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I'm branching out into riding at night and also prepping for winter and have decided to get some decent lights.
MTBbatteries Lumenator combon (18 and 800) looks great value at £155, but will I be better off in the long run ponying up the £300 for an Exposure Toro 11 and a Diablo?
Or will I just not notice the difference? I won't be doing any flat out silly rides any time soon.
Funnily enough I went from Lumenator to a Toro & Diablo.
If you can get both for £300, it's a great combo and I certainly wouldn't want to go back (good as the Lumenator was).
What kind of riding/terrain?
Lumenators are excellent value and excellent customer service.
It very much depends on what you are riding and also who you are riding with. Group night riding can develop into an arms race as the absolute worst thing is riding in front of another rider with more lumens!
If your just starting out night riding, I'd suggest the MTBBatteries kits, as it will be very good. The Exposure kit is excellent and another level but I see that much money as an investment, so I'd want to be sure I was 'into' night riding before committing to that expense
I see that much money as an investment, so I’d want to be sure I was ‘into’ night riding before committing to that expense
Spot on advice ^^^
Thumbs up for getting into night riding - it's great fun and a different experience on the same trails often.
Agree with sentiment above which is the lower powered one's are absoutely fine...unless your mates are all on much more powerful ones. The flip side of this is probably not recommended to ride anything too technical for your skill level on your own at night in the winter.
MTB Batteries customer service is excellent as I've heard is Exposure's. I use an MTBB head / bar package at least once a week all year (later evening rides in the woods still need lights in summer) for the past 3-4 years and they work fine with one quick-turnaround return and a new battery. I don't doubt that there are better lights out there (some of my riding buddies have them) but they work fine and are plenty bright enough for majority of rides / riders. I'm a massive fan of the compact nature of the 800 as a helmet light.
If you can get a Toro and a Diablo for £300 I would jump on that!
I am in a similar boat. I reckon Exposure is the way to go but am trying to work out the best value combo as what I would ideally want gets expensive very fast!
Diablo, Axis or Joystick on the helmet (I'm leaning towards the Axis for lighter weight, cost, burn time but more light than the Joystick)
MaXx-D, Toro, Race or even Strada or Diablo on the bars??? MaXX-D is what I'd love but not at those pennies 🙂
Axis and Race to stay around £300 ish??? Minefield!
edit: OP if you are open to lights with batteries I have Gloworm X1 and X2 lights which are awesome and all the light you will ever need but my OCD can't cope with batteries on the bike. Just let me know if you might be interested (I'll try to get them in the Classifieds anyway).
Had lumenators, all sorts of lights over the years, the 800 lumen smudge lights too, brilliant kit, but as soon as I tried exposure self contained lights, that was it, I'll never use separate battery pack lights on the MTB again.
I have both - and both are excellent.
If you are on a tight budget the Lumenator is excellent - but the extra battery is a faff.
Otherwise go for Exposure.
I don't regard separate batteries as a faff but I've never had built-in. I know that I regard a lower weight / profile helmet light as a positive and on the bars it reduces the likelihood of coming loose too. It also allows you to change / refurb the battery or get a higher capacity one but as I said I don't know any better.
By coincidence this weekend I was about to put a Lumenator / Lumen 800 into the classifieds if you want a cheaper set to trial night riding OP.
Yes, I upgraded to Exposure...
Which Exposure lights did you go for Kryton?
Joystick Mk13 and Toro Mk11 in last years Christmas sales. Not had a chance to use them yet!
Kryton, definitely interested which Lumenator (17 /18) is it? Got a few more details? Please PM me.
Currently the 18 and 800 is on an offer, but turns out I rounded wrong. It's the Joystick and Toro for £350.
Currently the guys I ride with kick off around 5:30 am each week and we plan to keep going, so I do suspect I will get use out of whatever I get at least until it gets really cold.
Exposure.
Support UK races, excellent customer service and no battery pack is ace.
they are pretty long life too, I have a Race Maxx from 2004 (480lumen) that I take as a back up to the joystick mk 6 (2011) and reflex mk1 (2012?) I have.
Joystick mk14 is 120 on CRC, brilliant wee head torch, MTBbatteries 800 on the bars would be a decent pairing, and 175 all in.
Have ended up with an exposure set up (strada, diablo, joystick). Started with a fluxient and went up via the SS X2
Have had exposure for a few years now and it's ace. I normally ride at night so use it most rides, even with dusk as late as it is at the moment
Interesting I'm considering the Joystick on the Helmet and the Lumenator on the bars. Although we have an endure planned so I'll need extra batteries and the Exposure cell is another £100.
Maybe I'll give both of them a ring tomorrow.
Op, YGM with pics.
wildfires3 - the Four4th Scorch might be a good alternative to the Joystick for helmet duties, and the additional batteries aren't too expensive.
https://www.four4th.co.uk/collections/lights/products/scorch-qr?variant=30325029568575
MTB Batteries make Exposure external battery packs as well. I have a triple battery with a metre of cable so my diabolo can match my six packs runtime. 🙂
One of these is all you need at £50, used mine all last winter and loads of guys got them.
I've got the Halfords £50 light too - it's great. I'd start with that and possibly a helmet light (I've got an ancient Joystick Mk 2) until you decide you need more.
I brought my old Troute lumen liberator back to life with great support from MTB batteries, supers customer service
I run a Six pack (had a Maxx D before that) and a Diablo on the helmet
If i were to buy again im not sure id buy the Diablo, the beam pattern is good but on full power it only lasts around an hour
Lights are 2+ years old and have been faultless, i use them on the mtb and the road bike (set to lowest power)
I have a diablo too escrs, my gripe with it is that it's a tad floody for a lid light, that's why I bought the new joyriders, I prefer a concentrated beam.
Diablo on bars now.
Why not one of each?- I'm running a Gloworm XS on the bars and a joystick on my helmet - would probably change it for a diablo if I had the spare cash but its a great set up - a Lumenator 18 and a Diablo would save a bit of cash and give more than enough light
Have to agree with a few people, night riding isn't for everyone and actually in reality you may not do it THAT much to justify the cost and outlay of exposure. I run an exposure joystick on my helmet and a magicshine on my bars that I've had for a while now and now I'm sure I enjoy it and make use of it I'd like an exposure for the bars, the battery in-one setup is definitely a winner for me.
Op, I did send you a PM in STW last night. I'm putting mine up on the classifieds at lunch time but you have first dibs before then so please let me know if you want the kit.
Imo the mtb batteries stuff is excellent and well priced. Really no need to spend more unless you need mega lumens or racing etc. Exposure give you a neat package, lots of tech, but not necessarily great reliability. Luckily they are great at repairs. I have had 4 returns to exposure out of 4 lights over the years (2 were fine, 2 less so). So if you want to spend exposure money, I suggest Four4th instead. They have integrated, but replaceable mid-ride batteries if you want all-in-one. Also great service and support.
I've not had experience of the Lumenator- the Exposure lights I do have are awesome - just ridden to the Peaks with a Maxx D on the bars and the Link Plus on my head; it has a good red rear light and the front beam is all you need if you are running a decent size bar light. And they fix them if they ever have a problem.