Magicshine Headlamp

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Magicshine Headlamp

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Key Search Terms: Magicshine; GeoManGear, bicycle headlight. You can also enter the name of any of the lights used in the photo comparison test.

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Product: Magicshine LED headlamp with lithium-ion battery pack. Configuration: Hi/med/lo; fast blink; SOS. Test Platform: Kona Dawg. Product Put in Service: September 2009. Reviewed by: Rich Ries. Cost: $90 with free shipping. Mass (weight): 329 g. (11.7 oz.). Recommended? Yes.

Executive Summary: The new standard in bike headlights.

Ratings

(1 is lowest, 5 is highest)

Comments

Effectiveness

A “5” as a helmet light; a “3” as a bar light; a “4” on average

Ease of Installation

Easy to mount but no swivel adjustment; the battery pack mount needs work

Cost/Value

So good it cannot be categorized

A brief, recent history of bike lights. We started with tungsten bulbs powered either by small generators or alkaline batteries. Then came sealed lead-acid batteries, whose greater power density enabled the use of halogen bulbs. In the past 10 years nickel-cadmium (NiCad), nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), and lithium ion (li-ion) batteries and high-intensity discharge (HID) bulbs overtook the market, or at least the high end of the market. More recently light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have become the emitter (bulb) of choice because they draw very little power. Today's benchmark is the LED emitter (or emitters; many lights use multiple LEDs) with a li-ion battery.

That's what Mark Gish's Cygolite TridenX has. I've wanted once ever since he got his. It's bright, lightweight, fairly compact, and has the best beam of any handlebar light I've seen. (The beam is broader than I like for a helmet light, but perfect for bar mounting.) The biggest drawback: it ain't cheap. The standard unit, which has a 2.5-hour runtime on high, is about $280 online. The Xtra model with its 5-hour runtime is about $320 online.

Gish knew I was shopping and alerted me to the Magicshine. With a claimed output of 900 lumens and an online price well under $100, it seemed like the right choice so I bought one. It really is a terrific light. Extremely bright. Good light color. Very compact. Lightweight. A long (1.15 meter; 45 inch) cord. Good runtime at 3 hours on high (claimed). The button switch on the back of the unit is easy to reach and easy to use. The system comes in a nice little fitted box. Things I don't like? There's no swivel on the light mount so you have to have just the right spot on your bars for mounting to get the light going straight ahead. There's no standard helmet mount. In fact, there was no helmet mount at all when the light was first being imported. The beam is narrower than I like for a bar light. And there's no good way to mount the battery pack. I use a strip of hook-and-loop fabric for this purpose.

We don't usually recommend dealers. We figure the Google search feature we offer at the top of each review will get you to the best, latest list of vendors. But this time we're recommending GeoManGear.com. There are several iterations of the Magicshine light floating around and theirs is the best. It has five light settings while others offer as few as two. It has a long cord. It has heat paste between the emitter and the housing to assist in waste heat removal, which will help the emitter last much longer. And in comes with clear instructions written in English, not some Chinese interpreter's attempt at English. These features aren't always included on Magicshine models from other sellers. We've heard good things about GeoManGear's handling of warranty claims, of which there have apparently been very few. And, finally, GeoManGear's delivery time was very good and they heeded our special delivery instructions, something almost no other online vendor will do. As of this writing GeoManGear is having trouble getting enough Magicshines to meet demand. They accept order against future deliveries and post expected delivery dates on their site. With luck the manufacturer will ramp up production and this will become a non-issue.

And what about lumens? Lumens have replaced watts as the standard measure of light performance. Because LEDs draw so little power, their watt consumption can't be compared to halogen or HID bulbs. Lumens provide a more accurate comparison than wattage. The criticism is that there's no easy way for an end user to verify the lumen output of a light. That seems silly to us. End users weren't verifying the watts used by their halogen or HID lights, either. And although we have no way of knowing if the Magicshine actually does produce 900 lumens, we know it's really, really bright.

Magicshine represents the biggest shift in bike light standards since the arrival of HID. The challenge now will be for other manufacturers - Cateye, Cygolite, Light & Motion, Lupine, NiteRider, et al - to match Magicshine. We wish them luck.

Scroll down or click here for photo comparisons of the Magicshine and five other popular lights. Click here to see our review of the NiteRider Flight.

Photos

The Magicshine kit includes the light, battery, charger, O-ring mounts, and box.

The kit includes the Magicshine light, lithium-ion battery, battery charger, O-rings for mounting the light, and a fitted box.

The fitted box is good for storage but not rugged enough for everyday transport.

The box is good for shipping and storage but won't likely hold up well as a transport container to and from the start of the ride.

The Magicshine light and battery are compact.

The light and battery together fit in the palm of my hand.

O-rings work well for mounting the light but have some limitations.

O-rings are inexpensive, lightweight, durable, easy to use, and easy to replace. Magicshines from GeoManGear come with O-rings for mounting the light to either small (26 mm) or large (32 mm) bars. Two drawbacks. One, no swivel. Two, no standard helmet mount.

Photo Comparisons

Lights used were 1) Cygolite Nite Rover 16W halogen (10W spot and 6W flood) NiMH; 2) Cygolite TridenX LED li-ion; 3) Magicshine LED li-ion; 4) NiteRider Flight HID li-ion; 5) NiteRider TriNewt LED li-ion; 6) TurboCat TG15 (Trail Guide 15 watt) halogen. The camera was a Fuji Finepix S7000 with a shutter speed of 6.5 seconds and an aperture setting of f 4.5. The distance from the lights to the trailhead kiosk was about 15 meters (48 feet). The lateral offset of light sources was about 2 meters (6 feet) as can be seen in the direction of the shadows behind the kiosk. Our thanks to Byron Nagel and Mark Rodgers for their help and especially to Mark Gish who set up the photo shoot and provided all the images.


Cygolite Nite Rover	Cygolite TridenX	Magicshine

NiteRider Flight	NiteRider TriNewt	Turbocat TG15