Exposure Toro or Strada for road riding?

luv2ride

Hi, anyone using either of these on the road? I'm looking to replace an Exposure Race Maxx2 light with something a bit more powerful - current light is rated at 480 lumens and the Mk 4 variants of the Strada and Toro seem to be either 800 or 1200 lumens, so presumably quite a bit brighter. Strada seems to have a beam pattern specifically designed for the road, but can get the Toro a bit cheaper. Is the Toro not that suitable for (fast'ish) road riding?

bendertherobot

I had a Strada, absolutely fine. Don't get too carried away with lumens. See if you can find videos/photos of the actual beam. Some are wholly unsuitable.

I opted this time for a Lezyne Mega Drive. Lucky enough to bag it for £108 from Sport Pursuit with extra battery. So 1000 lumens. Prob a bit too much for the road but I'm planning on MTBing with it as well.

They have the Powerdrive XL loaded for £69. ONLY 575 lumens but two batteries etc. Good spread. Very good price.
http://www.sportpursuit.com/sales/lezyn ... high-gloss

mfin

Toro is fine for road, in fact brilliant.

carrock

mfin wrote:

Toro is fine for road, in fact brilliant.

Diablo same output, smaller, cheaper but less battery life

spankwilder

Pro of the strada is you can aim the beam further down the road and dim with the remote when you get traffic up front - runtime on low modes on both is 36hrs. The toro I cannot see you getting the potential of the output on the road as your going to have to aim it closer to your front wheel. my thoughts, if you ride road/trail - toro, and if your just road - strada - The diablo is another option (this year the price has helmet and bar mount), and you can get a few options on piggyback batteries to extend runtime

mfin

carrock wrote:

mfin wrote:

Toro is fine for road, in fact brilliant.

Diablo same output, smaller, cheaper but less battery life

True if you only do short rides. If you do longer rides in pitch black then it's not as good.

warrerj

I have a Diablo which I use as a helmet light for MTB and on the bars for MTB. It has more than enough light on a medium power to ride on unlit roads with a run time long enough to ride for 6 hours or more (mine has been used liek this for long audax).

Bordersroadie

I've used a Toro Mk2 (900 lumens) extensively for over two years, for an all-rural commute and regular night time training, again all rural roads.

It's superb and effectively as bright as a car headlamp most of the time (except in the wet - see below). Utterly reliable and has survived a big crash where it went bouncing down the road. Dented but unharmed.

Where it lacks (believe it or not) is on wet roads where the reflected light is MUCH lower than on dry. I keep finding, even on high beam, myself wanting more brightness on downhills on wet roads. The new Mk5 (1200 lumens) would solve this I'm sure. In context, on a dry road I'm happy doing 30-35 downhill in pitch dark. On a wet road I'll be holding it back to maybe 25 and not feel as confident nor see the road surface in enough detail.

Its beam pattern is great for me but bad for oncoming drivers. I'm in the process of concocting a proper lightweight cowl that maybe can be flipped down so that drivers don't get dazzled but I still have decent light output. Using the current "dipped" setting is not bright enough when riding fast towards a car with headlights on. Maybe the Strada would win in this respect, I don't know, but the Strada would be lacking (800 lumens) on wet roads for me.

Overall I will stick with Exposure for life, they are the best lights out there. Superbly made, great after sales service (in the UK!!!) and super-convenient with no wires and easy charging/swapping from bike to bike.

luv2ride

Thanks for all the comments. Looks like the Strada might be best bet for the road. Wanted to stick with Exposure as I have their brackets on all of my bikes, so can easily between them. Ive also found them to be ultra reliable and easy use. That Lezyne looked like a bargain though, but have missed it at that price...

mfin

Bordersroadie wrote:

I've used a Toro Mk2 (900 lumens) extensively for over two years, for an all-rural commute and regular night time training, again all rural roads.

It's superb and effectively as bright as a car headlamp most of the time (except in the wet - see below). Utterly reliable and has survived a big crash where it went bouncing down the road. Dented but unharmed.

Where it lacks (believe it or not) is on wet roads where the reflected light is MUCH lower than on dry. I keep finding, even on high beam, myself wanting more brightness on downhills on wet roads. The new Mk5 (1200 lumens) would solve this I'm sure. In context, on a dry road I'm happy doing 30-35 downhill in pitch dark. On a wet road I'll be holding it back to maybe 25 and not feel as confident nor see the road surface in enough detail.

Its beam pattern is great for me but bad for oncoming drivers. I'm in the process of concocting a proper lightweight cowl that maybe can be flipped down so that drivers don't get dazzled but I still have decent light output. Using the current "dipped" setting is not bright enough when riding fast towards a car with headlights on. Maybe the Strada would win in this respect, I don't know, but the Strada would be lacking (800 lumens) on wet roads for me.

Overall I will stick with Exposure for life, they are the best lights out there. Superbly made, great after sales service (in the UK!!!) and super-convenient with no wires and easy charging/swapping from bike to bike.

Good comments.

In the context of riding where there are no cars the Toro is great. I must admit, my night rides I'd be extremely unlikely to see a car at all after the first street-lit bits, so a 10,000 lumen light would be fine for me too.

Also mentioning descents. I've no problem descending absolutely flat out on roads that I know using a Toro, and this is last years Toro. I'm extremely unlikely to be on roads I don't know at night, or if I am I will be with someone who does know the roads well.

Strada is, I expect, going to be good/better on roads for riders who come across Cars, they've designed it for this after all and the beam being suited for road.

There's also the other thing to consider that some people don't ride fast or agressively enough to need lights that are floodlighting everything, so circa 1000 lumen lights can be overkill for a lot of people and this will often be why they have nothing bad to say about lower output lights they own. Same if they are primarily riding in more urban settings / commuting etc.

luv2ride

Have to say a major reason for wanting to upgrade from my Race Maxx2 is that I was riding with a buddy the other night who was using a pair of bar-mounted Ay Ups, and the difference between the two was pretty impressive. The Ay Ups gave way more light in a very useable spread. So it looks as if I'm after a beam pattern and power similar to the Ay Ups, but in an Exposure light with its cable free design.

luv2ride

Went for the Toro Mk4 in the end, and used it for first time tonight. Excellent light, loving it on full power (1200 lumens) round the country lanes. Very compact and rock solid handlebar bracket. Impressed, especially at the sale price...looking forward to getting out on the MTB now as well!