Illuminate your world with the Magicshine Monteer 12000

Cut to the Chase

The Magicshine Monteer 12000 is an absurdly bright light offering a staggering 12000 lumens, 360 meters of forward throw and an expansive side beam spread that lights up your peripheral surroundings as if Amun-Ra himself has decided to magically appear right next to you, burning night into day. The Monteer 12000 may be the brightest bike light in the world right now, but it's also a very usable light that can cater to the infinite trail types out there and provide you with a higher level of lighting and confidence whilst riding at night. If you're not a confident night rider, then this could literally change that experience from night to day.

Pros

12000 lumens!!!!!

Impressive battery run time at max power

Massive 360 metre front beam throw

Super-wide peripheral throw

Bluetooth Remote

Easy to read real time battery indicator

Magichshine app for further customisations

Battery pack doubles as charging bank

Waterproof and impact resistant for heavy knocks and foul weather

Cons

It is pricey

Heavy 900 gram battery

Poor velcro strap design

Magicshine Monteer 12000 – Review

Riding through the night is like entering a secret world of thrill and enchantment. Time to channel your inner creature of the night! But hey, let’s not forget about safety, because tumbling around in the dark is not cool. You need lights, my friend, the kind that can make the moon jealous! Behold, the Magicshine Monteer 12000, a light so bright it could blind extraterrestrial beings! Strap it on, illuminate the path, and prepare to ride into the night, with the power of the sun!

This year the ante has been upped and pushed to the very limits of what can be achieved with the monstrously impressive Magicshine Monteer 12000. Not so long ago the Monteer 8000S Galaxy V2 was considered one of the world’s brightest lights but that has now been surpassed with an additional 4000 lumens on top.

Magicshine has been developing lights for outdoor activities since 1999 and we’ve been lucky enough to sample some of those lights over the years. Check out what we thought of the Ray 2100 or the MJ 906S.

A warning before you begin, this is quite a long read but we thought the light was worthy of this, so get ready, grab that beer, coffee, or tea, and let’s get into it.

The Magicshine Monteer 12000 combines multiple LEDs to create a specially designed spotlight that covers a wide angle range and forward distance up to 360m ahead.

Magicshine Monteer 12000 Features

The new Monteer 12000 is the most powerful light that Magicshine has created, and at the time of this article, we would say it is probably the world’s most powerful bicycle light. Apart from the obvious 12000 lumens of power, it offers some impressive tech with its two separate optical systems that house a total of five forward-facing Luminus SST70 LEDs that turn night to day with a beam range of 360m.

The Magicshine Monteer 12000 offers TWO main light modes, Spotlight and Floodlight, and four levels of brightness to play with within those modes. The Floodlight mode uses the outer LEDs which provide a sharp cut-off beam pattern that reduces side glare. This mode is ideal for high-traffic areas to reduce blinding commuters and oncoming cars. The Spotlight mode utilizes four beam angles and the full array of LEDs that offer a wide and long beam spread unleashing 12000 lumens on full power.

This behemoth of a light gets hot, so Magicshine had to develop effective heat dissipation with the innovative physical air duct cooling system, internal thermal management, and cooling fins to ensure optimal performance throughout its entire runtime.

Photo credit: ©Sam Clarke

The main light head unit weighs 294g and uses a wide clamp system that will fit 31.8 and 35mm handlebars. The clamp features a tool-free angle adjustment and can be mounted to either your bars or a helmet.

Although there are numerous modes to play with, we found ourselves just using the full beam for the majority of the riding but the icing on the cake was having the ability to change light modes with a touch of the thumb. This is incredibly handy and can’t be expressed enough.

Tyres & Soles

Photo credit: ©Sam Clarke

The Monteer 12000 is powered by a 14.4V 10,000mAH battery pack (900g) boasting a runtime of 121 hours. Armored with molded rubberized sections to protect the battery from big knocks, it also doubles as a power bank with its integrated USB-C port supporting 60W fast input and output, allowing you to conveniently recharge smartphones, laptops, and other devices while on the go.

Photo credit: ©Tyres and Soles

There is an app to allow you to fine-tune the light settings, check the temperature of the head unit (it can get really hot) as well as other cool features.

The Magicshine Monteer 12000 is one seriously badass light. It’s so powerful, that you might mistake it for a miniature sun.

Tyres & Soles

Photo credit: ©Sam Clarke

The hefty battery to power this behemoth of a light has been designed to fit on top or the underside of your frame and features a concaved rubber surface that protects the frame from paint wear and reduces movement. To secure the battery to the frame there are two velcro straps with sticky silicone sections to keep it all in place.

Photo credit: ©Sam Clarke

When we first turned the unit on and gradually worked our way up to the Spotlight settings there was an increasing pitch of excitement as we incrementally got closer to max power… and then our jaws dropped.

Tyres & Soles

On The Trails

As soon as we opened up the box we were wowed at the sheer impressiveness of this head unit. If looks alone can tell a story then the Magicshine Monteer 12000 is as powerful as it looks. You don’t even need to turn it on to see that it’s going to be a game-changer. And believe us, it is.

Getting the light set up is a piece of cake. The head unit uses a two-clamp fitment that sits on either side of the stem. Simply insert the rubber shims (provided) to protect the bar from getting scratched and tighten using the small hex key (also provided). Once secure you can then dial in your preferred angle with the tool-free lever. Thankfully Magicshine developed a wide head unit clamp to fit wider stems. This clamp will fit pretty much any stem out there.

This increased visibility allows you to react promptly, making split-second decisions that ultimately keep you safe from harm. Moreover, the added confidence that comes with effectively lit surroundings enables you to push your limits and fully immerse yourself in the thrill of night riding.

Tyres & Soles

We tested both Floodlight and Spotlight mode but the Spotlight mode is where the real business happens, all 12000 lumens of it. When we first turned the unit on and gradually worked our way up to the Spotlight settings there was an increasing pitch of excitement as we incrementally got closer to max power… and then our jaws dropped.

Although there are numerous modes to play with, we found ourselves just using the full beam for the majority of the riding but the icing on the cake was having the ability to change light modes with a touch of the thumb. This is incredibly handy and can’t be expressed enough.

In Spotlight mode, the beam stretches way out in front, more than you will probably ever need unless you’re riding at 80 km an hour. It’s so powerful that even our 3000-lumen head torch was lost in its beam. As well as a whopping 360 meters of forward throw, it also has a massive side throw, lighting up your peripheral surroundings.

The cutting-edge technology fueling this bike light delivers an exceptionally sharp and accurate beam, brilliantly illuminating every intricate detail of the trail ahead instilling us with confidence to tackle more challenging trails.

Tyres & Soles

This increased visibility allows you to react promptly, making split-second decisions that ultimately keep you safe from harm. Moreover, the added confidence that comes with effectively lit surroundings enables you to push your limits and fully immerse yourself in the thrill of night riding.

The wide perihperal spread helps reduce tunnel vision which can play with your head after a few hours as well as cause eye fatigue. When riding sketchy sections of the trail, the wide throw allowed us to ride with a lot more confidence, more in line with what we felt during the day.

Although a ridiculously powerful beam when on max setting (some of you may think over the top) with all the grunt of a football stadium floodlight, the Monteer 12000 is very much refined when it comes to the beam and light quality, making it a very usable light and not something to just wow your mates with.

On max power, the light appears to be absorbed into every crevice and opening, without generating an overly pronounced contrast. It effectively diffuses the extremes of light and darkness, thereby minimizing the presence of dark patches along the trail, and it does not create dazzling white reflections on flat rock surfaces which we were expecting from a light this bright.

The tone of the LEDs provides a cooler spectrum, somewhere in the blue, green even purple range which adds a level of uplifting energy to the light, rather than a warm tone, which can feel sleepy. Nobody wants to feel sleepy when night riding.

The Magicshine Monteer 12000 is an absurdly bright light offering a staggering 12000 lumens, 360 meters of forward throw and an expansive side beam spread that lights up your peripheral surroundings as if Amun-Ra himself has decided to magically appear right next to you, burning night into day.

Tres and Soles

The Floodlight mode with its sharp side cut-off beam didn’t feel suitable for singletrack riding due to its lack of peripheral beam throw. But to be fair, Magicshine has clearly stated that it has been designed for more urban use to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. If you do need to ride on the road then it is a sensible feature to reduce blinding people with the power of the sun.

The Bluetooth remote is a real bonus and we have to admit we thought we wouldn’t need it but were quickly proven wrong. Switching between the different light modes was super-easy and more importantly, safer, as there was no need to take our hands off the bar to press buttons on the head unit.

On average, we rode for around 2-3 hours switching between full beam and one level below, and still had around 25% of battery life left, so pretty close to what Magicshine claims. Several small green lights on the back of the head unit tell you how much battery life is left. Simple enough yes? But not everyone is doing this and being able to have an easy-to-read indicator for real-time battery status updates, is very handy indeed.

Check out our beam tests, below. Just scroll right to watch the different levels within the Spotlight and Floodlight modes.

BELOW: Scroll right to see the main SPOTLIGHT modes. On a very wide fire road.

Photo credit: ©Sam Clarke

BELOW: Scroll right to see the main SPOTLIGHT modes. On a narrow 4WD track.

Photo credit: ©Sam Clarke

BELOW: Scroll right to see the main FLOODLIGHT modes. On a narrow 4WD track.

Photo credit: ©Sam Clarke

Conclusions

The Magicshine Monteer 12000 is an absurdly bright light offering a staggering 12000 lumens, 360 meters of forward throw and an expansive side beam spread that lights up your peripheral surroundings as if Amun-Ra himself has decided to magically appear right next to you, burning night into day.

The light doesn’t rely on grunt alone. It has a level of refinement that puts it into another category of its own. Historically any light that boasted huge amounts of lumens never used to last for very long on max power, forcing you to run on mid or lower levels pretty soon into the ride, but with the powerful battery pack, you can ride for over 2 hours lighting up the landscape like a stadium floodlight.

The Monteer 12000 may be the brightest bike light in the world right now, but it’s also a very usable light that can cater to the infinite trail types out there and provide you with a higher level of lighting and confidence whilst riding at night. If you’re not a confident night rider, then this could literally change that experience from night to day.

The 900-gram battery weight is something we did notice when attached to our analog bike, so if weight is a real issue for you then perhaps look at the Monteer 8000. However, whilst testing on the e-bike, it wasn’t an issue at all. We feel that the Monteer 12000 is ideal for e-bike night adventures, but not exclusively of course.

Our only real complaint from the entire test was the velcro straps (yes, that was it). They didn’t quite make sense in terms of their length as we ended up with extra long pieces that dangled free but were not quite long enough to wrap around a second time. We feel the strap system could do with some refining and hope Magicshine addresses this in the future.

Enough talk, so gear up, embrace the darkness, and let the unparalleled brightness of the Magicshine Monteer 12000 pave the way for an exhilarating journey!

Price / Where To Buy

• Magicshine Monteer 12000: $999.95 AUD
• You can purchase directly from Magicshine or ask at your local bike shop.

Magicshine Monteer 12000 – Runtime Information

Magicshine Monteer 12000 – Technical Specs