USE Exposure Lighting Systems

Having to write about lights isn’t the most exciting thing to do but lately lights and especially off road lights have been getting much better in terms of quality, stamina and of course size. So when a big old box from the guys at USE landed at dw’s new hq, I was looking forward to getting them really dirty out on some, new to me, Welsh trails in the dark.

Okay so what was in the box?

Well what I was interested in was the big stuff…. One MaXx-D, the main bar mounted Exposure light in their product range, one Diablo, the biggest helmet mountable light, one joystick and two rear lights…the Red Eye Micro and the retina burning Red Eye!!

The first thing I noticed about the Exposure lights was of course the quality and the presentation, put simply they have packaged the lights just the way you’d want them. Inside the robust zipped soft cases are cut out foam inserts to protect your lights when it comes time to store them for the summer.

Chargers are included with them all, which are of course the same spec, so no need to worry about finding the right plug, just grab the nearest one. The whole setup is really functional and minimal.

Mounting hardware is well thought out and really user friendly, the bar mounts are both compatible with 25.4 and 31.8 bars, making it easy to switch bikes but with spare mounts available, just buy a second one for you other bike.

I’m concentrating on the main off road lights here the MaXx-D and the Diablo, I’ll leave the Joystick and the Red Eye for Doug and his street riding to work obsessions that he has.

The fit onto the bar hardware is so easy that you have to wonder if they’ll stay on during a ride. Thankfully after the first ride with them, the doubts I had were unfounded; the system works and is almost perfect. The only one thing I would change would be to have the nut accessed from above, call me fuzzy but it would make it even easier to tighten up…but I guess USE where thinking of mounting it with the light fitted at the time, which of course makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Helmet mounting is of course a piece of piss…only thing is you’ll need is a helmet with plenty of holes in it! Your typical xc helmet is the perfect platform and the mount is all lightweight plastic which after fitting and clicking in the light you don’t even notice that it’s there…except for the amount of daylight coming from the top of you bonce!

With the addition of the Red Eye Micro, it just fits in the rear charging socket of the Diablo, it’s just a bright red led which you can see from a far…the seat post mounted Red Eye will burn your retinas out is so bright. I looked directly into it. Not a good idea…I was seeing spots for a while after…you’ve been warned.

So what are they like to ride with?

Well with the dark nights still with us, it wasn’t too hard to get a feel for the field of view I’d be expecting when riding off road…so when the time came it was off in the worst of weather, heavy drizzle and even some low cloud/mist to boot.

Brechfa in the day time, I’m told, can be pretty dark even on a good day but the MaXx-D and the Diablo mounted on a Fox XC helmet really impressed me. The light from the helmet mounted Diablo was probably on a par with bar mounted lights I’ve used in the past, in full beam mode though the Diablo lasts only an hour according to the manual though so use on the medium setting for most of the ride and then switch to full beam when the going got techy.

With the Red Eye Micro working at the rear of the helmet light, the top of my head was seen from quite a way back. I not quite sure of the actually use of this other than extra help for riders/drivers behind you…I don’t thing I would use a helmet light on the road but at a £10 you can’t really criticise it too much.

The MaXx-D was of course amazing! Simply put it exceeded my expectations…the length of full beam available on a full charge is more than enough to cope with a sub 3 hour ride, switch it to medium and you have plenty of time to get out and back for a night ride with spare capacity for the commute to work in the morning. Riding the techy stuff with full beam gave me upper confidence to hit it as quick as in the daylight…well that’s pretty slow as you know ;>

The biggest conclusion I made was, if the price of these lights were justified? With both RRP’s exceeding the £200 mark, even after one ride I can categorically state that they are worth their weight in Gold, which is pretty high just now.

More Details at www.exposurelights.com