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Beware cheap Chinese bike lights (aka MagicShine)

 
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oh_blinding_light



Joined: 15 Oct 2008
Posts: 240
Location: People's Republic of Rosendale

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 9:57 pm    Post subject: Beware cheap Chinese bike lights (aka MagicShine) Reply with quote

OK, so this may seem a bit self serving, since I'm selling some bike lights I built on another thread (oh go search for hahntronix if curious, they will likely be gone soon as I took out an ad on mtbr.com), but in the interest of keeping folks from "Burning Down The House" (my favorite Talking Heads song):

Geomangear.com, the largest US distributor of MagicShine lights is issuing a recall on all Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) battery packs for all MagicShine lights they have sold. Please read: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=7509361#poststop or else go to the geoman web site. My suspicion is somebody had a fire that started while they were charging batteries ... but geoman isn't saying. Me, I charge Li-Ion batteries in a metal bucket, far away from anything flammable, usually outside on my driveway (note: not recommended if the temperature is below freezing). I don't want to alarm folks. If you have a Li-Ion battery system sold by a big name manufacturer it's probably fine. I am always comforted to see UL labels (or ETL labels) on chargers, as that meant the manufacturer felt like spending at least $5000 to verify their design was safe.

Geoman says in their recall not to use the battery packs that came with the light. I'm pretty sure you should apply this warning to any MagicShine bikelight, regardless of where you bought it. Geoman doesn't give details on why they decided to do this, but there has been a lot of criticism on some of the DIY bike lighting forums on the cheesy design of the light and the sloppy construction of the battery pack.

It might be nice to mention this thread to non FITC members you see riding with MagicShine lights.

I gave a fairly negative review of the MagicShine lights on the Fats site last winter if you are interested:http://www.fatsinthecats.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2792

Anyway, I just wanted to alert folks that they may be riding with a time bomb strapped to their frame Very Happy

I will try to post some links to reputable NiMh battery sellers that anybody with a MagicShine may use safely until the whole recall fiasco is resolved, and will try to post instructions on my web site: www.hahntronix.com on how to build a 6 AA NiMh battery holder that work as a safe temporary battery.

Ride safe,

OBL
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AdamDZ



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
Posts: 13
Location: Queens, NYC

PostPosted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The headlights are great and you can buy better batteries elsewhere. But Geoman has taken care of these issue. I had two defective batteries and they took them back. I have three heads now, one original battery and two third party batteries and no issues at all.
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oh_blinding_light



Joined: 15 Oct 2008
Posts: 240
Location: People's Republic of Rosendale

PostPosted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The headlights are bright for the price, but like a lot of things in life, you get what you pay for. I would hesitate to say they are "great" for the price.

The internal construction of the Magicshine lights is such that they barely work. They run several components right on the edge (or a bit over the edge) of their specs. They will work fine for a while and them ...

Hey if a Magicshine is all you can afford and you want/need to ride at night, then get one. If it comes with a 90 day warranty (Geomangear offers this) then run the crap out of it for the first 3 months you have it, even to the point of running it clamped to a piece of tubing with a fan blowing over the light (they overheat easily and have pretty poor thermal regulation). If your light is going to have infant mortality problems, kill it while it's young Very Happy and then get it replaced while still under warranty. Repeat the above step until you have a light that doesn't die during your torture test.

ALWAYS ride with a backup light. Even if you have a really high quality light (and not some funky cheap clone of a German light). I advised folks to do this with my lights when I was still making them. If your light fails on a gnarly fast downhill section ... it really helps to have a backup light even if it's just a cheap flashlight clamped to your handlebars.

Adam, if I was you I'd always ride with at least two of your lights. Maybe one on the handlebars on high or medium and another on your helmet on low or medium (it shouldn't overheat on low). Be sure to cycle the handlebar light to a low power setting if you stop for more than a few minutes. I've heard the newer Geomangear lights will switch to a low power mode if they get too hot, but if you have older light heads, they will literally cook themselves if left on high with no airflow over them.

OBL
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AdamDZ



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
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Location: Queens, NYC

PostPosted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I carry an AA CRE flashlight with a handlebar mount as a backup. I also ride with two Magic Shine lights and 2x batteries. My oldest one is over 2 years old now. I commuted with these lights throughout two Winters now, I must have put hundreds of hours and they still work fine. They're really not that bad. Even if they die in 2 years or so it's still cheaper and more light for the buck than other brand name lights. Except for the battery recall I am not aware of anyone having problems with these lights.
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oh_blinding_light



Joined: 15 Oct 2008
Posts: 240
Location: People's Republic of Rosendale

PostPosted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 8:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The MTBR forums used to have a poll (here: http://forums.mtbr.com/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=2407) up in the lighting section that showed that 12% of Magicshine buyers had had problems with them (light failed, batteries failed, charger failed), right out of the box or only a few weeks after they got them. I think a 1 in 8 failure rate indicates the manufacturer is putting the cost of testing off onto the consumer. That failure rate and the poor electrical design of the light is why I warn people not to trust them and carry a backup (which you should do even with better quality lights).

The poll isn't scientific, and may be biased, but if you read other threads in the forums, you'll find Magicshine owners divided into 2 camps. Those who love them, especially for the price, and are willing to overlook a few problems. And those who think they are a worthless POS because they burned out after a couple of rides or because the battery recall meant they didn't feel safe riding with the light.

The Magicshine lights can last a long time if taken care of, and if you keep a lot of airflow over it when it's on high. I think you're pretty lucky to get 2 years out of yours. I've seen your web site (very nice BTW) and it looks like you ride mostly as a commuter (as I also am this summer). So you are probably moving fairly fast most of the time and getting reasonable airflow over your light.

OBL
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AdamDZ



Joined: 03 Jul 2011
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Location: Queens, NYC

PostPosted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 10:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, only 3.85% said the light outright failed. That's not A LOT. Apple, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, etc have higher rates of hardware failures within their warranty period. And within three years the failure rate is over 10%? 25% of Apple laptops will malfunction within 3 years. Apple had some products in the past, monitors and printers mainly, some computers, with 3 year failure rate over 75%!!! And no one screams "beware of cheap Chinese junk". They are made in China too Smile Actually, Apple is regarded as an industry leader, LOL Smile Most of the electronics around is junk these days Smile

Anyway. Yes, I use these lights mainly for commuting, they're too heavy for touring. These are the only two types of riding that might happen after dark and that I need a powerful light for. I agree that they get really hot. And the radiator grooves are in the wrong direction, they don't promote airflow. But there are lots of flawed brand name designs out there as well.

The overheating can be somehow addressed by replacing the thermal paste inside the headlight (indeed cheap and poorly/unevenly applied) with something better like Arctic Silver and apply it evenly).

I also use cheap Chinese front and rear blinkies and they work great. I had Planet Bike, Niterider, Serfas, CatEye, Princeton Tec and they all fell apart or broke in couple of years. One, I forgot which one, had such a weak snap that it fell apart when I hit a bump. And these were $30+ lights. Now I ride with $5 lights that are just as powerful and I won't be upset if they fall apart.

Every manufacturer has recalls and has bad batches. There was a time people were complaining a lot about Niterider lights and were not getting much help from Niterider support (I don't remember exactly but I think it was battery related too). Look at other products outside of cycling: SONY, Apple, Dell, etc. have recalls all the time: very often it's batteries actually. But we've learned to tolerate that because it's a big company. But of something like Magic Shine has issues people scream "beware of cheap Chinese junk". They all use products made by someone else and are dependent on their quality. This was the case with Magic Shine battery recall as well as with Apple and Dell laptop recalls.

I just no longer believe that I have to buy expensive stuff. We've been conditioned to believe that if it's not expensive then it can't be good. Often it's true, but even more often you're just paying for the name and aesthetics. None of the expensive lights I bough within the last few years are around any more.

And a lot of this expensive stuff has parts of questionable quality and most of it is made in China. I've bought too much expensive stuff that didn't last.
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