Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dalation on May 28, 2013 at 4:02am

Here is a MagicShine knock off sold on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006QQX3C4

It is just over $25 so it qualifies for free shipping (although you might need a faster method). For $25, you get one heck of a bright light but it doesn't have the best beam pattern. It should work just fine for your purposes. Probably the best for the money. It has three light levels and if you hold it down for a while (a little longer than one would expect to have to do so), it starts flashing. I brought one to tide me over until I finished building my wheel with a Sanyo NH-27 dynohub.

Another option is to buy one of the newer flash lights with Cree or similar high output LEDs. You can find them at home depot and similar stores. I mounted one on my handle bars for a night ride and it was passably. I would much prefer the MagicShine knockoff.

Permalink Reply by David P. on May 28, 2013 at 4:03am

By far the best battery light I've seen is the battery version of the Philips Saferide, but that is generally $$$. I got one for my gf's bike when they were available somewhere online for half price, which was still something like $100. Gotta think a bit for decent battery lights. If I can find my mini-USB cable to recharge the battery, you can borrow my MiNewt USB, which is pretty decent. It was my primary headlight until I switched to dyno lighting. Now I use it on my go-less-slow, which does not have a dynohub. 2 hours might be pushing the limits of the battery; I don't think I've ever used it that long, and the battery is some years old now. If I can recharge it, I'll test it.

Permalink Reply by Eric Peterson on May 28, 2013 at 6:06am

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m.asp

The IXON IQ is a great light, I bought an earlier model back in 2006 and I am still using it, in fact used in on the 300K last year. Very nice beam pattern for road riding.

IXON Pure also looks good but I have no experience with it.

But you won't get these lights by this weekend.

Eric

Permalink Reply by Garth Liebhaber on May 28, 2013 at 3:25pm

Boulevard Bikes has some headlights. One is a decent LED unit meant for a dynamo.  You could purchase a 6 volt lantern battery to power it. It mounts readily to a bicycle and is about $50.  

Permalink Reply by spencewine on May 29, 2013 at 3:50am

I went ahead and ordered a magicshine 808u. Seemed like a good value for the cost. I read many of the reviews on the knock-off magicshine and it sounded like there was just too much variance in the performance of the battery for me to risk it for this ride. The magicshine is also backed up by a warranty.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on May 30, 2013 at 4:33pm

It's interesting that they now make Magicshine knockoffs. Only 2 or 3 years ago the Magicshine itself was considered a knock off from brands like Dinotte, L&m, and others. I understand that the build quality has gotten better since then.

spencewine said:

I went ahead and ordered a magicshine 808u. Seemed like a good value for the cost. I read many of the reviews on the knock-off magicshine and it sounded like there was just too much variance in the performance of the battery for me to risk it for this ride. The magicshine is also backed up by a warranty.