Ready for a bicycle light that will blaze a trail through the darkness without burning a hole in your pocket? MagicShine makes high powered LED lights that are bright at night and light on the pocketbook.
As the proud owner of a MagicShine MJ-808E bicycle light, I appreciate the full 1000 lumens of light that this produces, especially on those cold, foggy, dark nights when I’m blasting down the mountain trying to keep up with friends riding full suspension mountain bikes while on a rigid fork single speed.
I have had the MJ-808E for over a year now. Bought it online at a decent price for a 1000 lumen light. Expectations were not particularly high that this would be as bright as advertised, but for the price figured it was worth it. However, I can safely report that I am more than happy with how this light has performed over the past 12 months.
This is a compact bicycle light that has a round grip that attaches to a cylindrical surface like a handlebar. The rubber O-ring attaches on the front side of the light, then warps around the handlebar and connects to the backside of the light. After a year of evening mountain bike rides and daily commutes to and from work, the rubber O-ring is still in good condition. Even better, this setup comes with two different sized O-rings should you require it.
The light assembly is made from aluminum with a hard anodized ridged finish. The ridged finish allows the light to dissipate easily as this light gets very warm when it generates 1000 lumens. Fortunately, you will likely not even notice that the light is warm to the touch as the air flow over the light will keep it cool. However, if you ever turn this light on inside and leave it on for an extended amount of time, you will notice the heat radiating from this light. This light has held up to all types of weather conditions, including sub-freezing temperatures, snow, rain, and foggy conditions. The tightly sealed lens protects the LED bulb and battery from any kind of exposure that might cause damage.
MagicShine has done a great job of making their bicycle lights easy to use and intuitive. Easy to use as you simply push the power cord from the battery pack into the power cord for the light to provide power. And easy to turn on by pressing the rubber on/off switch on the back. Intuitive because the on/off switch will also indicate how much power is left. Green means the battery is 75% to fully charged. Blue indicates 50% to 75%. Yellow tells you there is 25% to 50% of the charge left. Red is for power levels below 25%. If you see a flashing red light on the on/off switch, then you know the battery is almost out of power.
While I am giving high marks after the one year anniversary of owning and using the MJ-808E, there is one downside I noticed. The battery pack case is a well fitted nylon case with a velcro enclosure that keeps the battery snug and in one place. Like the light itself, the battery pack is designed to fit snugly around either the handlebar or the bike’s top tube. Having taken the battery pack on and off my bike after almost every bicycle ride in the past year, I found that the loops used for tightening down the pack to the bicycle started to fray. While in no way does this diminish the capability of the light itself, it does make attaching the battery to the bike a challenge. Not to worry though, there are low cost replacement battery packs readily available at a fair price.
Finally, there is the light itself. The MJ-808E is rated at 1000 lumens at full power. Two additional light settings plus one strobe setting are available. The highest power 1000 lumen setting will run about 2.5 hours or more depending on the weather, in particular how cold it is. To access the other light settings, simply push the on / off button to go to the next lowest setting. To turn off the light, you hold the on / off switch down for two seconds. If you hold the button down continuously for another two seconds, the light will go into strobe mode. Strobe mode is very handy when you don’t really need to see where you are going as there is enough light out, but you do want others to see you.
And if you find this light works well for you after a year, you might just consider purchasing a second light to have either as a backup light or to mount on your bicycle helmet.
