Magicshine Evo 1700 road lights (bit of a review)

I know it was discussed a few weeks back on a thread, but I’ll be damned if I can get the search to work. Anyway, here’s some beam shots.

I was using my phone so couldn’t calibrate it to anything like eyeball sensitivity but in general I’ve been using the lowest dip on good roads, mid dip if there’s potholes and the ‘main’ on mid for twisty lanes.  Both of those look like the max of each beam even though they were actually on minimum.

On the whole the cutoff from the projector lense is very sharp, there’s zero spill above horizontal. And beam width is adequate for road riding of a little tighter than maybe we’re used to from off road lights.

The main beam is still pretty direct, there’s not much spill up into the the sky over the hedges, it just throws the light down the road more.

While there’s definitely no need for more intensity, they do suffer from the usual STVZO problem that when cornering, the beam goes sideways and because it’s pointing down from your bars, actually drops away from where you’re going!  It’s only really an issue on twisty singletrack lanes, but you do need to use the main beams to be able to see round those sort of 90deg bends.

The remote is good once you’ve had some practice. One button is the main beam on max, the other is your last setting. So 99% of the time it’s one click to switch up or down. Where it fails is like most lights there’s loads of “double click for 0.5s and sacrifice a goat” settings as well. Just learn to press it once and wait for the led to dim / ramp up. Start pressing it twice and you’ll end up with a strobe light pointing directly in the driver’s eyes you were trying to dip it for.  It’s OK with thick winter gloves, but not perfect. TBH they could have made it something more tactile like a rocker switch.

On the whole, I’d say it’s the best light for road riding (that isn’t a dynamo)  anywhere even remotely populated. The only setup that might possibly beat it is this + a dedicated wider main beam (with only one mode and a quick on/off switch). Trouble is no one actually seems to make that.

Thanks, been considering one of them. I’m impressed with the Seemee 200 and 300 lights – I use the 300 for commuting, and the 200 as a day light for when out on the road bikes as it’s tiny, but bright. The 300 is a bit bigger.

Busch & Muller make an adaptor that maintains the horizontal cut-off at horizontal. I think it is maybe just a counterweighted pivot.

@thisisnotaspoon

Interesting. After a couple of minor bumps on the way I now have an Evo 1700 with the excellent aluminium Out Front Mount with a Garmin mount on top and Go-Pro mount underneath.

I found the EVO 1700 light very effective, with a good cut off, though I am still practicing using the Remote to get the correct mode/operation. Agree a rocker switch may be better. The main issue I have is, I would like lower power in the daylight flash mode to give a longer run time. If this can be done via the App great. Can you do this?

Other STWers have warned in a thread elsewhere that the App is a bit grim.

Unfortunately I get an error message when I try and download the App about the App software being for an older version of Android. Yet I know others have downloaded the App successfully with the same version of Android, etc.. on their phone. I have tried emptying caches etc.. so I need to sort with Samsung what the issue is.

Minor issue is some gloves catch on the Remote’s velcro, even though I think I installed it the correct way round.

The remote is good once you’ve had some practice. One button is the main beam on max, the other is your last setting. So 99% of the time it’s one click to switch up or down. Where it fails is like most lights there’s loads of “double click for 0.5s and sacrifice a goat” settings as well. Just learn to press it once and wait for the led to dim / ramp up. Start pressing it twice and you’ll end up with a strobe light pointing directly in the driver’s eyes you were trying to dip it for.  It’s OK with thick winter gloves, but not perfect. TBH they could have made it something more tactile like a rocker switch.

This bit interests me, the thing I want (for road riding) is a light with a remote switch, but I just want one button, and two modes (high/low), each press swaps modes like a car. That’s all I want. Can the remote be set-up to work that way? (Via the app)…

I’ve been commuting with one of these for a year or so. during that time I only ever press the one button. Couldn’t actually tell you which one it is now as I have the remote wrapped in tape as the plastic slot for the velcro strap broke (over tightening it swapping between bikes in haste). Anyway. I leave my EVO set too full power all the time. and just use the one button to switch from dip to main (no double click required). Apart from particularly fast descents I very rarely even need to use main beam for more than a few seconds. You honestly get used to the lack of flood lighting when cornering pretty quickly. And if you’re riding familiar routes you really don’t need it. Especially since you’ll generally be travelling slightly slower the tighter a corner is.

I did mess about with the App for the first week or so but found it to be really shit. Just like every magicshine app. But luckily it’s really not needed at all. You can set up the light modes without it. So long as you set up the dip cut to off  low enough that it won’t dazzle oncoming traffic.  Full power all the time isn’t an issue. Using it the way I’ve describe it gives over 3h of runtime and when/if it does run out. it auto switches to low and gives you about another 20mins til it dies completely. If you’re regularly night riding for more than 3 hrs you can just plug a powerbank in via the USB port.

I use a 40 lumen Knog Plus. this: https://www.knog.com/products/plus-front-bike-light as a separate daytime flashing LED. and rather handily found I was able to attach the band holding the magnetic quick release mount to the protruding section of the gopro thumb screw so it sits just above the EVO and below my out front mount and also doesn’t take up any bar space. I also make sure to point it slightly downwards so as not to blind poor **** travelling in the opposite direction. it’s a peeve of mine that tons of **** run lights which are far too **** bright on flash mode or pointed directly ahead. and don’t get me started on fannies running helmet lights on the roads.

Yes. @Cookeaa. That’s exactly how I use mine. and you don’t even need the App to set it up that way

Sweet, that’s nudging me towards one.

@cookeaa If you’re not in a huge hurry for it. they’re around £45 on Alixpress. But obvs less back up if anything goes wrong with it after about 3 months.

eg.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007154918647.html?

I had been watching them on AliExpress as well as the non- Magicshine branded 1600 jobs, which looks very similar(?).

CBL 1600?

Yeah. Next to each other. they’re exactly the same light. Same App/controls/mount/remote etc. can’t be 100% sure but battery life and brightness also seem the same.

 a dedicated wider main beam (with only one mode and a quick on/off switch). Trouble is no one actually seems to make that.

I’ve messed around using a combination of a Supernova Airstream STVZO light and an Exposure Strada with a remote switch as a ‘main beam’. It’s not perfect, the Airstream could do with being, say, 50% brighter and there are a few too many clicks involved with the Exposure – longer press for off, double click for on, one more click from lower to high power if you want it – but it’s a workable compromise given that I already own both lights and the remote.

Ive got a ravemen PR1600 with a remote button, although it looks like its discontinued, the only option being a PR2000. I find the remote button totally user friendly for dip/main beam on the road. I paid around £100 for it last year. Its an extremely well made light with lots of functions, worth a look.

Busch & Muller make an adaptor that maintains the horizontal cut-off at horizontal. I think it is maybe just a counterweighted pivot.

Very cool…

https://www.bumm.de/en/products/kurvenlicht/parent/1/produkt/365.html?

Quite tempted as my commute home has some fast bends where I’m basically riding blind.

Review here: https://ebike-mtb.com/en/busch-mueller-leval-curve-light-test/

Sounds like it might take some work to get it to connect to my Cannondale SmartSence front light..

@gaah

separate daytime flashing LED

I am doing that until/if I can work out how to get the daytime flash on to a lower power.

plastic slot for the velcro strap broke

noted

Agree v easy to switch between main and dipped using just the one button.

My perfect set up was a B&M (not a bargains) front, exposure double ender on lid set to flash to show my distance to drivers and as a back up, exposure tracer on the back and a cheap PX pointing down from the cross bar lighting up the front triangle, bottle and front mech for side visibility, to make me obvious as a bike, and to see stuff. Very dark A road commute.