MagicshineBike Light RN 1200, CREE LED, IPX7, 4000mAh Battery Type-C Reverse Charging, Powerful Bike Headlight Compatible with: Mountain, Kids, Street

This one will be a little long winded, I'll include a TLDR below. I am posting this same review across all the products I purchased because I think it applies to all and could be helpful for anyone looking at a light setup for night rides.I am a regular trail rider in the southeastern US, and spend about 4 - 8 hours on the trails each week. With the time change recently and winter coming I needed some good lights to continue my after work rides. I always have at least one if not two people riding with me and we are usually cruising pretty fast, hitting jumps and berms. So a solid lighting solution was very important for me so that I could continue to ride at the speeds I enjoy. There is a lot of info out there about lights and even more product options to choose from, some are good some are crap, some are cheap some are expensive. What the heck should I buy?! This is my first foray into night riding so someone whos been doing it for years may have a different opinion. My overall budget was $200 but I was hoping to land closer to $150 all in. So anyway, that's my use case, onto the products...I purchased two niterider "all in one" lights, the product I purchased was the Lumina 900 but I got a 1000 and 1100 in the mail. The packaging was still for the 900 but the lights were more powerful than what was listed on the packaging, SWEET! I also purchased a Magicshine MJ 900S, the "remote lamp" style where the battery pack fastens to the frame while the emitter is mounted on the bars. Additionally, I purchased an RN1200 from Magicshine. I purchased all these lights as I tested and learned more about my use case and preference. When I started I didn't really know what I would prefer and what the best products were for my riding style. So if you are like me and want good light setup to go fast in the pitch black here is what I would suggest based on my experience thus far.For the bars a powerful light with both flood pattern and a good spot beam is ideal. This provides a long throw for the fast sections and some side throw for situational awareness. This light is going to need a lot of power so the "remote lamp" style is nice because the battery can be larger without adding a ton of weight to the emitter itself making it jiggle around on the bars. For this the MJ900s worked very well for me.For the helmet an "all in one" unit with ONLY a spot beam was my choice. Since the helmet mounted light is always pointed in the same direction you are looking there is not much need for any side throw, and instead a focus on a good spot beam was my preference. This allows you to look through the tight turns and spot you landing on jumps when your bar light is still pointed upwards at the trees, doing you no good. The RN1200 is my choice for this use case, narrowly beating out the Niterider 1100 boost.Overall my thoughts on the units I tested are this:Niterider 900: I did not receive one but based on the performance of the 1000 and 1100 I received instead I can say confidently the 900 is only good for on road activities. The mount is okay, but proprietary (boo!)Niterider 1000: a decent light, but not powerful enough for fast trail riding, color isn't the best, and would prefer type C charging. The mount is okay, but proprietary (boo!)Niterider 1100: a good light, powerful enough for night riding, color is good, beam pattern is good, but would prefer a type C charger and longer battery life. The mount is okay, but proprietary (boo!)Magicshine RN1200: a very good light, powerful, decent beam pattern, good color that is great for night rides, has type C, and a long batter life. The mount is good, holds tight and compatible with GoPro or Garmin style.Maigcshine MJ900s: a good light (not sure how it compares to other "remote lamp" styles thought) very powerful, decent beam pattern, okay color, good battery life, would prefer type C charging. The mount is good, holds tight and compatible with GoPro or Garmin style.TLDR: Overall Niterider has a better beam pattern, and depending on the model the color can be better as well. But Magicshine outperforms on features and battery life. Longevity is unknown as I've only used them for a few rides. For what its worth, I opened up a Niterider and the battery would be super easy to replace for a mechanically inclined person. Repairability is a selling point to me so I wanted to check that, I have not opened a Magicshine so we'll see on those.

Update, I compared the Olight RN 1500 as well at the end of this review.I can compare it to my other light, Fenix BC35R. The BC35R is an impressive light. I did a lot of research when I bought it, most important feature being the non-glare optics. And it's got a great beam pattern. It's doesn't have a razor sharp cutoff like a factory HID or LED on new cars, but it's good enough to not piss off other pedestrians and cars.But it doesn't throw very far. It's rated at 1800 lumen, 5367cd or 146m, on Burst mode but as it sounds, it's only a momentary mode and you can't ride with it for more than a few seconds, and you can't even access it without using the wired remote control. Although it is nice to have that control as I'll explain later.Instead, with the BC35R, the best you can do is ride on what they call Turbo. I've had it step down from Turbo to High once on a warm night when I wasn't riding very fast so I presume Turbo is a fitting name. But generally, I can ride on Turbo for at least an hour and a half which is my typical night ride usage. But on Turbo, it's rated at 1000 lumen, 3542cd or 119m. And sometimes when I'm riding over 20mph, I feel that it doesn't throw far enough. I love everything about the light with it's digital display that tells me what modes I'm in and hours until empty, to cut off beam and neutral white color temperature of the LED. But the lack of throw sometimes can make me a little nervous.With summer over and nightfall arriving sooner, I decided to search for a new light. That's when I came across the Magicshine Allty RN 1200. At first, the USB-C charging caught my eye. It charges at 15W and with it's 4000mAH battery, compared to the Micro USB 5200mAH BC35R, charges in a brisk 2.5hrs.But then I found out that it has a non-glare optic as well. Well, I received it and it was kinda disappointing. Yes, it definitely dazzles less than a typical light but it's not glare-free. The good thing is that the beam pattern isn't very wide so with the glare reduction optic, you'll probably throw less light in the eyes of the passerby.The hotspot is definitely more noticeable and on high, 1200 lumen and 5400cd or 146m, it is infact similar in throw as the BC35R on Burst. This is outstanding. There's plenty of throw to ride at even 25 or 30 mph. I don't feel like I'm outrunning my light anymore.The color temperature of the LED isn't great. The BC35R is neutral with a somewhat ugly tint on the very bottom but it's still a comfortable on the eyes 5000K. The RN 1200 is about 6500K and blueish. It's more of a fatiguing tint, especially on dark or wet asphalt. But I'm willing to overlook that since bluer LEDs throw farther. I'd rather a bluish LED running cooler on such a compact light than a neutral LED push hotter lumens to get the same throw.I don't really bother with running on lower settings but I feel that the spacing on the RN 1200 is better. The BC35R goes from 1000 to 400 (I don't use Burst 1800 or anything lower such as Med 150 or Low 45 lumen) whereas the RN 1200 goes from 1200 lumen to 600 lumen (Low 300). I hardly ever used the 400 lumen setting on the BC35R because the battery life is fantastic at 2.2h on 1000 lumen. But I know that if I had to ride longer than 2 hours, I would have to mix up the 400 lumen to prolong battery life. And 400 lumen, 1332cd or 73m mode wasn't very usable with the lack of throw. The RN 1200 has a very usable 600 lumen 3hr setting especially with its throw. They don't list the candela and I haven't measured its lux yet but I'm pretty sure that it throws around 100m.They both have flash modes and I can use them during daytime but I usually just use a small Bontrager Flare blinky up front.The BC35R comes with an interesting remote control. It's wired and connects via a small headphone jack. You can use it to change modes (which seems unnecessary as you can just reach down to the light and you can't mount these lights upside down because of the cut off beam) but what's great is that it has a high beam button that you can flick your light to Burst cars that may not have noticed you. People see cyclists but their brains sometimes doesn't register what they saw. And even a blinky light doesn't always seem to work. But having the ability to high beam cars has never failed to gain their attention. The BC35R also has a security alarm feature. You park your bike and pull a key out of the controller. If someone tampers with your bike, it sets off a very loud alarm.They're both water resistant. The BC35R is IP66 rated so rain is no problem. The RN 1200 is IPX7 rated so it can actually be dropped into a puddle. But I feel that even IP66 is plenty for riding in heavy rain.The mounting system on the BC35R is good. Traditional bar mount with a thumb stud and rubber shims. The light slips in from the front and feels plenty secure. I'm pretty sure that it has a break away washer built in incase you crash. They'd rather the mount snap off than the light itself. No complaints. The RN 1200, next level. The bar mount has a nice light weight feel to it and comes with 3 straps of various lengths. No thumb studs but a small hex bolt to cinch it up. But the interface is what's interesting. It uses a standard Garmin quarter turn mount. So if you have a Garmin computer, you can mount this on there and just adjust your beam angle. Personally, I use a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt with a K-Edge out the front mount on all my bikes. But, Wahoo sells a Quarter Turn Mount Adapter for $15. It's meant to mount your Wahoo Elemnt computer to a Garmin mount but it also works in reverse. I use it to mount the RN 1200 with its Garmin mount to my K-Edge with Wahoo mount.The overall build feel on the Magicshine Allty RN 1200 feels very good. The fit and finish is excellent. Whereas the Fenix BC35R feels slightly low rent. Even the charging port’s rubber dust cap fits really well. Only complaint is that the port is recessed in and if your USB-C cable has a oversized head, it may get tweaked against the rubber cover. The last thing you want is to damage the charging port.I know that the RN 1200 would compare better with the new Fenix BC30 V2.0. The BC30 V2.0 has a 2200 lumen burst but that's not realistic mode. The Turbo mode is 1500 lumen, 5913cd or 155m which is slightly better than the RN 1200 on High. But I feel that at 1500 lumen, it may step down more frequently than I would like as it's going to run hotter. High is 600 lumen, 2320cd or 96m which is very much inline with the RN 1200. It would be interesting to compare the beam patterns. If the BC30 V2.0 throws those distances with a cutoff beam like the BC35R it could very well be the better light to get. It uses a pair of SST-40 LED's and I'm not familiar with its tint but it's probably just as good as the XHP50 in the BC35R. SST-40 should definitely throw better than XHP-50. One is probably a wide focus and the other a thrower. I know it comes with a wireless remote which is already an improvement over the RN 1200. And it's claimed weight is 154g but that's probably without batteries. The light has a user accessible battery compartment for two 18650 batteries. That's a plus but from some video reviews that I watched, the compartment looks figgity and not very sturdy.Overall, I really like the Magicshine Allty RN 1200. It's got some flaws but there's so much going for it in such a nice and compact package.UPDATE 09/28/2020I saw a review on an Olight RN 1500 so I ordered it. They partnered with Magicshine on this. It's physically identical in appearance. But it has a 1500/750/300 lumen output vs the Magicshine's 1200/600/300. And it's rated to throw 164m vs the Magicshine's 146m. And the Olight has a 5000mAh 21700 battery vs 4000mAh.The RN 1200 actually looks to throw farther than the RN 1500 because the Olight RN 1500 has a dark spot in the middle. It seems to have a slightly wider beam pattern. It’s a nicer, more neutral white tint than the RN 1200. The RN 1200 sometimes goes into thermal management by gently blinking slowly to a slightly lower lumen. I haven’t had the RN 1500 go into thermal.UPDATE 10/06/2020My initial suspicions were right. The Magicshine RN 1200 has a brighter hotspot than the Olight RN1200. I measured the Olight at 195 Lux@5m at 30 sec. It calculates to 19,500 cd and 140m instead of the claimed 164m. The Magicshine on the other hand measured 274 lux@5m at 30 sec so 27,000 cd and 165m instead of the claimed 146.The Magicshine over delivers and the Olight under performs.I tested the Fenix BC35R as well, knowing full well that it’s not a thrower but an excellent wide and glare free pattern. It measured 16,000 cd and 126m. The claimed is 146m but that’s with the Burst mode which I never use and is impractical. The claimed Turbo candela is 14,168 so 119m.Also tested my old Nite Rider MiNewt 600. 13,900 cd and 118m. Not bad for a 10 year old light.

Great light.Replaced my old Exposure light, have the same light output, longer battery life and cost 1/6 of it !!, look and feel very well made.And the Garmin mount is just brilliant and give me so many mounting options

Seems to be well built. I haven't had time to test how long it will flash till the battery gets low but so far it has gone for 5 hours. It is bright enough for daylight riding , which is what I do. Not quite as bright as my old light but it is no longer available in the US . The mount is adequate although I have yet to take it on a rough ride. I want to like this light. If I start having issues I will update this review.