Crap?

I bought a set where only 1 of the LEDs worked.
The other 9 sets I bought were all fine, and the faulty one is being replaced.

Battery on mine is rubbish, but seemingly I’m in a minority (heard of two others, on this and other forums), I don’t see it as world ending, and couldn’t be bothered to send it back…

Yeh, Ive had quite a few. Although they were all bought a few years ago, perhaps when the cheap light trend was just starting? Maybe the QC is better now. But I had at least one torch with a dodgy tail switch and a bike light that cut out on me whilst I was cycling down the road in the dark. Both were very cheap though. The magicshine stuff seems pretty good.

Bought 1 set with a crap battery.
Shop had gone bust so had to buy another.

The bar mounts can be a bit crap.
Had to superglue both of ours back together.

I thought the old XML-powered Bastid was pretty poor, I know a lot of people are happy with them but the beam pattern combined with the high power was just ropey. Sold mine and went back to an older, lower powered P7 light- less light, but better applied.

Oh, and the supercheap 3xXML unit I got last year is just ropey. Cheaply made, terrible modes (Why have 3 leds and never run all 3 at full power?)

Yes, cheap ebay 1000 lumen one, the cable and connectors are crap quality and so is the battery pouch, its for my commuter but have just ordered some new silicone cable and decent connectors to replace it.

Oh, yes so was the bar mount but at £17 delivered from china i wasn’t expecting much…..

Yep, 1 x £28 1000 Lumen DX special, 3 rides then the 4th with one hour in and pfffftt – gone.

I thought the old XML-powered Bastid was pretty poor, I know a lot of people are happy with them but the beam pattern combined with the high power was just ropey. Sold mine and went back to an older, lower powered P7 light- less light, but better applied.

+1 I found the same, I much preferred the beam from my 1st P7 Bastid to the current XML ones in pretty much the same housings. It may be in part due to the reflector though, the P7 one used an “Orange peel” finish one and every XML I’ve had so far has used a Smooth finish reflector.

Other known issues:

Modes are a bugger IMO, I’ve got one XML that came with 3 steady modes (HI/Mid/Low) all of the others seem to have a Hi/Low/Strobe, the strobe mode serves no use other than to blind/annoy drivers.

Chargers: I’ve had 2 go pop now, that’s OK, I can’t say I wasn’t warned TBH and special arrangements are made when charging to minimize the fire risk… But it would be nice if they weren’t quite so deadly.

Battery water-proofing: Easy enough to deal with just another minor shortcoming.

I am awaiting the arrival of my SS X2, I’ve resisted the urge to order a 2nd light head until I see how well the first one performs, from interweb mutterings I’m expecting a reasonable light with apparently awful run time, but it’ll probably go on my lid and be used sporadically, so this may not be such an issue really, and I’ve got a few spare batteries now.

The light I really want they don’t quite do yet:

I want to be able to simply toggle modes between a simple ‘High’ and ‘Low’, no cycling through off and especially not ‘Strobe’, you could just disconnect the battery to turn it off TBH.
I’d like a remote switch on a flying lead, too so I can position it right next to my grip and not have to worry about nudging the light out of position or taking my hand off the grip when changing modes.
I want a good diffuse light pattern for the bars and a slightly tighter spot for my noggin.
and I want plenty of run time from a light on my bars (not so worried about run time from a helmet light).

Oh and a charger that is safe….
Oh and no increase in price….

And the moon on a stick… please.

There are some aspects of some of them that are crap.
The battery pouches are crap
The beam pattern on the single XML is too narrow

These have required a bit of modding on mine, which I enjoy and expected, but otherwise they’ve been used every dark Thursday night for the past 3 years without incident.

I’ve been running £30 Dealextreme 1100 lumens lights for 2 years with no bother

Yup, the beam is a bit narrow and the pouch isn’t great, but they haven’t let me down, will run for 3 hours on full or 6 hours on low

Spot on – no complaints

I even whacked one hard enough on a tree last week to break the rubber ring holding it to my helmet and it was fine

I really don’t understand why people pay £400 for a set…

I had one of the first magicshine batches which was fantastic, battery died though so I need a new battery pack. I bought another one and it wasn’t great, used to cut out if it wasn’t super cold and had no charge indicator on it. And then the battery died on that one too.

Torches have been more reliable. Just need to be tightened down properly and different torches like different cells.

I have the SSX2 and after one use it will not turn on. 😡
The lights on the back are on, but the switch does not turn the light on.

I wouldn’t spend £100s on Exposure or Lupine etc., nor would I spend £28 on some chrap (Chinese crap). Why scrimp on the one thing lighting your way on the trails?

MTB’s Lumenator has served me very well for less than £130.

Depends what you mean by crap.

I bought the SS X2 last week. I checked it worked and then took it apart. It’s the first high-power LED light I’ve bought (I’ve made numerous others over the years).

First thing that struck me was the lack of a decent thermal path, so I spent some time getting thermal paste into the gap around the back of the LED and the housing. I thought that the need to do this was a bit crap, but otherwise I’m happy with what I got for the price.