The Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky which is why Moon Sport has named their new Canopus Pro 6000 after it. With 6000 lumen output, the Canopus Pro is currently Moon Sport’s brightest headlight and is a 2000 lumen upgrade from the existing Canopus light. The Canopus Pro has a retail price of $439.99 and backs up the 6000 lumen output with a 10050 mAh BS-S6 wired battery pack. A unique Air Vent Cooling System design utilizes extended metal fins running the full length of the headlight to help dissipate heat away. To optimize the beam, the Canopus Pro utilizes a four LED setup that blends two spot LEDs with two flood LEDs.
The Moon Canopus Pro combines an impressive 6000 lumen output with a four LED wired headlight to light up the night.
| Retail Price | $439.99 |
| Rating | 8.9 / 10 |
| Measured Weight (in g) | 210 (headlight), 510 (battery), 42 (Out-front mount) |
| Likes | + Aggressive design + Long runtimes thanks to high capacity battery pack + Bright and well distributed beam |
| Dislikes | – Wired remote instead of a wireless setup – Battery cables are keyed for a specific orientation with a difficult to see indicator – Confusing battery status indicator on battery pack |
| Where to Buy (US) | Moon Sport |
UNBOXING
The Canopus Pro comes in a premium zippered fabric carrying case with the branding printed on a cardboard sleeve. Inside the carrying case you’ll find:
- Canopus Pro headlight
- BS-S6 battery pack (7.2V 10050 mAh)
- Helmet mount
- Out-front handlebar mount
- USB-C to USB A + USC-C2C cables
- Wired USB-C remote
- Extension cable
- Velcro mounts
The carrying case has nice foam cutouts on the interior and an inner pocket to organize and easily access. It’s a great way to store and travel with the light and keep the components clean and safe. Note, Moon Sport also includes a USB-C2C cable in addition to the standard USB-C2A cable which is a nice touch. The extra cable can be used to charge other devices with the large battery pack when not riding.
MOUNTING
As a wired headlight, the Canopus Pro has two main components: the headlight and the wired battery pack. The headlight has a standard Garmin style quarter turn mount built into it to provide a secure and nearly universal mounting capability. Moon Sport includes both an out-front mount (Garmin quarter turn mount) and helmet mount (GoPro to Garmin quarter turn mount to allow for angle adjustments) with the Canopus Pro allowing for flexible mounting options. The out-front mount is a one-sided plastic design that is surprisingly rigid and has the bolt holes to allow it to be converted to a dual sided mount. The battery pack uses velcro straps that route through built-in slots in the BS-S6 battery pack to allow it to be attached to bike frames. It’s a simple but effective design and has non-slip rubber pads to prevent the battery pack from moving while riding.
FIT & FINISH
The Canopus Pro has an attractive rectangular design and premium feeling metal housing. One of its most distinctive features is the front profile with the hollow aluminum fins that extend the full length of the headlight. Moon describes the feature as Air Vent Cooling System and boasts that the fins help dissipate heat. It’s a unique design that gives the Canopus Pro an aggressive and unique appearance. To help distinguish the Canopus Pro from the standard Canopus, Moon Sport has incorporated a polished metal panel on top of the light. Although it looks good, during the day the polished surface reflects the sun and creates glare from certain riding angles. The headlight also features Moon Sport’s distinctive geometric graphics on the sides that can be found on most of their products such as the Rigel 700 and even their taillights.
The user interface of the Canopus Pro consists of two top mounted buttons with two indicator LEDs adjacent to the buttons. Thankfully Moon has simplified the menus and feature options with this light and avoided their confusing matrix LED display found on the Rigel Power and other lights. The top button is primarily the power button but can be held for 3 seconds to alternate between the constant and flash modes. Additionally you can double click the button while on any mode to jump to the Boost mode which is the full 6000 output mode. The bottom button is used for the Variable Lumen System (VLS) which allows you to dynamically change the lumen output for every mode except Boost or SOS. Holding the button will slowly ramp the light up and down between 100 to 4000 lumen and reset the mode lumen to the value the light is on when you release the button.
As we’ve mentioned before, VLS is a creative feature that is unique to Moon Sport and avoids the need for secondary phone apps or desktop applications for customizing mode order or output. That said, it’s more of an expert feature that we imagine most people won’t use as the pre-programmed lumen outputs are well chosen. The top LED indicator illuminates blue to indicate that the light is one, while the bottom LED switches between blue, green and red. The combination of the two LEDs creates a four-level battery indicator: 100% blue/blue, 75% blue/green, 40% blue/red, and 10% blue/flashing red. Given the price point of the Canopus Pro we would have preferred to see an OLED screen like the Magicshine Allty 2000 but we’re relieved that Moon sport has avoided the temptation for 15+ modes like the Magicshine Monteer 6500S.
The BS-S6 battery pack is one of the largest Moon Sport currently offers and has a large 10050 mAh capacity. It’s a big battery pack and requires a fair amount of space to mount on top tubes or downtubes. Unlike the Magicshine battery packs, you cannot disconnect the headlight connector cable from the battery pack. That means if you want to use the battery pack as a powerbank to charge other devices it’s not convenient. A button on the battery pack allows you to check the battery status and illuminates 4 hidden LEDs. We found the design confusing, as you cannot see the non-illuminated LEDs which means you’ll have to remember there should be 4 LEDs for 100%. Another usability issue we found was the battery cable which uses a keyed design and a debossed arrow indicator on the cable that is difficult to see and meant we mostly spun the cable around until we found the right orientation.
LIGHT OUTPUT
The Canopus Pro offers eight output modes with four constant modes and four flashing modes. All the modes except for Boost and SOS can have their lumen output and associated runtime modified by using the VLS feature (limited to 100-4000 lumen). The brightest Boost mode is the full 6000 lumen mode and offers a claimed 1.5 hr runtime. There are three constant modes which are preprogrammed for 4000 / 2000 / 600 lumen output with associated claimed runtimes of 3 / 6.5 / 25 hours. Using VLS the runtimes vary from 3-130 hours depending on the selected brightness. For flash modes there are an additional four modes to choose from. The first one is a standard on/off flash with 100 lumen / 550 hr runtime while the second flash mode is a night flash (low-high) with 300 lumen / 155 hr runtime. Surprisingly, the Canopus Pro even has a Day Flash mode with an irregular on/off pattern that puts out 400 lumen for upto 600 hours. Finally there is SOS mode with 150 lumen / 250 hr runtime that flashes to SOS morse code.
For all the modes all four LEDs are operated in unison which provides a nice blend between spot and flood beam. This is simpler than the standard Canopus and other Magicshine lights which allows you two switch between the narrow / flood beam and create a confusing number of modes. On the road, the Canopus Pro is an impressive headlight that can light up the road and has enough battery capacity to allow you to take advantage of the full output. The headlight has a well balanced beam that works well on fast and dark trails or even urban environments thanks to the variety of modes. We found the preprogrammed modes worked well that 2000-4000 modes were more than sufficient. For faster descents or dark trails, the Boost mode can quickly be accessed by double pressing the button.
THE VERDICT
Overall, we found the Moon Canopus Pro 6000 to be a bright and well designed headlight. With 6000 lumen output and a four LED design the headlight offers impressive output for mountain biking or even commuting on dark trails. The wired setup allows the headlight to be relatively compact, although 200 grams is on the heavy side for helmet mounting, while having a large 10050 mAh battery to support long run times. The hollowed full-length heat fins give the headlight a distinctive appearance while the two button interface is relatively straightforward to use. The downsides of the light or minor usability issues such as the battery cables which can only be attached in a specific orientation and a wired remote instead of a wireless option. That said, if you’re looking for a well made mountain biking or high-output wired headlight with unique features then the Canopus Pro is a great option to consider.
Disclaimer: The product for this review was provided by Moon Sport. The views expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and are here to help people make an informed choice before a purchase. The authors or the blog itself does not get any monetary compensation from the product manufacturer or third-party websites/vendor links that are posted here.