Magicshine MJ880 4000K Pyro2000 reviews

[Bike Lore]

Hi I have taken the liberty to put a few reviews of this product on the hub here.

www.TheHubsa.co.za by Cyclocross 18 June 2012

MagicShine/Pyrolight comparative review on the hub by GBguy 8 June 2012

www.MTBMadness.co.za Light Up Your Ride! 10 July 2012

 

 

Light Up Your Ride! www.MTBMadness.co.za

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In the beginning of winter I started looking for a bike light so I can continue riding at night. Actually, I just ride from my house to Epic Sports, hang out, and go back home. They close at 6pm so by the time I leave there it's dark out. Being a mountain biker in a city I try to stick to the side of the road, but you have to ride on the road sometimes, boring as it may seem. The point is that you need to be noticed. Riding alongside the road and being flashed by a car because your light is too bright makes me smile every time.

The cool thing is that a few years ago there weren’t any of these powerful shining lights on the market. There were lights, but compared to the ones you find on the market today, they were useless.

With the average lifestyle being just about chaos from 8am to 5pm during the day, it gets difficult to actually go out and do some training. Cyclists can now ride until late even if it’s in the summer. You’ll be noticed quickly and you’ll have at least 2 hours’ worth of riding time before the battery dies out.

I had two lights to check out for the last three weeks. I’ve actually just been so busy that I didn’t have the time to write anything. This isn’t me comparing the two lights with each other as they’re not in the same lumen category. It's two different lights from two different companies.

Pyro Lights sent me their 2 000 lumen light and Ag sent me their 1 200 lumen light. Both lights are small, neat and tidy. I guess they all are, but the last thing I want on a ride at night is this bulky thing on my handlebar.

The Magicshine light from PyroLights

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Magicshine from Pyro Lights has got a massive battery back which they claim can last 2.3 hours on full blast. I did a couple of rides with it and it only turned to the blue light (70% battery life left) on the last ride I took with it. It switches over to red when it reaches 40%. It flashes red when you reach 10%.

The light carries two bulbs. This helps make the beam shine wider. You’ll want as much area covered as possible when riding in a very dark section, obviously. Don’t look straight into that thing. You’ll end up being blind for a minute or two.

I’m not too sure if you can buy a helmet-mountable bracket or strap for this light but I don’t think you actually need one. It’s not like you’re going to use a 2 000 lumen light to braai your meat on a Saturday night. The battery and light mount neatly on your bike using little rubber straps which you can slide into little slots just so the excess straps don’t get in the way. The cable is a bit too long seeing that the light is made to be mounted on the handlebar and the battery mounts on your frame.

It says on the box: “The benefits of a 4000k and high CRI light are:

• Reduced eyestrain
  
• Improved focusing response
  
• Accurate colour rendering and representation
  
• Improved contrast perception
  
• Superior depth perception”
  

It’s like these guys actually took it to some eye lab to get it tested so you won’t need reading glasses as soon as you think.

I like that the light is small yet massively bright. The battery seems a bit bulky but I guess it comes down to “better safe than sorry”. The 2 000 lumen light needs to keep running somehow.

 

 

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"(Hannes Z) I have replaced the photo on the site with this one because the camera was on auto when the photo was taken. Auto white balancing at night does not work very well. The photo on the site is therefor not representative of what you will experiences"

Edited July 11, 2012 by Hannes Zietsman

[grumpy]

I have been cycling in the early morning for a few years, from the time when we had those little blue lights to the most recent ones, one thing that I have experienced is that the usable light on the road or track cannot be determined by the claimed lumens.

 

About 2 years ago I purchased a Hope Vision 4, 1000 lumen light with 2 battery packs, it gave a brilliant light for about 15 meters and then nothing, my morning rides are done on tar with my road bike and I often reach 60 km/h on the down hills, so this light was not suitable, by the time you would spot the pot hole it would be too late.

I sold that light and purchased a Light & Motion Seca 900, this light was tested at 950 lumens, that sets this light apart is the brightness and depth of vision, it easily lights up the road for about 50 meters, on flashing mode it lights up the red triangles on the road 300 meters away.

The only problem with this light is the cost, it is expensive.

 

I have not personally experienced the 2000 lumen light that you wrote about but I have ridden with guys who have the 1000 lumen Magic lights, when we ride together their light spot on the road dissapears when the L&M Seca is switched on, no comparison in light on the road.

 

The difference between the two lights is not in the lumens output but in the lens and reflector, you need a fairly deep reflector to get decent depth of field and the Magic lights (same for the Hope light) simply don't have that

 

If you ride trails at a slower pace or just wants to be seen and have some light on the road then a 1000 lumens Magic light is fine, maybe the 2000 light one will be better.

[Bike Lore]

If you ride trails at a slower pace or just wants to be seen and have some light on the road then a 1000 lumens Magic light is fine, maybe the 2000 light one will be better.

see

maybe the 2000 lumen light will be better ? surly you can see that photo right? No editing was done. ISO200, exposure time 1s. That is the same settings you can use when shooting photos indoors. You can everything see that tree that is 65m away.

 

Sadly there is no "magic" in lights as marketing tells us. If you want distance you are correct in saying that you need a very deep reflector or a narrow accumulator. Funny thing is that for most having a wide beam is preferred over having a narrow beam. Just a small increase in width require a lot more light(lumen) to maintain the same brightness(Lux). it is a squired relation. Most people are impressed by laser type lights at first. When someone goes to a cycle shop the first thing they do is turn it on and point it to a well illuminated wall. If it makes a bright dot then they go ooow. What they don't know is that you can have 10x the amount of light in the side spill that is not perceivable in the shop environment. it is impressive if your lights shines all the way to the next farm. Sadly not very useful when cycling but hey it is a cool braai trick.

 

At the moment most manufacturer make use of exactly the same LED, the Cree XML. Therefore to get more light you need more power. higher bins does not really make that much of a deference so lets not go there. More power means more heat and bigger batteries. that is a law of physics. No big brand name can break the law of physics. So then there is the problem of life time. Cree recommend not driving there LEDs above 2/3 the maximum power rating. There are two ways to mitigate the effect of doing so. First is thermal monitoring of the LED. Logic: To hot then reduces the power. The second way is to limit to amount of power to the LED from get go. That is playing it safe. I have had more complaints from people about this Thermal dimming of Pyrolights vs no complaints about the fact the Extreme 1000 and Ryder lights are not as bright as other 1000 lumen lights. How funny is that?

 

Take for example the Magicshine MJ868 or Pyro1100 it cost more to buy from magicshine than the selling price is of the "1200 lumen copies"

 

3 years ago most lights did not monitor the LED temperature at all. That is no longer the case. High power lights all do for-example Magcishine, Lupine, L&M and many more. there lights are brighter because of only one reason. MORE POWER is used. The Cheap lights require less power therefore lower grade batteries, cheaper electronics because the LED and driver is not over stressed. If you where to open a Magicshine Mj868 and Mj880 and compare it to above mentioned lights I don't think you will be able to say one is better.

 

I like the analog between a paint/light and paint bucket/ power.

if you have the same amount of paint to start with then you can ether paint a thin layer and get a larger area covered or a thick layer will cover a smaller area. Need more paint then you need a bigger bucket. Same with light, wider light = less throw, More light = more power = less run time.

 

Like i have said before. there is not magic in lights. well not with everyone using the same LED in any case.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Hannes Zietsman