Bike lights

[MTB2223]

Does anyone have experience with bike lights from China ?

I ordered this one, but received it yet:


Just curious about your experiences.

[carbonazza]

I ordered one, few weeks ago on ebay.
It is less bright than advertised.

I thought it could replace my Lupine pico 3 at 900lm, but it is less bright.
I will buy a bigger battery for the Lupine, and stay with it.

The chinese light had some success with my friends who forgot their light recently.
They were happy to have it.
As for the autonomy, we did not use it for more than 2 hours, and there was still juice.

It is bulkier than it looks on picture.
But overall for the price, it is more than ok.

[Vipassana]

I have two of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005WPXNQ6?pc_redir=1412257462&robot_redir=1#

My coworkers have several as well.  They've been outstanding.  The bike mount is decent though it can move around a bit; I've found that a single wrap of canvas tape around the handle bar under the light mount cures all and prevents the light from rotating.  The helmet mount isn't great, but I'm not much of a helmet mount guy anyway.  I use one light on my bar and carry the second battery pack as a backup.  I've done as much as 4 hours on a single battery pack at low brightness and it still was showing life left (there's a color indicator on the back of the light).  The thing is obnoxiously bright and I once had a car flash me.

It's honestly one of the biggest surprises I've had in my riding adventures.  I have a friend who paid $250 for his light system and this one is 85% as good for $20.

I think Chinese LED systems are worth the try.

[Carbon_Dude]

I have a Magicshine 900 lumen for my helmet, and an old dual halogen light for my bars.  The dual halogen came with a lead acid battery that I tossed aside and made a 12 cell 1865 pack to use with this light set.  The nice thing about the dual halogen is it has a very wide beam pattern that's good for the bars.

The Chinese Cree LED (or Chight) Magicshine cost $89 a few years ago and hasn't had any problems to speak of.  It is bright and runs for a couple hours.

My first real bike light was a halogen JetLite, good quality but not very bright compared to what is available on the cheap today.

Either way, I would recommend two bike lights if you are going to do trail riding at night, one for your bars, one for your helmet.  The one on the bars is good because it's a stable light that shows you the terrain with good shadows allowing you to see the hills, bumps, rocks, and roots.  The helmet light is good because it shines where you are looking.  Between the two lights, you get a well illuminated view of what's in front of you.  I also have a red LED tail light to help riders behind me see the back of my bike.

It's been a while since I've done night rides but the local trail manager is starting up a regular ride this winter.

Here is a link to the light I have:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MagicShine-MJ808U-4-Mode-XML-U2-LED-1100-Lumen-Bike-Light-828-batt-Helmet-kit-/260900374749?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbedfc8dd

[Vipassana]

If you shop around amazon or eBay you can find wide angle lenses for these Cree led lights too which are nice to disperse the beam.

[Carbon_Dude]

If you shop around amazon or eBay you can find wide angle lenses for these Cree led lights too which are nice to disperse the beam.

Thanks, if I decide to replace my old twin halogen bar light with another Cree, I will definitely check out a wide angle lens.

[outriding9800]

I replaced my reflector with a TIR lens and i noticed it was brighter.. (TIR lens are suppose to be more efficient).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_internal_reflection

I like the singfire sf-90 lights.. they have a good base to update the led and good heat dissipation. Got mine from dx.com

If you want to mod your existing led lights and have a cree xml series led already i have put these in and it made a nice bump in light.. http://intl-outdoor.com/noctigon-xm20-v2-mcpcb-cree-xml2-u3-1a-led-p-820.html

[MTB2223]

What I heard was when you only use a single helmet light, you won't see depth because you don't see shadows.

This week we started riding in the dark on the mountainbike. We're only riding on the roads, because we are not allowed to ride in the forest between sunset and sunrise. To bad It looks awesome to ride in the forest after sunset. Maybe I will do an illigal ride sometimes

[325racer]

When you order double check your shipping terms.  I have a set of the single lense Cree "1400"lumen lights.  One for bars one for helmet.   They work great, but are slightly larger diameter than Magicshine version, so the diffuser lense doesn't fit, but the lights work great.

I'm planning to do a team enduro in November, so order a new set of the double lense lights.  Ordered then Sept 23, shipped on Oct 1, expected delivery before Nov 5.   So 37 days for delivery.

Both times ordered through Amazon, first set was a couple years ago, but I know delivery was much more reasonable.

[snipe]

I bought a pair of the Magic Shine and they have been great.  My friends have recently bought these at a much cheaper price and they appear to be about the same thing and they are impressed.   I have bought other items from Deal Extreme with no complaints.  http://www.dx.com/p/marsing-cree-xm-l-u2-1000lm-3-mode-cool-white-bike-light-headlamp-black-4-x-18650-312446#.VDId7GddU4l

[MTB2223]

Received the SolarStorm today. And I'm impressed. What a lot of light!! I've got another LED light here, the Gemini XM-L 800. The bundle is just as bright as the main bundle of the SolarStorm. But the SS has another second bundle, a wider one, which gives more spread light. All the street names signs lighted up with the SS, even when the main bundle shines two meters in front of me on the ground. I think the oncoming traffic isn't happy with it

[Aoiree]

Quoting from my other thread. I do adventure races using these puppies on my bike handlebars and helmet. Easy to take them off the bike and carry by hand if you have to drop the bike and go hiking through the woods.

Also generally there is a statement about being  careful with Chinese Li-Ion Batteries that I want to restate, often they can be refurbished cells and bad cells at that that often do not match the advertised mAH. Eitherway bad batteries can explode while charging. Be careful.

Figured I'd share my night-time trail riding lights:

3 or 4 of these puppies
http://www.lightmalls.com/cree-xm-l2-led-flashlight

...mount 1 or 2 to handlebars and 1 or 2 helmet using two fish blocks:
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Fish-Unlimited-Block-Holder/dp/B001F307JK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1405043881&sr=8-3&keywords=twofish+lock
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Fish-Unlimited-Flashlite-Holder/dp/B001CJXB5E/ref=sr_1_3?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1405043906&sr=1-3&keywords=two+fish+blocks

Just be sure to order legit batteries. Lots of stories of people buying the Li-on batteries from china and them being defective (read: dangerous/exploding)

Each flashlight is obscenely powerful and lasts 2~3 hours on high or  5~7 on medium (medium is still obscenely powerful).

I carry a back up batteries too.

Can get 4 flashlights, 4 mounts and 8 batteries for something like $125 definitely more than enough light.

I like to ride with 2 wider head flashlights on the handlebars for the dispersion and the skinner lense head on my helmet for more focused light where I'm looking.


Edit-
These batteries are what I purchased as well as my brother and have been satisfied with them.
Not as cheap as some batteries you find online but well reviewed to be safe and have the listed charge capacity (which is about as much charge as you can expect a 18650 battery to hold).

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10001980/1141104-panasonic-ncr18650b-protected-rechargeable

[MTB2223]

Also generally there is a statement about being  careful with Chinese Li-Ion Batteries that I want to restate, often they can be refurbished cells and bad cells at that that often do not match the advertised mAH. Eitherway bad batteries can explode while charging. Be careful.

True, most of the advertised mAh are overenthusiastic.
The battery packs contains most of the time 18650 batteries.
There're two kind of 18650 batteries: one with protection and one without.
The one with protection is safer to use. It's protected against over-charging. But off course more expensive. So, they usually using the unprotected types, but that isn't a problem when using a good charger.

[Vipassana]

I have a Magicshine 900 lumen for my helmet, and an old dual halogen light for my bars.  The dual halogen came with a lead acid battery that I tossed aside and made a 12 cell 1865 pack to use with this light set.  The nice thing about the dual halogen is it has a very wide beam pattern that's good for the bars.

The Chinese Cree LED (or Chight) Magicshine cost $89 a few years ago and hasn't had any problems to speak of.  It is bright and runs for a couple hours.

My first real bike light was a halogen JetLite, good quality but not very bright compared to what is available on the cheap today.

Either way, I would recommend two bike lights if you are going to do trail riding at night, one for your bars, one for your helmet.  The one on the bars is good because it's a stable light that shows you the terrain with good shadows allowing you to see the hills, bumps, rocks, and roots.  The helmet light is good because it shines where you are looking.  Between the two lights, you get a well illuminated view of what's in front of you.  I also have a red LED tail light to help riders behind me see the back of my bike.

It's been a while since I've done night rides but the local trail manager is starting up a regular ride this winter.

Here is a link to the light I have:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MagicShine-MJ808U-4-Mode-XML-U2-LED-1100-Lumen-Bike-Light-828-batt-Helmet-kit-/260900374749?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbedfc8dd

That MagicShine you ordered looks EXACTLY like the Cree LED system I linked to above and have ordered several times.  Except the kit I linked to is <$25.  Why makes the MagicShine kit worth $95?

[Carbon_Dude]

From what I saw, your link was only for the light, not the battery, charger, or accessories.  I have seen lots websites selling the CREE LED lights for $25 but they were only the light itself, nothing else.