Post by adrian on Sept 28, 2010 10:52:22 GMT 1
As requested, here's a piece on my new lights. Overall shipping time was 2 weeks (ordered on a Saturday and arrived on a Saturday).
MagicShine
www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30864
Straight out of the box, the unit looks pretty solid and as I have tried to demonstrate, the face is about twice the size of a 10pence piece and shorter than the length of a credit card...so it isn't going to add much weight to your handlebars!
The battery pack is covered in a "backpack" type of material and you get a UK plug (bonus) and 2 rubber rings to mount the unit to your bike as seen below.
Charging / Battery
As soon as I plugged it in, it was ready to go (was already fully charged) although charge time is normally in the region of 3.5 hours. The good thing is that it returns just beyond 3 hours of power (900 lumens!!) for all of this and it was only in the final 10 minutes did the light turn red and activate disco/SOS mode. So definitely a good return input/output wise.
Mounting
Here we see the unit mounted to my bike with the orange band. It fits pretty tightly to the bars although part of me thinks a clamp would have been nicer though I think the rubber will stand up to the elements better in the long run.
I was able to fit the battery bag on the same rubber band as the lamp itself - I don't know if this is the correct way to do it - but a secondary strap to add to the town tube would have been my preference as your handlebars soon start to get cluttered.
Lighting
It's difficult to demonstrate the amount of light that the unit gives out other than to say it is very very good - its difficult to take a photograph in the dark without the flash on
.
The distance to the fence is about 5 metres away and I think that it more than enough vision for riding the trails.
Settings
The back of the lamp has a push button which cycles through the various brightness settings:
Full Beam
Medium Beam
Low Beam
SOS
Intermittent Flash
Off
The test that I performed had the light last 3hours+ on full beam but in many cases you could probably run it on Medium and get two sessions without charging them. Some have suggested that the lower settings would also allow you to run them on your road bike for commuting but I wouldnt fancy driving towards you with the thing flashing away as they can be incredibly blinding.
I don't like the push button on the back of the lamp - after 45mins it was very hot and operating it without gloves might leave you with a few burns after a while. The unit does cool down very quickly though so its your own personal preference I guess how often you plan on changing the settings and where you plan to finally mount it.
Overall - Awesome!
-----
MTE P7 Torch
www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12325
The MTE was a bit of an anti-climax for me. I had bought it as a secondary to mount to my helmet but I think it is just slightly too heavy and will be going on the bars instead. Another thing that put me off was that after 20 minutes it was piping hot - might actually melt through the helmet also?
Charge time was in the region of 3 hours for two batteries but I was only able to achieve 1 hour from a single battery on full beam (900 lumens) before it drastically dropped to candle brightness.
More batteries gets you out longer and they were cheap to buy so its defintley good value for money, but a bit fiddly if you plan on a long session and don't wish to be stopping too often.
In addition to the MagicShine there are multiple settings, cycled through a push button on the back of the unit:
Full Beam
Medium Beam
Off
The medium beam IMO was too low to be using off-road though.
Overall - brilliant brightness on a budget if you get some additional batteries.
I'm very impressed with the units I have purchased and time will tell how they hold up to the Hope and Motion or AyUp alternatives.
See you on the trails,
Adrian
MagicShine
www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30864
Straight out of the box, the unit looks pretty solid and as I have tried to demonstrate, the face is about twice the size of a 10pence piece and shorter than the length of a credit card...so it isn't going to add much weight to your handlebars!
The battery pack is covered in a "backpack" type of material and you get a UK plug (bonus) and 2 rubber rings to mount the unit to your bike as seen below.
Charging / Battery
As soon as I plugged it in, it was ready to go (was already fully charged) although charge time is normally in the region of 3.5 hours. The good thing is that it returns just beyond 3 hours of power (900 lumens!!) for all of this and it was only in the final 10 minutes did the light turn red and activate disco/SOS mode. So definitely a good return input/output wise.
Mounting
Here we see the unit mounted to my bike with the orange band. It fits pretty tightly to the bars although part of me thinks a clamp would have been nicer though I think the rubber will stand up to the elements better in the long run.
I was able to fit the battery bag on the same rubber band as the lamp itself - I don't know if this is the correct way to do it - but a secondary strap to add to the town tube would have been my preference as your handlebars soon start to get cluttered.
Lighting
It's difficult to demonstrate the amount of light that the unit gives out other than to say it is very very good - its difficult to take a photograph in the dark without the flash on
.The distance to the fence is about 5 metres away and I think that it more than enough vision for riding the trails.
Settings
The back of the lamp has a push button which cycles through the various brightness settings:
Full Beam
Medium Beam
Low Beam
SOS
Intermittent Flash
Off
The test that I performed had the light last 3hours+ on full beam but in many cases you could probably run it on Medium and get two sessions without charging them. Some have suggested that the lower settings would also allow you to run them on your road bike for commuting but I wouldnt fancy driving towards you with the thing flashing away as they can be incredibly blinding.
I don't like the push button on the back of the lamp - after 45mins it was very hot and operating it without gloves might leave you with a few burns after a while. The unit does cool down very quickly though so its your own personal preference I guess how often you plan on changing the settings and where you plan to finally mount it.
Overall - Awesome!
-----
MTE P7 Torch
www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12325
The MTE was a bit of an anti-climax for me. I had bought it as a secondary to mount to my helmet but I think it is just slightly too heavy and will be going on the bars instead. Another thing that put me off was that after 20 minutes it was piping hot - might actually melt through the helmet also?
Charge time was in the region of 3 hours for two batteries but I was only able to achieve 1 hour from a single battery on full beam (900 lumens) before it drastically dropped to candle brightness.
More batteries gets you out longer and they were cheap to buy so its defintley good value for money, but a bit fiddly if you plan on a long session and don't wish to be stopping too often.
In addition to the MagicShine there are multiple settings, cycled through a push button on the back of the unit:
Full Beam
Medium Beam
Off
The medium beam IMO was too low to be using off-road though.
Overall - brilliant brightness on a budget if you get some additional batteries.
I'm very impressed with the units I have purchased and time will tell how they hold up to the Hope and Motion or AyUp alternatives.
See you on the trails,
Adrian
