Solidly built light, very bright. Was a

Solidly built light, very bright. Was a little concerned that I would blind drivers coming the other direction (yes it's that bright). I had my wife watch me approaching and vice versa and it was fine.To the reviewers who say that LED lights don't produce heat, I disagree. The metal housing for the light acts essentially like a large heat sink for the LED, and it does get noticeably warm.I used the headlamp option while staying at an un-electrified cabin in New Hampshire. The thing was like a small portable sun. Anything else we've used in the way of a flashlight pales in comparison.Highly recommend this light. This light rocks! It is amazingly bright. If you want to feel safe on your bicycle once the sun goes down, this is the light for you! It recharges quickly and contrary to another review, the recharger is more than adequate and can be left unattended without issue.For an even better riding/lighting experience, add the the "Wide Angle Lens for MagicShine, Gemini, and many other Bike Lights" by Action, ASIN: B004WLCLQY Item model number: ALL-WA (you can find the lens here on Amazon and As of 10/04/12 it was priced at $5.49 with under $1.00 shipping, well worth the cheap price!). Both products arrived in record time and were well packaged.I love this light setup! It "Wows" the crowds... Everyone who sees how well it lights up the path/road wants to know what it is (including the highly seasoned cyclists)... and now YOU know!Additional lens info: http://www.amazon.com/Angle-MagicShine-Gemini-Lights-Headlight/dp/B004WLCLQY/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1348929784&sr=1-1&keywords=Wide+Angle+Lens+for+MagicShine%2C+Gemini%2C+and+many+other+Bike+Lights+%2F+Headlight The CREE XML is not fancy. It's just bright and reliable and provides me with all the safety I need on early morning Minnesota bike rides in the winter. I figure that I get around 8 hours of light per charge, which is about one week worth of nighttime riding for me. A couple of things to note: 1. When the battery is finished, the light simply stops working without warning. It does not dim or show signs of going dark. I wear a much cheaper, three-LED head lamp in case this happens and I can limp home with at least a small amount of light. 2. Be sure to unplug the light from the battery pack when you are finished. Otherwise, the on button will glow green and use some of the battery power. I keep the battery pack in my saddle bag behind my seat and leave a small stub of the plug sticking out while I run the wire from the head lamp around the cross bar, up the seat post, and plug it in to the battery outlet. The light came with no directions, but I figured out how to use the rubber O-ring to attach it to my handlebars. For the money, and free shipping, I couldn't be happier. I'd strongly recommend a wide-angle light diffuser for around $6 on Amazon that will really open up the field of light available, even in the darkest night. I was initially skeptical about the lamp for its low price and the fact that it was shipped from Hong Kong. I usually don't post reviews but this time I felt I had to. The lamp was shipped and delivered fast and it performed magnificent. I took it to Mexico for my Dad who hunts pigs at night. The light is several times better than anything we had seen before. If provided even better light that the spotlight he has attached to his truck. When turned on, it would render all other lights we had useless and you couldn't event tell they were on. The battery lasted several hours and we went back before we could see how long it would last. Real happy with the product and will likely buy a few more to take to my dad next trip. Highly recommend the product. Just as advertised. Why anyone would pay 3 times as much for half the light is beyond me. Buy this, it works great... It is better than I expected for the price.I bought mine directly and not through Amazon because they had not started selling it when I bought mine. The Magicshine version was more than 2x higher in price.As others have pointed out, it has a very bright spot and not enough spill for better coverage. Initially I had assumed that it was due to a highly polished reflector used in this light and if a textured reflector was used, the light will be more evenly diffused. I have an older SSP based bike light from Magicshine with textured reflector. When I swapped the reflector, result was less than satisfactory. There was more diffused light but not as much as I had hoped. This turns out to be the result of the small size of the Cree XML LED. SSP 7 is larger in size (a cluster of 4 individual LEDs), which makes the light source bigger than a single point. Without a custom made reflector, this problem may be difficult to solve.This light is not adequately water tight, as pointed out out by few reviewers. However, it is easy to make it water tight without spending too much money. On the light, remove the plastic foot (one screw) and put some silicon sealant on the hole through which the wire comes out. Let it cure overnight before putting the plastic foot back. Silicon sealant is pliable and can be removed, if necessary, but it will make the entry of water during a rainy ride nearly impossible. The battery can be dipped in liquid rubber (3 or 4 cycles) to completely seal it. Alternatively, one can use a thicker version of heat shrink that will ago around the entire battery and seal it. Ends will need extra pieces carefully placed before the heat shrinking process. Overlapping boundaries are not water tight enough but a small bead of silicon sealant will take care of it. The latter method is what I use in all of my home-made battery packs.*[*Home made battery packs: Not recommended for non-tinkeres and those who are uninterested in learning ways to conserve resources. Batteries are salvaged from used laptop battery packs that are no longer good. In such battery packs, out of 8 batteries, usually one or at the most 2 are not holding full charge and the rest are quite usable. Use good ones to connect 4 of them, 2 in series and 2 in parallel.] Ok first the product is awesome, light weight, and amazingly bright!!! Came perfectly intact ready to use. I am experiencing a problem with the charger, but I am sure it will be corrected eventualy with the seller. Would I recomend this product? ABSOLUTELY!!! This is so awesome, it even gets the attention of the idiots who drive and text without reguard to anyone else on the road... 1200 lumens really gets in the retnas quite well... perfect for dark roadways as well... this product gets a 5 star rating!!! I recently bought a second bike and had been 'borrowing' my MagicShine MJ-808E from my primary bike when riding the new bike. This got tiresome and so I went on the hunt for a second light for the second bike. I saw this deal for $40 with free second day delivery via Amazon Prime.The unit arrived in a plain brown box with: Light, Battery, Charger, Head Harness and mounting O-Rings included. After reading other comments that the charger has no 'overcharge protection' for charging the battery I first charged the battery on a concrete floor away from flammable items. The charger light went red and turned to green a few hours later indicating a full charge. The battery pack was cool to the touch, charged and the charger was cool also. Therefore, I believe the charger DOES stop the charge cycle when the battery is charged. Im not sure why other reviewers said it doesnt. However, dont gamble your home on my review - decide for yourself!On the first test ride I set the light to 'flash' and rode for 70 minutes and the battery indicator light was still a solid green. Looks like the light has plenty of runtime power. The light was illuminating road-signs, with its flash, that were hundreds of feet away. Very impressive. The 4-mode button works well and allows you to adjust your visibility on the fly while riding.Im very happy with the light and it seems to be as good as my MagicShine MJ-808E that cost twice the money. As fall is upon us and my rides become darker, I will be sure to update this review with further observations. Once you have ridden with the power of this type of light you will never go back. Extremely powerful light.Great deal! I have a friend who bought a magicshine light last year, and he kept telling me I should get one. Well, here I am a year later and I noticed this CREE 1200 lumen light. And man is this thing awesome. It is bright. I ordered the other lens, the one that makes the beam wider. And It is wonderful. I set it up so the brightest part of the beam hits about 25-30ft in front of me as I ride, and the brightest part of the beam covers the whole lane. It is like I am driving in the middle of the day. I don't know how long the battery will last, but I started using it on 9/19/2012. So I will edit my comment if or when the battery dies or the light breaks. If you are thinking about getting this light, get it. You will not be disappointed. Definatly brightest light for the money. I have a friend who bought a magicshine light last year, and he kept telling me I should get one. Well, here I am a year later and I noticed this CREE 1200 lumen light. And man is this thing awesome. It is bright. I ordered the other lens, the one that makes the beam wider. And It is wonderful. I set it up so the brightest part of the beam hits about 25-30ft in front of me as I ride, and the brightest part of the beam covers the whole lane. It is like I am driving in the middle of the day. I don't know how long the battery will last, but I started using it on 9/19/2012. So I will edit my comment if or when the battery dies or the light breaks. If you are thinking about getting this light, get it. You will not be disappointed. 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