Hope Vision 1 / Magicshine for a newb?

[eldudino]

My sister's just started cycling and lives in rural France, it's a bit different to the UK where there's lots of light pollution as streetlights get turned off at 11am in her village and the road between her house and my parent's place is pitch black.

I'm going to get her a good light for Christmas and the options are a Hope Vision 1 (which I have, so I know what it's like) or a Magicshine as I've heard good things on here and from just about everyone else that's used them. I'm not sure which to get though. I've made a list of pros and cons for each.

Hope Vision 1
Pros

• I have one, and I like it
• AA batteries (Vapex 2900mah work brilliantly)
• Compact - no separate battery pack
• Sturdy/well made
• Available for immediate delivery from UK
• Easy to use

Cons

• Expensive (around £80)
• Cuts out when the battery needs changing rather than dimming

Magicshine
Pros

• Bright as the sun (by all acounts!)
• Cheaper than the Hope
• Good reviews
• Option to add a bright rear (from what I can gather)

Cons

• Unknown to me
• Battery pack could be an issue if there's no spare
• Might not suit a beginner who wants something that's "plug and play"
• Build quality?
• Order from Dealextreme/non-UK website
• Not sure what to spec. Are the cheaper ones ok? Model no.'s are confusing

These are just the things I can think of, I'm really looking for advice either way on what people thing would suit a beginner best, my gut is with the Hope, but the Magicshine's get such a good write up that it's hard to ignore them. Some advice/debate would be appreciated!

 

[Hacienda71]

My Magicshine is great for riding on unlit country lanes. I was a little concerned about a seperate battery pack but tbh it has been fine during my winter commutes, I have the sealed unit with the lit lcd voltage display. Can't compare it with the Hope but there are a couple of folks on here with both and I think the MS is considered far brighter but a little less practical.

 

[fossyant]

I've got both. The commuter has the two Hopes - mainly road commutes/lit and you can vary the power to be more driver friendly. They work well off road, and I use two. Recently got the magicshine 808E and it's a bit brighter than the two hopes in 'reality'. Only has low and high, low is still very bright.

The batteries can be a little rubbish, but they are cheap to replace

 

[MrRidley]

Busch and Muller Ixon IQ - The only light you'll ever need, German made, 5 times brighter than German traffic law requires, runs on 4 AA rechargables
or it's own battery pack. got mine for £55.

 

[albion]

I'm not sure about the design of any of these for roads.My Inter-Union Technohandel GMbh XC-992 is approved for German roads with the beam unit a semi-circular(1/4 circle in 3D) mirrored design.The flat part of the circle is at the top which houses the recessed 3W LED.This appears to negate the major problems with LED lights and put the light where needed.Will it eventually become the standard design for on road use?It was part of that £9 Lidl light set.

 

[Scoosh]

Have a look here for more info.

 

[eldudino]

Have a look here for more info.

Very useful! I'm amazed at how poor my Hope supposedly is - those other lights must be bloody bright!

 

[PpPete]

All the really bright stuff is Lithium battery .... and needs recharging with a specialist charger after just a few hours.

Hope Vision 1 is (IMO) just about good enough for an unlit country lane, if a little scary downhill, unfortunately the fact that it cuts out below a critical voltage means that you need a second light as back up, the Smart 35 Lux isn't bad for that.

Dyno-hub out of the question ? About as plug&play as it gets IMO

 

[eldudino]

All the really bright stuff is Lithium battery .... and needs recharging with a specialist charger after just a few hours.

Hope Vision 1 is (IMO) just about good enough for an unlit country lane, if a little scary downhill, unfortunately the fact that it cuts out below a critical voltage means that you need a second light as back up, the Smart 35 Lux isn't bad for that.

Dyno-hub out of the question ? About as plug&play as it gets IMO

Yep, she's a beginner with a £300 Decathlon bike so won't really want to spend a load of money on a new wheel. She has a Smart 35Lux light at the moment, but doesn't find it good enough for unlit roads. She's averaging about 14mph so she's not breaking too many speed records so a Hope would be fine.

I actually think my biggest problem with other lights is the battery pack, the NiMh AA rechargeables I use are great, easy to take care of etc. and £11 for 8 of them, so easy to replace if you don't use the light over summer or forget to store the batteries correctly.

 

[PpPete]

Probably has to be the Hope then if you are sticking with the AA route. With a spare battery holder loaded with a 4 spare AA (so it can be easily swopped by the light of the Smart) she'll be fine.

Don't rule out the dyno option though.... a decent wheel can be swoppable to the next (better?) bike - and with a bit of careful shopping of components, the whole thing including light unit can be had for £150-£180

 

[steveindenmark]

I live out in the sticks in Denmark where light pollution is just a distant memory from when I used to live in the UK.

I ride 22km to work evey morning along unlit country lanes and tracks for 95% of the ride, it is as black as a miners armpit out there. I have a Hope Vision 1 and it is great for the ride. It has fallen off a couple of times but works fine. That was my fault, not the lights fault.


It is the best light I have ever had and it helps that it is easy to remove.

Steve

 

[Chutzpah]

I experienced the infamous sudden cut out of my Hope Vision 1 on an unlit cycle path this evening

Luckily I wasn't far from home and it still had enough juice to run it on the lowest power level. Glad I wasn't going downhill!

 

[the snail]

I'm not sure about the design of any of these for roads.My Inter-Union Technohandel GMbh XC-992 is approved for German roads with the beam unit a semi-circular(1/4 circle in 3D) mirrored design.The flat part of the circle is at the top which houses the recessed 3W LED.This appears to negate the major problems with LED lights and put the light where needed.Will it eventually become the standard design for on road use?It was part of that £9 Lidl light set.

+1 for the Lidl front light, seems like a good design, with a good spread of light, and plenty bright enough for road use. Hopefully we'll see more cheap/bright lights soon.

 

[andrew_s]

I'g go for the B+M Ixon IQ.
Overall brightness is abouit the same as the Hope 1, but you get more light on the road and less up in the air.
The Magicshine is the brightest of the lot, but on road light isn't much better than the B+M, and you've the drawback of no spare batteries and dazzling oncoming cyclists (and cars).

Ordering the Magicshine from China takes about 3 weeks, +/- 1 week, or you can order fron UK dealers at about £80 instead of $65 for the light set. Spare batteries are obtainable for the Magicshine. but not at short notice.
The Hope 1 cutout on low batteries means that your rechargeables will last better. If it cuts out on high, you've a fair while on low the get home with.

I ride 22km to work evey morning along unlit country lanes and tracks for 95% of the ride, it is as black as a miners armpit out there.

If it's as black as a miner's armpit, you don't need as good a light as you do when there's light from other traffic etc wrecking your night vision. With no other light, a decent moon is fine to see by.

 

[tincaman]

Get two of these for £60
My link

Then you will have a spare battery and charger