonal thing?

Probably identical product but in different packaging.

Looks like it; claim of dual branding on the .com site.

Illuminate your world with Olight's vast selection of flashlights. From compact portable EDC flashlights to powerful tactical outdoor flashlights, Olight offers unrivaled quality and innovation. Explore our website now!

Illuminate your world with Olight's vast selection of flashlights. From compact portable EDC flashlights to powerful tactical outdoor flashlights, Olight offers unrivaled quality and innovation. Explore our website now!

www.olightstore.com

The UK site has sold out at the moment and the only place I can find them want 200 quid.

 

[apac]

It makes me wonder how good a quality the magicshine really is, if it's being sold for the price it is on a sister site. It was in stock two days ago.

 

[Mteam]

It makes me wonder how good a quality the magicshine really is, if it's being sold for the price it is on a sister site. It was in stock two days ago.

magic shine were the original cheap chinese light back in the day (2009 ish) , before ebay and amazon were awash with cheap led bike lights. Back then they were pretty cheaply made and pretty cheap to buy - very much similar to all the various cheap lights available now.

In recent years they have put their prices up, but I'm not convinced their quality is substantially higher/different than the various cheap chinese lights you can buy for a fraction of the price.

Those outbound lights look decent to me, and clearly a step up from the cheapo chinese stuff.

I could be tempted by a set when my cheapo chinese lights finally fail, but the shipping and import charges take them into the realms of not worth it I think.

 

[Eduardoramundo]

I just picked up a Brand new Monteer 8000 for £215 from Aliexpress

Arrived in 6 days from China to UK. No import fees. Free shipping.

 

[Gary]

Magicshine have been around for 20years+ mate.
The original range was Chinese style head units with cree LEDs but far better batteries, chargers and packaging than ebay Chinese lights. Plus an actual company offering a warranty. Year on year they have improved their design, quality and spec. Currently magicshine produce lights wwith comparable quality and performance to many of the super expensive lights cyclists get all fanboi about. But still at a fraction of the price. They still sell lower power. (but perfectly adequate) lights at more affordable price points.

The OG Chinese cree head units magicshine started out with are still available from various sellers on Ebay for less than a tenner. And TBH are still bright enough to night ride with off road. Just nowhere near as nice to do so with as a modern high end light (which is what magicshine now produces)

 

[Pivot]

Arrived in 6 days from China to UK. No import fees. Free shipping.

Please let us know how it performs at night.

I did look at it as well, it is £300 in UK store.
I like the idea of light-weight strong light on my handlebars, but I don’t like strapping battery to my frame and pulling cables.

 

[Pyr0]

I quite like the look of the Outbound Lighting Trail Evo and not needing to strap a battery to the frame, but the shipping is really expensive

 

[Doomanic]

the shipping is really expensive

Is it? Bugger. I didn't get that far. I like the look of the DH set for the reason you state, but runtime is a concern.

 

[Eduardoramundo]

Please let us know how it performs at night.

I did look at it as well, it is £300 in UK store.
I like the idea of light-weight strong light on my handlebars, but I don’t like strapping battery to my frame and pulling cables.

its £369 in uk store. This is the 8000 oneand not 6500

 

[Doomanic]

but the shipping is really expensive

Further to this, it includes import duty and VAT, so not as bad as I first thought.

 

[apac]

Further to this, it includes import duty and VAT, so not as bad as I first thought.
View attachment 75889

this is what put me off the outbound two light package, as for £50 more I got the new model Exposure MaXxD and Diablo torches. U.K warranty, same weight and more powerful. No lead time, arriving tomorrow...... Apart from the fact they are turquoise, seemed a better choice.

 

[Doomanic]

I did an analog ride (don't hate me)

No promises...

 

[leftside]

The MagicShine lights are great! I did my first night ride with them this week. I could probably ride with just the helmet light, but the handlbar/helmet combo is very good.

What mounts are people using for their bike lights? My bars are 35mm Enve M7. The Monteer 8000S are 150g. I'm using the supplied mount without rubber shim, but seeing what others might be using.

 

[Doomanic]

Arrived in 6 days from China to UK. No import fees. Free shipping.

Have you tried it out yet? Genuine Magicshine or copy?

 

[Eduardoramundo]

Have you tried it out yet? Genuine Magicshine or copy?

It’s original. Impressed with the quality. Bright as fcuk as well.

 

[apac]

I'm not sure if winter night riding is for me. It didn't go to well after work today when things got tricky. Just got home with a few injuries. I didn't think my Gloucoma would be an issue but it really was.

 

[Jackware]

I'm not sure if winter night riding is for me. It didn't go to well after work today when things got tricky. Just got home with a few injuries. I didn't think my Gloucoma would be an issue but it really was.

I'm impressed you even tried it. I think I'll avoid it this year as getting cold and wet in the dark in the middle of nowhere is not that enjoyable.
Summer nights are a different matter though.

 

[apac]

I'm impressed you even tried it. I think I'll avoid it this year as getting cold and wet in the dark in the middle of nowhere is not that enjoyable.
Summer nights are a different matter though.

Yep, the mist came down and the carpet of leaves were as slippery as fish. It wasn't fun hitting my head , and then trying to get bike and body back up n running. Just paid £400 on a set of exposure lights too. Spring and summer seem a better idea for sure.

 

[Doomanic]

A mate has lent me a Magicshine MJ-880 and I've dug out my 12 quid eBay lights and built some new batteries out a spare laptop battery that gives me over 3 hours at full power. We're hitting FoD on Thursday night for a shred.
@apac if you fancy trying again in a group instead of flying solo you're welcome to tag along.

 

[apac]

A mate has lent me a Magicshine MJ-880 and I've dug out my 12 quid eBay lights and built some new batteries out a spare laptop battery that gives me over 3 hours at full power. We're hitting FoD on Thursday night for a shred.
@apac if you fancy trying again in a group instead of flying solo you're welcome to tag along.

That's a really thoughtful offer. I will take you up on it some time in the future. I think I may have broken some bones in my fingers. Riding solo did not pay off well this evening. Congrats on recycling some laptop cells. I used to do that to build Ebike battery packs. Great way to make disposable packs by soldering the cells together in a ghetto way.

 

[Doomanic]

I've got another 476 cells...

 

[The Hodge]

Personally I wouldn't dream of riding solo at night ..at least on anything technical ..just the possibility of lying injured for hours on end in the cold and dark is enough to put me off ( plus the fact that I'm a soft shite ..and you never know when a mad axeman might turn up out of the blue )
A group ride at night ..now that's a different proposition..especially if involves a pint at the end ..
@apac ..don't be too quick to knock this on the head before taking up Doom's offer..
I hope your injuries aren't as bad as you fear ..and heal very quickly

 

[apac]

I've got another 476 cells...

I had a mate who had a recycling company, and he gave me hundreds of laptop batteries for me to tear apart and salvage the cells. It was raw on the fingers but great for powering motors.

 

[apac]

Personally I wouldn't dream of riding solo at night ..at least on anything technical ..just the possibility of lying injured for hours on end in the cold and dark is enough to put me off ( plus the fact that I'm a soft shite ..and you never know when a mad axeman might turn up out of the blue )
A group ride at night ..now that's a different proposition..especially if involves a pint at the end ..
@apac ..don't be too quick to knock this on the head before taking up Doom's offer..
I hope your injuries aren't as bad as you fear ..and heal very quickly

Thanks maan. I'm a bit pissed off with myself, it feels like a re-occurance of an episode I had in the summer where I broke my wrist. I think this time I may have dislocated a finger. I might have to take the trip of doom n gloom tomorrow down to Cardiff A&E

 

[leftside]

Thanks maan. I'm a bit pissed off with myself, it feels like a re-occurance of an episode I had in the summer where I broke my wrist. I think this time I may have dislocated a finger. I might have to take the trip of doom n gloom tomorrow down to Cardiff A&E

Get down there ASAP!

I've been riding at night on my own, and it's been a blast. I have just been doing easier trails and I really enjoy the darkness and quietness of the night, but perhaps I should reconsider these solo rides and try and find some other like minded individuals.

 

[apac]

Get down there ASAP!

I've been riding at night on my own, and it's been a blast. I have just been doing easier trails and I really enjoy the darkness and quietness of the night, but perhaps I should reconsider these solo rides and try and find some other like minded individuals.

yeah, the quiet on the mountain as the sun was setting was amazing. Just the sound of birds wings beating above and an owl hooting.

 

[Slapbassmunky]

Has no one ever thought of making their own light? I know there are torch forums out there and you can get the parts.

I have and do. My current bar light is an XHP 70.2 4K driven at 3A @ 12V max with a TaskLED driver, 4*21700 battery pack, and a wired remote that sits next to my right grip. You can program it to do exactly what you want, current settings, modes, lockouts, timers, the lot.

I detest lights above 4.5k temperature so most off the shelf jobs are out, and I'm susceptible to the strobe effects of PWM dimming, so that's most of the cheap crap out of the window.

 

[Doomanic]

Got any pics or links to that?

 

[apac]

I have and do. My current bar light is an XHP 70.2 4K driven at 3A @ 12V max with a TaskLED driver, 4*21700 battery pack, and a wired remote that sits next to my right grip. You can program it to do exactly what you want, current settings, modes, lockouts, timers, the lot.

I detest lights above 4.5k temperature so most off the shelf jobs are out, and I'm susceptible to the strobe effects of PWM dimming, so that's most of the cheap crap out of the window.

where did you get the info on what parts to use?

 

[Slapbassmunky]

Got any pics or links to that?

I'll take some pictures when I get home.

where did you get the info on what parts to use?

15 years of trial and error, and trawling the candlepower + budgetlight forums. When I comes down to it, there's very few places that provide suitable kit to make a properly sorted bike light. I'm not going to dive into it here because there are already forums full of information. One thing I will say. Even brands like lupine are having a laugh with some of their figures, it's almost as if they've figured out a way to break physics

Heat is the lumen killer. A lot of lights will power on at one millionty lumens, but give them 30 seconds and the housings don't have the mass or thermal path to cope, then the electronics (if decent enough) will start slowly throttling the light down. By then the user has already had that "wow that's bright" shock and doesn't notice what's happening. Likewise with colour temperature, your eyes perceive the amount of light differently at 3K and 7.5K. One's a lovely yellow halogen colour, the other a horrid blue mess that glares off anything wet/damp, and ruins your depth perception. However, the 7K+ LED's are generally "seen" as being brighter, are generally cheaper, and give out slightly more lumens. So that's what most manufacturers use.

Yet after all that, I use a Convoy S2 as a helmet light to fill in the gaps when i get to the trail head. It's perfect for filling in the hollows underneath gaps/drops/jumps.