I recently bought the 1200 lumen xml light from MTB Batteries then everyone started with the ‘you can get em off eBay direct from China for less’ mantra. So I bought one to see.

Differences:

The eBay one comes in a plain box with charger, battery, headstrap, cable and rubber mounting bands. The MTBB one has the same contents though in a nicer box.

The eBay one has a US charger with an adapter. The MTBB one has a UK charger.

The battery pack in the eBay one is in a cordura bag, the MTBB bag is similar though better made and the batteries are in a nice waterproof rubber johny as well. The power packs themselves look very similar.

The power connectors on the MTBB one click and lock in place, the eBay ones do not.

The head units are similar. The MTBB one has a nicer finish.

The beams are similar in power though the eBay one has a very small central hotspot whilst the MTBB one has a slightly wider beam and is less hot spoty. Both have 3 power modes though the MTBB one has an additional flash mode. Both produce lots of light. I can light up the cock that sits on top of the abbey accross the street from me, maybe 120 metres away (special new scientific benchmark – cock illumination 🙂 ).

I haven’t run them side by side yet to guage relative battery life.

Conclusion? For an extra £70 you get a nicer head unit with a better beam, better quality anicilaries and a UK charger (as in 3 pin rather than 2, the body of the charger looks the same). You also get a UK guarantee and get to deal with Smudge.

I’m happy with both purchases and will probably use the eBay unit as a helmet light as it’s more of a tight spot and the MTBB one on the bars for wider trail lighting.

Any questions, shout away.

plus you get the quality control that smudge has ensured, which is something that a lot of Chinese made stuff seems to lack.

Hmm bought a chinese 1200 lumen light as a trial a few months ago, nice head unit, charger and battery but I think most of the 1200 lumen’s makes its way into some parallel universe because my old hope HiD and Mrs Ming’s 2 led Hope both slaughter it on performance so it’s been relegated to dog walking duties.

Next time fork out the readies and buy Smudge or Trout, lesson learnt.

Which one on ebay?

Smudge sends his lights out in days and if there is a problem sorts it the next day ,lights use connections and batteries and components, that we then take in the woods and on the moors in all weather ,they will go wrong ?and smudge WILL repair quickly and you are supporting another biker and thats all.

I was going to buy Smudge’s V1 as I wanted the awesome after service he has offered so many on here before. I opted, after my first DX light, to buy an eBay one for £30 – see HERE mainly as I wanted another to match the existing. As you said it came in a plain box but I did get a UK charger. For the price of a V1 I could buy 2 of these. For £30 I wouldn’t worry if an element went wrong as I could replace it and would have spares for the future. AS for speed of delivery, it arrived within 2 day.

The beam pattern of the cheapo XML lights is really pretty poor- I didn’t rate mine, I’d sooner have an old P7 Bastid, much less light but more usable.

Buuuut… That doesn’t make the Smudge V2 great value- at the price, it’s not competing with cheapo chinese lights, it’s getting into the same ballpark as the excellent Magicshine MJ-872, and tbh there’s no contest there. And then a little more money gets you a Smudge Lumenator or similiar

Have also brought one off ebay from a uk supplier with UK charger.
As have my riding buddies.
Have fitted universal Hope bracket and wide angle lens.
Not expecting it to last forever and may still get my Vision 2 upgraded by Troutie.

Dave – is that the £8 one from CRC?

For me the MJ-872 is all the light I need at a good price. The folk who spend £150+ on a light must be mad.