Exposure Trace a bit of a daft design?

Firstly, I have an exposure Maxx D and it’s by far the best front light I’ve ever had – so nothing against exposure as a company.

Got an Axis which is ok – but the battery life I a bit underwhelming.

Picked up a front trace quite a while ago but everytime I use it I think it’s not that well designed.

* The button to switch it on or off is very hard to push – particularly if you have gloves on. You have to hit it in exactly the right spot and even then it’s hard to know you’ve definitely pushed it.

* Charging involved trying to push that black rubber strip up to allow the lead to be plugged in. Either I’ve got weak hands or it’s really difficult.

* For the front one the shape makes sense – but the rear one always look odd when attached to a seat post.

yeah, I borrowed MrsZilog’s the other day for a road ride as I don’t have any lightweight lights, and thought those very same points about the switch & the charging port! Can’t say I noticed anything off about the shape of the rear one though. Still might pick some up for myself as thought they were very good for the size!

I agree with the button for the front light. If you move the rubber band, you’ll see it’s a tiny micro switch. On mine it’s set forward or back, can’t remember which, of the hole so the rubber button doesn’t always hit it. I’ve found that if I offset the button the same (front or back) as the switch it behaves a bit better.

Don’t find it hard to move the rubber band for charging and yeah the rear light looks a bit odd sticking out at 90 degrees to the seat post, but if you saddle mount it, you don’t even know it’s there. Well apart from the bright light obviously.

You want daft design on an exposure?

The revo has an in and an out. They are both the same plug.

Now if you mount you light above the bars on one bike and below  on the other… Which side is which swaps over.

Ot is perfectly possible therefore to plug your dyno into the output and fry the light.

Ask me how i know.

I’ve never had an issue with the button, gloved or not. And the charging is fine. The rear bracket is angled so that it sits horizontally when attached to a sloping seatpost, which is nice.

They are visible at the sides, which is great for the rear, but on the front, it’s really annoying as it’s in your field of vision. I had to paint the top half of the outside of the lens to prevent this.

The button to switch it on or off is very hard impossible to push with man fingers

ftfy

OP all the points you make are ones I’ve thought when using my TraceR. It’s still a great, bright, light for the size but, yeah.

@pisco – I’d forgotten about this. It’s not an issue when using it in daylight for visibility in traffic – but on a dark cycle track it’s very annoying. I was debating painting / sharpie-ing part of the lense to fix this issue.

As a front light it looks nice / is very light for a road commuter – just so many things don’t seem that well thought out.

@joshvegas – that sounds like an amazing bit of design ?

@joshvegas in a rare fit of foresight I taped some white electrical tape around the dynamo plug. Always meant to get some red for the rear light plug and put some paint on the back of the light but never really got round to it.

I think I’d rather have that and the ability to easily swap just the light between bikes than the fixed long tail that comes on e.g. a SON, but yes, it feels like a little extra thought could have made that much less easy.

I bought mine as a result of all the love on here but really don’t get on with it. I have all the above mentioned button annoyances plus it turns itself off mid ride. Oh   its gone flat you think but it then resists any attempt to charge it up. Maybe I just have a duff one.

Button works fine for me.

Uncovering the charging port isn’t a problem.

I have mine mounted under my Garmin on an “out front” mount so don’t have the glare problem.

My biggest bugbear is the whole double-click/press-and-hold malarkey to turn it on and off. Because I forget which way round it is. What’s wrong with a double click on and a double click off?  Or press-and-hold on and press-and-hold off?

on the front, it’s really annoying as it’s in your field of vision. I had to paint the top half of the outside of the lens to prevent this.

Mine has a “hood” on the rubber ring that stops you getting dazzled?

Can’t say I’ve had any problems with the switch or the charging though.

I own a pair of front and rear traces, have no issues turning them on, initially was a lil fiddly to get em plugged in to charge but got used to it.

I had such problems turning my Trace R on and off that I used it with the rubber band pulled to one side, so then the charge port corroded. Sent it back for a repair and then forgot about it. I really like my front and helmet lights from Exposure though.

We have trace and tracer won as prizes… They are pretty bad design.

Even with the hidden Charging.port they still get water ingress if you ride in the rain.

The button is a pain in the hoop too needing to be pushed “just so”

And that’s from a die hard exposure user…..we just dont use the trace and trace r anymore

Ask me how i know

Ooo, I know! They did fix mine for about £15 though.

Ooo, I know! They did fix mine for about £15 though.

They fixed mine for free :-D

Its the usual USE/Exposure thing. Make something that’s almost perfect, then over weight-weenie it and make it a complete PITA instead.

I still like my Trace/TraceR as they’re so compact, yet still pretty bright. The switches are a complete pain in the hoop though, especially in winter (when I do most of my night riding/commuting) but am wearing big gloves.

I’ve tried three different exposure lights – Axis, joystick and Diablo.

I was underwhelmed with all of them – fiddly buttons, poor runtimes, average output and slow charging. Would have also expected a method for custom programming for the money they charge for these (and also the ability to swap the battery rather than the stupid ‘support cell’ they offer).

Each to their own but I thought the VFM on theses lights was extremely poor

Yeah, really annoying design. Still looking for the perfect lights.

They can be a bit of a pain but usually it because the rubber ring isn’t correctly located over the microswitch. Remove the ring and check the microswitch is central in the hole. If not hold the metal case in one hand, the glass lens in the other and gently twist to centralise it. Replace the ring taking care to centralise the pip on the ring over the microswitch.

Admittedly the switch can be awkward with heavy gloves on. I don’t have a problem uncovering the charging port even though these days my hands sometimes struggle with jars.

The rear bracket is angled so that it sits horizontally when attached to a sloping seatpost

This +1 OP are you using the right bracket?

Maybe I just have a duff one.

Maybe. Email Exposure, their support is excellent.

Each to their own but I thought the VFM on theses lights was extremely poor

And yet my MK3 maxx d and joystick combo from 2008 are still going strong after many 24 hour races and winter night rides.

Mrs tr has a mk8 joystick somewhere as well

They just make robust kit. My riding group have had and killed so much of the “latest” big thing with all the features  And don’t get me started on the 20 quid magic shine crap that seem to last  half of one wet winter ride.

Suddenly makes the exposure kit look good value.

Admittedly I did change to a sinewave beacon on my current bike due to the Revo being not very good.

I haven’t had an issue with the on/off switch but the charging port is a PITA. I think the rubber hardens over time and becomes less pliable. The power / size / battery life are all amazing, though, and people have stopped me to ask what light it is because it’s so bright.

Have 3 Tracer’s and 2 Trace lights in the house and I can see the points raised.  However they’re awesome reliable lights and are really bright whilst being easy to mount.

Pulling the rubber back is a little fiddly. No problems with the button or water ingress. My main issue is the battery indicator. In theory it should turn amber at 50%. In practice as soon as it has changed to amber it could die any minute and needs charging ASAP. Never seen red. Had two now, both the same. Battery life still better than any other rear light I’ve had.

I do look at other options when buying a light but haven’t found anything better than Exposure. Don’t want anything with a cable to a separate battery so that narrows things down.

Yeah, I’d agree that the charging port and the switch aren’t the best design out there, but the rest of it is so good that I tolerate those bits and, in honesty, I don’t find either bad enough to stop me using them. Apart from a broken charging point which was fixed under warranty, mine – all three of them – have been reliable, bright and I like the programmability.

One is a Reakt model, which I use in preference to the standard one, as the variable light pattern does seem to have an impact on how close cars come.

But yes, better switching and charge port arrangement would improve them. I guess if you’re someone who’s infuriated by iffy details, you’d be furious.

I like my maxx D – even when I dropped it on a really solid surface (porcelain patio slab) they fixed it for about £15 so I can’t fault that’s at all. Turned in round in just a few days too.

Trace – would like them to fix the dodgy rubber charging ring cover and switch for future versions. Battery lasts fine when flashing – less so when solid but it’s tiny and light (no pun intended) so I can forgive that.

Haven’t bought the rear – it’s just a daft shape for a rear light. I run a Moon Nebula which is much more sensible. Can mount it on saddle rails / seat post  – although I hang it through a loop on the saddle pack on my bike which works well. Just noticed they also make a screw on mount for a pannier rack so I might pick that up for an even more solid mounting.

I put some black electrical tape on the top of my front Trace light, to stop the glare at night.

Nice little light.

The micro switch broke on my rear light but it was around 5 years old.

Think the Trace lights are great personally. Boost are my preferred option for the increased brightness and run time, but the Trace have more mounting options.
Never had problems with the charge ports or the buttons.

The TraceR rear is brilliant in my opinion, particularly with some of the aftermarket saddle mounts – very visible, good battery life and the shape means it tucks away superbly under a saddle.
They seem to keep going year after year too.
Exposure’s own mount isn’t quite as good as the aftermarket one that clips into a Fizik saddle that I use for preference.

I’m.not sure if bad is quite true. Maybe room for improvement? A lack of real world rider testing should have resolved all the jiggles I have (which are few)

– micro USB port is crap (moves, liable to break). Change to USB c?

– front light needs a hood to prevent glare to the rider

– lack of warning when the light will fail (mine just turns off).

Apart from that it’s small, light , robust, bright,. Etc. Just annoying that a few small changes could have made it near perfect for me.

[trail_rat]

trail_rat

Free Member

Each to their own but I thought the VFM on theses lights was extremely poor

And yet my MK3 maxx d and joystick combo from 2008 are still going strong after many 24 hour races and winter night rides.

like I said, each to their own – I thought the output of the 2022 Joystick (1000 lumen?) was really poor compared to other lights so can’t imagine riding the trails I do with something from 2008.

Each to their own but I thought the VFM on theses lights was extremely poor

And yet my MK3 maxx d and joystick combo from 2008 are still going strong after many 24 hour races and winter night rides.