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Magicshine MJ-808E Bike Light Review

 

Product Description

Being able to train after dark is essential for anyone who wants to maintain sufficient fitness to do well in Trailquests, as well as being great fun, as night riding definitely adds an extra dimension to any off-road route.

Having forked out £340 on a high power Lupine bike light some years ago I was curious to see something offering more brightness for less than a quarter of that price and felt compelled to try it out.

Upon first seeing it, it was obvious that the Magicshine MJ-808E bike light is substantially similar in design to the Lupine Tesla which retails at circa £275. The Magicshine light has more than a 20% higher output than the Tesla however, at an astonishing 1000 lumens on full brightness.

Using the Magicshine MJ-808E is rather like having a car headlight on your bike. It is perfectly bright enough to ride dense woodland in complete darkness and the high output is achieved by the lighthead having the revolutionary CREE XM-L LED mounted inside it. Another important benefit is safety, the brightness of the light means much of the road ahead is illuminated and even cars approaching from behind can clearly see this.

The box consists of the lighthead, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a neoprene battery bag, a charger with a UK mains plug and two O rings to fit the light to standard or oversized handlebars. The lighthead is nicely finished and robust.

Fitting it to the bike was a breeze and could be done in under 20 seconds. One of the O Rings is used to connect the lighthead to the handlebars by connecting it between two lugs on the base of the lighthead. The Velcro straps on the battery cover allow the battery to sit underneath the top tube of the bike near the down tube. Connecting the lighthead wire to the battery wire via a simple push fitting puts the light into action.

Out on the trail the fitting system works brilliantly well. The lighthead fits solidly to the handlebars and doesn't move even when riding very bumpy terrain, yet it is still easy to adjust it up or down a bit. The Velcro straps also holds the battery securely in place and I soon came to realise that this worked much better than having the battery in the bottle cage (which I had to do previously). Not only is the bottle cage freed up for a real drinks bottle, but the Magicshine battery weighs much less as well. In fact the whole setup weighs only about 450 grammes.

A simple button on the back of the lighthead allows the light output to be varied. Pressing the button cycles the light between full power, reduced power, and a flashing mode. Holding the button in for two seconds turns the light off.

The light is rated to run for 3 hours on full brightness, but in practice it was a little bit less than this once the battery had been used for a while. This is still an amazing run time from such a small battery and if you really need it to run longer other higher battery capacities are available. You can also ride perfectly well with the reduced power mode, just using full output for the more wooded and/or tricky sections. Simply plugging the battery into the charger at the end of each ride will recharge a fully depleted battery in about 3-4 hours, making it easy to use the light daily for commuting.

I loved the fact that the light weight of the Magicshine MJ-808E made it suitable for a variety of other purposes. I often find myself using it to take my dog for a walk and as a general purpose high power torch. It is easy to put the battery in your pocket and carry the lighthead in your hand, and a full range of accessories is available for helmet mounting, mounting the light on a headband, extending the cable distance etc.

Having used the light throughout a full winter and over many months since, I have had no problems at all with it, and it is clearly a very reliable product. Whilst not being quite as well engineered as the German Lupine lights, I know I would rather pocket the difference in price.

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