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MJ872 VS MJ808E


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post-7142-0-05868700-1309259626.jpg

 

This review has been pending for some time. I got the MJ-872 a few weeks ago and my first impression was mixed but positive. Last night I and my wife went riding and I swapped out her old MJ808 with the NEW Mj-872 from Magicshine.... after the ride she politely asked for the other one next time. ....

 

So that prompted me to do some digging.

 

Before we start let me repeat some key issues when it comes to lights. also read Lights Lumens and what not

 

1. More Lumen is not necessarily better

 

2. Price is not indicator for performance.

 

3. And there is no magic in lighting. What I mean to say is that things are a lot more simplistic than marketing would like us to think. Energy in = energy out.

 

There are 5 factors in lights that you need to conceder:

 

1 Lumen generated, not the same as Lumen claimed

 

2 beam pattern, what is done with the light generated.

 

3 Runtime or power consumption

 

4 Weight.

 

5 added features. Is it waterproof, protections, robustness....

 

 

 

Right so, here is some info on the MJ-872

 

The light uses 4 Cree XP-G LEDS these LED’s are driven very hard. The light drains about 2.13 A from the battery. That is about 16W. And each LED is driven at 4Watt.

 

From here on I am using my best guess I do not know what BIN LEDs are used but it is between R2 ,R3, R4 or R5

 

At 4 watt the output of the LED is as follows R2 = 315 lumen R5=408 lumen

 

So the light will produce between 1261Lume and 1631 lumen. I am guessing it is about 1450 lumen

 

It is about the same size as the MJ808E and not much heavier. And mounts the same.

 

It has 2 buttons on the back Up and down. Turning on the light all you do is hold one of the buttons. I like the fact that you can choose in which mode it turns on. Holding the up it turns on in high.

 

I must say I am impressed with the fact that the claimed output and the actual lumen out are very close.

 

I have not tested if it has thermal protection so can’t really say anything about that.

 

Short comings of this light:

 

It is important to know that energy in = energy out. No fancy electronics or wow LED can make energy. So there are only 2 ways on getting more light out. The first is using more power. Therefore more light. Second is using an more efficient LED.

 

The Cree XP-G is about 2 years old and the CREE-XM-L about 20% more efficient than this one.

 

So there pumping Watts down this baby. There putting about 1.60x more power in which shortens your run time considerably!!!!

 

But the major drawback of this light is the beam pattern. It has none. Jip got that, none! It is a flood light. Everything near you is happily bright. But about 30m away it is dark.

 

Short summery of the MJ808E

1 There are two version on the market. with a drive current on the LED of 2.4A(780Lumen) and a 2.8A(870 Lumen)

2 uses 8W-10 watts

3 makes use of one XM-L from Cree

 

The one that i have used is a 2.4A version so only 780 lumen...

 

So here are some pictures of the light in action

 

MJ872 vs Mj808E

 

 

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Ok that look good but note that the drum in the picture is 60 meter away. not seeing the drum on the right???? look closer it is there...

 

 

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Just to highlight the difference between the two see how the MJ808E on the right illuminate all the way to 100 meter and up. but on the left the MJ872 is very bright in the trees next to you but nothing further than 60m.

 

 

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What can i say. there is light everywhere. Most of the MJ808E light are concentrated in the spot. which is what you want.

note the light on the back of the MJ872 and the MJ808E... this just after 10min of use the MJ872 are blue...

 

 

In short the new MJ872 has more light than the MJ808e but it is being wasted and in the worst possible way.

i fully agree with Magiclight review Its not just about the lumens...

 

Hope this is useful.

Edited by Hannes Zietsman
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Ok just adding this. ALL THE SETTINGS OF THE CAMERA ARE THE SAME!!!!! SO DON"T ASK.. have a nice day

Edited by Hannes Zietsman
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Hannes my man, if you were doing this review independently and were not directly linked to any specific brand, I would have paid much more attention, but because this is a cheap way to boost your product, it has no weight at all. I recently switched from a MJ808 to a MJ870 (1200 lumens), and all I can say is that it is much more powerful. Instead of a small spot of light on the road, with very little lighting up the rest of the area, I can now see everthing infront and on the sides with my MJ870. The fact that I can also set my brightness without having to shut the light off is also a big plus, not to mention the stupid strobe effect, of the MJ808. And battery wise, it seems that the MJ870 also outsmarts the MJ808 by far.

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Hi andrè traut

 

The MJ870/2 are from the same brand as the MJ808 not sure how i am brand specific as you say. Sure I am in love with the MJ808E due to the better price point, better beam patter and higher efficacy but that is facts. I thought the photos are clear. And that is why I sell it.

 

If i liked i could have imported the MJ872 all so. But i will not, but tomorrow there are new lights and then things look different.

 

Let me repeat what is sated before.

MJ872 = 1261 Lumen and 1631 lumen @112min

MJ808E = 780 Lumen and a 870 Lumen @ run time 180h

post-7142-0-61131100-1309275142.jpg

Edited by Hannes Zietsman
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It is imposable that the MJ870 out runs the MJ-808E. I am not saying that the MJ870 is not brighter than the MJ808. it is but it eats more power. Except if there using larger batteries which there not.

 

"XLamp XM-L LEDs offer the unique combination of very high efficacy at very high drive currents, providing a 20% efficiency gain over the XLamp XP-G LED at the same current. With this available efficacy, XM-L can lower total system cost by reducing the number of LEDs and optics in the system."

 

http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp_xml.asp

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Very interesting

 

About a month ago I bought the Magiclight ML1000 from CWC and think its amazing but as its the first light I've ever bought/used I have no point of comparison and was therefore wondering how it compares to the lights you mention in your review?

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Hi andrè traut

 

The MJ870/2 are from the same brand as the MJ808 not sure how i am brand specific as you say. Sure I am in love with the MJ808E due to the better price point, better beam patter and higher efficacy but that is facts. I thought the photos are clear. And that is why I sell it.

 

If i liked i could have imported the MJ872 all so. But i will not, but tomorrow there are new lights and then things look different.

 

Let me repeat what is sated before.

MJ872 = 1261 Lumen and 1631 lumen @112min

MJ808E = 780 Lumen and a 870 Lumen @ run time 180h

Hi Hannes

I have both these lights and I end up using the MJ 872, the light distribution is just more practical for my use and the battery seems to last alot longer ( perhaps the lower settings extend battery time more than on the 808, also, the unit does not get nearly as warm /hot as the MJ 808 ( which probably means a lot of those watts are going into heat rather than light, so power in only equals power out if they are expressed in the same format.

The MJ 808 is still in my opinion a great light, but I prefer the MJ 872 ( and I have no vested interest other than as a consumer)

My 2c

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Just to clarify, the conclusion on the website referred to has more background to it than what you are aware of and thus is a meaningless marketing document (I would assume the OP's post also has some background to it, but in that case, I am not aware of anything specific). I sell all 3 of the lights in question and there is absolutely no question that the 870 and 872 are more powerful. The only complaint with the 808E that I have received is that the beam is focused and some riders would prefer more peripheral vision (primarily for technical MTBing). All of the lights in question are perfectly suitable for any form of cycling and I think the pictures show a great comparison of why the MJ870 and MJ872 are possibly more suitable for MTBing than the MJ808E (not to put the power of the MJ808E down in any way). When you cycle at night, how concerned are you really about what is 100 metres in front of you?

 

In your last comparative picture, the main spot appears to be significantly brighter (at any point) and much wider than the MJ808E? Surely that picture alone shows the difference in them (and not in a negative manner?) The MJ870 and 872 also offer easier and more variability in the lighting levels which allow you to conserve battery life much easier than with the MJ808E.

 

As someone else mentioned, the switch on the MJ870 and MJ872 is also an improvement as you no longer have to cycle through all the modes of the light to reach the desired mode.

 

As I mentioned, you have very clearly gone out to prove a point for whatever reason and have taken an extremely biased view while proving very little. For someone who deals in the brand, I am very surprised at your post.

 

There may be room for an improvement in the new lights with a different lens, but this doesn't detract from how good they already are.

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not sure how you want to use the last photo for proof. It proofs that the shape of the center spot is large vs small. beam pattern photos are just that: pattern photos. To understand the picture you need to realize that the concentration of light in a very small spot could be a lot brighter than the other. the camera saturates in that area . for example if you have a very strong laser the spot will be extremely bright but small. I would not use the photo for anything other than that.

 

I find it interesting that the facts get so much criticism. Opinion are wonderful and good to have but if you need to make a choice you need facts.

 

Fact 1. MJ872 use a lot more energy. = larger battery or shorter run time.

Fact 2. MJ872 use less efficient LED's = more power is wasted in to heat. (this is a fact not made up by me as stated by the manufacturer on there website.) therefore larger batter or shorter run time.

Fact 3 MJ872 has a much larger center spot = result shorter beam reach and more side spill.

if that is what you want then gr8. but it is a fact, my opinion on this is that it is not the best idea and that the MJ808E makes better use of the light it has. But if you like to shine light near you then gr8.

 

Let me stat what i like about the MJ872

1. 2 buttons Up and Down for light intensity

2. Turn on in the low or high mode holding the corresponding button.

3. Not having flash mode. actuality the flash is very usefully if you use it for self defense or commuting but i also think it is useless in this application

4. the size is right but that is true for the MJ808E also.

 

If there where things i could change on the MJ872 it would be the mounting, then the low level could be lower and there could be less levels between high and low. max 3 but this is only my opinion and is also true for the MJ808E

 

The purposes of this review was to make it clear what the differences are between the MJ872 and the MJ808E. And I do believe that is what it highlights.

 

PS. if traveling at 45km/h down a jeep track you cover 100m in 8s and 30m in 2.4s. that seems fast but where i life it happens easily, braking your momentum on loos gravel and only having 2s is crazy. but that is my requirement.

Edited by Hannes Zietsman
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I've read most of the thread on the magiclight/magicshine lights, was wondering if someone has done a comparison of all their lights ? Can't remember...

Not worried about other brands just these. My pals have an 808, 816 and MJ872 so if I get some time I'll look into it.

 

Used my MJ808e for the 1st time yesterday together with a Fenix TK11 on my helmet.

Not bad, good spot and decent spill but could do with a bit more spill, though the big issue I found is adjusting the light to shine in the right place, thats the big trick, otherwise its pretty useless if there's no light where you are looking.

 

Thats where I feel a helmet light together with a bar light is a must. We were riding some singletrack at a bit of speed and in the twisty bits the helmet light helped me see where I was looking through the corner as the bar light was now not hitting the trail as the bars are being turned.

 

Anyway time will tell, so will report back after more use and want to use it on the road bike as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree with you WW. 2 lights is better than one. and a head light is a must. The MJ872 is a nice light and has a lot of flood. And it generate much more light than the MJ808E but i think the MJ816 is a better option.

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I agree with you WW. 2 lights is better than one. and a head light is a must. The MJ872 is a nice light and has a lot of flood. And it generate much more light than the MJ808E but i think the MJ816 is a better option.

 

 

I am getting my 808E next Friday (it was ordered through you, but you just dont know it) :)

 

Which headlight would you recommend?

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Dude, dont know if we can take this review seriously when you dont know your left from your right.

The drum is on the right!

:D :D :D :D

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The mj808E makes for an excellent head light. that with a MJ872 with an extended battery would be a very good combination. But the MJ808E is a good all rounder also so don't under estimate it. If you got it from me then there should be a helmet mount and a head band. i suggest using it.

 

I use a upgraded MJ816 for my handle bar mounted light and a MJ808E for a helmet light.

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