It will come as a surprise to precisely nobody that these two lights from Exposure are class-leading illuminators with unique looks and unbeatable support.
- Brand: Exposure
- Product: Six Pack Mk14, Zenith Mk3
- From: Exposure Lights
- Price: Six Pack Mk14 £495.00, Zenith Mk3 £295.00
- Tested: by Benji for 3 months
Exposure Six Pack Mk14 review

Starting with the almighty Exposure Six Pack. Yes, there are similar claimed lumen lights on eBay for about fifty pence or something. There are also similar power lights out there from ‘proper’ brands that cost closer to £300.
So why pay five hundred pounds for an Exposure Six Pack? And is it worth it? The laws of diminishing returns applies very much so with bike lights these days.
Is the Six Pack ‘better’ than significantly cheaper lights? Yes. Yes, it is. Is it worth nearly £500? That’s a harder argument and it’s one that depends very much on a couple of factors that may not ever be relevant. Namely, aftersales care and aesthetics. Exposure lights will always look after their customers.
Aftersales. Exposure has an enviable reputation for helping people out both within warranty period and outside of it. They are a relatively small bunch of decent human beings available on the end of a phone in West Sussex. I'[m confident in saying you’ll be able to keep this light running for several years yet.
Aesthetics. Well, just look at it. I think it’s far and away the prettiest high power bike light out there. It’s art deco meets CNC machine meets Formula 1 steering wheel meets carriage clock. It is just a lovely, lovely thing in and of itself. You can’t say that about the myriad of matt black lumps with cables spewing out of them, no matter how attractive the price tag.
Now then. Aftersales, aesthetics and the whole ‘I’m backing Britain’ aspect may never actually mean anything to you in the real world of getting filched up on a night ride/race. In which case, an Exposure probably isn’t for you. Move on.
If you like the cut of Exposure’s jib, read on.

The Six Pack emits a maximum power of 5,800 lumens. And it will do that for a claimed – and genuine – two hours. Turn it down and you’ll get longer burn times. Physics, pal. The battery has a 20,000mAh capacity.
It has the flexibility to be multiple things to multiple riders. It can do full-power burn-out blasts of extremely technical and/or speedy tracks. It can chug out a week of mild commutes. It can be set and forget to deal with a multi-hour endurance event.
As an aside, events and races are often graced with the presence of Exposure, ensuring on-hand help if you find yourself in a potential event-ending pickle.
At the front of the unit is where the illumination action is. Six LEDs doing their thang. In terms of illumination quality, the Six Pack is perfectly clear and clearly perfect. Wide, bright, full of detail, penetrating, not harsh, not yellowy. It’s hard to see(!) how it could be any better. It doesn’t really need a supplementary helmet-mounted light in all honesty (money saver!)
On the rear of the unit is a clear cover, which shows the circuitry, and also a digital display. The display shows not only remaining burn time (which is very, reassuringly, accurate in my experience), but also which setting you are in. Also on the back is the main function button and charging port (which Exposure call Smart Port+).

The Reflex+ ‘brain’ uses two internal thermistors, a gyro and an accelerometer to measure speed and gradient to automatically brighten/dim the light. Brighter for fast or steep, rougher stuff. Dimmer for slower or shallower, smoother stuff. It works.
The Six Pack may have a total of ten presets (including three Reflex+ settings) but I’m fairly certain most MTBers will put it in Programme 1 (maintain the light in highest-as-situation-dictates setting) and leave it there.
Do I have ay niggles at all? Yes. The bar clamp. It may be minimalist and nicely made but it doesn’t fit weird handlebar profiles, either one-piece ones (eg. Scott Hixon) or non-round profile ones (eg. One Up Components).
And the relatively small foot/anchor on the underside on the light unit is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, literally. At over 400g the Six Pack is not a lightweight unit. I’ve experienced it coming lose and requiring tightening up. Maybe some sort of nylok or rubbery… ‘thing’ would be an idea in future iterations?
And personally, I don’t like leaving bar clamps on my bike when not using the light (am I alone in this regard?) so the extra faff and time of undoing the 4mm Allen bolt etc every time is a bit annoying. Sorry.
But yeah. The Exposure Six Pack Mk14 is still the light to beat for committed night riders, everything considered.
Exposure Zenith Mk3 review

Over to the Exposure Zenith Mk3 then…
The Zenith is designed primarily as a helmet mounted light (which is how I used it exclusively). You can run it on handlebars too with the supplied bracket – which would be useful when commuting, for example.
(You can also use it as a massively OTT torch for doing things like DIY or finding where your dog did its dirt during its nighttime walkies)
As there name says, Exposure is on the third incarnation of the Zenith. And if you were just judge a light from its claimed lumens (as far too many people seem to do) it doesn’t seem to offer a massive leap up from the Mk2. A mere 100 lumens more (up to 2,200 from 2,100), delivered by the same three lamp lens array.

Except it’s not the same lens array. The third generation of Zenith has noticeably more penetration than before and – much like the Six Pack – its beam is wider and clearer than ever. It isn’t as wide as the Six Pack but it doesn’t need to be; it generously illuminates where you’re actually looking.
You can easily night ride with just this light on your helmet. I should know. I did it numerous times. I would recommend taking the handlebar mount with you on night rides; if the drizzle or mist descends, it’s hard work (not to mention dangerous) if you only have line-of-eyesight illumination.
If using this as a solo light, you do need to be mindful of your burn times but if you’re just using it for modest length ‘social’ midweek night rides (90 minutes and then to the pub anyone?), it’s not a problem.
And here I should mention Exposure’s TAP technology. Essentially, you can just tap the body of the light with your finger(s) to switch it between settings. There’s no fumbling for a button.

Rather than the digital display panel found on the Six Pack, the Zenith uses a simple LED traffic light system (green, orange, red) to monitor run-time and to show which mode the light is in. Not that it matters much; it’s on your head and you can’t see them. But they’re there if you need to check (hey, ask your riding buddies to look).
The beam pattern works well and gives a bright centre but with good illumination towards the edges so it’s not too focused in one position. Unsurprisingly, the tone is similar to other lights from Exposure so the Zenith plays well with bar-mounted Exposure models.


The iconic helmet mount fits well to different shape helmet vents (two different screw lengths are supplied to help with differing helmet wall thicknesses) and it holds the light tight and stable. This ball-and-socket C-holster mount is unarguably brilliant. Just be careful not to round-out the heads of the nylon bolts (avoid using a ball-ended Allen key in my experience).

Overall
When you’re talking about the very best mountain bike lights, Exposure are always there or thereabouts. They undoubtedly come at a price but you get the top end performance, amazing engineering, classy looks and unrivalled longterm back-up support.
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Review Info
Brand: | Exposure |
Product: | Six Pack Mk14 & Zenith Mk3 |
From: | Exposure Lights |
Price: | £495 Six Pack, £295 Zenith |
Tested: | by Benji for 3 months |
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