I currently have a 1st gen Hope HID stem mounted light which has been faultless in the few years I've owned it.
I've been looking at a helmet mounted light to use as a back up/commute light.
However after doing some research I'm more confused to what I want! So many different combinations available from the Exposure range plus I've spotted a Hope 4 LED for a good price – I wasn't even contemplating one of these but would make swapping the light between my bikes so easy…
Anyway, I've listed below the options I'm looking at, the tech features I'm looking for and of course the prices I've seen them for.
What would you go for? Have you seen them cheaper anywhere?

Exposure Joystick + White eye £170 124g 480 lumens
Exposure Diablo + White eye £225 128g 800 lumens – ish
Exposure Toro (anyone use this on their helmet?) £206 276g 700 lumens
Hope 4 LED £224 960 lumens

Do I forget about the helmet mounted light and go for the Hope? I do like the option of the Red eye with the exposures..

Arrghh I can't decide!

The Vision 4 isn't really 960 lumens- more like 400-500, but bloody hell it's an impressive bit of kit. If only everything Hope was like that!

I'd go for one of the littler Exposures myself and bung it on the helmet- helmet lights are infinitely better than bar mounts (you'll understand when you use one) and the Exposures are neater on a lid than the Vision.

Yeah i don't need the Hope, just the price made me want it.
if we ignore the Hope for now, which Exposure set up would be best?

It's the law, someone has to do it- check out Dealextreme, their lights compete or beat all of these on performance and cost around 1/4 as much. Not as nice to look at and the delivery times are bad though. After all, the Diablo and Joystick are just pricey torches.

Thanks for the suggestion but just interested in the ones I'm looking at 🙂

houns i run a maxd with a joystick and a red eye and its top.
dx i am told are brighter but its the whole package that makes em nice to use.

go for the exposure range over hope anyday, their reliability seems to be much better, i own neither, but i see how many are warrantied.

actually, im probably going to buy a maxx-d when my trinewt has finally broken (for the last time)

If i do go for the Hope then I'd have the cheaper dx as a back up, but like you say i like the whole 'package' of the Exposures

RobJ built me an LED set up with a deal xtreme thing- it were cumbersome, clunky and all them cheap nasty electrics blew up. They're not that bright either.

Run Light And Motion myself but they don't really compare with those in terms of brightness, I got them purely on battery life.

Happy Crimble Jim

Hope II btw. The speed you ride, you could use a candle but if you must spend money Hope II will see you reet.

Heh he he you fekker! Merry Christmas to you too x x x

superstar_opponents – Member

RobJ built me an LED set up with a deal xtreme thing- it were cumbersome, clunky and all them cheap nasty electrics blew up. They're not that bright either.

**** off luke – that cost what £15 and was fine 3 years ago when made. It was tiny, long runtime, and for the time quite bright – about 150-200 lumens. I suppose cumbersome to someone with a wrist that weak means nothing to normal people!!

go on rob. you tell him 😆

Been using Hope 4s since they came out. Fantastic bit of kit and only Stevie Wonder would need more light. I had to send them back because of a fault recently and even though they were 7 months outside their warranty they didn't charge me. Got them back in a week as well. Who needs a warranty 🙂

The hope IS 960 lumens! and yes I've owned one.

The Diablo is a stunning light with a fantastic beam pattern, but will only run 700 lumens for an hour. Run that with a 240 lumen white eye (940 lumens) and you'll be down to about 40 mins.

Maxx-D has a better beam pattern than the 4 LED and the cable free design is really good. Less versatile than the Hope though as the bracket bolts to the bike, while the 4-LEDs bracket is attached to the light.

I have owned or currently do own all of these lights.