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Good afternoon all,
Been quite some time since I've frequented this place due to a number of reasons. I have managed to drag my bike out the shed and starting to get into it again after an involuntary hiatus.
And how things seem to have changed quite a bit!
Anyhow, for the meantime - what's the go to decent lights for on the trail. I don't need a solar flair, but something half decent that will be waterproof (as best as can be) as I'm in Scotland so it will absolutely pish with rain most of the time...
Cheers!
Wuben c3 for a decent backup torch or in my case a head torch.
Budget? I can't fault exposure lights for logevity and ease of use, spendy though!
Thanks, I'll have a look at the c3
Budget wise I didn't really have one. I'm happy to spend on something that will perform and last. But if I don't need to spend much to do that then that's handy. Is £100 enough for something?
I would like something that has a proper mount on the bars, not flimsy, the rubber band type I don't really want.
I'd also like something that is fully contained, I don't really want an external battery and wiring. If it can last around 1 hour at a decent light output then that would great!
Cheers!
Exposure for me as they are an "all in one" system with quality build and professional back up but they do come at a price.
These look good if you don't mind a separate battery Magicshine MONTEER 12000
Exposure is always the answer. I'm not fast enough to need more than 1500 lumen max, so pick up an older model that will give you what you need for the length of time you need it, and their service/repair team will sort any problems for a competitive price.
Is £100 enough for something?
The answer to this is no if you want exposure
I've got a MTB batteries lumenator as well - not all in one unit, has a separate battery pack but it's a very good light and I've had good after sales support from them.
Your requirements perfectly describe exposure. Budget unfortunately does not. But not far off if you go second hand. And bearing in mind they are built to last, and can be serviced by exposure here in the uk, second hand is a very healthy option.
Olight. OEM Manufacturer for Magicshine IRRC.
https://www.olightstore.uk/bike-light
Outstanding service when I had a warranty issue
Exposure, Exposure, Exposure...
The performance, the quality and their legendary backup will be remembered long after the purchase price is forgotten!
That said... Just about to sell my Toro Mk10 if it was of any interest... Only reason is I'm getting the dedicated Flex eBike light (no battery required) instead now.
PM me if interested (it'll be over £100, but a LOT less than the £290 it was new, or the £355 it costs for the current version)...
Are those Wuben C3 legit, or will they keep me warm through winter by burning my house down???
The answer is spend a bit more, buy Exposure, spend the rest of your riding days realising why you spent a bit more.
Lupine all the way. Still got my Nightmare setup from the 90’s but I’ve been running a Betty for the last 6 years. Faultless with the exception of needing a new cable.
I got Hoppy Jr a Magicshine rn3000 for £100. Is it as good as my Exposures? Absolutely not, but it's a damn sight less than they would be too. If you can stretch to it then get exposures but if you can't then it's not a bad shout.
I prefer no cables, it keeps things clean and avoids the risk of cables snagging as you're riding. If you don't mind cables then it opens up a bit more choice.
A relatively cheap all in one option is the Halfords 1800 jobbie. I have an older version and decided the handlebar mount wasn’t great to bought a GoPro style metal mount from eBay for £5 ish and it’s rock solid off-road.
I replaced it with an exposure Maxx D and it’s way better. Nothing wrong with the Halfords one, just the Exposure has loads more light, lasts longer and has a rock solid bar mounting system. When I dropped it on concrete and it broke I sent it off to exposure and within a few days it was back fixed and only cost £15. Would highly recommend this option.
For off road you need a helmet light too so you can see round corners - something like the moon vortex or vortex pro is more than up to the job - just buy the additional GoPro mount and get a sticky GoPro base to stick to the top of your helmet.
Moon GoPro mount:
GoPro stick on mounts:
Another vote for Exposure. Having spent quite a bit on lights in the past, I definitely wish I had purchased them at the outset. They perform brilliantly and their back up and service is second to none. I managed to get Jnr an old Toro very cheap from eBay which I sent to them for a refurbishment and in total it cost me less than £50!
I couldn’t recommend them highly enough!
Exposure on head
Exposure on bars.
You can thank me in 10 years when they are still working well
I've tried many many lights, and again I ended up with exposure, think of them as in investment, and not a throw way toys, like many of the competition. Currently running a 2017 Maxx-D Mk9, and a 2021 Mk15 Joystick, more than enought light for me & no stupid external battery packs to deal with.
Always worth checking the Exposure outlet store
Admitted if you don't have the budget, then Halford advanced/MTB Batteries or Magicshine will do the same job and with even more light* for less money
* Personally I prefer the light going where I need it, and not lighting up the countryside like a rally car.
How does the lumenator compare to a Diablo?
Love my Diablo but run time has never been brilliant.
2017 Maxx-D Mk9, and a 2021 Mk15 Joystick, more than enought light for me & no stupid external battery packs to deal with.
Hmm. The problem with Exposure lights, and indeed many others, isn't the lack of light. It's the lack of runtime. I wish they'd provide better run times.
My problem with Exposure is that I have 100% failure rate with the brand. I realise that is actually the only light of theirs I have had but it does put me off trying another. I couldn't find proof of purchase so didn't claim under warranty and I didn't want to pay for a repair as I had lost faith in the light. There are plenty of other good lights around so there are plenty of alternatives to Exposure
@fog that seems an unfair attitude, all manufacturers have failures in the first year, & you have a test sample of one. Whats great about exposure, is there willingness to support there products, way past the time you’d be binning most other electrical equipment. If you’d contacted them, they’d have be happy to help under warranty & even now the repair cost is going to be minimal. My last repair was £17 posted back to me, not bad for a 7 year old torch, obvious depends on the failure but an electronic part repairs are around this IME
total agree there are plenty of good alternatives
I'm running Hope R4s (latest version- R4+ i think ???) on the bars. I'm sort of locked in on Hope due to buying several Hope batteries in years gone by for long / night races. V happy
But... if I was buying new now, Exposure, absolutely without hesitation. Just brilliant.
On my head... Exposure Joystick. Never ever regretted it. 1st one finally started to lose battery life after about 7 or 8 years of constant use (used for running, dog walking too at night, and sometimes for work when needing a great small light to look into dark yet important places on trains). USE were great at sorting - option of battery renewal or a heavily discounted new model upgrade with 3x the output. British made and service at it best.
I've got a few (okay, 7) Exposure lights, and although I'm pretty happy with them, I'm not sure I'd buy another. I think there's a lot of other lights on the market now which are as good, or better, and for a lot less money.
How are Lezyne doing for water ingress these days? I used to have a collection of Lezyne lights back when I considered Exposure too expensive. If it rained they would cut out and not come back until dried out. Never did work out how it was getting in to sealed one piece units.
My problem with Exposure is that I have 100% failure rate with the brand. I realise that is actually the only light of theirs I have had but it does put me off trying another. I couldn’t find proof of purchase so didn’t claim under warranty and I didn’t want to pay for a repair as I had lost faith in the light. There are plenty of other good lights around so there are plenty of alternatives to Exposure
Sorry I've got to ask.... did you actually send it back to them to see what they said?
I've sent lights back to them in the last and it never even occurred to me to find proof of purchase. The lights have got Exposure written all along the side of them for god's sake ... it's not like they're going to say " Soz bro, nowt to do with us"
I’m running Hope R4s (latest version- R4+ i think ???) on the bars. I’m sort of locked in on Hope due to buying several Hope batteries in years gone by for long / night races. V happy
But… if I was buying new now, Exposure, absolutely without hesitation. Just brilliant.
Ran an R4+ for a few years - great light. Pales into shadows though compared to my current Maxx D
From Wikipedia:
The Sam Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness, often called simply the boots theory, is an economic theory that people in poverty have to buy cheap and subpar products that need to be replaced repeatedly, proving more expensive in the long run than more expensive items. The term was coined by English fantasy writer Sir Terry Pratchett in his 1993 Discworld novel Men at Arms. In the novel, Sam Vimes, the captain of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, illustrates the concept with the example of boots.
Now just go and buy an exposure light (second hand if modest of budget, or actually, just buy second hand even if your filthy rich) and /thread.
Solarstorm lights on amazon/ebay for less than £20. Used them quite a lot (in races too) and always amazes me how bright they are. Cheap enough to have a spare set too.
SolarStorm (& even cheaper clones of the orginal are everywhere) had a time or if you have no money then yes they do the job, but considering the current concerns of e-bike battteries, have nothing on the concerns over cheap chinese batttery packs & dodgy chargers.
Slight hijack/piggybacking here sorry OP! I'm in a similar position....not got loads to spend, not least because I dip in and out of riding quite a lot. For a set of lights to do some gravel and MTB over winter....That Halfords one up thread on the bars and the Cree light from another recent thread on the helmet. £120 all in, 1800 lumens on the bars, 1100 on the helmet....is that a good way to go on a tightish budget? Most rides will be gravel I'd imagine, with the occasional MTB ride around either the Peak or Monkey trail at Cannock.
@Tom-B careful you'll have the oldies reminiscing about night rides with Ever Ready bicycle Lamps, but to answer your question, yes that will be a great setup. No one suggesting you need 10000 lumens to go night riding, if anything the recommended Exposure lights, are a lot less than what you can get from Magicshine.
Regarding exposure
I’ve tried Joystick, Axis and Diablo and was underwhelmed with all of them.
They weren’t bad lights, just no way did the performance come anywhere near what I’d expect given how expensive they are.
Many thanks for all the replies everyone! Great to see STW is still a very active and helpful place in the online world.
@mboy - I am interested but I can't see how I PM you here? The forum looks quite different to when I was last using.
Cheers!
how do I PM? Cheers
Thats enough power for night riding for the most part. I find it depends what people you are riding with have (if you have someone following you that has a light with eleventy billion lumens they can put you in shadow) and what / how fast you are riding.
For a couple of years I rode with a Halfords 1600 lumen bar light and a moon 900 lumen helmet light and it did the job pretty well.
Just I fancied an exposure and the maxx D is a lot better than the Halfords 1600 light (as it should be for the cost). I actually think the Moon Vortex is just as good (if not better) than the Axis I currently use - which seems to burn through the battery way quicker than I’d like.
Outbound lighting. Not cheap thanks to shipping/import but they are awesome. Not the highest lumen count around but they seem to be actually using optics to shape the beam to be far more efficient and effective. Seems leagues ahead of what other people are doing, which is basically a round beam like a torch. I think if they had a UK distributor they would be putting some heat on exposure etc. I've seen them pop up on a few GMBN videos so perhaps they will begin to get some more UK presence soon.
John
I would agree that Exposure are a fine light having had one a few years ago.
for me Four4th made in the uk offer incredible value for money.
I have a Rameses on the bar and a Scorch on the lid.
four4th +1, a bit like exposure in terms of cost, but the quality is top drawer and similar levels of backup. Most of them aren't all-in-one units but they do a variety of batteries like the QR mounted ones that sit under the stem, and soft pouch batteries which IME are preferable to 100g+ helmet lights.
Mid-budget I still think MTBBatteries are hard to beat. The Lumenator and 900 aren't going to make headlines for brightness levels compared to exposure or four4th but they're bright enough in the real world UNLESS YOUR FRIENDS HAVE EXPOSURE OF FOUR4TH. As soon as one person in the group has >4000lumens the rest are basically caught in an arms race again. You don't gain much between 2000 and 4000 lumens, but it's enough to make the person in front's field of view a shadow in your lights.
Agree with the four4th suggestions. Look and feel extremely well made.
I have an OMG on the helmet and a holy moses v2 on the bars.
They are really really good lights
Exposure is usually the answer but instead I got a Hope R8. Currently on a super discount at Winstanleys. The landscape floodlight shape wins over the round shape of Exposure.
The R4 smaller version might even be what you’re after if you can find a deal or stock.
Otherwise. Yes. Exposure. Any of them.
I have used a Knog Power mountain for the last couple of years. 2000 lumen, 8000mha battery, battery doubles as a power bank, battery and lamp connect to make one unit but its bit heavy and the weight of it seems to move the mount on the bar when it’s rough. Was about £120 I think.
My problem with Exposure is that I have 100% failure rate with the brand. I realise that is actually the only light of theirs I have had but it does put me off trying another. I couldn’t find proof of purchase so didn’t claim under warranty and I didn’t want to pay for a repair as I had lost faith in the light. There are plenty of other good lights around so there are plenty of alternatives to Exposure
Jaw dropping stuff.
As mentioned earlier by someone the lezyne 2400+ looks to be a really good value option. Looks a really good wide beam and cost/output/battery ratio seems very impressive. I had the 1800i before the outbound trail evo and it was a solid light.
Shame Troutie isn't about anymore, I'm sure he'd be making some great stuff. I still have a Darkness Dominator gathering dust in the cupboard but it's still puts out a staggering amount of light!
John
Was watching a vid the other night on differences between
Magicshine MJ906SE,(ebike wired in) £140)
Amazon 6000 lumen (£26)
Exposure six pack mk11(£400)
Magicshine monteer 6500(£290)
Vid is about 4 years old, but the magicshine 6500 wins hands down.
Bit of a tangent, but why haven't more brands taken the all-in-one route like Exposure?
It's such a strong selling point and I've only seen a couple of other companies doing it.
Integrating a battery and a light set into one enclosure takes a skill set many companies can’t do or choose not to do.
keeping batteries and lights separate allow flexibility in changes in tech.
exposure and four4th do it incredibly well.
I was looking at another set -although i've got a perfectly good set from MTB Batteries (it's a prototype set @ ~3500lm.) However as TINAS said, if others in the group have exposures, or the magicshine 1million lumen jobs, then you're basically stuffed and you might as well run in the dark! would love a set of exposures.
Update on the above - and many thanks for the replies and advice!
I ended up going for a middle ground and ordered a Magicshine MJ906se - as soon as it arrives I'll report back but it seemed a good middle of the road light, should have plenty illumination for what I need and costwise not too bad.
Cheers!
I'm got an Exposure maxxd sync (2019) on the bars and joystick mk13 (2018) on my head.
Both are great lights but the sync feature of the maxxd has never really worked and the runtime isn't what it says it will be.
I generally run it in low most of the time and high for single-track stuff. Using the low setting that says 12hrs I'll probably be at 50% after a 2 hours of riding and using high for about 15 minutes of those 2 hours. So nothing like the runtime prediction. Having said that, the light is otherwise faultless, the build quality is very high. One day I'll probably have to sort the batteries but I'd rather do that than get a different light and risk it not being as good.
Do MTB batteries still replace/upgrade batteries in other brand lights?
Exposure are massively overpriced and overrated IMHO.
Have tried several over the years. Have a Joystick now and find it underwhelming TBH. The run time is terrible and it doesn't always seem to charge despite showing it has.
The light and battery all in one unit is too heavy, they ping off their stupid mount constantly. Unless the mount has already broken first of course.
There is a D-Maxx about 50 yards off the bottom of the trail up to Green Hill, Pitfichie. My brother launched it that way in a fit of rage after it had popped off his bars on the descent causing him to crash.
That MagicShine should do the job. Decent for the money.
Go on AliExpress and get a £20 light as a back up or for your helmet. We have had several and most have lasted well.
I am a fan of Four4th lights which are superbly made in the UK.
Their Scorch light which is mountable of the helmet and bars (just different mounts) and offers 2000l for £135.00, it also comes as a QR with button control rather than the touch sensitive lens.
This is a little over your budget but its a cracker of a light that has a detachable battery.
I have two batteries which gives me 2000lm for 3 hours.
> https://www.four4th.co.uk/collections/lights/products/scorch-qr <
https://www.four4th.co.uk/collections/lights/products/scorch-qrs
These are a rebadged Magicshine RN 1500.
Currently £52 delivered on Amazon. They don’t come with a helmet mount but I found these on EBay which I think are the right ones.
I've never had an issue with either of my Exposure lights not lasting a ride - but then night rides are only usually up to around 2.5hrs. Joystick has to be managed - i.e. only on high for descents, but Maxx D has plenty left in the tank - I've got the Mk13 that automatically adjusts the brightness depending on your riding
Most of the riding group use them and I've never seen a Maxx D bounce off it's mounting. It is possible to not engage them properly though
At £50 is there anything better than the magic shine equivalent up there?
Jings! It's taken me a while to report back here!
Update on the MJ906se:
It has taken so long because the wrong cable was sent, had to order and wait on the correct one due to none in stock. And then had an issue with the light function due to poor instructions provided. However in the end managed to get it running.
Very happy with it in the end. seems to be well made and certainly provides plenty of light! In this regards is definitely what I was looking for. Time will tell how it holds up in the crappy Scottish weather...
Cheers to all for their help here!