Which Exposure light?

sashmo

i'm looking to buy an Exposure light for my commute along unlit lanes and am leaning towards the Strada. Anyone have any feedback on this or other Exposure lights?

Oh, and before you suggest it, I've ruled out buying magicshine, P7 etc. I'd rather spend a bit (well a lot) more and get the quality and also support a UK company rather than a ripoff one.

Thanks!

andy162

I've got the Strada & use it with the Redeye rear. Great bit of kit. Mines the older 480 lumen model. Plenty bright enough for road riding & gets used as off road too. My commute is 50/50 split between unlit country lanes & lit roads. I alternate between the hi/low settings accordingly. I reckon on 6hrs burn time doing this. The battery has no charge memory so it'll fully charge from "half full" etc & this won't damage the battery either.

I would highly recommend one. I've not had reason to use Exposure's aftersales service but by all accounts it's very good.

ride_whenever

TBH i've not been impressed with the exposure lights other than the plug in red rear one...


If you just want to ride roads the supernova airstream is a GREAT commuting light, excellent power and brilliant beam pattern. I've got one on demo at the moment pm me if you want more info.

antfly

And i'd like to add the philips led bike light to the mix, it's better than the rest and cheaper.

u05harrisb

ive got a toro and a joystick for my cross country stuff, i always bring my joystick with me what ever the weather or lighing and leave on flashing for traffic and walkers etc. and then use the toro when its dark going to get dark or what ever. they are AMAZING!!!! the joystick is a great flasher in bright weather and you can still see it reflect of signs and stuff its great in the dark as a spot light sort of one, the toro is by far the most amazing though! on high it eluminates the entire trail or road or path completly. e.g. i ride home on country roads 1.5 car width and with the toro on the bars on high it lights up the hedges eather side wit hno problems and continues to do so on medium and then mainly eluminates the road on low.

there a great investment! i bought mine as an investment, i got them ex-rental from my LBS at £300 for the both so crackin deal but i shop there loads so i expect that now lol

brillinat light! correct me if im wrong the stradas teh one where you can dip the lights? if so then if you do mainly road then thats a good choice for you, my toro doesnt dip so i have it mounted a little loose on the bars so that it can be moved up or down

hope that helps
Ben

ADIHEAD

I've got a Joystick - 240lumen version and it's very good on unlit roads. If you can afford it though I'd go for the Strada as occasionally I find the beam a bit narrow. The advantage of the joystick though is you can take it in your back pocket on those summer evening rides where you don't want it on the bars, but want the security of knowing it doesn't matter if you're back late!

Again, for commuting in winter though I'd still go for the Strada as it's double the power, got more spread and longer battery life.

u05harrisb

yeh,you definently need a bar light really, the joystick is only really ment to be used in addition to bar lights really, you dont have to but its not powerfull enough to cover a full several hour night ride. strada should cover your needs easily, USE lights last a lifetime are the most waterproof and crash resistant light ive seen and obviously from seeing nearly all racers using at least one use light in a night ride they go highley recomended!

Gypsum_Fantastic

I use the Maxx 2 for both MTB, Commuting and Winter Road Riding and it's amazing, three settings plus a strobe setting, the battery lasts as long as they claim plus it has a nice "limp home" mode for when you're getting close to flat.

I've recently added a joystick to the mix and am equally impressed with this too

gsk82

i got an exposure race maxx just as they were bringing in the strada to replace it. i use it for evenign training on country roads. i was quite iffy about spending so much on a light but without a doubt its the best 150quid ive spent on bike kit. of the 8 or so people i ride with all but 2 have one of the exposure models

carrock

I have the diablo.

Virtually same size as joystick but 700 lumen output (2011 models are 900 lumen )

Also comes with helmet mount.

£200 though for that get a soft shell case, charger, and it reeks of quality.

Magicshine have recalled their battery packs apparently

You get what you pay for.

sashmo

Thanks for all your comments.

I've been looking a bit further and see that some Exposure lights have a pulse mode (Toro and Joystick?). This would be really good for my commute, possibly better than the dip function that the Strada has.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this and actually know which ones have the pulse mode?

Thanks again for your help.

daverow

Recently purchased the Toro MkII and have been using it to illuminate 20 miles of unlit country lanes on the way to/from work over the past few weeks.

One word. Incredible.

I purchased from Wiggle and it's the best money i've spent considering how much visibility you get. Add to that the fact that oncoming cars think you're something alien (due to the 900 lumen output) and you have them slowing down & taking really wide lines past you.

I've not linked it up to the red-eye reat light but don't really see the need when i'm using 2 x cateye units.

The Toro has a much longer burn time than the Diabolo but the same output (900 lumens). The only penalty for this is the additional bulk of it. That aside, if you're going out and plan to be out in the dark for along period of time, a single hour of burn time aint going to cut it.

Hope this helps!

spasypaddy

ive had my strada for close to two years now, if it broke today i'd be straight out to buy another one.

the build quality is fantastic, the beam pattern brilliant, ive done 40mph down unlit roads with it.

i use it with the remote button, it has 3 modes: high, low and flashing.

i also have bought the rear flare which is again fantastic.

when i got my lights out for the winter i noticed my remote switch was damaged so i rang USE and they said send it in. 2 weeks later they sent me a new switch.

Cant recommend them highly enough

tigerben

How long is your commute on the lanes?

I have joystick on my lid and diablo on my bars... which works very well with diablo giving good wide beam/ visibility for traffic and the joystick giving a good focused beam.

The diablo is very bright 700/900 lumnens and signficantly smaller and cheaper than the other exposure lights @ those light levels... the big trade off is battery life -which is about an hour on max beam. This works fine for me as I charge the light every couple of days and only about 25 mins of my commute is in pitch black. So as long as you are disciplined to regularly charge, dont have an epic commute and dont want to do longer night rides then I would 100% recommend the diablo. it has a flash mode also.

sashmo

My commute is around 50 minutes, of which 90% is unlit. I like the look (and especially the price) of the Diablo but wonder if the burn time is enough, especially if I have an unexpected delay.

gregg.pedder

I use the SIX PACK for dark unlit roads, and the FLASH/FLARE combination (rechargeable) for round town and on lit roads.

The SIX PACK is AWESOME, that's the only word for it. Literally turns night into day. Haven't used it much in anger yet but will report back when I do.

The FLASH (front) and FLARE (Rear) combination are awesome as well for the size, little bigger that your thumb, and powerful enough for steady rides down unlit lanes. £85 for the pair as well with re-chargeable batteries and a charger, brilliant value. The FLARE is an 80 lumen rear light as well, rather rude really.

Any Qs please ask.

GP

nferrar

The Exposure stuff is good (I use a Maxx/Joystick combo on the MTB) but you're paying a lot for the cable-free design so it's that not a big deal for you I'd consider alternatives. On the road I use Ay-Ups as I prefer the tighter beam focus than the Exposures (although I think the Strada has a better road beam pattern anyway), also have a dreaded P7 as backup as the Ay-Ups aren't quite enough when doing 25mph+ downhill on unlit country lanes. P7 has been faultless though but again the beam is a bit floody IMO to have as your road light.

jokeyjon

I have a joystick on the helmet and a Toro mk II on the bars. I second the comment above that the Toro is incredible. I bought it to replace a Race Maxx2 which failed after nearly 2 years (great service from Wiggle, who refunded as they couldn't replace it). The joystick is tight and focussed and great for picking out things at a bit of a distance, whereas the Toro just floods the paths and roads with light. Cyclists on the paths across the commons can't quyite work out where all the light is coming from until I whizz past them.