Lighting > Light & Motion Lighting

Excellent value front bicycle light from Magicshine

Advantages: Brightest lamp at this price, lamp unit is well engineered, decent battery life
Disadvantages: Exact contents of package a bit variable, battery holder not waterproof

Magicshine MJ-808/CT-808 front bicycle light (produced by the Shenzhen Minjun Electronic Factory) The Magicshine light is very impressive for the price. Cost me £52 from Dealextreme. This was total cost, shipped to the UK with no UK import tax/duty or postal handling charges. Note: prices on Dealextreme website have risen slightly since my purchase in Oct 2009. Having looked around the Internet, it’s clear that the contents of this Magicshine package ...
...has historically. I’ve seen or heard of several different battery charger designs with varying output currents, at least two lamp lead lengths and different battery pack holders - some suitable for cycle handlebar mounting, others seem to be designed for belt mounting like the version I received (it does fit on my handlebars but is not secure, in my opinion, so I’ve added a thick elastic band). Also, the headband seems to vary in design. The type ...

dogfonos 07.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Magicshine MJ-808

Excellent commuting light, but a bit expensive and poor mounting

Advantages: Excellent battery, bright
Disadvantages: Price, poor fixing bracket

The mounting bracket for this light is the sort that uses a strap which threads through an tightening screw. This allows the bracket to fit any size of handle bar or tube. However after a very muddy ride the bracket would not tighten or loosen, the only way to remove the fitting was to remove the handlebar grips, gear and brake leavers and slide the bracket of the handlebars. Turned out that a bit of mud had jammed the tightening screw, some wd40 ...
...bracket does loosen after a few rides, not a major issue but annoying just the same. The light can be easily removed from the fixing bracket, which is handy for leaving the bike in the town centre. Similarly, the bracket is also designed to be easily removed to fit between bikes, but as explained above it could be better. The EL320 does have a good battery run time, so far I have not had to replace the battery's in this light, despite using it for ...

emilne82 01.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of CatEye HL-EL320

Twinkle Twinkle For yer Bike

Advantages: Simple, no batteries, effective
Disadvantages: None

...cyclist who comes off worst. Pedalite is not a new concept, indeed I can remember seeing flyers advertising them over 10 years ago whilst shopping in a Hypermarket in France, but it has taken a little while to complete the journey across the Channel. These simple pedal replacements offer twinkling red, white and amber lights, with no batteries and really help improve the visibility of cyclists for other road users. They are however not a replacement ...
...on the new pedal. Each Pedalite pedal is marked with a large ‘L’ or ‘ R’ so you will be in no doubt which one goes where. Indeed you will probably have more difficulty removing the Pedalite pedals from the cardboard packaging, where they are tightly bound with strong fierce cable ties, than deciding where each should go. You will need a decent 14mm open ended spanner, rather than a cumbersome adjustable type since the distance from the crank is quite ...

suehome 28.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Pedalite Pedals

Exposure Joystick MaXx - High quality bike light - but exclusive

Advantages: Bright!! Small, light, VERY High Quality, Narrow beam with long throw, Tough, Good battery life.
Disadvantages: Sphincter-tighteningly expensive, Narrow beam, Not really for bar-mounting. Overkill for the road.

...an addition to the larger Exposure bar lights. For the road it's overkill unless you're a speed freak or spend most of your time on unlit sections though I'd still recommend it for it's quality and squint-inducing beam for when you really need people to see you. It is so light and convenient (no external batteries) that you can leave it on your helmet all the time so you're never caught without a light. I love this light! ...

bab_f4 21.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Exposure Joystick MaXx

Hope's Fistful of LED's?

Advantages: Very bright light, flexible, durable
Disadvantages: Slighty iffy bracket, Heavy unit

...Another innovation seen on the Hope light and some other LED lights is the use of a collimated lens, which significantly improves beam spread. And our Hope? The Hope Vison has a single LED emitter producing 240 lumens on max power. It's bright. It's main feature however is rather than having an integral battery, it instead runs on 4 AA batteries. On the one hand you get greater flexibility, but on the other you have to buy batteries for your ...
...red version. It has "VISION hope ONE" laser etched into the red anodised aluminium shell. In addition the aluminium ring around the lens and the battery end cap are silver rather than colour matched. In my view the unit is attractively styled. It was easy to assemble - choose the correct rubber spacers for the quick release handlebar clamp, bolt it to the light unit, and fit it to your handlebars and away you go. Out of the box it appeared to be ...

fred_redwood 04.10.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Hope Vision Single LED