# Review: Magicshine 900 and tail light.



## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

I know the forums have discussed Magicshine at length previously, but I wanted to offer my thoughts as well. I recently received the Magicshine 900 and also the tail light set they sell as well. 

Shipping was extremely quick. Packaging was very well put together as was the boxes the lights were stored in. I was told to expect to wait up to ten days yet waited only four days to get the system. 
After I opened the packages and and looked over the lights and later tried them, these were my thoughts:

1. The lights themselves looked substantially more expensive and well put together in person than on the website. If you had no clue what they were, they look the part of a 500 dollar headlight and 200 dollar tail light of other big time light companies. 

2. Although it's nice they include two different size rubber rings to secure the lights, I found that both were just a bit off. I run over sized bars and a 31.6 Thomson seatpost and with the small size ring, it wouldn't fit just barely and the larger one was just a bit loose in my opinion. Given, they both stayed on fine, but there was just a little bit of play in the lights(I had to adjust once after running over some rough tracks. 

3. The headlights highest setting will get you flashed by cars all night.It truly is amazing how much light that top setting puts out. It's also a very straight path of light that just right; the stream of light is just about exactly as wide as a typical bike path. Speaking of bike paths...The highest setting on a bike path is like riding during the day. 
The middle setting is really all you would need realistically imo, but the high setting is great when you're in the middle of nowhere. The low setting is what I would recommend for commuting or any riding in traffic. There are also two flash settings...One of which I find very annoying and the other just right(just a nice constant blinking). This light puts out more light than anything I've ever owned. 

4. The tail light has various settings, from a solid stream of light to a few different blinking options. I noticed that when I ride cars actually have a tendency to not pass me at all with it on the solid stream. I think this is so because it's actually puts out as much light as a car's tail lights would. So, I would recommend using mostly the blinking options. It also seemed like cars were noticing I was on the road very very far in advance. 

5. Advertised time limits per setting are very accurate in my experience if not a little conservative. 

6. I rode in the rain the other day and did not have any issue with the lights at all( I know in the past this was in issue). 

I spent 154 for the entire setup including shipping and there is absolutely no way you could approach that price for any other lighting system that puts out even half the power of these two, in my opinion. I've had just about everything and these lights are ridiculously amazing for the money. The ONLY issue that even concerns me in the warranty period but honest, who cares when it's this cheap?


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## Slim Again Soon (Oct 25, 2005)

Nice review. From whom did you purchase your lights?


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## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

Slim Again said:


> Nice review. From whom did you purchase your lights?


 I bought the set up from Geomangear.com . I thought it would be a better option that eBay if there were any issues.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Sebastionmerckx said:


> I bought the set up from Geomangear.com . I thought it would be a better option that eBay if there were any issues.


Good choice. They provide good service. I bought my MagicShine from them last fall (headlight only), and it held up well through a winter of commuting, and appears ready for another.

That rapid flash setting, which at first seems annoying, I have found to be very useful. If you point it down where it belongs, I don't think it creates any problems for oncoming drivers, and it's very attention-getting. Because the flashing is so rapid, and the off periods so brief, it effectively lights the road, with the light variation hardly being noticeable in the beam pattern, at least to my eyes. So I use it for my normal default setting for the better-lighted portions of my route, switching to the high setting only for the darkest stretches. To my eye, the apparent brightness of the flash setting is about the same as the medium continuous beam. You might want to test this out yourself.

I think you can stretch that smaller o-ring more than you realize. You might try warming it up a little first.


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## RoadBear (Feb 4, 2009)

I ran mine offroad all last winter, for the money you can't beat this light.


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## Sebastionmerckx (Mar 6, 2008)

JCavilia said:


> Good choice. They provide good service. I bought my MagicShine from them last fall (headlight only), and it held up well through a winter of commuting, and appears ready for another.
> 
> That rapid flash setting, which at first seems annoying, I have found to be very useful. If you point it down where it belongs, I don't think it creates any problems for oncoming drivers, and it's very attention-getting. Because the flashing is so rapid, and the off periods so brief, it effectively lights the road, with the light variation hardly being noticeable in the beam pattern, at least to my eyes. So I use it for my normal default setting for the better-lighted portions of my route, switching to the high setting only for the darkest stretches. To my eye, the apparent brightness of the flash setting is about the same as the medium continuous beam. You might want to test this out yourself.
> 
> I think you can stretch that smaller o-ring more than you realize. You might try warming it up a little first.


I gave the rapid flash a try one more time and unfortunately that setting plays with my eyes even when pointed at the ground. I took the smaller ring and rolled it up a baseball bat last night and tried it again and it just barely fit...Which I like. Thanks for the feedback and ideas:thumbsup:


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Sebastionmerckx said:


> I gave the rapid flash a try one more time and unfortunately that setting plays with my eyes even when pointed at the ground. I took the smaller ring and rolled it up a baseball bat last night and tried it again and it just barely fit...Which I like. Thanks for the feedback and ideas:thumbsup:


Something in your brain must be firing at the right frequency. Even though I've had migraines induced by bright lights, that one doesn't bother me.

Glad the rubber band worked out.

As an aside, it looks like I'll be turning on that light in a couple of hours for a very rainy ride home.


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