Hope or Exposure light

andyh01

Hi all, after my lenzye micro drive lights failed I am looking a for a more reliable, durable light set mainly for commuting on main roads, having had several low power to be seen by lights I want something brighter, the mirco lights are 250 fron and 70 on day time flash - I do want run these during the day for increased visibilty esp on the rear so was looking at the district 3 which is 105 rear light and to save costs run from the same battery set as the front, however this comes in at £230 for 1x 2600 battery which my wife can't believe, so looking at other options, the only other named brand that is similar is the exposure diablo and redeye, the front has same power as the Hope and rear is on par at 85, I also like the smart port idea and more accessories to plug in then the Hope offers, however again the prices are fairly comparable £185 for the exposure diablo and red eye a saving of £43.

Does the Diablo have an intergral battery? - I know it's internal whereas the hope is external, but given the lezyne battery failed, which is also the charging circuit rended the whole unit useless, whereas if you could replace just the battery or the charger on failure the head main unit would still work and therefore would last longer and cheaper/easier to replace/repair.

re the exposure smart port -
How many accessories can you run through the smart port - thinking could you run two red eyes on the back and one white eye on the front altogether, and I assume you can run the rear lights without having the front switched on? Could you also run the red/white eyes from the piggy battery only or would you have to have the piggyback battery plugged into the main front light still?

Any other lights I should be looking at? I ideally want at least 400 front and 70 lume on back as a min.
For the price I was look at the moon shild and xl package currently at £85 front is 350 and rear is 60 - is there that much difference in brightness between the 60 and 85 lume rear lights?
Thanks
Andy

spasypaddy

my strada is going strong 5 years since i bought it. the lights are build to last.

i dont think you should buy a redeye to run to the rear as the smart port only allows on accessory. And you would need the front on to run the back as its switched on by the same switch.

i'd recommend getting a traceR instead for the rear, its got a usb recharge port.

PerformingMonkey

Pick up this month's MBUK (if you're not too embarrassed!). Good test of all the main players in the lighting world.

danmitch

Just received my Ay-Up front lights for my commuter http://www.ayup-lights.com/systems/ligh ... in-sports/

Very impressed, they have replaced my NiteRider MiNewt 250 and provide a better spread, more even lighting pattern and are plenty powerful enough for the darkest, potholed roads on my commute. There is no side visibility, but I think this is more important at the rear, where I use a Fibre Flare and Smart Lunar R1.

gixer5

I bought the Ay Up V4 adventure lights 2 years ago. I have used them every day in all weathers throughout the darker months and only had a problem with one of the charger ports on one unit. I returned this to the manufacturer and received a replacement unit within a week without any question.

After using 2 difference Knog rear lights (one of which only lasted a week!) I purchased the Moon Shield 60 with usb charge port. The light is bright enough for day time use and really good value at £35

rhext

I've just taken delivery of my brand new Hope R4 front light set, having been using a Vision 2 for the last 2 or 3 years. I'm absolutely delighted with it. I can't comment on the Exposure from experience so I won't, but as far as the Hope is concerned:

1) Customer service: if it breaks they fix it for you. You may need to pay a charge if it's out of warranty, but even so, it beats having to throw away a really nice and expensive piece of kit that's still perfectly functional.

2) Their stuff tends to just keep working. I only know the customer service is so good because I broke one, not because it stopped. And it wasn't easy to break either.

3) It's a proper quality piece of kit. Yes, there are other bits of kit out there that cost a lot less and throw out the same, if not more, light. But for me, value-for-money is about more than pure function, and it's nice to have stuff that clearly hasn't been built to the lowest possible cost.

4) This perhaps depends on how you use it and what for, but with an external battery pack, if the battery runs down you can simply replace it with a fresh one....althoughthe price you pay is it's heavier and tends to bounce around a bit no matter how well you strap it to the frame.

Less convinced about the District, TBH. For a start £80 is a lot of money for a rear light, and I do wonder whether it's actually a bit too bright. Yes, you want to be seen, but you don't want to dazzle people who are just about to overtake you. I suppose only other comment is that these are mountain bike lights, not road lights....if I didn't use mine for both, I'd not be using these at all. If I'm on the road, I only use the Hope on its lowest power setting because otherwise I get fed up of drivers 'retaliating' with their full beam headlights. It's nice to have the extra power for unlit roads - but not essential. £230 is a lot of money to spend for lumens you can't use.....

iPete

I run a Hope 2 onto District via 1 battery.

On the District, it is a fantastic all year round light. Plenty of my mates have overtaken me (in cars of course) and my first question after is always 'how was my light?'. They've all said really good and not blinding. It isn't the power but the way it spreads across the road and its daytime visibility is handy too.

rhext

iPete wrote:

I run a Hope 2 onto District via 1 battery.

On the District, it is a fantastic all year round light. Plenty of my mates have overtaken me (in cars of course) and my first question after is always 'how was my light?'. They've all said really good and not blinding. It isn't the power but the way it spreads across the road and its daytime visibility is handy too.

Sold - now where did I put my credit card :-)

springtide9

Same as @rhext - started with a Vision 2 and now have the R4 (brighter and lighter)

Works great on the road. The bike mount allows it t be adjustable (up/down) and has decent control on the beam. It''s a great light and have a standard and extra capacity battery.

The only slight fault is the mount for the battery... it rattles around too much on the road for my liking using the Velcro straps, so I use one of those tri bags for the battery which works a treat.. like this one:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/topeak-tri-bag- ... 5360174622

andyh01

Thanks, I think the exposure Diablo is out for the cost different the hope is better value for sake of £40

Re the brightnes of the front light whilst may be a tad overkill for my current needs, I was hoping to be able to run on a lower setting on the small 2600 battery for the week and if my needs ever change I,d just need to upgrade the battery and run on higher setting for a longer period if needed, any of you guys selling off the vision 2?

Just hard convincing the Mrs it is worth it in long run ESP when could get the moon shield 500 l front and 60 l rear for £85 suppose could get these for now, and put the others on wish list and if when get them have a decent backup set

cubicboy

I have a Hope R4 and it's a great light. I use it for night trail riding and it's a quality unit with a great light pattern. I also have a Diablo that I mount on my helmet. I have used both for road riding at night in the countryside and the Diablo is more than enough... in fact, I run it on the third brightest setting. When I compare it to the eBay specials that quite a few of my friends have, its far better in terms of usable light. Also, the beam pattern is brilliant.

andyh01

The only reason I, ruled out the Diablo is the fact it,s internal/integral battery and the redeye that's cheaper than hope rear needs the front on as well its not as I dependant as the hope combo so then be looking at the Diablo plus the tracer which is about £$%$ forty pound so the package be two hundred pounds whereas hope be two thirty spitting hairs but still might be forced to go for the moon and maybe tracer rear as back up thanks

northpole

This thread has just reminded me that I have a hope district rear light and dedicated battery which, time of year and all, I should dig out of its box. Truth be told, for my commuting in central London, I suspect the cherry bomb rear light is more than adequate. The district is nice insofar as the battery lasts for ages without needing a charge.

I have a hope r2 on the front of my commuter and again, I have an r4 in its box. The r2 is a great wee unit and mine has been going string for several years now without any problem - still on the original battery too. The r4 is considerably brighter and, surprise surprise, eats up the battery much quicker than the r2. As the r4 has little weight penalty, I'd recommend spending the extra if you can for a light which will make sure other motorists see you from a distance (without dazzling them if you angle the unit sympathetically).

Peter

djhermer

Bought a Diablo yesterday and tried it out last night - bar mounted. Absolutely blinding. Literally. A fantastic piece of kit. Expensive yes, but half of my 28 mile commute is unlit country lanes. See and be seen.

junglist_matty

For commuting, along unlit country roads, I use this combo....

£15 torch
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181200314270

£4 bar mount
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290975599810

£16 Decent battery charger:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390525215466

£20 Decent batteries:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300958158756


Total - £55

Mines done 2 winters; one of these decent batteries easily power the full beam for 2 hours (so guaranteed 4x hours with carrying a spare in the saddle bag).
I love it because it's so easy to mount to the bars, it's a compact torch, it's easy to use, its weatherproof, there's no battery pack to strap to the frame and it's very very bright, but each to their own, if you want to spend £200, go for it; I'm not going to deny the expensive branded lights are great (and for off road use, well worth the investment), but for commuting or dark winter road riding, I find this combo is perfect.... Just thought I'd add my two pence as there's so many confusing threads about these type of lights and what bits you should buy to get a decent package.

djhermer

junglist_matty wrote:

For commuting, along unlit country roads, I use this combo....

£15 torch
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181200314270

£4 bar mount
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290975599810

£16 Decent battery charger:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390525215466

£20 Decent batteries:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300958158756


Total - £55

Mines done 2 winters; one of these decent batteries easily power the full beam for 2 hours (so guaranteed 4x hours with carrying a spare in the saddle bag).
I love it because it's so easy to mount to the bars, it's a compact torch, it's easy to use, its weatherproof, there's no battery pack to strap to the frame and it's very very bright, but each to their own, if you want to spend £200, go for it; I'm not going to deny the expensive branded lights are great (and for off road use, well worth the investment), but for commuting or dark winter road riding, I find this combo is perfect.... Just thought I'd add my two pence as there's so many confusing threads about these type of lights and what bits you should buy to get a decent package.

It's a fair point. There's always cheaper options. I only commented on the thread because I had relevant feedback from one of the lights he's considering - ie Exposure or Hope - and was seeking opinions on.

bendertherobot

I've had the cheapy torch ones from ebay. They are excellent. When they work! To be fair though I had two and had to cannibalise one to get the other one going. 2 years and still going strong. Particularly good as helmet lights and on strobe.

Also, if you can find a discarded laptop, break the battery open, it's just loads of batteries stuck together.

kajjal

junglist_matty wrote:

For commuting, along unlit country roads, I use this combo....

£15 torch
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181200314270

£4 bar mount
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290975599810

£16 Decent battery charger:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390525215466

£20 Decent batteries:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300958158756


Total - £55

Mines done 2 winters; one of these decent batteries easily power the full beam for 2 hours (so guaranteed 4x hours with carrying a spare in the saddle bag).
I love it because it's so easy to mount to the bars, it's a compact torch, it's easy to use, its weatherproof, there's no battery pack to strap to the frame and it's very very bright, but each to their own, if you want to spend £200, go for it; I'm not going to deny the expensive branded lights are great (and for off road use, well worth the investment), but for commuting or dark winter road riding, I find this combo is perfect.... Just thought I'd add my two pence as there's so many confusing threads about these type of lights and what bits you should buy to get a decent package.

Just buying something similar. Did you find the original batteries / charger were very poor so bought some decent ones ?

bendertherobot

Kajjal wrote:

junglist_matty wrote:

For commuting, along unlit country roads, I use this combo....

£15 torch
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181200314270

£4 bar mount
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290975599810

£16 Decent battery charger:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390525215466

£20 Decent batteries:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300958158756


Total - £55

Mines done 2 winters; one of these decent batteries easily power the full beam for 2 hours (so guaranteed 4x hours with carrying a spare in the saddle bag).
I love it because it's so easy to mount to the bars, it's a compact torch, it's easy to use, its weatherproof, there's no battery pack to strap to the frame and it's very very bright, but each to their own, if you want to spend £200, go for it; I'm not going to deny the expensive branded lights are great (and for off road use, well worth the investment), but for commuting or dark winter road riding, I find this combo is perfect.... Just thought I'd add my two pence as there's so many confusing threads about these type of lights and what bits you should buy to get a decent package.

Just buying something similar. Did you find the original batteries / charger were very poor so bought some decent ones ?

Depends what you get. Mine came with Trustfire as I recall, which were excellent.

junglist_matty

I got mine with 2xUltrafire batteries and a cheapy charger, think it cost me £15 all in (from China)....

Basically, the cheap batteries (ultrafire, trustfire, anything ending in "fire") are not great; they are reconditioned (they take the cells out of plastic laptop battery casings, tidy up the solder points on each end then wrap them in a new plastic outer)..... Hence why they are so cheap (£0.99 - £3) they are old, recycled batteries that have nowhere near the claimed capacity.
However, they do work, and you'll probably get guaranteed 30minutes of full beam torch from one xxxxfire battery cell.

The ones I posted above are panasonic cells which are the best you can buy, they are high capacity and runtime on full beam is a guaranteed 2.5+ hours, so with carrying a spare fully charged battery, you're guranteed 5 hours runtime, so pretty good really; a lot better than a guaranteed 1 hour with the recycled batteries.

kajjal

junglist_matty wrote:

I got mine with 2xUltrafire batteries and a cheapy charger, think it cost me £15 all in (from China)....

Basically, the cheap batteries (ultrafire, trustfire, anything ending in "fire") are not great; they are reconditioned (they take the cells out of plastic laptop battery casings, tidy up the solder points on each end then wrap them in a new plastic outer)..... Hence why they are so cheap (£0.99 - £3) they are old, recycled batteries that have nowhere near the claimed capacity.
However, they do work, and you'll probably get guaranteed 30minutes of full beam torch from one xxxxfire battery cell.

The ones I posted above are panasonic cells which are the best you can buy, they are high capacity and runtime on full beam is a guaranteed 2.5+ hours, so with carrying a spare fully charged battery, you're guranteed 5 hours runtime, so pretty good really; a lot better than a guaranteed 1 hour with the recycled batteries.

Thanks

andyh01

Thanks for all the info,
Re the cheaper torch eBay stuff I'm concerned with the beam spread with the hot spot and also the reliability issues, so then I would need a back up light system to be seen by so that's another cost then add to the fact, I would also need a rear light, I'd be looking at the moon package on top so that adds up to the same as the r4.£55+£85
I am right in thinking those that run something like exposure/hope don't "feel" the need to run an addition light set in case of failure, the only failure I could see is the battery running out of charge rather then malfunction?

spankwilder

All the good lights with integral batteries are replaceable by the manufacturers/distributor (Lezyne/Exposure). The flash and flare you can buy more rechargeable batteries for to extend the runtime and are excellent lights - go easy on the threads when swapping batteries though.

andyh01

on the micro drive set I had it seemed to be a integral battery with no way of seperating it from the body/main unit, I think the lezyne super drive ect have replaceable batteries, the one thinkg that puts me off the moon package is the battery is propriatory whereas the leznye ones that can be replaced, will take different makes of batteries, not just ones by lezney, but I don't trust the brand.

rhext

AndyH01 wrote:

Thanks for all the info,
Re the cheaper torch eBay stuff I'm concerned with the beam spread with the hot spot and also the reliability issues, so then I would need a back up light system to be seen by so that's another cost then add to the fact, I would also need a rear light, I'd be looking at the moon package on top so that adds up to the same as the r4.£55+£85
I am right in thinking those that run something like exposure/hope don't "feel" the need to run an addition light set in case of failure, the only failure I could see is the battery running out of charge rather then malfunction?

I always run a spare both front and rear - just cheap flashers. The main lights are pretty reliable, but for the sake of a few quid why take a risk?

junglist_matty

AndyH01 wrote:

Re the cheaper torch eBay stuff I'm concerned with the beam spread with the hot spot

Fair enough, I find the hot spot is great for commuting on dark unlit country roads because when an oncoming vehicle comes around the bend, I push the torch down so the spot is pointed down towards the road as not to blind them. for commuting on roads, the spot is ideal. You can buy a diffuser lens for about a quid that work well.

AndyH01 wrote:

and also the reliability issues, so then I would need a back up light system to be seen by so that's another cost then add to the fact,

No reliability issues here, had mine for two years, with daily use during the 5 darkest winter months (oct-feb). The torch is actually really well built if you take it apart, rubber O-Rings seal all internals really well and the torch works fine, even in the pouring rain; I've ridden thousands of wet & dark miles with the torch and had no leaking issues.

If you're worried about light failure, you can always buy a second torch at a tiny cost of £12, along with a second bar mount at £3, you already get two batteries so you can run two torches and don't need to buy extra batteries to run dual lights, unless you want to carry spares.

AndyH01 wrote:

I would also need a rear light, I'd be looking at the moon package on top so that adds up to the same as the r4.£55+£85

I use a SMART lunar 1/2watt rear LED, it's super bright, and if drivers can't see that, they're not going to see anything. runs off 2xAAA batteries, costs £15 including seatpost & seatstay mounts.


The total package costs £55 for the front light, £15 for the rear light (lasts at least 30 hours before needing a recharge; for me, that's almost one month of winter riding, I recharge them every 3 weeks). Plus you can use the torch when you're not riding the bike (i.e. out for a walk, camping etc.) as it's a really a torch design so perfect for just carrying in your hand

Here's mine (photographed just now on my desk) that I bought in October 2011, completely taken apart so you can see for yourself how "reliable" (there's not much to a torch!) it is....



other detailed photos of internals:
https://plus.google.com/photos/11142644 ... banner=pwa

Please don't think I'm trying to say that the branded lights are rubbish because they're not, this is just a very cheap alternative. Without the ultra premium batteries (using the supplied reconditioned cells - that still work for at least 30mins on full beam), this package would cost well under £50.
And if (when) something does break, it doesn't cost much to replace.... Just that it's worth considering, 90% of people with bright bike lights use this sort of package because they simply can't afford the expensive branded ones; I know a lot of people that run this torch; none have any quibbles with it. Running a dual lamp Hope setup (which is just as likely to fail as the china equivalent) would cost you well over £200 before even considering the rear light!

Oh, and BTW, the decent battery charger I posted before, can recharge most types of battery so it's actually a really useful, very high quality charger, and worth having just for you standard AA/AAA rechargeables

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say on this matter; I'm only giving advice, it's up to you what you want and what you buy, so i'm sure whatever package you go for will work for you.

andyh01

Thanks for all the info, after a lot of debate and consideration I think I'm just going to go for the Moon set, xp500 front and moon shield rear, from stonehenge cycles, 500 lumen front light and 60 lumen rear, for £85. They'll be fine for my current needs and if anything changes, I can look to get something like the Hope if/when needed and have the moon as a back up set. Thanks again Andy

rhext

AndyH01 wrote:

Thanks for all the info, after a lot of debate and consideration I think I'm just going to go for the Moon set, xp500 front and moon shield rear, from stonehenge cycles, 500 lumen front light and 60 lumen rear, for £85. They'll be fine for my current needs and if anything changes, I can look to get something like the Hope if/when needed and have the moon as a back up set. Thanks again Andy

Sounds like a plan. 500 will be plenty on road and is actually pretty adequate off road too.

kajjal

My front light is a 575 lumen Lezyne and it is fine on country lanes in the pitch black dark on full power. Even on lower power settings it is OK on country lanes but I don't bother as I only go out for an hour or so leave it on full power.