Is anyone able to give me a beginners rundown on current Exposure lights?

Been looking at a Maxx-D…various MK8,9,10 etc Reflex, Sync…..left a bit confused by it all

Also lookling at a lid light and looking at a Joystick, but again, so many variants out there – and this is without really understanding the Diablo as an alternative

I tend to run Joystick on the helmet and a Sixpack on the bars for night time MTB. The Mk is just the release version, as they update pretty often.

MK is the version, the higher the version the newer it is, for the Maxx- D MK13 just came out.
Reflect is where the light will self dim when you are pedalling up hill or still and will go back to full power when accelerating down hill.
Sync I think is something to do with being able to pair the lights to your phone or a remote to control it
Joystick and Diablo are the helmet ones, follow the same as above for MK, reflec and sync.

What does their website not tell you? I run a six pack on the bars and a Diablo on the helmet. I got good deals on them so didn’t pay full price and they are a bit spendy. However they are bloody brilliant and I can’t see why I would ever have anything else now. They have a very good spread of light and good run times.

Also friends of mine run lesser powered versions of what I have (other models, can’t remember which) and get on fine with them so depending on what/where you ride, you don’t need to have the really high outputs.

as @painey mentions… I have the Toro which is ample for most riding. It’s got a 12 hour run time on low, which is still bright enough for the bulk of a trail ride, unless you are hammering down a fast track when you may wish to toggle to the High setting (2 hour run time).

Mine doesn’t have the fancy reflex and sync, but I have never missed it, even doing all nighters.

They give you an accurate run time in minutes displayed on the model.

The service centre is very helpful if ever you need something too.

Reflex = changing light output depending on what the light thinks you’re doing. Blasting downhill it’s super bright, steady climb it’s middling, leaned against a fence while you’re chatting away it’s dimmed. Quite nice to have.

Sync = bluetooth, app-connected setup. I don’t really see the point, and mode changing is easy on the lights that have little screens like the MaxxD.

Mk = version number, they do a new one each year. Don’t think MaxxD has changed a huge amount in the last few years, just a few extra lumens in reflex mode.

Joystick on my helmet, Toro Reflex on the bars.  As above in simon_g’s post I think the Reflex is very good.

With the run times programmes you can select times for them to run e.g. 6hrs on “high” and it adjusts the average output to accommodate, which I feel is brilliant.

I have a Toro on the way after getting fed up with mediocre cheap lights. There’s a few places selling them cheaper than RRP.

It looks plenty bright enough for me but I’ll update once I’ve tried it out.

I just got a Joystick Mk15 yesterday. Didn’t get the sync/tap version, apparently the tap can be a bit flakey anyway with it mounted on a helmet.

Slightly disappointed to find that ‘through case USB’ is not actually a USB charge port, so I’ve got to use the specific charge lead with a round connector rather than one of the multiple leads scattered around my house

Replaced my aging MaxxD with a Race Mk14 this year, and running a Joystick Mk13 on my helmet. I ride alone at night most of the time and take it steady, so don’t need enough light for full on speed or techfests

Cheers guys – all very helpful

I think my confusion began when I saw a MK13 MaxxD and then a MK2 MaxxD Sync…

Anyway after all that I think I’m pretty decided on having Reflex but not bothered about sync.

Going to have a look at the Torro, Race and the MaxxD and see how they compare against each other – even some of the older MK’s as long as they have the Reflex thing – if from what has been said above, that they don’t change massively year from year

The problem I have is that I need to by 2 (wife) so obv want to choose wisely with that sort of outlay – I think head torch will have to wait

(looked at Hope R8 as well but I do like the all in one design of the Exposure units)

I found these helpful in choosing. It’s a bit hard to tell how bright a light really is from photos but the comparison is useful:

https://exposurelights.com/light-comparison-tool

https://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/updated-front-lights-buyers-guide-beam-comparison-engine-212914

Id like to see how my £17 Solarstorm X3 from ebay compare to all these fancy lights. I use them for night riding every week and they are pretty spot on even if you need to keep toggling between outputs to maximise the output / burn-time ratio.

I have the Mk13 MaxxD for my bars and the Zenith for my helmet mount, it’s plenty of light, for sure.

I found the beam on the MaxxD was better than the Sixpack I tried for trial & steeper stuff I tend to ride. They have the thumbs up from me so far.

Id like to see how my £17 Solarstorm X3 from ebay compare to all these fancy lights. I use them for night riding every week and they are pretty spot on even if you need to keep toggling between outputs to maximise the output / burn-time ratio.

I have a box full of these still. Always found the head units wern’t actually that bad – side by side comparison of Chinese Lumens Vs Exposure lumens was quite a difference. Also was a pain trying to mount batteries, with cables running everywhere with cheap connectors.

Oh, and I had one battery pack catch fire when charging, and 2 explode. Hopefully Exposure do a bit better in that area 🙂

The problem I have is that I need to by 2 (wife) so obv want to choose wisely with that sort of outlay – I think head torch will have to wait

I went in my LBS and got a good deal on a Maxx D and Diablo, if you have a LBS that stocks them maybe try them first since you’ll potentially buying 4 lights.

Blackflag, they’ll compare favourably, and most of us started out using those chinese numbers at some point, but speaking purely personally – I canny be arsed with cable and battery lights, cheap lights have dodgy wiring and generally poor batteries, and the whole charging process is a bit of a worry. You’ll hear anecdotal evidence of charging fires etc, my cheap lights melted through the charger wire one evening, that was enough for me.

Edit – beaten to it by Hob nob!

Also running a Toro on the bars and Joystick on the helmet, plenty of light and burn time.

Sorry for slight hijack but I’m looking at Exposure lights just now too – does anyone use just a helmet light without any bar lights ? If so – which model ?

I use a mk14 joystick on the lid, with a mk7 diablo on the bars, I only use the diablo as it used to be my helmet light but bought the joystick as it has a better penetrating beam pattern. I’d happily use the joystick on it’s own though, brilliant wee light.

I’ve got some of the old solar storm lights and for the money they’re really good. Just don’t trust the batteries and/or chargers. A mate had one which caught fire in his house. I’d heard this could happen so was thinking of getting rid of it, then when it affected him it soon put me off using it ever again.

I wanted something with trusted UK backup so was looking at hope and exposure but went with the all in one design that just clicks onto your bars. Very glad I did and I’ll never go back to having one with a separate battery now, not that there’s anything wrong with them, it’s just what I prefer and is much less of a faff.

My six pack has the reflex setting which I tend to leave it in having tried the alternative programs without it. The Tap feature on my Diablo is a bit of a waste of time really. In the most sensitive setting it changes itself when going down a bumpy trail at night – not what you need! Also I only really put it on full power at the start of descents as it’s so bloody bright you don’t need it on full whack the rest of the time.

The problem I have is that I need to by 2 (wife) so obv want to choose wisely with that sort of outlay – I think head torch will have to wait

You could just use a cheap eBay/amazon torch on your helmet (the type that takes a 18650 battery) – they’re plenty bright enough.

I use a Race Mk13 on my bars. On my helmet it’s an old Joystick or eBay torch – they both fit the same mount.

I’d much rather have the better light on my head tbh.

I find having 2 lights (bar / helmet) is preferential to either just bar or just helmet. If it had to be one or the other I’d take the helmet option. Bars are fine until you need to turn a sharp corners and you can’t see what’s there until the bars are fully turned it and pointing that way. A couple of weeks ago I wasn’t expecting the daylight to drop so quickly so I just took a bar light. Last run of the day I thought I was going between a tree and a bush and thought I’d rather go close to the bush – it wasn’t a bush – it was a very solid tree with some bushy looking bits coming out of it. My ribs weren’t happy for weeks after that impact and I ended up lying on the floor! With a helmet light as well I’m sure I would have seen it better!

My 1600 Halfords / Bikehut light is pretty decent for cheap (I paid £35 in a sale but they’re £50 at the moment) and having that confirmed to me it’s better having an all in one unit on the bars rather than a separate battery / head unit. Went riding with a mate recently who had a Maxx d / Diablo combination and now I’m underwhelmed by your bar light!

Maxx d arrived today and it looks like a lovely bit of kit. Sat on my desk in reflex mode you could see it dim when not moving and as soon as you picked it up and moved it got much brighter.

For now I’m going to keep going with my Moon Vortex Pro on the helmet in combo with the Maxx-D and see how that fares. I’d like a joystick or Diablo to pair it with but my wallet is feeling poorly enough after buying the Maxx d.

Moon are a great middle ground, well built all in ones, with swappable batteries that make them useful I’d have thought for the all night riders.

does anyone use just a helmet light without any bar lights

If you are pottering this would be okay, anything faster I dont think so, typically helmet lights are more of a focused beam where as the bar lights spread the light out far and wide. With a helmet light only you’d be lighting up very little of the trail, you could try get a bar style light on the helmet but I’d imagine it would weigh quite a bit

If you are pottering this would be okay, anything faster I dont think so, typically helmet lights are more of a focused beam where as the bar lights spread the light out far and wide. With a helmet light only you’d be lighting up very little of the trail, you could try get a bar style light on the helmet but I’d imagine it would weigh quite a bit

As I said up there, I only use the diablo on the bars because I have one, I replaced it with a joystick cos the diablo is a bit floody.

Before that, and on occasion now, I ride with the joystick on it’s own. It’s fine, I’m no slower, I never look down at the 2m in front of my bars anyway – no different at night as it is during the day – I look ahead at where I’m going.

Similarly to most folk that night ride, I pretty much always ride my local trails, and know them well, so all the usual chat about shadows and depth etc is pretty moot.

@Blackflag
Id like to see how my £17 Solarstorm X3 from ebay compare to all these fancy lights.

There not great in comparison IMO, I’d say shit even, that not to say your or my Chinese light is useless but the exposure lights are a different level & rightly so. Exposure & the like are an investment, with a much better reflectors, so better all round output, reliability & longevity. My riding partner has a six pack & it’s a phenomenal light, he also has a joystick For his helmet, he never uses or feels the need to use (again the output of this ‘lower’ end unit is so much better than any equivalent, as it better focused)
I’m currently trying the Halfords 1600 & x2 ssc headtorch, & though I have plenty of light, it’s spotty & unfocused but very cheap. It’s your money to spend, just don’t assume the top end units are always expensive for no good reason .

Ps ‘all in one’ units really are so much more convenient

@Blackflag
Id like to see how my £17 Solarstorm X3 from ebay compare to all these fancy lights.

Those type of lights are fine really. I’ve had a number of Chinese lights from eBay / Brite-R / Torchy. Quoted from 1000 lumens through to 1800 lumens. Actually the best of those was the Brite R Duo 2 claimed at 1200 lumens – found that better than the 1800 lumen Torchy which was too whitey blue in light colour.

Since then I’ve mainly used a Bikehut 1600 which is pretty good for the money tbh – especially in combo with the Moon Vortex Pro on my helmet.

However, if you get someone riding behind you with something like a Maxx D you do get some shadows in front of you and even riding on my own since I’ve felt a bit underwhelmed with my lights on the steepest tech stuff. On normal flowing blue / easy red stuff what I’ve got feels fine.

The Maxx D that arrived this week, just on a back to back comparison in the garage is ludicrously bright – makes the 1600 lumens on my other light look a bit underwhelming. That’s on reflex+ mode – so not sure if that was the full 4000 lumens or something nearer the 2500 of the normal maximum mode.

Cant wait to try it on the trail now!

I’ve been considering getting a Toro to pair with my Diablo – but would occassionally need to run it on the road/gravel bike. I’m guessing the beam wouldn’t be suitable for that?

I have a MaxxD mk12 for the bars and a Gloworm X2 with dual-spot optics on the helmet. That’s a lot of light but most of my winter riding is in the dark.

As per the OP I also get a bit confused between the ‘middle range’ Exposure models like the Toro, Diablo etc.

I did have a Solarstorm X2 which was a great unit but lacked any current regulation so burned through the battery quickly. As per others above I ditched the supplied battery and charger as I didn’t want to burn my house down

But interestingly the best light I,ve ever used was a BT21 Chinese light. It was annoying because of umpteen modes that had to be selected with a rubbish single button, yet has a fantastic spread of yellowy light that’s much easier on the eye than the usual harsh white/blue led colour. Reminiscent of the colour from old Lumicycle halogens.

Toro arrived today, my best comparison is my “6000 lumen” ebay light from Torchy.

That light was fine, bright enough but definitely overpowered by the Toro. It also had quite a wide beam and didn’t cast light very far down the trail, I’ll have to wait and see how this compares but it looks better at first glance. The Toro’s beam seems better shaped and should be useable on the road on low.

The big difference for me will be having a solid mount. The ebay light got bounced up and down the bars pretty regularly and the connector for the separate battery wasn’t very secure.

So definitely getting what you pay for with Exposure, I’m trying not to think about how much the light cost but if it gives me years of night riding without all the faff it will be worth it.

Also picked up a Trace pack from CRC for £55 which I’m very happy with. The cost of those compared to other brands isn’t quite as extreme, considering my £10 Aldi lights barely hold charge after a year and my £20 Moon rear light fell apart after 2 or 3.

My Maxxd is a Mk6 I think and my Joystick a Mk7 I think….both going strong for at least 7 years.

Excellent lights and well worth it, esp if discounted.

Id like to see how my £17 Solarstorm X3 from ebay compare to all these fancy lights. I use them for night riding every week and they are pretty spot on even if you need to keep toggling between outputs to maximise the output / burn-time ratio.

I was out with a mate on Thurs.

Me a very old six pack on the bars and diablo on head.

Him (waves at Tobi) with a £20 solar storm on the front and a blackburn head light on.

Mine were a wee bit brighter. His bank account is healthier.

Other than that they were much of a much ness.

The Blackburn headlight had more of a flood, the diablo had more if a spot.

(waves back at Martin)

Yeah, I found the X2 on the bars was fine, but the extra battery pack was annoying. Had a Blackburn Dayblazer on my helmet and that was really good.

That said, I knew when I was being followed down a trail, the exposure lights seemed to kick out a bit more.

That said, I knew when I was being followed down a trail, the exposure lights seemed to kick out a bit more.

I now have Exposure lights and my buddies still have the cheap Cree’s from eBay, is it bad that I cant wait to ride behind them and have my lights over power theirs?

I’ve just sold my mk9 diablo. It’s just too big for a helmet light in close scenery, I was forever catching it. The tap feature was useless. Nicely machined though. Runtime was not great for that year however that appears to have improved for the mk12. It also has some kind of issue where you would lose charge of the charger was turned off before unplugging. My over all view from ownership is that they are overpriced for actual features. The 4fourths replacement has a longer runtime, more power and is smaller. Not to mention cheaper.

I’ve ridden at night for years, so have gone through the various types of lights etc.

My current setup is a 10 y/o Exposure Toro on the bars and the standard cheap 2-light generic CREE ‘Chinese’ head unit on my helmet with a battery (plus spare as we’re usually out 3 hrs) in my pack.

IMO on techy trails (Inners, Golfie etc) a helmet light is essential and it needs to be as powerful as the bar light.

I’ve probably gone through 5 of the ‘Chinese’ lights over the years, but they’re so cheap (sub £15) they’re consumables IMO.

I have a Joystick too, but only use it as a back-up light for those evening rides where I’m expecting to be home well before dark, but…

Would I buy another Exposure bar light if the Toro died? Probably.
They’re a lot of cash but they just work. And as a ‘seal-unit’ with no wires etc plus rock-solid mounts they’re very user-friendly.

Their helmet lights though just don’t have the power nor runtime for what I need – and if they did, would be far too heavy (without remote batteries).

It’s just too big for a helmet light in close scenery, I was forever catching it.

6mm higher than a joystick, which is about as low a helmet light as you’ll get.

Except that the standard helmet mount isn’t up to the job of holding it properly so you need to use the uprated mount which is significantly higher.

Except that the standard helmet mount isn’t up to the job of holding it properly so you need to use the uprated mount which is significantly higher.

I’ve never had an issue with the plastic mounts tbh, not with the mk7 Diablo, and now mk14 joystick. christ, I remember how high the bastid chinese light sat!! lol!