# MJ-818 3W Tailight



## Chris RX-7 (Sep 22, 2009)

So Geoman is finally rolling out a Magicshine tail light. The specifications on the light list it as a 3 watt light, but what does that mean in terms of lumen output? Well the planet bike super blinky flash runs at ½ watt, so simple mathematics would have one assume that the MJ-818 3W tailight is six times brighter than the SBF... right??? I was on the DiNotte website and found the manufacture lumen rating in their product installation and manuals section. The DiNotte 140R tail light is rated @ 120 lumens, while the DiNotte 400r tail light is rated at 240 lumens. So what lumen rating does 3 watts yield? Another concern is the mounting options. The pictures released so far show a light that would only work on a seat post that sits at 90 degrees with no adjustable mount.


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## gmcttr (Oct 7, 2006)

I think the DiNotte 140R is a 3 watt light.


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## J_Hopper (Mar 5, 2005)

I believe gmcttr is right. The 140R is 3w. I'm hopeful for the new MS tail light, as I have a DiNotte and am considering getting another. That being said, my [limited] understanding of LEDs is that it depends on what the LED is being driven at (ie, what current the battery is allowed to supply the LED by the circuit board) that determines the actual brightness of the light minus a minimal loss from optics.

The bottom line: it sounds like the MS tail light could rival the DiNotte 140L but only if it's done right. Hopefully it'll be competitively priced, but that's yet to be determined.


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## Chris RX-7 (Sep 22, 2009)

It's up on the site for $54.99.
http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=206&zenid=kke8u7ob9k054sklri88ajgc14


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## Chris RX-7 (Sep 22, 2009)

GEOMAN said:


> We haven't been given the lumens data yet as this product is so new, we expect it to be somewhere in the mid 100's lumen wise, it really throws out some light especially when you put it on constant setting.


Looks like the light is targeting the 140R at a fraction of it's price. Someone needs to compare the 140R and the MJ-818 side by side.


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## Tzvia (Sep 7, 2008)

That would be an interesting comparison, the 140r vs the MJ. 

I ordered one yesterday, and am thinking of getting another when they become available as a head only, and using them with the Y cable. Two of them running from a single battery should be a sweet setup, mounted on my rear rack (or one in back, one in front??) First I will see how the single light fares (but I don't have a 140r to compare it with). If it fits my needs as a 'visible in daytime' light, I might even pick up two for use facing the sides, and mount them on the seatstays maybe. We shall see.


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## GTR2ebike (May 3, 2010)

Mine just came Ordered it Friday got it monday! talk about awesome service, Taking pics to post up soon.
Geoman your the best.
First thing I noticed however is there is no button which means no way to tell how much battery life you have.


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## J_Hopper (Mar 5, 2005)

It just occurred to me...

One could get a MS taillight (which includes battery and charger), a Y cable, and the MS900 lighthead all for about $110...

Seems like the taillight and Y cable combined should be in the neighborhood of $20... but it's yet to be determined...


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## bentboy242 (Nov 7, 2009)

what color is this light? anyone compare it to the Dinotte rear lights yet? 
how does it mount?
thanks


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## punkaccountant (Mar 23, 2009)

J_Hopper said:


> It just occurred to me...
> 
> One could get a MS taillight (which includes battery and charger), a Y cable, and the MS900 lighthead all for about $110...
> 
> Seems like the taillight and Y cable combined should be in the neighborhood of $20... but it's yet to be determined...


...or you could just pick up a MS taillight only (w/o battery and charger when it becomes available) and a Y cable if you already have a MS 900. It will be interesting how much the taillight only will sell for.


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## Maximus_XXIV (Jun 7, 2009)

I figure $35 or so for the lighthead. They will price at a premium as that makes business sense.


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## GTR2ebike (May 3, 2010)

Maximus_XXIV said:


> I figure $35 or so for the lighthead. They will price at a premium as that makes business sense.


Way to expensive for just the head. It wouldn't make sense not to get a charger and battery for 20 dollars extra. For just the lighthead to sell it'd have to be priced at 25 max and I think that is still a touch high. If it's super cheap i'm getting a second one


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## bpnic (Aug 14, 2005)

We'll dictate the price. Trust me.


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## Maximus_XXIV (Jun 7, 2009)

Exactly my point! Since when is it not much cheaper to buy the whole package instead of pieces?


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## Maximus_XXIV (Jun 7, 2009)

$29.99 on the site now.

http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=209


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

shame it costs $29,5 extra for shipping to me! 
would love to see some cheaper shipping options, doesn't matter if it takes a little bit longer.....


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## GEOMAN (May 30, 2006)

Yup it's $29.99 with Y-cable and O'rings, Whitedog that sounds like the price to ship to Canada via Express International Mail rather than Priority International Mail



Whitedog1 said:


> shaeme it costs $29,5 extra for shipping to me!
> would love to see some cheaper shipping options, doesn't matter if it takes a little bit longer.....


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

GEOMAN said:


> Yup it's $29.99 with Y-cable and O'rings, Whitedog that sounds like the price to ship to Canada via Express International Mail rather than Priority International Mail


I am from Austria/Europe...... and it is Priority International Mail:eekster:


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## GEOMAN (May 30, 2006)

Sorry Whitedog my mistake :blush: 


Whitedog1 said:


> I am from Austria/Europe...... and it is Priority International Mail:eekster:


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

GEOMAN said:


> Sorry Whitedog my mistake :blush:


no problem :thumbsup: 
do you have plans to allow some other (cheaper) shipping options for us oversees customers? :thumbsup:


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## GEOMAN (May 30, 2006)

We are looking into it Whitedog, the tracking options for the other shipping options are extremely basic and we had poor experiences in the past.



Whitedog1 said:


> no problem :thumbsup:
> do you have plans to allow some other (cheaper) shipping options for us oversees customers? :thumbsup:


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## Chris RX-7 (Sep 22, 2009)

So I received my MJ 818 tail light from Geoman, yesterday and had a chance to mount and play around with it but sadly could not take it out for a ride or shoot any video or photos as I had to work this morning. The light itself is actually quite small and the mounting system on the light does a good job of holding it to a seat post. The only problem that I can see with the light so far is that the mounting system forces the light to be mounted on the same angle of seatpost, however a small piece of thick 3M double sided tape affixed to the bottom of half of the mount has allowed me to mount the light much closer to a 90 degree angle without interfering with security of the mount. As for actual brightness, I don't have a high dollar tail light to test it against, however it does put out way more light than the 3 DX 9 LED and the DX SBF clone combined.


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

Hey Chris, sounds great!!

Has anybody measured the current draw of the taillight?

How long is the runtime with the standard magicshine [email protected],4Ah in steady mode?


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## Chris RX-7 (Sep 22, 2009)

I have yet to open the light up and test it with a volt meter, due to time constrictions and a lack of understanding how to open it. Based on what I've seen I think you have to remove the mount plate to access some other plate to open the light, but I may be wrong. Run time should be pretty high, I'll charge the battery to full when I get a change and just let it run on under a fan on the steady setting to get a run time on the light.


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

I just ordered the MJ-818 from Geoman. I already have a Dinotte 140L light and I'll put up a comparison when the Magicshine has arrived.


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## stingray66 (Oct 2, 2009)

Any News on the M/S tail Light??? I have been waiting to see what the reviews were But there really has not been much So I order one a week ago and still waiting seems like UPS shiping is slow as Heck :madman:


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## tracerprix (Dec 26, 2009)

IT IS AWESOME! Mine was shipped priority mail and it came in 2 days from CO to NY. I was impressed. I am loving the light.


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## baker (Jan 6, 2004)

I used my taillight for the first time last night, in the changing blinkie mode. The cars that passed me from behind gave me a full lane of space. That light demands respect! I ran both my MS900 front light and the taillight off of one battery through the y-cable. Worked fine.


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## stingray66 (Oct 2, 2009)

Just Got mine the light works BUT not the charger there was no lights on the charger when pluged in I just thought it would work but no light. I was going to leave it pluged in to charge the battery > I desided to check the charger with my volt meter The thing is putting out 18.5 volts If I would have left the battery pluged in to charge it might have blew out the battery My other M/s charger is putting out 8.5 volts and the lights work
SOO I just left Geoman an e-mail I know he will make it right


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## Shitbox (Nov 29, 2009)

For those who can't justify the overseas shipping cost, the tail light is now avaliable for Deal Extreme for $57.60USD with free worldwide shipping.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.42077


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

Whitedog1 said:


> Has anybody measured the current draw of the taillight?
> 
> How long is the runtime with the standard magicshine [email protected],4Ah in steady mode?


Are there any answeres to these points out there?


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

I've just measured mine. It pulls 400mA. I have rigged it up with a freshly charged battery in my garage and I'll let it burn until it shuts off. Stay tuned...


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## punkaccountant (Mar 23, 2009)

ragnar.jensen: I'm curious to hear your impressions of the MS taillight compared to your Dinotte 140L. How do they compare and which would you rather have in traffic at night?

Thanks in advance.


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

The Dinotte has a much floodier beam but still manages to be noticeably brighter.
I haven't done any real measurements yet, but eyeballing it I would say the Magicshine going full tilt is about as bright as the Dinotte at Mid power.

That said, the MS is still freakishly bright compared to almost anything else.

I think the MS mounts better if you mount your light on the seatpost. The Dinotte sits on the side of the seatpost and that is not optimal for me, I often rub it with my leg in that case. The MS sits out of the way on the back of the post.
Personally, I have mounted a piece of plastic pipe to the seat rails and put the light on that. It makes it possible to tilt the light up and down and also puts it a couple of inches higher up. The latter point is important to me, since I often have my backpack on my rear rack and it can obscure a post-mounted light.

The difference in visibility from the side is not as big as I would have guessed. The ring of extra LEDs on the MS adds to its sideways visibility, but the Dinotte compensates with its greater brightness. When looked at straight from the side, the MS has a slight edge though.

The MS, having a much smaller housing, gets warmer than the Dinotte. Not scorchingly hot, but still warmer than the more powerful 140. I'm not sure if that has any impact on anything.

Both lights will serve you well in traffic. They both have retina-burning qualities. Motorists react the same regardless of which light I use, i.e. they slow down well in advance and tend to take the other lane when overtaking me. So, in practical use, I see no difference between them.

Verdict:
If money is no object, get the Dinotte.
Best bang for the buck, the MS wins hands-down.

I'll try to do some proper measurements and get some beam shots up real soon...


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

ragnar.jensen said:


> I've just measured mine. It pulls 400mA. I have rigged it up with a freshly charged battery in my garage and I'll let it burn until it shuts off. Stay tuned...


yehaaa
keep us posted!!

Another think which should be known:
Is there any sort of low battery indication/warning? Or does it simply shut off when the battery is empty?


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

Whitedog1 said:


> Another think which should be known:
> Is there any sort of low battery indication/warning? Or does it simply shut off when the battery is empty?


After about nine hours of burning on full, the light switched over to an alternating pattern - the ring lights for five seconds, then a short blink from the main LED, back to the ring for another five seconds and so on. It's been doing that for three hours now.

I have to get to work :madman: and can't keep tabs on it any longer, so I have pulled the plug and will continue the experiment tonight.


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

Ok Nice! Good to know that the light doesn't shut of completely!!

nine Hours - that is some good burn time for a nicht ride ;-) (for me it will probably last 2 or 3 nightrides lol)

still tuned on the final results!


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

Back from work:thumbsup: 
I plugged in the light again and it burned steadily for about a minute before starting the blinking pattern again. This time I was able to observe the switch from steady to blinking when the voltage got low. It actually starts as a high frequency disco-strobe effect and then gradually slows down. After two more hours on the already quite depleted battery the main LED was down to one blink per minute and that was when I pulled the plug. The ring LEDs were still shining, not as bright as before, but still bright enough to be considered a legal taillight here in Sweden.

On a whim, I measured the current draw of the Dinotte light. Quite surprisingly it draws less current than the MS, despite being able to deliver more light.
High: 330 mA
Medium: 170 mA
Low: 95 mA

As every other thread on an Internet forum, this one is worthless without pictures  So, here are some:









This is how I mount my taillights. A plastic pipe, some zip ties and anti-slip tape...









...to make it possible to adjust the tail light up and down.









Both the Dinotte 140 and the MJ-818 are clearly visible in daylight. This is from about 20 yards away.
Dinotte on the left and MJ-818 on the right. The sun is shining directly onto the lights.
This picture is underexposed quite a lot in order to bring out some of the red light.
At normal exposure the camera can't handle the brightness of the lights and they turn out completely white in the picture.
To the naked eye, though, they are both bright (VERY bright!) red and the Dinotte is visibly brighter than the MS.









Setting up for some beam shots. Just for fun I have thrown in a small $9.90 torch, an Ultrafire WF-501B Philips Luxeon K2 Red from Dealextreme.

All I have to do now is wait for it to get dark. Or darkish, really. It's 11 o'clock in the evening and the sun has just set.
This time of year it never gets completely dark here close to the northern polar circle.

Beam shots have never been closer than now


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

*Beamshots!*

I tried using the standard MTBR settings (ISO 100, F4, 6 seconds) but that resulted in massive overexposure. All the pictures of the wall use the same settings, though. ISO 100, F5.6, 1/8 second.

Lights and camera are 180 cm (6') from the wall, which is light grey in colour.
.








Ultrafire WF-501B









Dinotte 140 Low









Dinotte 140 Medium









Dinotte 140 High









Magicshine

The squarish flower pot is 5 meters away.








Ultrafire WF-501B









Dinotte 140 Low









Dinotte 140 Medium









Dinotte 140 High









Magicshine


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## Maximus_XXIV (Jun 7, 2009)

The MS needs some more spread.


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## Whitedog1 (Feb 3, 2009)

Thanks for the great comparison:thumbsup: :thumbsup: 

Seems like the dinotte is brighter and has more flood in the beam than the MS!
But the MS is the best bang for your bucks....and still a lot more brighter than any other (road legal) taillight  

Perhaps the MS don't need a floody beam because the side visibility is given by the extra leds!?


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

Maximus_XXIV said:


> The MS needs some more spread.


I don't think so. Note that the pictures only show the relative differences between the two lights, not their absolute brightnesses.
In real life they are much brighter, but that posed great difficulties in photographing them.
A digital camera reacts totally different to this kind of really bright, red light than we do (clipping in the red channel in techno-speak  )
Our eyes and brains have a much greater dynamic range and adapt all the time to our surroundings.

As an example, a heavily overexposed shot of the Magicshine, that better shows its spread although the center spot is well out of the camera's capability:










And the corresponding Dinotte shot:









Again, neither of the pictures really show what the eye saw.



Whitedog1 said:


> Perhaps the MS don't need a floody beam because the side visibility is given by the extra leds!?


The extra LEDs contribute to the visibility of the light, but they have very little impact on the beam.

The bottom line: the MJ-818 is a very good light, with heaps of brightness and spread and I would recommend it to anyone.
The Dinotte 140 is even better, but that comes at a price.


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## Shitbox (Nov 29, 2009)

Thanks for all the pic's ragnar.jensen :thumbsup: 

Your saddle mount is sweet. Too bad i have a saddle bag. 

I'm disappointed that the Magishine light falls well short of the Dinotte 140 performance. Dinotte still have the brighter 400 version :eekster: 

My light should be delivered from DealExtreme soon. Regardless I’m sure it's still brighter than the usual LED blinkers available from bike stores.


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

Shitbox said:


> ...
> Dinotte still have the brighter 400 version :eekster:


They used to sell the XLS Triple, a 600 lumen taillight. That thing is brutal


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## drsquirrel (Nov 6, 2009)

Thanks for al the info and pictures! 

Like some others my saddle bag becomes an issue for this type of mount.

I wonder if anyone else has any other ideas?


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## rickbike (Aug 14, 2006)

So I'd be interested to know or hear your opinion on the way i made my own rear light with a ms 900 headlight.

Been riding with it for over a year and i know everybody gives me a wide berth.

Basically put a piece of red automotive rear light repair tape and stuck it on the MS900.

The MS 900 already puts out what, 600-700+ lumen, + the tape might decrease that some, so lets say now down to about 500-600 lumens.

How does that relate to the 3W MS taillight and the Dinotte 140 or other high powered rear lights?

Ps. ragnar.jensen i'm going to steal your method rear light mounting =
"A plastic pipe, some zip ties and anti-slip tape..." ! )

pss. yes i cross posted this to another ms rear light thread to get more responses-)


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## ragnar.jensen (Jul 21, 2009)

*The EZ-mount*



drsquirrel said:


> Like some others my saddle bag becomes an issue for this type of mount.
> 
> I wonder if anyone else has any other ideas?


I recently found myself in possession of a new bike.  
It has a saddle bag, so my customary mounting of the taillight using a plastic pipe zip-tied to the saddle rails didn't work. I put my thinking cap on :idea: and came up with this:

In my "Things that are essentially rubbish but might come in handy some day"-box I found the other half of this lock-on grip...









...that I had cut in half to accommodate the length of the Gripshift.

The left-over half of the grip:









I cut the locking part off with a fine-toothed hacksaw...









... and set to work with a round rasp, filing a hole across and halfway through the grip.
I made sure that the shape and size of the hole fit the contours of my seat post.
After trimming off the coarse edges left by the rasp with a sharp hobby knife, I ended up with the finished product:









A plastic pipe, clad in nice, grippy rubber and with a hole in its side.

Using a large o-ring it mounts to the seat post:









For a more permanent mount, you could just zip-tie it in place.

Then the taillight goes on the grip, like so:









Note how the light's o-ring locks the other o-ring in place.
There's no risk of it slipping off even if you cut the pipe quite short.
The pipe in the picture is only 12 mm (1/2") wider than the post.
Also note how the inner o-ring prevents the light's o-ring from slipping in between the pipe and the seat post.
The two o-rings keep each other in place. Nifty, eh? 










Any piece of pipe of the right size would do, you could even use a wooden dowel.
But I choose the grip because of its nice non-slip rubber surface.

So, there you have it. Rock solid, fully adjustable on both axis, easy to make, weighs just a few grams, comes on and off in seconds and it only takes 15 minutes to make one.
I call it the EZ-mount.


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## drsquirrel (Nov 6, 2009)

I think this is the answer most of us are looking for!


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Nicely done! :thumbsup:


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## ctxcrossx (Jan 13, 2004)

That's a great way to mount the light! I ended up mounting the rear light to the bracket for a rear light reflector. This works very well and is easy to adjust in all directions. It allows you to mount it high or low on the post and doesn't interfere with seat bags. It was also a pretty easy mod once the mount was removed from the tail light.

Chris


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## rickbike (Aug 14, 2006)

ingenious ragnar.jensen !!!
"Rock solid, fully adjustable on both axis"

yes this new method gives your left - right adjustment - mmm a wooden dowel you say )


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