Chaps, Ive got £300ish for lights and cant decide! I've got a Hope 2 for a helmet light but what to have on the bars. Like the Hope 4 to match the other but also like the MaXx look… What do you think??

might as well get it out the way before the **** come marching in …..

you should buy some multiple of those shite DX lights ……

no actually sensible head on There is little between the lights other than form factor – the USE is much easier to fit and remove than the hope. I spent my money on a maxx d

Hope if you think youll ever want to put it on your head, Exposure if you dont. Simple.

Or if you want to get into details, the exposure is more floody, hope more spotty, both provide a s***load of light with massive run times.

Vision Four
Vision Four Enduro

Thats what i got for doing the Relentless 24hr is a good deal and a fantastic light. They seem to be the best price around.

There is some good deals going on L&M lights at the mo, looking about £250 for a Seca 700, which easily outshines my mates hope 4. Seca 900 should be about £320 if you look around.

I like the idea of the hope 2 and 4 combo is anyone using that???

I'm about to put up a Vision 4 on the classified if interested? Just not using it enough.

The L&M Seca 900 is very bright and well made. L&M say their Seca 900 is outputting 900 lumens, not sure how they measure it but makes other 900 lumens lights appear shite!! Honestly the Seca 900 is better compared to Lupine Betty…

I sold my vision 4 last September and bought a Maxx D, no regrets so far. The light output is hardly any different, but I prefer the mounting system its much easier to whip on and off the bike, there is no cable rub to worry me and I like the rear led power indicator too. Just decide if its worth the extra money!

If you get the hope you will always have a backup battery if for whatever reason one fails.

But can you really ignore the neatness of the USE and that there are no loose wires to snag on low branches.

Or get 6 dx lights so you will have near 5000 lumens.

you can get backup batterys for the maxx D too though – i have a 3 cell back up for my joystick …. joystick on full for 12 hours + Maxx d lasted 18 hours plus on medium – at the puffer – on a first dark and off when i got off the bike at the end ….

winstanleys were doing exposure maxx for 240 quid!! i bought one yet to try off road but its very smart

My point is he will always be carrying a backup battery because he can just use the one from the other Hope.

If say the battery on the 4 failed he could unplug the one from the 2 and use that to power the 4 so he doesn't have to limp home with just the helmet light.

i run a vision 4 on the bars and a joystick maxx2 on the helmet good set up i think

also ive had dealings with hope and exposure and both have been excellent customer service

hardly limping ….. i regularly ride with just my joystick to save moving the bracket off my SS if i fancy riding another of my bikes that night

winstanleys were doing exposure maxx for 240 quid!!

Just checked thats a great deal

I use MaXx D – I like the ease of leaving v.small bracket on bars of all bikes all the time, so each is ready to accept the light, the ease with which its fits sold itself to me. Vs the Hope (I previously used a Hope LED2 light before).
I use the MaXx D along with a Diablo, with the Diablo being helmet mounted and then link the Diablo to a 3hr battery cell in my camelbak.

I had occasion to return the MaXx D for a new on/off switch – mine was bought just as the light came to market and the switch was a bit naff – USE were 1st class in their service and approach – in terms of aftercare service I will be a customer always – was well impressed.
The MaXx D and Diablo together are awesome, previously I had the joystick instead of the Diablo and this also worked well – bags of light.

I've got no complaints about my Hope 4.

Had it for exactly a year, used regularly (weekly over the winter, regardless of rain, temperature or mud) and apart from me being cack handed and breaking the bar mounting, I've had no problems.

With reference to the easy mounting of the Exposure, I'd add that it takes less than a minute to put my Hope on the bike – just one qr mounting bracket and a piece of velcro for the battery.

I find that it's too heavy to mount on the helmet though.

Had Hope now have MaxxD… IMO no contest!

Just to put the cat amongst the LED's, how about a trout light lumen liberator for around £270.00

1600 lumen and for my opinion no better value around.

TROUTLIGHT 😛

Another big vote for the troutelight. The USE and Hope really can't live with it at all.

Yet Another alternative here.

Oh, the choice.
😀

L.

see luminous.others recomend the troutlight.
going to rip in to them as well are we..????

luminous why are you stalking me ❓

Rob, Trout.

Hi.
Rob. YGM

see luminous.others recomend the troutlight.
going to rip in to them as well are we..????

Not at all, the OP's budget is well within reach of an LL. So its to be condidered, imo.

As I posted, "Oh, the choice"

Trout/Chris.

No mate, I was pointing out yet another alternative might be the Model 601. With no referrence to you or your product, at all.

BTW, I saw the Bike Radar article. Well done.
😉

L.

As a Vision4 user in a sea of latest Troutlight riding mates, get the Trout. It's about half as bright again than the Hope and the burn time is miles longer. I've been really disappointed with my Hope for burn time, pretty always having to get myself home on a flashing light or just my Joystick after 2-2.5 hours of riding, and that's with running min setting on all the climbs. The moment you run the max setting it just sucks juice down like you wouldn't believe. The beam optics ain't great either and the battery mounting is downright irritating. After that stunning sales pitch, my set will be on the classifieds in a month or so.

as a owner of a maxx daddy, i can safely say i think its an all round better option than the vision 4…

i had use of both the vision 4 and maxx daddy before buying, and there wasnt a great deal in it…the vision 4 seemed a little more focused, but i felt the daddy gave the better all round vision (either side of the bike for off road riding)….

there wasnt a great deal in it though, huge bonuses of the daddy are of course NO WIRES….its absolutly class, literally press the release button and hey presto, no messing around getting wires to and from camelbaks etc….also the fuel gauge indicator is spot on too….both are very good lights for the price really, and for me personally i can run the maxx daddy on off road descents at a fair speed without worrying about obstacles, it really does give you the feel of daylight in total unlit areas…..

if i was racing flat out in the dark, then and only then do i think i would need a helmet mounted light as well, i do some semi technical stuff in the dark (woods, rocky descents etc) and ive never really come short of lighting…

just to put it into perspective though, my mate has one of those lumilite/ or p7 seoul lights that cost about 50quid imported, or 85 fromlumilite and a claimed 900 lumens….well we had a 'light' off, and on the top setting the maxx daddy is far far far brighter……the max daddy is a claimed 960 lumen and p7 seoul one 900……

its good value for money dont get me wrong and it probably would suffice for general riding….but the quality of workmanship on the daddy is immense…..

you get what you pay for as the saying goes, but if i was to run a second light on the helmet id certainly look down the path of that p7 seoul my mate has….

Didzy, thanks for your input, I think you right I may of moved to the Daddy now!! I do like the 'Trout' and all credit to him BUT everyone seems to rate the MaXx daddy and LOADS of people seem to be running them at Mayhem last year.
So Daddy on the bars, which one for the helmet?? Joystick Plus the other light light that sticks on the side?

cy – Member
I've been really disappointed with my Hope for burn time, pretty always having to get myself home on a flashing light or just my Joystick after 2-2.5 hours of riding, and that's with running min setting on all the climbs.

There must be something wrong with yours then. I rode the 24/12 Torchbearer with my Hope 4s, started at midnight and they gave up at 4.30ish. I was using them mainly on the second from top setting.

Even last night I was riding for around 3 hours, and there is still charge left in them today.

cy – Member
The moment you run the max setting it just sucks juice down like you wouldn't believe.

The brightest setting is irrelevant anyway, as the second to top setting is all but as bright.

and the battery mounting is downright irritating.

The battery mounting is a piece of velcro, which holds the battery securely onto my top tube, What's irritating about that?

All in my opinion of course! 😉

hi bigface…no worries, glad to give you some input…

as i said ive not really ever needed a second light, so i cant help on the helmet mount option, im guessing some form of joystick would be better than something bulkier on the helmet…..i think the daddy gives pretty good spread so ive not really found a need to have one….

also just to point i could have got the vision4 50 quid cheaper than what i paid for the daddy, and i was that impressed with the hassle free setup of the daddy the 50quid seemed worth it….i had a crash the onther night over the handlebars (not due to lighting, funnily enough), and landed on the daddy, my inital thought was its gotta be foooked, but it wasnt, a few little scuffs on it, and the mount was still in perfect condition, and everything still works perfectly….so i can vouch for it taking a tumble too, meaning its pretty robust….

you wont really go wrong with either imo, but the daddy is certainly called the 'daddy' for a reason 😉

So what's the runtime on H / M / L for the Trout LL users as I need something for Mountain Mayhem this year. Anyone have any pics with the larger Smudge battery? I want to see a setup as the "no wires" of the maxx-d is pretty appealing as a no hassle alternative.

http://www.stif.co.uk/gear/select_options.asp?productID=6649&store=mtb

This is an even better deal on the Hope 4 Endurance.

2.5 hours on my trout LL at 1600 lm and loads loads more on "low" 900 lm setting

standard battery with added Monty content

Until 6 months or so ago, I would have lumped on the Maxx-D, but after getting a Trout LL, and Trout DO before it, it is a no brainer for choice, service, power and reliability so far, the LL blows all mainstream manufacturers out of the water.

Out of interest, what is the rating of the 'standard' battery? As I'm running a 5.2Ah battery, and have never been close to running out.

being a lazy ass, I have not run out yet.

the standard battery is a 2.6 amp hour and when I first tested one 2.5 hours runtime was achieved and the maths verified that with the light drawing 1 amp
but then reports of 2 hours came in so I did a retest and yes got 2 hours 10 mins this could have been the colder ambient as it was september when I did the first trial .

there has been a small change to the driver and I hope this doesnt upset any of the first batch users .

there is now a hi med and low with the hi being a boost and drawing 1.5 amp from the battery and will deplete the 2.6 amp hour in about 1hour 15 mins
the medium is the old hi and the low well low

Trout lights might be good value but they look ugly as hell.

cy – Member
As a Vision4 user in a sea of latest Troutlight riding mates, get the Trout. It's about half as bright again than the Hope and the burn time is miles longer. I've been really disappointed with my Hope for burn time, pretty always having to get myself home on a flashing light or just my Joystick after 2-2.5 hours of riding, and that's with running min setting on all the climbs. The moment you run the max setting it just sucks juice down like you wouldn't believe. The beam optics ain't great either and the battery mounting is downright irritating. After that stunning sales pitch, my set will be on the classifieds in a month or so.

Strange that. I could ride with mine on full for 2 hrs. Most rides are 1.5-2hrs and I generally have mine on max for anything technical/downhill and high for the rest of the ride. If I want to run it to flat when I get home I stick it on medium so it doesn't get hot and it will take anything up to an hour to run down.

I'm more than happy with the light output too, but next winter I'll probably supplement it with either a Hope 2, or DX for my lid.