Which bike lights do i get?

[bespoke70]

Hi i've only just joined this site because i've started riding my old delapidated mountain bike to work.
I work varying shifts about 2 miles from my house but nearly got squashed the other morning.
I need some lights for my bike and was looking at the Magicshine lights (Front and Back).
They look pretty good and really bright and was wondering if anyone else had these?
I googled them and found a shop called smatackle.co.uk that sells them pretty much cheaper than anyone else.
I would like some feedback on wether i should get these or some other makes would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Wizzo]

Magicshine are general good lights, not the best but good for what you pay for it. However there are problems. The first one is that their quality control in the LED maybe it be a XP-G R5 or P7 LED, they are manufactured in different bins. Some bins are up to standards some are not. So if you see a Magicshine that is stated to be 900 lumens and it came from a "not-so-good" bin, it will not be as bright as 900 lumens at all. You will be lucky if you get 600-700 lumens from a rotten bin. Second, lately some distributors and online shops have been taking off their MagicShine lights due to the Lithium-Ion batteries catching fire and exploding. Experts on lights in general are called "flashholics" and you can talk to one on Candle Power FRM about a more in depth look at Magic Shine as I was going to buy one as well. As of now I have bought some lights to test out which includes Cygolite's Trion 600, Icarus Light, and Amoeba Lights. Hope this helps.

 

[drmark]

I just got the magic shine (the triple one that looks like Mickey Mouse!) - and I cannot comment on quality control but mine is fantastic - even on the low power setting its great - and probably lasts 2-3 hours. High power will last a little over an hour - but other than to blind motorists who dont dip their lights I have few reasons to need this power. I bought it to use off road - and I am not the fastest (rarely get above 12mph on the mud) but for me its perfect. The pictures that you see on ebay for power output are pretty accurate

I have only had a few weeks - and it hasnt exploded or caught fire - but considering my garage is under my bedroom I have just unplugged it from the charger for the night!

For the money I am very happy with it

 

[bespoke70]

Thanks for the heads up lads , i've mailed smatackle.co.uk and they replied on the subject of Magicshine batteries.
They're reply was positive, informal and understandable. They stated that they have not received any negative comments on what they have sold. Also the batteries have all been fine.
They did inform me that there is a new model (MJ 808) which they have on order which has a far superior battery pack.
I think this is the one i will be getting.
I will post back in this thread when i've had a play.

Steve

 

[Reid2]

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=magicshine+exploding+batteries
Sorting results, it occurs that if the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall,
that news would be atop the results list above.

Smoke and fire.