Looking at getting a good quality light for night riding. I was going to go for a Hope Vision 4, which I can get for around £210. However having read all the threads, I’m now thinking of getting a couple of 900’s from DX.

Question is, if I have the cash would I be better off spending it on a better quality light OR buy the cheap light and pocket the difference.

Also any one know the current delivery time from DX and do you get hit with VAT or Import duty? Thanks

Had exactly the same question, but ordering the DX lights today, Leadtime appears to be around 7-10 days. Nobody seems to have been charged import duty either. Just can’t justify the additional on Hopes – that’s another new shiney thing saved money wise!

If your going for a light with a better output, then I’d say yes. Unfortunately there aren’t any out there with a hugely better output, that aren’t around £300 or more. That’s a decision only you can make. I do love the magicshine units, and two are great in use IMO, for the budget you cant beat them. That said I do have a small Troutie unit on order, just to annoy the lads I ride with mind

Oh yes 10 working days is around normal, though as everyone posting about them again, they may be backing up a bit. In the 15 or so orders i personnally know of, none were charged VAT or duty on them, also of the hundreds of posters on here, again no ones mentioned being charged extra

Sounds like I will take the punt on the DX lights then….

Which ones though? There seem to be a few different types, which are the newest model?

Stayhigh’s post has what is seemingly the latest version, and the last previously improved model. Though neither seems to include a helmet mount, and the newest one has no helmet mount available on the DX site as of yet, it seems
They also upped the price a bit too.

Aye just on their ordering it now. Is it worth paying extra for EMS Express shipping though?

Ta Z1ppy

your’e not just paying for the product but the aftersales service as well .hope will repair just about anything even if its out of the gaurantee period. My lights stopped working , I posted them in , they fitted a new part and returned them to me free of charge, no hassle.

your’e not just paying for the product but the aftersales service as well .hope will repair just about anything even if its out of the gaurantee period. My lights stopped working , I posted them in , they fitted a new part and returned them to me free of charge, no hassle.

But is it really worth £160 extra for the chance that if it goes wrong after the first year, they might repair it. Whereas the dealextreme ones you only get one year warranty (same thing, you post it back, they post one back out, although I understand they post a new one out as soon as they receive proof of posting of the broken unit, so you don’t have to wait for them to actually fix it).

Joe

I’ve got 2 Exposure lights but having seen the DX lights in action now – I’d have bought them and saved the cash.

Most of the lads I night ride with went with DX lights last year. Not one set survives intact today. Dead batteries, faulty chargers, cracked lenses, etc etc etc.

My Hope 2’s are… oh, maybe 3 years old? And still going as strong as ever.
This is capatalism in 2010. There are NO bargains any more, you just get what you pay for.

My Dx is still going strong !!

The charger was a pile of c@@p but smudge sorted me with a fine replacement.

You can get DX stuff in the UK – a premium on the china price but at least a uk point of contact who I must say are very helpful ! ( and no I don’t have any connection with them)

The new units with the waterproof battery look exceptionally good and it shows how magicshine are upping their game all the time.

joe@brookscycles, hmm no commercial interests then in recommending Hope then at all?
.
If they were so bad why is there not dozen of posts on here complaining about them? I can rememeber two such posts, one complaiing about a broken charger (or 3 if you include Chris above) and one the other day complaining about a bust lamp on arrival, so a huge list of unhappys user?

My Magicshines are nearly 2 years old and still going strong , I’ll definitely be replacing with the newer version when they die!

Ordered a DX (old style lamp, new style battery) a couple of weeks back, e-mail to say its been shipped a couple of days back, must be the tie of year.

z1ppy:
We actually went over the heads of DX and imported our own batch of identicle lights last winter. They sold well, but are now generally falling apart. I try not to recommend products just because I sell them. Actually the reverse is true: I sell products that I believe in and can honestly recommend. Hence no DX-esque Far-Eastern lights at Brooks this winter.

I’ve owned, and enjoyed using, Hope and L&M lights, and therefore they’re the only ones I stock. Other than Giant and Raleigh cheapies.

I got sick of cheap lights, when they work they are great, but breaking mid ride is a mega pain in the butt so went with Exposure Diablo which has been excellent, impossible to over charge, no faffing with wires etc.

That said might get something cheap to go with it, might be a way of getting best of both worlds.

Mental note to self

Never buy anything of Joe at brook

VERY high probability that it will fail !!!

Having been a user of DX products in the past I’ve been very pleased with my Trout LL light. I figured LEDs lights had advanced enough that I wouldn’t feel the need for anything brighter than the LL (2000ish lumens on paper) and the 2 hour on max output was fine for me.

It puts a grin on my face everytime when I fire it up.

Matt

matt.i love that saying(fire it up) 😆
i get the same feeling when i flick on the LL and the baby trout upon my napper….instant daytime again. 😉

…instant daytime again.

you know ………… I don’t think I want daylight when I’m night riding, I actually reduced the lumen count on my bike half way through last season – it was getting silly

my dx still works, sure i had to bodge a new mount, sure i had to repair the cable at the plug end, sure i even had to buy a uk adapter before i could charge it, i even had to wrap the battery in duck tape to give it some weather protection.
but it still works and is a bright light which puts some others to shame and cost a fraction of my shit halogen lights.
i still use 2 fenix lights on my lid and carry spare batterys incase of failiure, light and waterproof, its all a good combo and fenix lights havnt missed a beat

Instant daytime for me too but in the shape of a Luminous 601. Should arrive this week. Got a loan one until it arrives. Very very good light.

Z1ppy.

You really are STW’s premium twankunt. Every fookin light related thread you don’t turn up and spout off about the bastid light.

Like you’re not on commision for all the millions of posts you contribute to, with your one free hand, going on about the bastid light.

My Dx is still going strong !!

The charger was a pile of c@@p but smudge sorted me with a fine replacement.

FFS !. Theres always something wrong with those **** lights. Thank your lucky stars for Smudge, is all I can say.

Tell me one thing, how do you reconcile the fact that you are exploiting chinese workers who earn less than $2 a day, in order that you have you bastid light ?.

Yeah, I know, you’re skint, probably mortgaged to the eyeballs to the point where you can only buy cheap chinese made goods.

Then you harp-on about how clever you are for avoiding import duty.
Oh how wonderful. You exploit low paid workers and avoid paying tax.

You are Phillip Green and I claim my $2

Most of the lads I night ride with went with DX lights last year. Not one set survives intact today. Dead batteries, faulty chargers, cracked lenses, etc etc etc.
Serves them right for believing the myth that £50 gets you years of night riding. Mugs !.

Buy cheap, buy twice !.

Oh and Z1ppy, You can stick your magicshine, when the sun doesn’t !

CC.

im an occasional night biker, not a hardcore, and im more than happy enough with my DX light.
only worry is ive borked it by leaving it on the mantle piece of the summer, but i did fully charge it first, and ive just recharged it and it took 5 mins to top up, so we will see.

worse comes to worst, new battery.

one is more than enough light for me.

Agree with some of the comments about the cheap import lights. While I think Lupine prices are now seen we daft, there are UK lights that will last forever and kick out massive amounts of light for sensible money. I say get in there now before these guys get swamped. Having tested two side by side last week, the Trout LL and the Luminous 601, I can vouch for their massive superiority over naff imported cack.

FFS — So for all our new found experts in UK v imported lights v wherever……

Where do you think the internals come from ???

answer is exactly the same place !!!!! The Far East

only difference is the housing and assembly are made locally !!

so ALL lights have some content of exploited labour.

C_C your a very pooor troll.
No I won’ stop recommending DX on every thread I can (commission LOL), Why? Because it’s a Bargain, and when I see and use a bargain I tell everyone I can, kinda thought that what this place was about.

So SSSSSSSSSSSssssshh now and get back under you bridge.

So then Chris, why do Magicshine lights break down constantly and Brit made lights don’t?

Just had a Fenix TK11 arrive – the latest 285 lumen one. Perfect for a helmet mount! That and the 601 and I shall be Mr Sunshine at night.