British firm Exposure Lights has revamped its road cycling-specific Strada front light for 2016, giving it a boost in brightness, a new status display and redesigned lens. The price, £269.95, doesn’t change despite these improvements.
The updated Strada features a new lens to increase side illumination, up to 230 degrees compared to about 180 for the previous Strada, which should make it more useful in the wide variety of road cycling situations, from arriving at junctions to cycling down dark country lanes.
Output has been increased to 1000 lumens, a 25% increase over last year’s model. Despite the extra brightness, the runtime is claimed to be the same, 3-hours in the brightest setting.
The Strada now also incorporates the OLED Status Display and capacitive switching that was first added to other models in the Exposure Lights range some time ago. The screen displays remaining battery life for each of the different modes, and makes it really easy to gauge how much light you’ve got remaining. An internal sensor can detect the orientation of the light, and the display flips accordingly. That is useful if you want to mount the light underneath the handlebar.
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The Strada can be used with an optional remote control button. Exposure reckons this is useful if you want to be able to operate adjust the output, and told us that some people route the cable under the bar tape.
A completely new product for 2016 is the Link and Link Plus. It’s a helmet light with a front and rear LED incorporated into one very small device. It can be easily mounted to a helmet with a removable bracket, and can even be mounted on the bars and used as front light, if needed.
It’s aimed at the commuter market, and not intended to be a primary light to see by, but instead a safety light to be used in conjunction with a set of main lights mounted on the bike. There’s a plethora of modes and runtime is between 1.5 to 24-hours. It has a Fuel Gauge and Optimum Mode Selector, and is charged via a micro USB port.
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The Link costs £65 and pumps out 100 front lumens and 35 rear lumens. The brighter Link Plus (150 lumen front, 45 rear) is £80.
Both the Strada and Link lights are for available now, and you can see more at www.ultimatesportsengineering.com
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9 comments
Not expensive in the grand scheme of things.
I have an Exposure Joystick that is 5 years old, a Toro that is nearly 3 and a couple of Redeyes of the same ages.
Never had a problem with any of them, batteries still giving decent run times (Joystick is probably close to giving up the ghost, it must be?..)
Some things are worth spending on, as a year-round commuter I think Exposure lights are one of those things.
At the moment other companies are responding to cyclists needs by raising the bar on their products. With all the innovation we're seeing with bicycle transmission at the moment I would like to see Exposure innovate more too. Their battery powered lights are fantastically built but I really think the dynamo light market is growing. B&M have released a new dynamo light which looks great, has high output with a road focussed beam. There's K-lite who always experiments with his dynamo lights and yet, great as it is Exposure's only dynamo product the Revo has seen no improvements for three years! It's a floody beam so aimed at the mtb market. I would love to see them integrate similar circuitry to the Sinewave Revolution into this light thus bringing usb charging and then bring out a similar product aimed at the road market.
Simple is good, which the Revo is, but I feel they're missing out on the multi-day bikepacking market which the german companies are threatening to dominate, as they are with the rest of the industry. I can't say I saw many Exposure lights on the Transcontinental this year. Loads of B&Ms.
I would like to see more innovation with dynamo products in general even if it is to increase competition and drive down prices. The Sinewave Reactor is nearly £200 and it still has it's flaws.
Expensive - but fantastic lights I have Strada and MaxD both excellent for different reasons.
MaxD could almost be used for welding things.
I have the Strada, well built, good adjustable output.
Better yet, got it direct from Exposure for less than £100, classed as a returned B-grade.
Always worth checking out the manufacturers website for bargains
I can't speak to the strada but I have a two year old exposure reflex which is absolutely brilliant (pun intended) and worth every penny. It came off (my fault) on a downhill, slid quite some distance at 40mph, and is utterly unscathed. The brightest setting is fantastic for riding pitch black gravel roads, even on ice and snow, and the lower settings last forever. They make the best lights, imo- I think my safety is worth paying a bit more for.
£ 270... 3h
Hopefully it'll be one of the lights that road.cc test in this year's comparison - I'd like to see how that 1000 lumens is distributed in the beam pattern test.
Edit:speeling
This is true. However it's like many things is this world, there are some things worth paying extra for. Exposure make some excellent bits of kit that are very well made. Its a simple choice, if you want something decent and are prepared to pay for it, get it. If not buy something cheap and take your chances. Simples!
£270! Stupid price, there are brighter alternatives for well under half the price.