Ok if I you were in the market for a new light which one is better.
I won't be using this from a dynamo so needs to last on a full charge a good while, so which is better the maxxd or six pack

Cheers to all you exposure fans for any advice

What level of technical trails are you intending to ride at night and for how long? On the HT550 I used a joystick (helmet mounted) and only used half a charge, this was a couple of hours per night plus riding through the last night.

Just bought a six-pack - Ridiculously bright on full setting but for the money, you would hope so. Main consideration was reliability and battery time. Plenty bright enough on low with 36 hours to play with. Useful counter-balance to your front wheel lifting too .

The longest I'd ride would be the bb straight through I have a great head light just thought about backing it up with a bar light. I don't tend to do techy night rides more bike packing trips. Im thinking the maxx d would suit as seems the same burn tine as six pack n cheaper

In typical fashion, I too will recommend something you’ve not mentioned - the Diablo is excellent.

If it's for non techy riding you might be better with something smaller than the maxx d, like a toro. Plenty of runtime, less outright power but will still get you through the night

The six pack is quite large

I'm using a Strada on my commuter, really like it so far. The OLED runtime display is really handy

This dropped into my inbox yesterday and I thought it was interesting — a side-by-side comparison of lights with a well-marked-out woodland-ish trail. You have to go quite a long way to the right to get to the Good Stuff, though.

https://www.tredz.co.uk/lights-comparison-test

Clearly the Cateye Volt 6000 blows everything else away, but it's interesting to compare some of the cheaper lights to it — there are some good sub-£100 in the list that look very useable.

I've been lucky enough to trial many of the exposure lights. Max-d and six pack are crazy bright. But the toro is the one I bought. The others have a lot of light 'around the edges'. Toro is a little more focused, but seems to be as bright where the beam is focused . Used with a helmet light (joystick or diablo) it is as much as I ever need. Use it on full gas for techy winer night rides, or 36 hour setting for long outings on road or easy tracks.

If you are up here Mike then 18 bikes have demo lights you can use.

Diablo's are great. Not too heavy for helmet mounting.

When my Spark finally gives up, I'll get another Joystick for the bars to go with the one on the helmet. I find they're the perfect balance between weight, light and runtime. Small enough you can stash a spare if required for another couple of long nights out.

Greetz

S.

Toro and a Diablo, I usually leave the Diablo turned off until it gets technical, its a perfect combination

My diablo is normally paired with a revo. For worknriding lately it's been paired with the b&m luxos, another good combo.

I get the sense mike is looking for a bar light

I have a joystick and a Diablo, for Road and off road helmet use. Have used the Diablo on the bars with the joystick on my lid a few times too. Works fine, not as good as a proper bar light though which are usually floodier, plus it has a smaller battery

I finally upgraded my 2009 Maxx-D. I got a 2018 Toro - that's more than enough, and a nice weight saving to boot. Modern day Maxx-D and Six Pack are just overkill for me.


265 (22-09-2017) by Chris Reeves, on Flickr

Also - you do know the new joystick is 1000 lumens on max? That's more than my 2009 Maxx-D! LED tech has moved on.

There's another comparison tool here http://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/212 ... n-plus-how, it's worth trying the comparison with each light on both left and right as the scene isn't symmetrical. If you scroll down there's images of the beam pattern as well.

Interesting to see what you (well I) think is bright is completely swamped by the likes of the MaxxD, Six-Pack and Toro! Along those lines, I wouldn't get a bar light that completely swamps your helmet light, it needs to be brighter but the helmet light should be able to fill in those areas where you are looking.

Edit: I'd choose the light with an output to match your expected speed. No real need (IMO) for a portable sun unless you are blasting along and need all the light you can get.

I can't specifically recommend any Exposure stuff as I'm a Hope boy. Great build quality and after-sales service but never that bright IMO. Enough though for me. If I ever get an Exposure it'd be a Diabolo for helmet mounting (might be lighter than the Trout spider-eye thing which is insanely bright but heavy - sensitive head ;-) ) .

Like some others mentioned, I prefer something slightly lower powered and floody on the bars with a more powerful but more focused / spot-style on the head. TBH, since LEDs and battery advances I tend to only use a head-mounted light.

Having started on some ancient Cateyes and then moving up to old style Lumicycles (yellow, twin can jobs, one flood, one spot) modern lights just keep blowing me away.

Two other bits to note
- are you riding on the road much? The Toro will have a less-blinding-to-car-driver shaped beam than the maxx d or 6 pack
- what are you riding mates running? If they run very bright lights then you might find yours being drowned out by theirs

benp1 wrote:Two other bits to note
- are you riding on the road much? The Toro will have a less-blinding-to-car-driver shaped beam than the maxx d or 6 pack
- what are you riding mates running? If they run very bright lights then you might find yours being drowned out by theirs

This. I bought a bargain bucket Strada as will be using it for road commutes over winter. Leisure Lakes were doing them for £188. Seems plenty bright enough for my bimbly needs.

Oh thanks all. I was about to by a 2nd hand maxx d mk9 but I like the look of the toro now :)

I combine a Diablo with Maxx-D... probably overkill, but riding at night slows me down massively so I like to make things as bright as I can.

I went with a max-d mk 8 without doing much research, just followed a pals recommendation. They could be classed as overkill but if you find yourself on some horrendous boggy / rocky / snowy / techy trail after dark the extra brightness is defo a good thing. You can set it to different programmes to vary the overall power output. Programme 6 is the lowest overall power setting - gives 36 hours on minimum which is enough to see on the road, on medium its about 12 hours which is bright enough for most off road and max 4hrs which you only need for those afore-noted dodgy bits.

The touch panel on the back was crap - far too sensitive so I eventually sent it back and they upgraded it FOC to the Mk9 version which just has one bit you touch and needs a bit more of a poke but means it doesn't come on itself when you hit a big bump. It is like carrying a tin of beans on your bars tho...

Cheeky Monkey wrote:... as I'm a Hope boy. Great build quality and after-sales service but never that bright IMO.

This is why I'm not a fan of Hope (and I'm not having a pop at you) but no-one else in this thread has mentioned the after-sales of exposure (perhaps they've never needed it or it's not great?*) but this always comes up with Hope. Always struck me as odd...

Anyways, had a Topeak light last two years and then died...
Had niterider for two years and then die...
Had Hope lights last two years and then die...
Had exposure lights for 5 years and still going strong
and also got Moon lights that had reached past my magical two year mark



*with exceptions to their dynamo

I've one of the original Hope Vision 2 lights so it will be at least eight years old. (Used it in Rovaniemi so deals with cold OK) The only problem I've had was actually with one of the batteries - I thought it was the light cutting out, rang Hope about sending it back (they are only a few miles away and this was a Saturday morning). The conversation went:

"I've a problem with my Hope Vision 2, it keeps cutting out"

"Ah. Have a look at the battery connector. Look down the end. Is it a split pin?"

"Yes"

"OK. The split pin pulls together over time. No need to send it in, here's how you fix it."

Five minutes on the phone and it was sorted.

The low (by modern standards) output is a different matter.

I've seen threads and comments about Exposure's after sales service and it's equally positive.

All sorted thanks for the input people.

Mmm I was kinda thinking maxx but not liking the Toro tbh