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.
