[Closed] Exposure Joystick - Or Better?

Basically yes. A Diablo would be even better

I have last year's one, which is 800 lumens. It is a lot brighter than ones I had before, however they changed them from being spots to a lot more floody a few years ago, so maybe not ideal for a penetrating road light.

The mk10 wasn't great for road riding on its own IMO. The Strada, with only a 15% improvement in lumens has a much better beam pattern.

Or should I save my pennies a bit longer and go for the Strada?

Or consider an Axis.

It's the best single light in the exposure range in my opinion. Brighter than the joystick, but more more directional making it a good compromise between the two.

The benefit of the Strada is that you get a longer battery life, a much more visible side profile (almost none with the axis or joystick) but on the flip side, you loose a lot of flood.

How long would an axis last with the rear light plugged into the smart port? Occasionally I might ride on the road for a couple of hours in darkness of which an hour is on unlit roads but not very often.
I have a 2009 MaxX D which now has tired batteries but can't decide on new smaller more efficient light or to get it serviced? It's overkill really as for 90% of the time I just need to be seen on winter afternoons which a bright rear and flashing front are ideal for.
Think the joystick wouldn't last long enough but the axis might.

And which MK axis? Did the beam change between versions? Have seen a MKIII for a decent price.

The Mk4 is, in my opinion, probably worth the extra.

The Axis is programmable (10 options to choose from) so it'll last just as long as you want to to.

I have last year's Strada (2015) and it's great. I know that I can do a full 3hr road ride with 1,000 lumens. My 3yr old Diablo will do about 2hrs on medium. I much prefer the Strada.

Gemini xera a potential alternative?

I use one on my helmet using an USE mount. I also carry some additional 18650 batteries in case.

wow just looked them up.gonna have to stick with cheap Chinese for a while yet

My 2015 MK10 Joystick will be on the classifieds in a few days.... 😀

I've got a mk2 Axis, I paper it looked like the perfect light for road and for helmet use off road. In practice I'm a little underwhelmed - very spotty even for the road, so going round corners can be a leap of faith, kind of wish I'd gone for one of the German lights with a proper shaped road beam. It was most useful when on a dusk til dawn road ride I punctured and unclipping it from the bars and putting it on the helmet made changing a puncture or dark country roads much easier.
For off road I use it paired with a Magicshine 872 on the bars, It's not bad but gets overwhelmed when riding with others. Wouldn't go back to a cabled helmet light though.
The knock mode change is too sensitive for on road use but is good on the helmet.

I've still got Iainc's old joystick, the spotty one - it's brilliant for road riding, has really good throw. I wish my Diablo was a wee bit spottier tbh, use it on the lid on MTB only.

^^^^ glad it's still going strong 🙂

I actually preferred the older spotty beam to the more powerful floody version of the newer models when used off road in conjunction with a bar light.

I have a Mk 11 winging it's way towards me, hence selling on my Mk 10 from last autumn.

Gone for Mk6 Strada, lad on last night's ride had one which he seemed very happy with.

I can still use the joystick to pick out bits but to be honest I'm struggling to get enough angle in it to see far enough up front.

Strada on the bars, joystick with a red eye on the helmet for a bit of redundancy

Or should I save my pennies a bit longer and go for the Strada?

Yeah, definitely for road riding - he said somewhat belatedly. Angle it very, very slightly leftwards and down and it works really well without dazzling oncoming traffic too much. I use a Joystick on the bars as well for long stretches of quiet, unlit road plus a helmet mount so you can switch it to your head if necessary.

The bar remote that comes with the Strada is genius, not strictly a 'dip', but a quick and easy way of changing brightness without taking your hands off the bars. Joystick with a Mini Redeye is a fantastic 'just in case' light on your lid as well.

Yeah that's what I have, joystick on the lid with the micro thing plugged in the back.

The Strada should let me keep this on low for more battery life, I got home after two hours last night but the micro had shut off and the button flashed up red when I switched the joystick off. That was after toggling through low/high as I needed it in unlit lanes.

Can the remote be set up on the STI hoods easily? Need to re-do the bar tape on the winter bike, wondering if it's worth running the cable underneath...

Or consider an Axis.

It's the best single light in the exposure range in my opinion. Brighter than the joystick, but more more directional making it a good compromise between the two.

This.

I've a maxxD (1200 lm version), 2 mark 8 joystick, and an axis (1000 lm max) .

Axis beats the joystick for brightness and beam pattern both for helmet and bar mount. Brighter, slightly less spotty beam pattern.
I run it mostly on 'level 5' - something like 900/400 lumen. For road riding it will be better than a joystick.

Get that.

DrP

Can the remote be set up on the STI hoods easily? Need to re-do the bar tape on the winter bike, wondering if it's worth running the cable underneath...

Easy enough, yep. I just put it on the inside where you can operate it with your thumb, it's pretty intuitive. Running the wire under the tape would be neat until you needed to take the remote off. I keep meaning to do it, but never bother, but yes, makes sense.

Cheers BWD, will hold off the bar taping then until I get chance to look at it properly.