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magicshine XM-L

31K views 147 replies 36 participants last post by  starthere 
#1 · (Edited)
has anyone tried one of these yet ? looks like it would be good on the helmet . defiantly got a hot spot I'm thinking with one of Robs lenses it would be really good.
http://bikeempowerment.com/Magicshine.html
 
#125 · (Edited)
So you used only a helmet light no light on the bars? Hummmm These lights are extremely spotty and the spill does not give out to much light. but realistically that bright spot reaches way past 100 yards. :) sounds like you need a good flood on the bars. with the simple mods I did above fills in that spill so you can see every feature 10 to 60 ft in front of your bike but also it reaches a good 75 yards. pair that with the spot on the helmet and you don't miss much.

in this picture is the stock XM-L you see the first tree is about 30 feet away then there is a dead area until you get to around 50 then its all hotspot each one of these orange trees are at least 20 feet wide and have a couple of feet between them so as you can see its plenty bright way out there but lacking up close, these pics were taken with the lights angled to demonstrate their maximum throw, and if you were pointing it down closer in front of you of course its going to light up were ever you look.


Pair that with something like this to light up everything up close and I cant out run it.
 
#127 ·
I bought two. One for my Son and one for me. After trying the one on helmet one on bars approach (These are my first REAL bike lights) I can see I am going to have to buy two more. I'm trying to wait for the next gen. and see what that brings. Anyone know???
 
#129 ·
I got my MS XML lighthead last week. Mounted it to my bars and mounted my original MS (900 LM) to my helmet. I could not beleive how much brighter the XML was! Running both sets made a huge difference in visibility and peripheral vision. I don't know how I rode with just one light before.
 
#131 ·
When I use these light for a ride and use only a fraction of the battery energy, do I have to completely use up or drain all the battery power before charging it? I am worried that the battery will not last long or will get damaged if I charge it after every ride. Is there some kind of memory effect when charging these batteries? Do you recommend waiting until the battery is completely drained before charging again, or is it ok to charge after every ride? Please let me know. Thanks.
 
#133 ·
According to Battery University, with Li-ion cells it is better NOT to discharge the battery to it's lowest levels. Doing so ages the battery faster. Unless you're using the battery every day though it probably won't make a big difference. I charge mine the day before I ride. Sometimes I'll wait till after two rides are in if the rides are shorter. If you're into longer rides: better to have more juice and not need it than to need more juice and not have it.
 
#138 ·
mb323323 -> adapter
think dinotte, has a Y-adapter, should work, might need to cut some rubber to make the MS fit.
otherwise, give me a buzz/email, use contact info,...
for Rakuman, super neat, cool beans, send me pic of all the batteries, you use.
have a Genie in a bottle, what whispered, 3 wishes, to play transformer with those juice cells.
needs to be tested in the wet and mud. have not been riding lately , due health,
so everything LE/LA, limited edition/limited availability.
cheers, Rob
 
#142 ·
You have to sand blast for this to work, I am a Glass artist and If you have ever seen sandblasted clear glass with a light behind it you will notice the frosted part seems to glow and what makes it glow so intensely is by blasting the glass you are make little miniature refractory points imagine a million microscopic mirrors and with a light source is applied it lights up..
The one thing the XM-L lacks is intense spill, so my theory was the edges of the reflector is basically wasted so what if we had microscopic mirrors that will catch the light and bounce it back to the reflector which in turn bounces to the other side of the reflector over and over again eventually exiting the front as more light in the spill.
My experment concluded that if you want mass flood blast it with the solid ring but you will lose throw. and it you want some flood + almost maximum throw use the pet screen ring what that does is let more light thru in turn more throw:thumbsup:
Im not using any of these lense since I got a MJ872, mass flood:thumbsup: then a put a XM-L next to it for maximum throw:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
#143 ·
Ahh, I see. I just got one of the Magicshine XML's that have a perfectly smooth reflector. It's like the ultimate spot beam for long distance but lacks spill. I'm trying to come up with a way to easily jerry rig it. I have a few weeks to figure it out before the days get short enough to really start using the light religiously.
 
#145 ·
I've had excellent results using the action wide angle lens on ebay. It more than doubles the width of the beam with only minor reductions in throw and intensity (20% is my estimate) and it also flattens the beam on the top so there's less light spill going up in the air where it's not usable to you and it's less annoying to on comming traffic (I haven't had one car flash it's brights at me or any bad comments from pedestrians or other cyclists since I installed this lens). It's not as pretty as Rakuman's custom optics though.
Rakuman I got an idea looking at you optics. I noticed you used a symetrical pattern which should widen the beam in every direction. I would think that if you only modified the sections that widen the beam side to side and down you should get the same flood and retain more of the throw. It might not make a huge difference but every little bit helps.
 
#146 ·
I tried that didn't work! if I remember right I tried leaving the top and bottom of the ring clear and it kind of lost the flood effect I think because seeing it is round it needs to bounce off every angle of the reflector to increase the spill brightness, This does not make the spill wider it just makes it brighter much brighter.
I have tried those ones off ebay and they seem to work great ,
didnt take it on the trail thou, the day it came in the mail, so did my MJ872 after that I retired my experimenting with XM-Ls they were kind of a moot point compared to all that flood..:thumbsup:
 
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