Lights choice – Hope R4 or Magicshine 3500?

My (really) old light setup has died and I’m trying to decide between the Hope which is a known quality brand or the newer Magicshine which is more powerful. It has a Garmin mount so I could get a clamp to replace the strap to give a secure mounting.

Any experiences?

I have an old Hope R4+ – whilst it’s a decent light, beatifully made and perfectly adequate, it’s not up there with the competition for light output these days.

It’s now a backup light for me and I’m firmly in the USE Exposure camp (Maxx D & Joystick)

I have an R4 which i really like. No experience of the Magicshine for comparison mind you.

I have hope lights which have lasted years, and every time a connector breaks I send them off and they get fixed, amazing

My dad has a set of magic shine lights for commuting that are similar power to my hope R4+, but his are 12years old and still uses them every winter,

Who ever has the best deal at the time

I’m about to replace my ancient Hope HID light with a R4. More than enough output for my needs and it supports Hope who are the good guys.

Although I’m going to have a go at re-celling the battery packs on the HID, just to see if I can.

@bigblackshed mtbbatteries.co.uk will do that for you without risking you house going up in flames.

Personally I don’t subscribe to lighting the whole forest (rally style) for night riding and think both of those OTT. Again I am a big fan of Exposures lights as a like self contained units, but not everyone has that budget, so I’d suggest the Magicshine RN3000 or the Halford Advances lights as a bar light and something else (max aprox 100g) for the helmet

I have had Hope lights for about 15 years, currently have 2 R2’s, 2 very old Vision4s (over 10 years and still work!) and 2 rear light Districts.

Hope lights have been very dependable, need only one type of battery – which I have several of, the new ones have a gauge that tells you the remaining charge with LEDs with a button press.

I have had only one light fail, old Vision4 – and Hope fixed it free of charge even thou it was 5 years old at the time. Cord got broken inside the head unit – but they replaced cord, button, PCB and LEDs and charged me nothing. I still have that repaired light in use!

So I have been very, very happy with the lights, and I have used them in severe conditions – freezing weather down to -25 C, as well as pouring rain etc. Will get Hope in the future too.

Big issue for me is also that I want to support companies that are not chinese. I prefer to get stuff that is made well, durable, and can be repaired and has a working warranty. Hope certainly ticks these boxes. They also sent me 2 lenses for the rear light, when I cracked a lens – I think a rock hit the head unit. Was easy to swap the lens at home.

I have had the Magic shine for two years and it has been excellent. My only criticism is that it has a lot of modes and remembering which comes next stretches my ape brain

nwgiles
Full Member

I have hope lights which have lasted years, and every time a connector breaks I send them off and they get fixed, amazing

Hope in a nutshell, their lights all have weak connectors and inadequate strain protection on the cables so they break when they shouldn’t, and then we say “hurrah” when they fix the thing that shouldn’t have broken 🙂

Exposure+STW members discount.

Hope in a nutshell, their lights all have weak connectors and inadequate strain protection on the cables so they break when they shouldn’t, and then we say “hurrah” when they fix the thing that shouldn’t have broken 🙂

Strange – I’ve always thought the Hope connectors were quite robust

Hope in a nutshell, their lights all have weak connectors and inadequate strain protection on the cables so they break when they shouldn’t, and then we say “hurrah” when they fix the thing that shouldn’t have broken 🙂

@northwind – 100% agree and I am also very hamfisted, I leave them attached and they dangle by just the connects etc, but the fact that they will fix it despite the age of the product, where as a lot of companies wouldn’t is definitely something worth highlighting

Bitd Hope did repeatedly fix for free a light up until it was a different problem – circuit board something then I was charged at cost due to component shortages. Not much though.

But for uk made, durable and well supported lights, look at Four4th. Bomber lights and very bright. Might be over budget though.

I though that the market for lights will a separate batery was virtually dead these days  . All in one units like exposure and Lezyne are far easier to use and do away with the weak spot that is the cable joining point .

Which one supports the British economy more ?

That one.

(Yep I have an old 1st gen Vision4, and a newer R4. Oh and a 1st gen R2. All still work.

The R2 must be  closing in on 20 years old now (bought it when I did the 1st edition on the Bontrager 24/12 when it was in the Cotswolds near the Country file ginger farmer’s place). Now cascaded to the road bike and commuter Brompton use.