This time of year really messes with my mountain bike mojo. Yes it’s cold, but the mountain bike industry makes all sorts of doodads that allow tough guys and girls to keep riding in damn near any conditions, no matter how sack-shrinkingly cold it gets. If I really need to get out and ride I’ll do it, enjoy it, then go back inside and warm up with a slanket, a flagon of grogg, and a very high thermostat. But the real bummer of this time of year is how it follows the roughest day of my mountain bike year: Daylight Savings. Whoever thought of “falling back” should be dipped in Power Goo and thrown to the roadies.
The changing of the clocks is the twist of the knife at the end of the long, slow dwindling of the evening sunlight. Memories of warm nights leisurely shredding your local singletrack, unhurried and enjoyable, fade away and you find yourself frantically calculating if you can get your gear together and to the trailhead in time to get a good ride in before the sun retreats below the treeline. But there’s a weapon that modern technology has provided us: the battery-powered trail light. Helmet or handlebar mounted (or both), they can kick out enough candelas to rail full speed down that descent as if it were high noon in August. Just bring your credit card, because bright, high quality gear usually comes at a dear price.
But wait! Enter: the MagicShine. Modern. Attractive. Bright. And at 10 Lumens per dollar it’s cheap. (If you’re looking for another adjective, you’re a greedy bastard). For comparison, lights from Cygolite, NiteRider, and Lupine fall somewhere between 2.5 and 5 lumens per dollar. But remember the old bike maker’s mantra: “Lightweight, durable, inexpensive. Pick two.” In the case of the MagicShine, as in all of life, there are compromises.
First I’ll heap praise on this little fella. It’s bright. 1000 lumens, 2+ hours on high no problem. It’s feature rich. High, medium, low settings with a battery life LED indicator in the translucent power switch. Recent improvements to the battery case are great: now you get a weather tight, compact package that can be connected via integral Velcro strap to all sorts of tubes. Stupid simple light mounting. One beefy O ring to wrap around almost all diameter bars, the helmet mount piece (not included but available as an accessory), or whatever else your twisted little imagination can come up with. If that’s not enough, it ships with a spare ring.
So, how’s it work?
This thing beats back the shadows. On one of my first nocturnal excursions with the MagicShine I was accompanied by a Big Time parts & accessory manager in the bike biz. He, the guy with every hookup and bro deal there is to be had, compared our lights and admitted the MS was The Bomb. Well, yeah. And on top of all those lumens it was a third the price of his kit. Less weight too. As Gob Bluth would say: “COME ON.” Hang on, there’s a BUT…
As we stated earlier, you get lightweight, rugged and inexpensive – but you can only pick two.
A) This one clocks in at 312 grams for the light and battery. Compared to some other systems that claim to put out a similar number of lumens, the MagicShine is right in the ballpark. And for some perspective on how lightweight serious lighting has gotten, that’s about the same as 4.6 Clif bars, or a can of post ride Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale, the single greatest beer to enjoy after a good ride. Says me.
B) Way affordable. $99 bucks gets you a legit-looking presentation box with weatherproof battery, wall charger that charges said battery in around 4 hours, light head, 2 sizes of O ring mounts, and an extension cable for using in your hydration pack (or fanny pack if you’re Napolean Dynamite).
C) Rugged: ahhhh, hold on a second. I’ll be the first to admit I use gear in a less-than-dainty manner. In my mind it should work in the toughest conditions or it’s a waste of my effort carrying the thing out into the woods in the first place. Maybe you also have ‘packing neuroses’ as I do, but after agonizing over each tool, spare tube, extra layer, etc. (and the decision about whether the grams are worth lugging up the hills), I expect that if I brought it it’s ready in every contingency. If it’s going to fail, better to do it on my local trails where I can limp home instead of scuttling the trip I’ve planned for 6 months.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, the delicate electrical connections of the MagicShine. I used it on a handful of 0’Dark thirty road rides and night MTB rides, took it on one motorcycle camping weekend, and then two weeks into commuting on my new ‘cross bike in my new wintry corner of the world it started to cut out while riding. Not the sort of thing you want becoming a habit when you’re bombing full daytime speed down your favorite descent in the pitch black of night. Granted, I’ve traveled with the light kicking around on my carry-on bag, it has gotten its share of bumps and cable tugs, but felt like a brief life of reliability for my high output buddy.
Still, I think the fact that I promptly bought a replacement speaks to how much I like the MagicShine. For the money it still is at the top of my packing list when I’m planning any night ops on two wheels.
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Good little light. I’m not comfortable running it as a bar-only light but it works well helmet-mounted. I haven’t had any issues with the cord shorting out but I can see that happening, especially given the cable routing. I had a similar problem with another light and it’s pretty much the worst thing to have your light cutting out at random times.
When it comes to design tradeoffs, seems like bike lights are a textbook case. Want more run time? You’re gonna need a bigger (heavier) battery. Want a brighter bulb? Same deal, plus your run time will decrease. And in both cases, you’re gonna need to pony up more cash.
Good news though: December 22 was the shortest day of the year so every day brings more daylight!
9:40 A.M. and just now getting light….
Nice review- I haven’t jumped into the light market yet, have the basic small Cat Eye that works well for as little as I use one. This light however seems like it would be right up my alley. I have promised myself to be somewhere a bit more hospitable next winter so will be cruising the light market for sure.
thanks Luke.
I have this light and I love it. I route the cord through my helmet in such a way that any tug occurs in a loop of power cord, rather than where the cord enters the light head.
These are wicked if you mount one on helmet one on your bars. You can see everything.
I also have this light and love it! It’s everything you can ask for out of a light. Reasonably priced, lite weight and super bright! Reading what others have said about the cables shorting out, I will try to minimize their abuse. I plan to purchase a second unit for my handle bars soon. Like maddslacker I have been routing mine in a way that limits the pressure where the cord comes out of the main light housing. I recommend this light to anyone wanting to get out there after sundown. .
I have the Magic shine 900, and just recently got the new 1200. I’ve done several rides with the 900 as a helmet light and it was fine for an average 8mph ride. can’t wait to get out with both the 900 & 1200.
I haven’t had any durability issues but I’m pretty careful with my gear. Luckily replacement lightheads are too pricey. Most of the cost is for the battery.
Nice write up. I spent a bit more for a combo pack last year. I’ve used them only a handful of times, including an 18-hr race, and have been pleased so far. I can tell you with one light on the bars and one on the helmet, it is bright as the sun out there if you run them on high. Keeping one off or running one on low to conserve the battery also provides some “backup” comfort in the event you run out of charge or there is some other failure. Looking forward to more night riding, as it is a total blast.