What's a lumen, and how much to pay for good lights?

[Motozulu]

Thanks for that - for the price I did'nt expect a lot and if I get a full year out of it for less than £40 I won't grumble - but I might look at getting something a bit better built by then. Seems a key point is to make sure the battery pack is well insulated against the elements? as for the vibration well as you say - build quality and not much can be done. Anyway - thanks again for the feedback.

 

[pshore]

Long term report on my torches ...

P7 is has been through 3 seasons. It has two modes and the least bright one has failed, must be a bad resistor or something.

R6 ? Also 2 and 3 seasons (i upgraded the innards for a tenner). I use this one on the commute because of its tightish spot. Great light for commuting.

T6, 1 season done. Great light, excellent brightness, really happy with it.
I do off-road MTB at Thetford Forest and no experience off-road in a hilly area.

As always, the What Lights thread in the MTB Buying Advice thread on bikeradar is the place to read up on this stuff.

 

[fossyant]

'Genuine' Magicshine T6 MJ-808E year old - still working fine - battery doing 3 hours on max. Just bought diffuser lense for it.

Some older batteries (1st generation 3 years old and just used as a spare) - one failed within a year over summer and one is OK - not holding charge as long as the more regular used battery. I suspect down to not being used/charged much.

Magicshine MJ-818's (rears) - one 3 years old fine, one 2 years old fine - batteries were used as spares for above and I changed to an AA system (home made) for ease.

I've ordered a cheapo 3xT6 head unit for MTB fun - I suspect the battery will die very quick, and if it does I'll move to sorting out a charger and individual 18650 cells to power it using 2 x 2 cell battery packs.

 

[Motozulu]

The T6 is the one on Amazon right? that's the one I'll have a go with - the trails I ride have a lot of vibration so I may get the same problem as Mr Grumpy but we'll see - as ever with the cheaper end of the market it is sometimes a little bit of pot luck. Thanks for the heads up on the what lights thread too.

 

[pshore]

T6 is just the innards, like the LED and maybe a bit of circuitry. It's analogous to the processor chip in your computer. Any manufacturer can build a T6 based light, from a cheap chinese knock off, to Hope and Exposure etc but quality will vary.

 

[Hacienda71]

Just charged my MS mj808 for the first time this year. All working well going in to it's third winter.