Review – Magicshine Monteer 8000 Galaxy you’re never going to need more light!

I’m all for a bit more light for descending but that amount of light just seems ridiculous – does it melt the surrounding trees as you ride past?

I’m still convinced 1600 lumens is the most light needed for descending, but I guess it depends on where and how you ride – certainly there was an arms race to get brighter so your mates don’t get you riding in a shadow, but it seems we have gone to the extreme end of the mental stakes with something that bright…each to their own but that isn’t appealing for night riding for me, just far too bright.

Something that bright should only last about 1 hour unless battery technology can now be focussed on and get improved burn times without larger batteries – definitely not an easy thing to crack.

Just seems mental to me that people think they need something that bright for night riding – even in some thick wooded areas with a reasonably gradient and technical stuff, I’m genuinely unsure why that would be required.

Wait till you get to my age Dick! I was perfectly happy with 1600 lm up until last year when I found myself struggling ever more to see where I waqs heading. I have just bought the Magishine 6500 and it is great. On low power it is about the same brightness as my old lamp on half power and will last for about 6 hours or more like that. No idea how long ludicrous mode lasts but the other night we did 2.5 hours, of which about 30 minutes were on full power and it didn’t even use one of the 3 bars on the LED battery indicator.

Something that bright should only last about 1 hour unless battery technology can now be focussed on and get improved burn times without larger batteries – definitely not an easy thing to crack.

The middle ground should actually increase quicker than the ludicrous mode’s if all else was equal.

If you look through the samsung battery specs they’ll offer different 18650’s for different applications. Some will have higher storage capacities, others will have higher current capacities. So the super bright lights will suffer a bit with lower battery capacities as they draw more current.

The flipside to that is it’s been a while since I bought loose batteries for lights, it’s possibly the case that even high storage capacity batteries can deliver sufficient current for these light now. Or that companies only produce one battery pack to cover all bases.

How old is that? My fear is it isn’t as far away as either of us think! 😉

I’m still rocking the Light & Motion Seca 900 Race Ultra – that apparently will run for about 4 hours on full beam – admittedly 900 lumens, but the light spread is fantastically usable and works very well. I have started riding faster so also have a helmet light that is about the same brightness (actually might be 1200 lumens), but combined they are great.

I’ve got a Halfords 1600 light but find full brightness is just too bright and everything just flares so you don’t see any detail.

I’m all for technological improvements, but I also appear to be set in my ways and find brightness is only usable if it doesn’t flare and I seem to be finding 1600+ doing that far too much.

Anyway, enough of my grumblings…what is the age difference so I can see how old my grumping makes me sound! 😉

I will be 55 shortly, but have suffered with pretty poor eyesight all my life.

No mention of the fact that you have to cycle through all of the settings to go up to a higher beam? I.e you’re just about to drop off a nice descent and have got to toggle through the low settings and flashing setting to get to high beam.

thegeneralist
Full Member

Anyway, I’m clearly in the minority, so it appears the manufacturers are correct in thinking most people do short night rides.

I think you’re missing the point a little, it’s not “short night rides”, it’s just “doesn’t need to be on high power”. Yes it’s 2 hours on “mid”, but it has a mid setting that is still stronger than a lot of lights’ high setting. When in mid it’s probably brighter than both of my lights on full power, combined, for perspective and they’re perfectly good lights that I’ve raced downhill with. And even Low is a useful trail light unlike older lights where it was more or less fire road/get me home.

IMO the switching on these isn’t clever though, it’d be great to have MAX POWAH mode as a seperate button press. Cycling switches kind of suck at the best of time but when the top mode is so atomic I just wouldn’t want to cycle past it to mid or low, I’d just want to switch it on for dh sections.

The V2 has a remote with 2 buttons, one to toggle through settings, one to jump straight to full power (and then back to previous setting).

Ah that’s exactly what I was hoping for, cheers!

Yup, that’s good to know.

MONTEER 8000S GALAXY V2.0 Remote Version

I think some are missing the point and focusing too much on the headline output. I bought the 6500 and the ability to run at around 2000lumens for a claimed 7hrs was what sealed the deal. Most 2000 lumen lights have a run time of 1.5-2hrs.

I think some are missing the point and focusing too much on the headline output. I bought the 6500 and the ability to run at around 2000lumens for a claimed 7hrs was what sealed the deal. Most 2000 lumen lights have a run time of 1.5-2hrs.

I think in some ways the 6500 is the better option for respectable run time vs light output. I’m very tempted by one.

I had the 3500 for a few months and the light itself was very good (toggle issue aside, which now seems to be fixed with that remote up there.).

Just couldn’t like the separate battery though. It’s a great battery, but it just gets in the way, as do the cables.

Went back to Exposure.

Good evening
My Names Nick im the UK distributor for Magicshine UK. I apprecaite all your feedback, Im a Through and Through Mtber myself, I took over last year with NO experince, I just have a massive passion for riding bikes.. its been a steep learning curve but were getting there. Im happy to take on any of you suggestions and pass to the manufacture.

Magic Shine – in my opinion are not worth the money. I am sorry to say that I disagree with this review. I purchased a Magic Shine light 2021 after the previous top marks review. they last for a just over a year, when they failed due to a common issue, the cable from the battery to the light. I sent it back, they said yes its a common problem. Then after a month it failed again, they have then since never responded to my emails. I recently ordered another cable which arrived with an exposed part of the cable I sent them pictures and no response. The light is no longer used.They were an amazing light at first, so if you are testing them on straight out of the box, they would be impressive, but spending over £300 now £400 I would expect the more last more than a 12 months+ These lights due to the expense need to be on a long term test to show their property quality and reliability, also after sales is important, I am not a professional rider or access to abundance of cash, but i feel strongly about being mis led. And think they are not in the same league as other brands.

Hi,

If you would like to send the light to me I can see if I can fix/modify it to see if I can get it working again for you. I have managed to fix quite a few MS lights/batteries and would be a shame if it can no longer be used by you.
I cannot promise anything, but for the initial cost of sending it to me. If so, please ping me an email. Thank you.

Assume this is the brittle inner cable insulation cracking and causing short circuit and the battery going into protection mode until plugged back into the charger to reset.

On my 3rd removable battery cable and second head unit here. Managed to warranty the cable which went first, then the head unit which went something like 6 months later – luckily manufacturer had increased the warranty period which I had to ask the distributor about as they initially said it was out of warranty. Latest cable is purchased but have also cut out the offending section of the failed cable and soldered so have a spare.

I’ve seen a thread somewhere else showing the head unit opened up so at least that section of cable should be able to be replaced at some point, but the bullet connection may be a pain to replicate.

I’ve asked last time if the manufacturers are aware and if they have plans to change the specification of the cable but had no response.

Disappointed to say that I have this same cable issue with mine. Emailed the manufacturer and was told to jog on because I was a few months out of warranty. I guess I’m buying a new cable.