Exposure strada or toro?

Just bought an exposure strada by accident, meant to get a toro but must have added the wrong thing to my basket

Thing is now it’s arrived I’m thinking it may be better suited to my needs. Basically I’ll be using it 80% of time on road, the rest probably gravel routes. Won’t be riding any techy single track. I also have a 400 lm light plus an old Chinese 1000lm I could use if I needed a bit of extra brightness for off-road adventures.

Thing is though, 1500 lumens for just over 200 quid seems a bit excessive as the toro was the same price and had 2500. The question is do I need more than 1500 for the riding I do, and importantly will the strada’s beam pattern also be better suited to my needs?

The Strada’s beam is move oval than round, so doesn’t throw quite as far up the road. It’s also less bright, but it’s perfectly fine for the road at speeds of upto 70kph without pointing so far out that it blinds other road users.

I certainly wouldn’t want to use anything brighter on the road.

I can use my Strada SB for Gravel/Road without any issues. I also have a Joystick on the Lid.

I do long countryside commutes on my strada and use (I think) mode 7 which gives me a couple of hours of full beam or 6 of low. To me it is perfect for that use. On low beam, I never get flashed by cars or them acting like they have been dazzled. Whack it up to full power for the faster bits using a remote tucked under my sti.

So yes, the beam pattern is a win for me. A similarly powered mtb light would have to be pointed downward more if you care about not being taken out by a dazzled driver (or just being a knob) which would give much poorer down the road visibility that I get from the strada.

I have a Strada 600 which I find enough for road riding and the beam pattern’s better than a generic torch beam for road and easy tracks. 1500L in the same pattern would be easily enough. For me 2500 in the Toro/MTB light pattern would only be a benefit off-road on singletracks. I think you bought the right light.

Toro is definitely not a good road light.

Sounds like it would be ideal for road, and ok for gravel then?

One reservation is if I can get 2 hrs at 1500 out the strada, surely I’d get far longer out the toro if I just reduce the brightness from max, and likewise it wouldn’t be too bright for other users either

Or is the benefit of the strada that the beam is designed to be specific to the road?

Sorry for daft questions.. I just assumed more lumens = better!

Or is the benefit of the strada that the beam is designed to be specific to the road?

This.

The Strada is not quite like those german bike lights with the sharp edge between light and dark but it is closer to that than most. It means you can confidently light up the road 20m ahead in the knowledge the driver 30-50m away is not getting dazzled. Your average mtb light is bobbins at this. Tune it down and angle it down to get the same level of brightness 20m ahead as the strada gives and that driver is still made uncomfortable so you angle it down even further and end up with a mega bright patch in front of your wheel that you look into at your peril of stuffing your night vision and a pretty dark road a couple of seconds ahead.

And the time aspect – to be brutally honest the 6 hour mode on the mk10 strada is fine for all my road riding. I use the full beam because it is there but if it wasn’t I’d be fine still.

I can get 2 hours out of mine on Max, but like others, tend to use the mid setting for 90% of my rides only bumping it upto max on fast descents or bumpy sections where I’m over 40kph.

I commuted home last night at 19:30 (it’s a mix of partially lit cycle path, lit A road and unlit B road – about 50/50 and 18 miles) and in again this morning at 05:30 and the light still has 84% charge. So that’s just under 2 hours on a mix of roads.

I have a Toro – even on lower setting, the beam pattern means it isn’t ideal for use on roads. Only really good for off road or middle of the night country lanes.

You can get a long run time out of it if you turn it right down though…

I use a Strada RS for road and gravel riding and it is fine. I tend to run it in Program 3, mostly using the mid setting and upping it to max for faster, dark sections. On well-lit roads the low setting (claimed 36hrs) is all that’s needed.
The beam pattern is much better (and designed) for road use so doesn’t blind oncoming traffic.

I also carry a Joystick as back up in case the Strada fails or for use on my helmet on darker, narrow trails.

I certainly wouldn’t want to use anything brighter on the road.

Had my new MaxxD on my gravel bike on Monday, unreal and on the road link sections it certainly slowed any vehicle coming the other way – but I’m very rural, and lots of singletrack roads.

Wouldn’t recommend it really for the road.

The Strada is a great choice for road use. I use the remote control blipper thing to step down to a lower beam level when need be – it’s a very handy addition.

Great info thanks. Have decided to keep the strada based on the replies

Just to reinforce that – had my first ride on the new Toro last night. It’s a very wide beam, brilliant off road and gravel tracks. It casts pretty big shadows from the hoods.

On the road on low setting it was plenty but probably wouldn’t go higher so as not to dazzle drivers.

Low setting was saying 9hrs run time though!

Oh and how good is Reflex!

I have both… A Strada SB and a Toro 2020 model.
As above, definitely the Strada for road use. The plug-in remote is really useful for changing modes.

So took the strada out last night

Ran it on full power and the beam was fine, not mind blowing but plenty for road ride

What I was a bit disappointed about however was the run time. Ride was 55 min and only had 33 min left when I finished according to the readout. I expected about 2 hrs even at max power