Magicshine MJ-816E Bike Lights

Its not often that I get approached to review a product, but when I do, I definitely jump at the chance! So, when I was asked to review some MJ-816E bike lights by Magicshine, I said Yes Please! By chance, the retailer was also a Northampton based company, and the local connection made it all the better.

I had some definite plans of how I wanted to review this light, involving a lengthy night time ride and other such things. As you will read, this didn't exactly happen, but the lights certainly had a good run out regardless!

I was sent some Magicshine MJ-816E to review as pictured above, and they arrived well packaged and promptly via Royal Mail (in fact, they arrived a mere 16 hours after I agreed to do the review!). When I opened the box, my first reaction was “Wow!” There seemed so much in there, and it was only at that point that I realised what exactly I had been sent. With its solid looking rechargeable battery unit, this was a light unlike anything else I had used. In the past, I had used bike lights to be seen by, but this was a bike light to see by – I hope you appreciate the difference.

It arrived with a certain amount of charge already in the battery, and so human nature led me to test it in my office at work to begin with. Pretty unscientifically, it involved me turning it on and pointing it at people when they walked in, whereby the most common reaction was “what the f***, that's bright. I have black bits floating in front of my eyes.” Kids, don't try that at home!

The next stage of me testing the Magicshine MJ-816E out, was to recharge it fully. Now, this took about 1.5 hours, but as it already had some charge in there, I couldn't say how long it would take to fully charge from flat. I guess it might be double this, but as I normally recharge things overnight whilst I sleep, recharge times of less than 5 hours have never really bothered me anyway.

Once it was recharged, I had then planned to test it out on the bike. Well, the weather had been terrible for the last few days, and I mean REALLY terrible. The so called drought announcement had brought along a seemingly never ending week of rain, and in fact, certain parts of Northampton were close to flooding. Call me a wimp, but this was not pleasant cycling weather, and so I dodged a day, waiting for the rain to stop.

It was during me dodging it, that the Magicshine MJ-816E got a rather unique test. At about 23.00 there was a power cut, and whilst most sensible people would be heading to bed at that time, I am not most sensible people! For the next hour, the bike lights got their best test, as I checked the fuse box, made a coffee on my gas hob, switched my laptop on with battery, and connected to the internet via my mobile phone – That's the modern way to cope with a power cut!

The Magicshine Mj-816E bike lights lasted at their very strongest setting for a good hour. After this point, the brightness of the light understandably dimmed, but it was still shinning strong enough to light up my home office area comfortably. I dare say, that if I had used the lights on the lower setting (the sidelights only rather than all three), then they would have lasted a lot longer.

So, whilst I didn't test them out on the road, here is my opinion about them, listed as a pro's and con's, and followed by my own personal opinion.

Pro's

Incredibly bright lights. They will fully illuminate a wide stretch of road, or serve as an excellent way of lighting up a room in a power cut!

Rechargeable – The lithium/Lion battery thing is recharged by the mains, saving on battery costs.

The little on off switch goes through different colour stages depending on what battery level there is. This is a lovely little touch that lets you know how much battery is left.

Con's

The whole unit of battery and light is heavier than normal.

Battery life – The battery life of this model is not superb, probably lasting only the equivalent of one days commute to and from work during the winter. Not a big deal as it can be recharged overnight, but worth mentioning.

My thoughts on the Magicshine MJ-816E

This piece of kit is probably best suited for people who are looking at wanting to go on cycle rides during the winter, and don't want to worry about what will happen if it gets dark too quickly. The hours bright light is more than good enough for riding through forests or down dirt tracks to get back to base, and the remainder light as it goes dimmer, adequate for riding on the roads or pavements back home. The light is also well suited for getting to and from work during the winter if roads do not have brilliant lighting, as long as it is recharged every day or two.

From my point of view, the Magicshine MJ-816E proved very handy in a power cut! From now on, if it's not on my bike, it will be somewhere I can lay my hands on it quickly in an emergency!

Thank you very much Magicshine for giving me one of your products to review . If you would like me to review a cycling, camping or electronic product related to travel, then please drop me a line at dave (at) davestravelpages.com

Altura Classic Crochet Mitts

I am buying bits of various cycling gear in preparation for my next cycling expedition, and my latest purchase was a pair of cycling gloves in the form of some Altura Classic Crochet Mitts. I bought these through Wiggle, and they cost £15.29. Below, you can find the pictures of them.

I bought them in a size large, which in hindsight is possibly a little small for my hand, although not uncomfortably so. They are tan in colour, and have really well padded palms. Its most unique feature though, is the crochet sections on the back of the hands. This lets air flow come through, and also, makes it look that little bit different.

I took them out on a 60km ride today, and they were great, with my palm not becoming too sweaty. What i would say though, is the nice tan colour is probably not going to last that way for very long! All in all though, they are a good pair of gloves which should last a long time.

The Top 50 Travel Subjects

This is a page in development. As the keen observer may notice, none of these subjects link anywhere yet, and there is not 50 of them either! However, it is something I will be working on over the course of time as part of a long term strategy for the website. I would like to turn it more into a travel information site, and it seems these subjects would be a good place to start. this page will eventually be on the front. I will keep the travelogue going of course, but i feel that i will get more page views if I write and optimise around the travel subjects below.

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