Well, I’ve put off buying quality lights for long enough. Yesterdays night ride was the last straw. 6 miles from home my chinese light packed in with no warning. The light said there was still 2 blocks left and then it just went out. Made for a hairy, dangerous and unpleasant ride home on the roads.

So, I’m going to go for Exposure lights. Lots of my riding buddies use them and they have a good rep. Also like the fact they are a UK company and the battery is integrated.

I’ll be using the light for XC, AM and a bit of road (although the roads are very quiet- I’ll be lucky to see 2 cars on a 2hr ride).

I’ve narrowed my selection down to;
1. Toro Mk7- £215
2. Maxx D Mk8- £275

They both have the same burn time and charge time..is it worth spending the extra £60 for 450 lumens? 1800 sounds like more than enough. I’d be putting the £60 towards a Diablo or Joystick. I see lots of comparisons between the Maxx D and the Six Pack, but the Toro never seems to be mentioned.

I’ve an older Toro and tbh I wouldn’t recommend it for MTBing if for no other reason than the beam is too tight/focused.

I was out last night and it works fine now I’ve paired it to a cheap/large Chinese-type helmet light, but not when I just had a Joystick. Maybe a Diablo would be enough?

You can never had too much light…

Thanks b r- I’ve read that the Joystick and Diablo are drowned out by the Maxx D. Is the spread wide enough on the Maxx D to negate the need for a helmet light?

IME having also a helmet light means that you can see ‘shadows’, ie ruts etc and if you’d only one light, then it’d have to be a helmet light for offroad.

tbh I reckon two Diablo’s would probably work well. The piggyback batteries are also useful, gives an extra hour or so.

Juyst throw something else into the mix…have a look at http://www.four4th.co.uk.

I may be a little biased because we’re sponsored by them but the lights are amazing. I’d definitely use them even if we weren’t sponsored.

I just picked up one of the OMG lights…over 4000 lumens on my helmet and coupled with a Holy Moses on the handlebars, it really does make the night time almost as bright as daylight

Thanks both. Two Diablos seems a lot and very expensive..

Gazhurst- I’ve never heard of them.. I’m not really a fan of the bar mount, it looks cheap and flimsy. Also, the battery life isn’t fantastic. I’ll have a closer look though.

Maxx D for my money. Brilliant light.

Thanks b r- I’ve read that the Joystick and Diablo are drowned out by the Maxx D. Is the spread wide enough on the Maxx D to negate the need for a helmet light?

I think the opposite really, a bar light is just a nice to have, but I wouldn’t ride without a helmet light. I suppose it depends on what type of riding you are doing ie canal towpath then a bar light is fine I suppose, but tight, quick singletrack is different.

Diablo is really good, way better than my admittedly older joystick.

got a maxd for Christmas from santa. Used it for first time in anger on ride last night…love it. Ive been using chinese ones for years and to be fair most of them have been fine but i didnt like the faff of strapping the battery to the frame and the wires etc. Mates had maxd and raved about it so went for that….very happy.

Maxx-D for definite.

It has a much bigger spread than the Toro making it much better for serious MTBing at night. The Toro is superb but it’s a much tighter beam pattern.

drop me a line, I may be able to sort you out if you still after one.

Thanks everyone! Appreciate the quick response.
I’ll order the Maxx D now and then save up for the Diablo 🙂

Edit- mboy, email sent.

Gazhurst- I’ve never heard of them.. I’m not really a fan of the bar mount, it looks cheap and flimsy. Also, the battery life isn’t fantastic. I’ll have a closer look though.

There is a much much sturdier bar mount available and it integrates the battery mount too so all on one clamp.

As for battery life, everyone I know that uses Four4th lights has never had anything less than 1.5hrs on full power.

I use a Maxx D & a Joystick. It is true that it is hard to pick out the Joystick’s helmet spot amongst the flood of light, but on one occasion I forgot the Joystick I really noticed it.. You can’t see around corners or over lumps and bumps. It is definitely worth having both.

OP – whatever you go for remember that event he best and most reliable light *can* fail suddenly, so make sure you have a backup light with you, even if it’s just one to be seen by rather than see with.

Now that’s out of the way, I recommend the MaxxD, I’ve had one for about 4 years now so nowhere near the output of the current model, and the lack of faff from having everything in one unit is a massive bonus over lights with separate batteries in my eyes*

The beam spread is good, very wide, and very even but with good penetration. Coupled with a helmet light (Diablo for me) it is nigh on the perfect off-road light.

The MaxxD is however a TERRIBLE road riding light, the beam pattern is awful and will blind anyone coming the other way unless you have it pointing right at the floor, in which case it’s useless for riding, so if you’re looking for a light to do both on and off-road I suggest you consider something slightly cheaper and buying an additional light for road.

*the only benefit of external batteries I’ve found is if you need to swap to extend run time, but then I’ve used my MaxxD on 24hr events and overnight Audax and never run out of battery so unless you’re doing multi-day events I see that as a null point, especially as Exposure offer piggyback batteries and dynamo options for that kind of use. The other is if the battery fails suddenly you can pop a new one on, but that’s assuming you have a spare one with you…

MaxxD and Diablo for me.

The Diablo on full is silly bright (also gets used for the windy, deserted lanes on the road bike)

I bloody love the combo. The only issue I have is fitting the mounts to my bar with my garmin on there, rushed night ride prep last night meant i got a full beam MaxxD in the face at about 25mph 😀

I use a Maxx D & a Joystick. It is true that it is hard to pick out the Joystick’s helmet spot amongst the flood of light, but on one occasion I forgot the Joystick I really noticed it.. You can’t see around corners or over lumps and bumps. It is definitely worth having both.

^^^ This 🙂

Also MaxxD & Joystick,Joystick is obviously going to get lost with the Maxx D if your looking straight ahead, but when turning your head the joystick Mk10 does its job just fine, Ive always thought Id never fork out that kind of money for lights but its well worth it imo, like others my magicshine packed in halfway around a nightride in the hills, it did serve me well. I also like the run time you get with exposures,no cable or battery faff & no more driving up the hill to save battery time, can ride straight from the house (when I can be bothered) knowing I have plenty and battery life 🙂 ..

Sounds like there’s good reason as to why the Maxx D is popular and so reviewed.

For road use I tend to cup the light so I don’t blind the drivers, but most of the time the roads too narrow for both of us so I pull over and turn the bars. Hopefully it won’t be an issue with the Maxx D then.

For road use I tend to cup the light so I don’t blind the drivers, but most of the time the roads too narrow for both of us so I pull over and turn the bars. Hopefully it won’t be an issue with the Maxx D then.

You’d probably be surprised just how much light gets out from a MaxxD and the size of the light cone, even pointed really down from the rider POV they will throw a lot of light into oncoming eyes, and they can be dazzling at quite a distance before you’ve even got your hand over them. Modern wide beam offroad lights really are massively overpowered and under-directed for road use.

Just out of curiosity you should get someone to hold your bike for you, and then run 20-40 feet up the road, squat at driver height and see what t looks liek and get your helper to put it at different angles and cup it so you can see what effect it does/doesn’t have.

They are great lights for offroad though, I wouldn’t want to change mine!

That’s concerning.. some of my trails require substantial bits of road riding to link up- especially this time of year.
Maybe it’s worth getting a cheaper Cat eye or something and swap the lights when I see cars approaching.

I run a MaxxD on the bars and a Diablo on my helmet and they are nigh on perfect. I’ve got the remote cable for the MaxxD which is good (starting to ge ta bit unreliable as it’s been out in all weathers for the last 24 months) and a spare battery for the Diablo which gives me 2 hours on full.

Rode at Swinley on the 23rd Dec and didn’t feel the need for any more light, was able to ride as almost as fast as I normally would in the day.

HTH

current model Maxx D and Joystick here too and would reflect all of above about drowning out etc. When looking straight ahead you aren’t aware of the Joystick at all, but on twisty stuff it’s great.

I don’t think the Maxx D gets the quoted 3hrs on reflex mode though – I find after a 2 hr ride the readout is suggesting about 25 mins left in it…. With the Joystick I tend to toggle the power between high on fast twisty stuff to low or med on fireroads, and it lasts a night ride of a couple of hrs easy.

I’ve got the Toro Mk7 and use it along with my old 340 lumen joystick on my head, so far seems like a great combination to me, I’ve never once felt like I had a lack of light.

The Joystick is totally drowned out looking into the Toro beam, but corners, jumps and ruts it provides that extra little you need for confidence.

I’ve not used the Maxx D, but I’d expect more of the same, all my exposure products have been superb, Joystick is 5 years old now, still runs well. Doubt you will be disappointed with either combination.

I’ve got both the Mk8 Maxxd and the Mk7 Toro.

Both are brilliant.

The Toro is noticably lighter and smaller than the Maxxd.

The Maxxd is noticably brighter than the Toro. Actually too bright on the highest setting, as you get loss of definition.

I run the Maxxd at the same power as the Toro at max.

The beam spread is a bit better on the Maxxd, not as night and day as the previous incantations of the Toro were though.

If I didn’t care about cost, weight or size. I’d buy the Maxxd, even if just for the extra battery life, and a slightly wider beam.

The Toro is still great for riding down steep and tight stuff.