Magicshine HORI 900

The Magicshine HORI 900 is a capable and well-built front light for ‘everyday road cyclists’, and its ability to stack other accessories via a second mount is clever. It’s slightly odd in offering lots of power and then really hemming it in with a narrow view and a short runtime, however.

> Buy now: Magicshine HORI 900 for £52.96 from Magicshine

My main issue with this light is that it could be better with either less power or a more diffuse lens, but that’s not to say it’s a bad light. It’s also something that might not even bother you, especially given the price – so long as your idea of Magicshine’s ‘general road cycling’ involves short, simple rides. Personally, I wish it was either better optimised for commuting or for proper use in full darkness, as it’s not great for either despite most of the ingredients being there.

This puts out up to 900 lumens – bright enough for moonless forest tracks – but constrains it into a kind of bucket shape. The narrow base falls just ahead of your front tyre, and the sharp lines of the sides diverge to an equally sharp cutoff further down the road. Peripheral vision is non-existent, then, which really doesn’t help on tight corners or when turning into unlit junctions.

With the furthest line dutifully angled so it’s visible on the road – it’s designed not to dazzle oncoming drivers – I found the visibility became borderline at around 30mph. You can of course see further by tilting it up and just hosing light straight down the road (it really is bright), but then you really are going to blind people.

So it’s a very polite pattern that won’t bother drivers or pedestrians on the pavement, and as such it’s not well suited to either the fastest roads or the slowest, twistiest turns. If there’s street lighting (or even just traffic) it’s fine, but if so you don’t really need this power as much as you need battery life.

Perhaps if your commute involves both regular busy streets and dark but ultimately slow sections, such as tow paths or unlit backroads, the Hori 900 will hit the nail on the head. But that’s quite a narrow nail.

Battery life

I routinely went from fully charged to a red warning light (20-11% remaining) in just over an hour, despite swapping between full (900L) and medium (400L). That’s less than I expected, given that Magicshine claims 1.5hrs on constant full power.

Once you hit 10% the light steps down to the low setting of 200L and refuses to go higher. It’s still plenty to get you seen, but it’s pretty feeble as a headlight. You’re really going to have to trundle on that. If you’re adjusting between outputs you’ll be seeing how feeble quite often, as you can only cycle through all the brightnesses – if you want to switch directly between high and low, you have to buy the two-button Rechargeable Remote (£19.99) as well.

For the record, I was typically using the Hori 900 in temperatures around 8-10°C, Magicshine’s tests are run at 25°C, and batteries do not like cold. That might have explained some of the… except my own indoor test did not impress either.

From full charge the Hori lasted just 40 minutes before reaching 20% and turning red. After that it managed 15 minutes until it started flashing at 10% remaining, and another 15 minutes before dying completely. That’s 20 minutes short of the claimed 1.5hr runtime. In the middle setting it only managed 2hrs, which is 30 minutes shorter than claimed.

At least it also charges quicker than Magicshine says, though that’s because the claimed 2.5hrs is at 1A. My regular 2A phone chargers did it, unsurprisingly, in almost exactly half that time.

As the outputs are customisable via Magicshine’s app, you could technically adjust them to at least maximise the limited runtimes while still having enough headlight for commuting, and if you spend another £20 on the remote you could switch directly between high and low beam too. However, I think outputs and functions are best done right at the factory, rather than by the customer.

Value

At £52.96 this is certainly well priced given its impressive construction, though you don’t get any kind of mount – if you want Magicshine’s out-front one in the box it’s £59.99. I’ve tested those before and they’re equally well made and work just as they should.

If you need a light for commuting or general riding on mostly lit roads, the Knog Blinder Pro 600 front light does a great job, lasts a much more useful two hours on full power, and is £59.99.

Instead of running this Hori 900 in its middle 400L setting to extend its battery life, you could spend £29.99 on a Moon Meteor (400lm) and get two hours of runtime that way.

If you want to stay with Magicshine and not be limited to commuting (and avoiding tight corners), the Allty 1500 I reviewed back in 2020 remains very good – my test unit is still going strong. Also, unlike almost everything else in the world, it’s actually cheaper now than it was then. It’s £69.99.

Our best front lights buyer’s guide rounds up options from under £20 to over £300.

Overall

For commuting in lit areas this only has one drawback – the short runtime even at less than full power – while for general road riding it has two. Those are the one-hour runtime even when mixing full beam with lower outputs, and the lack of peripheral vision for junctions, tight corners and when you’re riding at a high speed. Sure you could tune outputs in the app and spend another £20 for more convenient switching, but the reality is you shouldn’t have to. You also don’t have to; the alternatives are legion. Unfortunately, as well made as the Hori 900 is, it’s a swing and a miss for Magicshine.

> Buy now: Magicshine HORI 900 for £52.96 from Magicshine

Verdict

Well made and potentially useful, but short runtimes and the narrow beam are limiting

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