Time to refresh my winter light and looking to move away from my current bar mounted lamp and external battery and cable, wanting something lighter and helmet mounted, pretty much settled on Exposure but unsure whether to go for the Joystick or Diablo? Is the Joystick enough on it’s own or does it need to be teamed with a small bar mounted light too? Or do I just go for a Diablo for the extra power and just have helmet mounted light? Thoughts please!

Generally having a bar mounted light as your main light and a helmet mounted light as infill is the better setup for technical off-road. The bar light provides most of the light while the helmet light lets you illuminate where you look (might not be where the bike is pointing).

I’ve the Joystick – it’s pretty bright on its own and in that regard is fine for mildly technical night riding but I wouldn’t want to be trying to ride tech trails at speed just using that alone.

I use mine on its own on ITTs where I just need to keep moving rather than blast along. It’s light (sic) and provides enough illumination for that.

I use the Diablo and a bar mounted light.

MaxxD and diablo here, i like to see where i’m going 😀

As said, Joystick is ace but ideayl to complement a bar light.

That said, i’ve used on it’s own many a ride for fast/techy stuff when buddies cheap lights have died mid ride and i’ve lent them my bar lights.

News page has some stuff on USE and a new light that sits in between the Joystick and Diablo.

You’ll not be disappointed by either.

A light on your head flattens the trail. A light on the bars gives you shadows so you can read what’s coming up, but you can’t see round corners. Having both gives you the best of both

So based on your logic I’d go with bar light and joystick

For what it’s worth, my diablo is my off road helmet light and my joystick is my road helmet light

I use the Diablo and a bar mounted light.

Me too (Diablo on the helmet, Hope R4 on the bar).

One note on the Diablo is that it doesn’t do the “infinite light” thing that the Joystick does, where it just keeps reducing power for ever. The Diablo will turn off completely at some point. Otherwise, it’s a superb light but I would pair it with a second, bar-mount if budget allows.

MaxxD on the bars and Joystick on the lid here. I tried a Diablo but find the weight of the Joystick less noticeable on my head

I used to have a Joystick Mk7 I liked it but it was just a little to under powered to use on its own. The newest one kicks out around 900 lumens and combined with the good beam pattern is enough for my use. But my local night riding trails are not that technical so I can get away with it. If riding something a bit harder I may want a bit more light. Not tried a Diablo before so cannot comment on that.

But don’t forget if riding with other people you’ll need to match their output or ride at the back if you don’t want their lights casting a shadow.

edit check burn time on highest setting is enough on the Joystick. Its nice compact light but then its also restricted with the size of battery and burn time.

Hang fire for another month or so – Exposure have just launched a whole load of new lights:
http://singletrackworld.com/2017/08/eurobike-2017-u-s-e-exposure-lights/

Evans Cycles are normally a really good bet for picking up cheap end-of-season lights from Exposure and you may get a deal at the Cycle Show at the NEC (end of this month) as USE / Exposure are usually there with their full range of kit and often some special offers.

Most of my night riding over the last couple of years has been solely off a helmet light, the Diablo is easily good enough to cope alone without needing a bar light too.

I also have the clip on battery pack for the diablo – highly recommended and I just clip it on at the back of the helmet, so it’s out of the way.

I’d go joystick purely as it’s so light you won’t even notice it there.
I have another joystick on my bars and that’s plenty really.

If you already have a reasonable bar light giving a good flood, then adding a joystick would be perfect. If you have a 2nd sun’s worth of bar light then go for the diablo. Either way, a decent flood on the bar and a helmet mounted light is the way to go.

It looks like USE have updated their website to include the lights shown in the news item. The coloured Joystick lights and the Axis 1150 lumens light are listed for example. A quick check shows that Evans (at least) have them for sale.

Edit: Not sure if you’d really notice the difference between the 1000 lumens Joystick and the 1150 lumens Axis especially at the lower output settings which presumably are the same relative reduction.

So do wiggle at discounted prices.

A light on your head flattens the trail. A light on the bars gives you shadows so you can read what’s coming up

So, what do you do during the day? do you have some kind of ‘shadow maker’ that casts shadows, allowing you to read the trail?…. 😆

I’ve been considering the Lupine Piko R7 or the Xeccon Zeta Z11 mainly for their remote option. I like the way the Lupine’s settings are incorporated within a phone app so that the actual on/off switch isn’t cycling through too many settings. It provides the granularity of options you’d expect in a high end light without having to waste time trying to ensure you’re on the correct setting or holding the button down a certain amount of time. I find my Diablo 7 can be a bit of a faff having to use one button for everything. The tap function still means I have to take one hand off the handlebar and doesn’t work as reliably as I’d hoped.

I think to be able to remotely turn on and off a helmet mounted light or change to a dimmer setting whilst on the move is the best way to manage the battery life. A switch by the handlebar grip is the way to go in my opinion.

The Diablo 9 Sync looks like it could almost be there but it’ll be interesting to see how the settings are managed. Will Exposure’s app offer the granularity that Lupine’s app offers? Can you program the remote button to perform just say on-dim-off and on-dim-dim-off, etc with various adjustments to the dim settings. So hopefully their Sync enables full customisation to the light’s settings and their remote switch works reliably. I’d also hope their remote switch doesn’t look like the ugly thing they’re using at the moment and looks a little more like the one’s which Lupine and Xeccon use.

User customisation seems to be the way things are going: lets the manufacturer concentrate on fewer models. The difficulty then is just how much can be put in to a particular unit, more options means more code to go wrong.

The fewer buttons, sockets, etc. in a unit the better but then you’ve got the problem that Exposure have come up against: one button has to do everything and the functionality depends on the current mode you are in – “press and hold the button for two seconds, you are now in xxx mode”, etc. Choosing the programme you want on the current models is a case in point.

I don’t think I’d want to set up a light whilst out on the trail either via the button or via an app, it’s going to be an irregular activity anyway once you’ve settled on a particular setup.

The problem with asking a bunch of strangers “what light?” is that you’ve little idea how quick and technical their riding is. A Joystick may well be fine for such-and-such, but they might ride easy trails at slow speeds. Conversely, thingummy who says they “need” a bar light and a helmet light could be sessioning DH trails at vast speeds.

So, to help you, I can confirm most of my night riding is loamy, woodland singletrack with occasional roots, fields, canal towpaths and rarely anything beyond what one might equate to a blue trail centre. I don’t potter or dawdle, but I’m certainly no speed-demon (just check my Strava for proof of that!).

I use a Diablo on its own and wouldn’t want less light. In fact I got a cheapie bar light to complement it.

I use a diablo on it’s own for most of the year. I have a big old torchy light which I use on the bars when the weather is bad as using a headlight when it’s raining or misty means all you can see is a wall of light right in front of your face.

If the only riding you do over winter is night riding, I can understand the race for more powerful lights.

I prefer my night rides with the added element of fun, so I’m more than happy using just a joystick, whether it be on helmet or bars. I’ve never been called slow.

It terms of specs alone the Joystick doesn’t look like great value. But I like like how compact it is, that it comes with two quality mounts, and that the modes are tuneable. It’s a quality piece of kit.

Another vote for Diablo here, use it on the bars for Road bike and on the helmet for MTB.
I do also use a couple of lifeline 375 lumen bar lights for flood duties on the MTB, but the Diablo can be used on it’s own quite comfortably.
Riding Singletrack, amongst trees, roots, loam, mud etc..
Agree with the comment above about mist/light rain, I just use the bar lights for that sort of weather.

@raggatip – we’ll have to wait a little while to find out about the Sync functionality – according to Evans they aren’t in stock until the start of October.

+1 to the mist/rain comments but snow is the most disorientating – I think it’s because the flakes are bigger than raindrops so you get a field of view that’s just swirling all over the place 😯

The other problem is user customisation means complication

Some people just want to put a light on and for it to work, no faffing

It’s why maglite were so popular, no clever settings or funny buttons, twist on, twist off. The LED technology in them is poor, but everyone knows how they work so they still get bought

Too true Ben. For some models in a range having simple on/off is fine but it gets quite bewildering if you then need to have umpteen models of helmet light to cover all options from “be seen” to “thermo-nuclear” 😆 Certainly rear lights just need to be on/off/flash for example.

But, taking the Joystick as an example, what if you don’t want 1000 lumens all the time? Having three output levels means that you can get better run time if most of the riding is on easier ground – it’s what I did on the HT550 – cycling between the levels is simply pressing the button, all the complicated stuff is done at home when setting the light up.

Of course a lot is down to how to create a product that is different in the eyes of the consumer and how to come out with new versions to avoid the “A good light but X years old now” type of review.

Get as much power as you can afford, you can then programme the modes to give you really long runtimes would be my advice.

I’ve recently bought an Exposure Axis and Equinox from their outlet store to replace my Chinese Specials. Loads of power on full and decent runtimes on the lower settings (got over 5 hours done one night and still had plenty of battery left) with enough light for all but proper DH!

There was a similar thread a couple of weeks back – after advice on there I went for Joystick. Now I’m wavering back to Diablo.

Still have a month of fretting until my birthday though…

Firstly, well done lad for choosing Exposure.
Everyone I regularly night ride with (i.e 5 people, once a week) all have (or eventually get) exposure lights…

My setup is max-d (latest) on the bars, Axis (1000lm) on the head…
Brill set up, perfect for fast and tech trails.

I’ve a pair of Joysticks too – for the son/road bike/back up. They are older 400lm hobbies – good enough, but at this time, I’d stump up and get the axis tbh…

DrP

I use a diablo on it’s own for most of the year

Me too!

Joystick on helmet for me with a one23 bar mounted light, use all through the winter regardless of conditions it’s been pretty damned good combination

Whitestone/Bob – I actually like the PGM modes on exposure. And I’d use the customisable bit too. But I am also comfortable with remembering special modes and editing things like that, I realise I’m odd and in the minority. Many just want to get on with it. I had to explain how my mates joystick works, he couldn’t be bothered to work it out or read the manual

One thing selling the diablo (and axis) over the joystick is the tap mode, it’s really useful on a helmet light and is much quicker/safer/less faff than looking for the button. Especially when you’re riding somewhere you don’t know and suddenly need more light than expected

Ben, I can see the arguments for both, in fact I’ve got both types of light. Maybe the app approach on the Diablo Sync will work, people get more use out of their lights, and gets rolled out/trickles down to other models.

A lot of devices have so much functionality these days, not everyone uses all of it. I probably use about 10% of the functionality of my Garmin Oregon for example but then I’ve no real need for the marine features or geocaching.

Those with the joystick tell me about the helmet mount please.. Is it easy to attach the light as it gets dark or do you have to have it on From the start? Does it adjust up down side to side and stay where you leave it? ie doesn’t move about over rough stuff! Ta

Joystick comes with a lanyard so it is best attached by taking helmet off, and mounting light and attaching lanyard. Once in place it can be angled side to side and up and down and doesn’t move unless you want it to.

The mount is pretty good IME. It’s got a limited amount of adjustment, you’d probably have to look at the manual or promotional material to get a figure, but it’s enough to allow for positioning on your lid not to have to be exact. I’ve not had the light move around whilst riding so it’s pretty firm in that regard.

It’s a quite tightly sprung plastic clamp. You just firmly press the central part of the light into it and it snaps in. Depending on when I set off I’ll either have it already mounted or just stop as it’s getting dark and fix it then. I’ve the lanyard which isn’t easy to fit on the go hence stopping.

I bought a diabolo and had it out for the first time this week.

Easy to use

Lots of light

Easy to adjust.

It works well for me. I had a solar storm at the front of my helmet last winter and it threw the balance of the helmet off. The diabolo is on the top of my helmet and was much less noticeable over the 3h ride.

I use a very old 1800 lumen 6 pack on the bars and they worked well together

I also have a MaxxD and Diablo combo. Most of the time I run both on one of the lower settings as the Diablo only has a run time of 1 hour on full. We do a weekly night ride of between 2 and 3 hours and I’ve never had to resort to the spare Exposure battery I carry.

My eyesight is fairly rubbish so I like a lot of light and the head torch really helps with countering the bar lights tendency to flatten everything.

My lights are 3 years old and still going strong, when they die I’ll look around but I suspect Exposure will be getting my business again,

HTH

If anyone has a Joystick to sell I would interested in purchasing one tyvm.

Went for a new Joystick Mk12 and will be pairing it with a Toro on the bars when funds allow, had a look at the entire range in my LBS and that seems to be a good option, thanks for the feedback all, first ride tonight 😀

I’ve got a 900lm joystick for my helmet paired with a Strada 1200 on the bars for winter road riding.
The Strada is brilliant on the road, especially with the remote button.
I’ve not used them for ‘proper’ off-road but they give more than enough light for cyclepaths, parks, etc.

Personally I think Exposure are worth the money – but they are a lot of £££