I think there is an unofficial arms race among light manufacturers to make the most powerful light on the market, and with the Monteer 12000, Magicshine is currently king of the hill. This is one of the brightest lights we’ve ever tested, but at just under £500, the cost per Lumen ratio is also one of the best out there. The question is, does all that power make it one of the best mountain bike lights on the market?

The latest Magicshine Monteer 12000 gets a sturdy twin-clamp bar mount that’s vibration-free

Design and Specification

Housed in the lamp unit are five LEDs, combining a large central spot and four smaller angled units. The lamp has a simple on/off switch and you can toggle between the flood and spot beams depending on your requirements, and obviously run both if you want to scare the wildlife. It also comes with a bar-mounted remote, which is already bound into the light. There’s a little bit of sequencing to access the different options, requiring you to double-press the remote to go from the flashing modes to the mtb modes, but you can then toggle up and down. Magicshine also has a dedicated light App, which allows you to further modify these settings. You do have to re-connect the light each time via Bluetooth, and it’s a little clunky but you can do a full custom set-up depending on your preferences.

Clamp is a hinged design, so you can mount it without removing anything from your bar. But the thumb-lock on the side of the lamp, for adjusting the angle, broke on our test sample

Due to the weight of the lamp unit, it’s held in a machined aluminium twin clamp. This is not only stiffer than the single mount we saw on the Magicshine Monteer 8000, but it also reduces some of the vibration experienced with this previous model. It’s a hinged design, so you can attach it without moving the controls or grips, and the fixing bolts are on the top so you can access them easily. The lamp pivots in the clamp by loosening the small lever on one side – but unfortunately, this broke on our test sample. There is a small hex bolt on the opposite side that does a similar job, but how long this will last is unknown. The twin clamp fits 35mm bars out-of-the-box, but shims are provided for smaller bar diameters.

The cells that make up the 14.4V 10,000mAh battery are all housed inside a durable plastic case. This has a slight profile on the base, so it sits neatly against a frame tube. There’s some foam padding to stop scuffing and movement, and it’s secured via two Velcro-backed straps.

If you press the button on the side of the battery it illuminates a small fuel gauge. It has four bars, which roughly equates to 22% for each bar, with the last 10% shown as a flashing red bar. This isn’t as accurate as a percentage figure, but it’s a bit easier to see when riding.

On the end of the pack is an input for the power cable and another for the Type C USB charging cable. Magicshine doesn’t include a plug, but it’s partially understandable when this product is sold worldwide. The system comes with a 600mm cable, but there’s also a 900mm extension in the box, a plastic helmet mount and two extra straps, so yes you can run this up top.

The fuel gauge is easy to see, so you can keep tabs on remaining battery life

Performance

There is a little bit of set-up with the App, but this light is pretty much plug-and-play. The amount of light on full beam is insane and reminds me of the Cateye Volt 6000 I tested several years ago. You can literally see as far and wide as you want. The beam pattern isn’t quite as smooth as some though, and there is a definite hard edge between the flooded areas and the spot beam. It’s not quite as white or as crisp as the Exposure lights, but with so much power on tap, picking out detail is not an issue. But is it too bright? In tight trees and dense undergrowth, there’s a lot of bounce back, so it is worth opting for the medium 3,000 Lumen setting, because you get less glare and seven hours run time, while it’s only 2.2 hours on full beam

The Magicshine Monteer 12000 is extremely bright in full power mode – actually too bright for tight woodland trails, but obviously you can turn it down

It does take quite a long time to charge the massive battery, and with so much power going into the lamp it does get pretty hot (you can actually monitor the temperature). To keep it cool there is an air intake at the front of the light and an exhaust port at the rear, as well as a couple of cooling fins.

The alloy clamp feels solid and allows you to mount the lamp below the level of the stem to keep that weight low, but that tool-free adjustment probably just needs to be a bolt, that you can replace. I’d also like to see a wider Velcro strap for the battery and a more integrated system for the remote mounting.