Now here is something for almost everyone who wants to mountain bike at night: the MagicShine GMG Special 900 PLUS light set. Now read the next sentence carefully: At $89 you get an LED lamp advertised at 900 Lumens with a lithum-ion battery and charger. Basically you get a high powered lighting system that can be taken off road and will not take you to the poor house!

Admittedly I was shocked at the low price and had to investigate these lights for myself. The neatly packed box includes the light, battery, charger, and extension cable. The light itself features a sturdy aluminum construction with a single LED emitter and reflector with the mount integrated and held in place with a strong rubber o-ring. In fact the box includes a total of four o-rings (two larger, two small) for multiple bike mounting options. The lamp is adequately sealed for MTB-type riding, though I would think twice about submerging this unit completely under water.

The battery sports a 12-inch cable and GeoManGear also includes a 1-meter extension cord. The lithium ion battery pack is a 4-cell 18650 battery sealed in an aluminum shell. All of this is contained in a neoprene bag that can be attached to your bike (seatpost or toptube) or to your person (hydration pack or jersey pocket) using the extension cable.

The Magic Shine features 5 modes of operation: three power levels (high @ 900 lumens*, medium @ 500 lumens*, and low @ 200 lumens*) plus a fast strobe flash and an SOS mode (blinks SOS in Morse code). Plugging in the light to the battery illuminates the power switch at the back of the light which is good and bad. In total darkness it’s nice that you can see the power switch. But in the back of your mind you can’t help but think about the fact that it’s consuming precious battery life Speaking of battery life you should get about 3 hours** of run time with the MagicShine GMG Special 900 on high power. Charging the unit takes about 4 hours.

After using the Magic Shine GMG Special 900 I have to say I don’t think it fires a full 900 lumens (my guess is closer to 550 or so). Just remember this unit only costs $89 and includes just a single LED emitter and not an array like pricier light sets (some of which can cost up to six-times as much).

Despite only having a single LED, the beam pattern is actually pretty decent and useful. Essentially the reflector produces a mixed pattern with a strong central beam and a mediocre outer pattern. Looking at the photo above you can see a series of blocks set at 10 foot intervals and the last two block are 9 inches wide to represent a thin trail. You can see at about 25 feet the pattern is around 6 feet wide which is fine for most riders. What you don’t see is the secondary fill light (hard to take a photo of) which is decent but not as pronounced as other units on the market. This is the main difference between the MagicShine light and more fully-featured lights – after all, there is only so much you can do with a single LED. Still, even hardcore 24-hour racers should be mostly happy with the performance of this light.

Overall I have to say if you keep in mind the cost of this unit and assume the advertised light strength isn’t as high as claimed, you will still be very happy to operate one of these GMG Special 900 Plus lights. You get everything you need to mount this on your bar and for an extra $10 you can get a helmet mount, adding to the flexibility of this unit. Although some of the details aren’t as refined as other brands out there (example: light cable configuration is slightly awkward) it’s still a super value. With a 90-day warranty, if anything does go wrong GeoMan will take good care of you (though nothing went wrong while I was testing).

I would like to thank GeoMan for supplying the light for review. Visit GeoManGear and take a look for yourself.

* Advertized light output and not confirmed.
** Maximum advertized burn time.

STELLAAA! I always wanted to say that. Last fall I did a write-up on the top model Seca 900 Ultra from Light & Motion. If you read the review you know the Seca is a seriously powerful light unit. I’m sure that review left more than one person wishing they had one but the price is admittedly not for everyone. Not to worry, the folks at Light & Motion make a unit which is just as good in terms of quality and craftsmanship but at a price most can afford.

The Light & Motion Stella 200L ($249.99 MSRP) sports a single 200 lumen LED with a custom designed reflector to maximize light output. Everything you need is included in the box: the lithium-ion 3-cell 11.1V battery, smart charger, low profile helmet mount, and battery strap. The light includes just the right amount of cord so you can comfortably mount the unit on your helmet or on the bike.

The construction of the Stella is second to none. The light unit is compact and lightweight (72 grams) and features an integrated heat sink. It has a fresh bronze anodizing treatment which will keep the light looking pretty for a long time, even in the dark. The simple on/off button is integrated into the head unit with a sealed membrane to keep water out. A single touch of the button adjusts the light output:  the high setting tosses 200 lumens for 5 hours; medium gives you 100 lumens for 10 hours; and low eeks out 50 lumens for 20 hours (most spots south of Alaska don’t have that much darkness in a single day!). There’s also a flash setting which will burn for 100 hours, perfect for commuting or emergencies. Placing the light in “race mode” allows you to quickly toggle between just high and low settings.

The Stella is powered by a 3 cell Li-Ion battery which is both lightweight (180 grams) and small – perfect for mounting on your toptube, the back of your helmet, or even in a pocket of your hydration pack. The battery pack features waterproof seals good for submersion up to 20 feet and an internal circuit to protect the battery from overcharging or rapid discharges.

Mounting up the Stella takes only minutes. In fact it will probably take more time to decide if you’re wearing it on your helmet or mounting it up on your handlebars. If you’re using the Stella as a standalone light, I recommend placing it on your helmet since a helmet mount shines the light wherever you’re looking. The beam pattern on the Stella 200 is ideal for a single LED, producing a focused beam with a feathered fill light on the periphery of the pattern. The Stella beam pattern gives you decent distance with enough light on the edges to make out what’s around you.

In the photos below I have set up a test area so you can see the amount of light the Stella 200 produces at night. For comparison I also show the Seca 900 Ultra placed in exactly the same position aimed the same way. The photo markers are placed for scale: the first is 10 feet, the second triple marker is 20 feet, third single 30 feet, fourth single 40 feet, and finally fifth triple 50 feet away. The second and fifth triple markers indicate an average trail width.

The Left **Stella 200L                          The Right **Seca 900 Ultra

Hitting the trails in and around Toronto at night was awesome. Although I took my Seca 900 Ultra, I found that unless I was really going really fast I didn’t have to turn it on. Riding without moon light was really fun as well. The Stella 200 produced a perfectly white light everywhere I turned my head and the beam gave me about a 45° arc of light. At about 50 feet ahead of the bike I got about 15 feet of the spot light and another 25 feet or so of fill lighting. This is really more than enough light for most people but perhaps not enough if you’re racing and going really fast. But for the discriminating casual rider this light will light up your life.

The photo above has been colorized so you can see the spot and the fill along with the feathering.

I also found I could use the Stella for many of my lighting needs in and around my house. Seeing that I am renovating the house, this small unit comes in super handy in tight spots due to its small size. But don’t let the size of this unit fool you – it will burn super bright for a very long time.

Overall I have to say this is by far one of the best lights out there for the money. It’s compact, tough, reliable, and good looking plus it produces a tremendous amount of usable light thanks to a single beam pattern that’s second to none. Get one for 24 Hour racing and keep using it on night rides next fall!

Specs from Light & Motion

A quick thanks to the folks at Light & Motion for providing the Stella 200L for review.

The Light & Motion ARC was the top-rated light system on singletracks in 2008 but the bad news is Light & Motion doesn’t make the ARC any more. The great news is the replacement, the Seca series, makes some huge improvements over the popular ARC line.

The biggest improvement the Seca brings is the use of LED lamps instead of the HID lamps used in the ARC. LED uses less power than HID and is more rugged than other bulbs. The Seca uses 6 LED bulbs to produce 700 lumens when set to “high” – but as we found out raw light output isn’t the whole story.

The Seca is designed to maximize and focus the power of all 6 LEDs into the areas where you need to see the most. Three of the bulbs focus on a center spot for long distance visibility while the other lights illuminate the edges of your field of vision without wasting light around the top edges. The optical engineering that went into this design is pretty high tech as you can see from a prototype of the reflector here. The resulting beam pattern is in the shape of a closed eyelid as you can see in the center of the photo above.

Because LEDs produce most of their heat on the bulb side (rather than the beam side like HID) the Seca has an interesting looking heat sink on the back. Light & Motion sells three versions of the Seca (the 400, Race, and Ultra) but here’s the secret: They all use the same light, just different batteries! So if you can’t afford the top of the line just yet, buy the Seca 400 and upgrade your battery later – sweet.