ItsJustMe

I stopped on my way into work a few days ago and took a picture that I think is about what it seems to look like to me when I'm on the road.

kudude

just did a couple of night rides on my 15W niterider halogen. Ordered the magicshine.....

canyoneagle

Just got mine (the Nova 900 labelled version of the same light) just three days after ordering it. The battery is charging, and I'll be giving it a whirl on Monday morning.

Based on the reviews thus far and that awesome pic by itsjustme, I'd say I'm in for a treat

green814

1: The helmet mounts are in stock, and ready to ship at Geoman!

2: Went for a ride tonight, first night ride in a LONG TIME! Rode the West loop at Holly, Mi, first time I have ever ridden at night there. My night riding experience is with halogens. The Magicshine is a winner in my book! The amount of light is crazy. I ran the MS on my helmet, with my Night Rider Classic plus on the bar, 20w flood. This combo didn't seem to bad. My buddy ran the same setup as I have 2 of each light. I think for $200.00, 2 Magicshines can't be beat at all! The only thing I think I would like just a little more, would be the ability to make the bar light a little more "floody". I know there is the "Stiple" effect (I think it is called), just not sure if I am willing to try it.

3: Last night I did a run test with a fan, and both lights made 3.5 hours! Now, this was running them for 2 hours, then about 1.5 hours later, running them another 1.5 hours!

If anyone is on the fence as to buy 1 (or 2) or not, I don't think you can go wrong for $100.00!

Chris

ps: Now for my 2 helmet mounts to show up at the door!

coldfeet

Thanks for the pic, I see what some of you have been saying about the "hot spot" and the way it causes a "void" in the middle distance. Don't think that's going to be a problem for me, certainly going to be a massive improvement on the basic lights I had before. My light is still not here, not unexpected crossing the border an all. Do hope it gets here soon though, the mornings are getting dark at my preferred start time.

JSiemens

I am rather new to night riding so bought the Magicshine to be seen more than to see. I really was looking forward to using the strobe for daylight riding but find it cycles so darned fast that lumens are cut way, way down. I have resorted to using the SOS mode which is four long flashes followed by three short ones. I may start some night riding now though, and this light is a fantastic purchase for that. My only critiques are to shorten the cord up (a lot) and possibly provide an extension, get rid of the pilot light illumination when the unit is turned off, and lastly, reduce the the strobe rate to an older version I saw on You Tube.....it was very nice. Other than that, I rode with it in the SOS mode for 40 miles today and actually found that the Velcro was letting loose. I have never seen that before. I now know what the little loops are for on the battery holder.......that is where the cable tie goes!

Great product and I am going to purchase another one to hopefully be seen twice as well! I bought the Blackburn 4.0 taillight and am equally pleased with it......and it also works well in daylight.

canyoneagle

I took the maiden voyage with the Nova 900 / Magicshine this morning (instructions actually say 'magicshine'), and I'm sold. What a great light for the money.
It is dark, though not completely black when I leave for work these days, and the light did an excellent job. I did not observe any dead spots or hotspots, and feel the light is every bit as bright as the 10 year old Niterider digital pro dual beam NiMH ($325+ when I bought it) it replaces.

Build quality is quite good.

A couple of minor niggles that could use improvement, IMO:
- shorten the cord to facilitate stem mounting and offer 2-3 different lengths of extensions (as options) for other mounting positions.
- change the orientation of the cord coming from the headlight unit so it exits from the rear, not the front, and add a beefier reinforcement (accordian-style rubber thingy) at the mounting point to help avoid kinking.
- modify the battery cover so it remains closed - add a couple of sewn-on velcro straps for mounting (instead of having to open the whole enclosure in order to mount it).
- I'm not sure about the perpetual glow on the rear button, when the light is off. I'd like to just leave the whole setup on my bike while I'm at work (security is not a huge issue), but am not sure how much juice the glowing button sucks from the battery. I'd prefer for it to be non-illuminated when the light is off, and illuminated when the light is on (it is nice to be able to see the button in the dark if I need to change modes while riding).

Minor things, at worst, and assuming my longer term use proves that the durability is good, I'm tickled pink!

Fenway

" I'm not sure about the perpetual glow on the rear button, when the light is off. I'd like to just leave the whole setup on my bike while I'm at work (security is not a huge issue), but am not sure how much juice the glowing button sucks from the battery. I'd prefer for it to be non-illuminated when the light is off, and illuminated when the light is on (it is nice to be able to see the button in the dark if I need to change modes while riding)."

Disconnect the battery cable, while parked at work, to stop the trickle drain.

ItsJustMe

Now that I'm used to it, I think it's a much better idea to have the cord come out the front. It routes the wire away from me and keeps the bunch of wires on the other side of the bar.

That cord routing is actually exactly what the Lupine Tesla that this seems to be a clone of does.

Not the Slowest

From Geoman website Sept 21 1:04 pm EST

Lighting Modes: High Mode@900 lumens > Mid Mode@500 lumens > Low Mode@200 lumens > Fast Blink > SOS Mode

With the Mid mode you should been able to play with the battery run time.
FYI, I still like the strobe for city riding.

ItsJustMe

The problem is that the strobe is strobing the light at full power. Even with it facing AWAY from me it is torturously bright and irritating. I think I'd only use it in extremely heavy fog or rain where the visibility was down to < 50 feet or so.

Also apparently the current "fast blink" mode is flashing at something like 30 times per second, which isn't really even a blink, that's just obnoxious.

SOS mode is utterly useless.

My ideal controller would do high/med/low, high blink and low blink, with the blink at something like 2 or 3 blinks per second. The older controller was high/low/3hz flash, which is OK.

Personally for day-to-day use I use high and off.

AcornMan

I too dislike the blink feature because it is limited to high mode. If I can see the light flashing on the ground, it is terribly annoying to me. I feel like it's going to give me a seizure or something. Being able to set it to low for blinking would be perfect. But, it is what it is, and I still think it's a good deal considering how insanely expensive lights can be.

canyoneagle

Yep, that's what I did. The concern there is that it represents one more unplug/plug cycle - double what it could be otherwise, and results in extra wear and tear on the wire. I'll play with mounting options, but my current configuration keeps the cord fairly tight, and it is not super convenient to unplug/plug the unit. I'd far prefer to just do that once a day, not twice.

seeker333

Those cords DO fatigue and eventually break. This (and a smoking, melting short) is what finally killed my last real bike light system. It did takes years and hundreds of plug/unplug cycles.

I like the full power strobe. I use it in daylight only.

ItsJustMe

I'm trying to be very careful to grasp only the plugs themselves and to twist and pull firmly. Also I'm charging the light only every other day, so it only gets unplugged and plugged 2 or 3 times a week.

When it does die, I'll just replace the connectors. My last bike light system went through three different connector styles. I finally wound up with 2 conductor trailer connectors - extremely cheap (something like $1.25 a set) and durable as hell. Not waterproof, but that actually doesn't really matter - water on the connectors doesn't actually conduct much electricity at all.

Cornflakes

Is it possible to cut the cord making it shorter and solder another plug onto cord? Is it a common plug? Does anyone think it would be possible to install/solder a small inline off/on switch? ,thus turning off the green led and avoiding battery drain and saving the wear and tear of pulling the plugs apart. I ordered one last night just based on the views and reviews of this thread. I will have to wait until the Oct. 4th. shipment to see what mods. may be needed.

stingray66

has any one done thier home work on this light at frist it seeem like a great light and I was going to get two of them But after what I have learned This light has some problems so I am sticking with my task force for now may be they will get the bugs out
this is what I found out
it it was 2.00 am when I was reading about it there was a site were they did a lot of testing something about having to take them apart and rebuild them with heat disapating gell the light is over heating and burning out also there is something worng with the charger over heating one guy had one go up in smoke
Like I said I was going to get two of them but I will wate a while
My thought was that I could recharge magicshine at night when I went to bed BUT from what I was reading that would not be wise as the charger might catch fire
has anyone that has this light find that the light runs hot or the charger runing really hot
If so This is not good

kudude

if you know what a soldering iron is, then I'd say, yes, you could put an inline killswitch as well as shortening the cables (if you never plan on using it on your helmet).

Huh. I've only heard good things. Your post is rambling and replete with spelling and grammar errors. Not calling you unreliable, but .....

stingray66

I know that is what happen when you up at 2 am and have been reading for three hours
I am going to wait a few months and see if they work out the bugs on this light
From what I am told the charger in not (UL) certified and is a fire hazard
One more thing I have tired every type and rechargeable battery out there and never
Had any luck with them. The longest battery I have ever had was AA Lithium
Those things seem to last for ever Now If I could find them in C size
I think GEOMAN knows about these problems form what I have read and is working with the manufacture
To correct these problems So That is why I am waiting a few months and see what happens
If They work out the over heating problems and problems with the charger then I think it just might be worth a try

ItsJustMe

Sorry to say, the grammar isn't that much better in the daylight either.

I think they already HAVE worked out the bugs. How old are the reviews you're reading with these problems?

My charger is not UL listed, but it is CE listed which is similar (but more stringent - covers RF noise emissions, for instance) for the EU.

However, some people just have lousy luck. You say you've tried every type of rechargable and no luck - I've tried a lot and never had significant problems. However, there are things that can cause failure with rechargables - buying cruddy chargers (like most of those sold under brand names in US retail outlets) will likely result in bad experiences with rechargables. After all, Dur-A-Cell would just as soon have you think rechargables are junk and keep buying alkalines, so why would they put out an excellent charger?

Cyclist0383

I wouldn't be so sure of that. A lot of Chinese firms either put a totally fake CE stamp, or a slightly modified one that they say stands for 'China Export'.

Official CE mark


Fake CE "China Export" marks



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_mark
https://toyssafety.blogspot.com/2009/...na-export.html

GeoMan

LOL, I don't know where this stuff comes from sometimes...

Of course the charger is UL listed (see pic). A fire hazard? C'mon.

We've already dealt with the thermal paste issues - long ago.



Geo

Cyclist0383

The last two UL requirements on the list below seem to be missing from the charger.
https://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/c.../ulmarks/mark/

kudude

dun'n'dun.

looking forward to the post (edit: the mail, I mean) in the next few days.

stingray66

OK then the thermal paste issues has been addressed**********?
I wish I could find the site that I was on maybe it was old
So here is the question. For those who do have this light honesty does the light over heat and burn out???
Also does the charger get really hot to the point were it would not be wise to leave it charging over night????
Trust me I not here to start any problems here. I am on disability and no way have the funds to waste if something
That was not good. I got my bike for the main reason to help me with my heath. And that it has done. Have lost 52 lbs since June of 09
And really having fun with it. So sorry if it looked like I was coming on here as a butt head. This light looked like it might work but I always check things out before I spend any money. I have been burned before and money is tight