Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be
reviewing the Magicshine MOH 55 4000 lumen headlamp.
Although Magicshine is best known for their bike lights they've recently expanded into the outdoor
light market with flashlights and headlamps. Today we're going to be looking at the brightest
headlamp in the MOH lineup with the MOH 55. Now even though this is marketed as a skiing
camping hiking headlamp we're going to review this in terms of a cycling light. Packaging
wise it's really simple you have their nice cardboard box with this reflective graphic
showing the headlamp on here. You have their orange and black graphic scheme which really matches with
all of the other Magicshine products. Really simple box some of the specs here on the bottom
with the lumen output and some of the usb charging capabilities.
Now what I have here is the standard version I'll go ahead and take this out of the box.
There are actually two versions uh the standard version is $199.99 and it comes with the
MJ-6116C battery pack we have here. There's also a pro version of this that has the larger battery
pack and that's $299.99 which we have here. This battery pack is shared with the Monteer
8000S as well as the 6500S so if you already have those lights you can actually upgrade
your MOH without buying the Pro. So you can see a bigger battery pack a longer output
and USB Type-C charging with the pro version. Both of the pro and the non pro have the same
headlamp and that comes with 4000 lumen output. It uses a dual CREE led design with the XHP 50.2 leds.
It's IPX6 waterproof and it also has a Garmin compatible mount which is really great feature.
So you can mount this with the included headlamp strap or using standard bike mounts.
Now in terms of what comes in the box quite a lot actually. So you can see with the standard
version you get the headlamp which is the same whether you get the pro or non-pro.
You get the head lamp with this GoPro attachment to a Garmin mount so really nice. You can actually
share this with other devices like your GoPro or other Garmin compatible lights.
You get their magic straps so these are simple velcro straps and they go through
the little slots in the battery pack. What's cool about either battery pack is they have removable
connectors so with the standard version you can see it's a larger connector. This is a micro usb
design as well it simply attaches here but when you don't want to use it with the light you can
put the little rubber cover on and use this as a power bank so a lot of versatility there.
You have a micro usb charging cable and with the pro version you get the USB Type C
charging cable. The pro version also has USB Type-C charging and discharging so pretty cool
to see that modern feature. You get a user manual as well as these little wire clips to route
the wiring along the headlamp strap and down your back or wherever you want to mount the battery.
Note the pro version also comes with a couple accessories we don't show here
such as the helmet mount and an extension cable. Now let's take a look at the weight of the MOH 55.
Now what I like about the wired setups is that the lights themselves are really light so you can see
the headlamp is 94 grams so really compact and lightweight.
Most of the bulk is actually the battery pack so if we look at the standard battery pack
that comes in at 294 grams and then the pro version which has a lot more run time and capacity
that comes in at 410 so nearly double the weight.
Now let's go over the fit and finish of the MOH 55. Right out of the box it's really
impressive how small and compact the light itself is even though it has a dual LED design.
It's very compact since it's a wired setup and it's an aluminum housing so really sleek. The
lens is not protruding so you don't have any side visibility which is one negative but you
have all the heat dissipation fins actually built into the housing itself. So you see along the back
along the sides it also seems like there's little intakes on the corners so it's a
rounded rectangle with these little sharper edges on the side for heat dissipation so a sleek design.
You have a single power button on top now this is also illuminated so it'll go red green or flashing
red when it's lower battery status. The leds are designed with a 28 and 120 degree spot and flood
patterns a really nice uniform beam to it. One of the best features of these lights is the fact
that it has the Garmin mount built in directly so this lets you use this with any compatible Garmin
mount and since there's so many accessories out there you can attach the Garmin mount to a GoPro with
the included little attachment for the headlamp so tons of versatility and can mount to anywhere.
Now the wired setup actually comes out to the left at a sharp angle so that limits you a
little bit of how you mount this so you have to route this around your handlebars or if you use
the headlamp off to the side. Now one thing is with this power setup with such a huge battery
it's a lot less versatile as a headlamp itself so the other lower end models of the MOH lineup
allow you to actually mount the battery here on the back so really more compact with this
these are huge so obviously you're gonna have to put this in your pocket
so as a headlamp I think it makes less sense. But as a cycling light i think it's a really
great option. With the pro version you get the helmet mount so it's a great compact light you
can either use a secondary light or on your handlebars with the out front mount.
Now take a look at the batteries so this is the standard version has cool little graphics on here.
Really nice self-contained unit and what's great about these is Magicshine has really
improved their wire connections and some of the feature sets. So with this one you get a
standard micro usb connector and you can also charge other devices with the usb port on here.
Now even with the rubber gasket on you can check the battery status
so you can see it shows you three leds you can also remove that and see it a little more clearly.
What I really like about this is this is a great power bank. So if you have a cell phone
or any other device you need power with when you're not using the bike light you can simply
leave this gasket on and then use it that way or connect the bike light connector on here
which just snaps in and use it as a bike light with the little
round black port. It's a really nice feature and makes a lot more versatile.
Now the big difference between the standard and the non-standard version is the $100
difference and the larger usb type-c battery pack. So this has more output higher capacity similar
feature set so you have the rubber backing it's bigger obviously and shared with the Monteer 6500S
and 8000s. Similar to that one you can check the battery status by clicking the little button
or removing that and seeing the leds a little more clearly.
Now this has USB Type-C charging and discharging which is really cool feature.
If you want to connect this with your actual bike light you remove the gasket on the
same side and attach the smaller connector. Now it's worth pointing out that Magicshine has really
improved these connectors over time so that used to be one weak point of a lot of the wired
light setup. So our lights would usually start to fray at the ends but you can see here it's a lot
more robust and better built connectors with this wire ribbon style and a reinforced
edges so you can see they're both reinforced here so they should last a lot
longer with the more heavy duty use.
Now let's look at the light output from the MOH 55 here we have the four constant modes and as you
can see the runtimes depend on whether you have the pro version or non-pro version. Low is really
low while medium is decent and then high is very bright and turbo's kind of ridiculous at 4000
lumens. It's double high output and really lights up the road. SOS is also a nice way to have some daytime
visibility with the flash pattern. Now we tried riding this in two ways, we did the handlebar mount
and here you can see I believe this would be turbo or high it's really bright so really wide beam.
Good throw so it's good for trail riding even road riding as you can see it really lights up
everything. Low mode is really dim so at 100 lumens it's not very useful but it's good for camping or
outdoor use where you don't need that much light. Now riding on the trail and you access turbo mode
it's kind of ridiculous, you can see everything's lit up it's almost too bright really. It does
create shadows that's one downside of that low mount anytime you have bumps you'll see those
dark patches which can be a little distracting when you're riding but otherwise really good throw
and with the compact size it doesn't take up much space so with the small size of the MOH it makes
a lot of sense to actually helmet mount this which we did here. We have the Allty 800 on our handlebar
and the MOH 55 helmet and as you can see you get the best of both worlds. With the
handlebar mount you get a good spotlight and then when you turn your head the MOH lights it up
and the great thing about having it higher mounted as you can see the shadows are much less because
it's higher mounted. It hits the ground at a higher angle and prevents all the low shadows.
It really helps when you go around corners with that wide beam of the MOH 55
as well so definitely one of our preferred ways to ride with it. It would have been nice to have
a remote so you could see the battery status you don't have to reach up to change the modes though.
So now let's do a quick comparison between the MOH 55 and some other lights on the market.
Now one obvious comparison here is the big boy the Monteer 8000S it's also the same housing with
all the other Monteers. You can see they share the same led model but with the MOH 55 they simply
downsized it's the same power button similar aluminum housing design obviously the MOH 55 is
just more compact. Since they've essentially taken two of the leds instead of using a five led setup.
You get the same Garmin mount and then the same wire setup that goes off the side
they're pretty cool to see side by side and because they share the same battery pack
that means if you already own one of these you can actually share the battery pack between them.
It's a really nice feature and get more versatility. Now obviously with the wired
setup and 4000 lumens end up with a large bigger package
than a standard commuter light like the Allty 2000. So you can see half the output but obviously half
the size because it has a half the battery. I personally prefer the wired setup as it lets
your handlebar be really small and compact and you just attach the battery to your bike frame.
Now the battery packs don't have replaceable cells like the
Fenix does which is one downside but obviously a lot cheaper and less bright with the Fenix.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the MOH 55. What we like about the light is that it has a very
compact design it also produces a very nice uniform and wide beam with the dual led design.
There's no hot spots and it has a very nice flood to it so you can really see the trail.
Also we really like the fact that Magicshine has separated the flash mode from the constant modes
so you don't inadvertently hit the flash mode when you're riding.
Some of the cons for the light is the fact that it has no DRLS, that'd be a really nice
feature to have so you can use this in the daytime without running down the battery.
It also lacks a remote which means helmet mounting is a little more awkward
as you have to reach up to access the power button and change modes or check the battery status.
Also the individual batteries inside the battery packs are not replaceable
so that means if the batteries do fail in the future you have to replace the whole pack.
It would be nice if they were individually replaceable to lower the cost. Taking everything
into account we'd give the MOH 55 a 9 out of 10. It is a really nice compact and bright
light despite only having two small leds it produces a really nice beam. That's great for
road riding or trail riding. Thanks for watching this review don't forget to like and subscribe.
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