Pete has been running the latest and greatest lights from Exposure from racing to the inevitable night rides after the clocks changed.
Exposure have built a legendary reputation for high quality lights, so Pete decided to put aside his trusty 2013 Diablo Mk5 and see what their lights can and can’t do some 11 years down the road.
Photos by Pete Scullion.
Key features (Six Pack):
- 6 x White XPL2(W3) LEDs
- IP65 rating
- 5800 max Lumens
- 20,000 mAh Li-Ion battery
- 2-36 Hours run time
- 8 Hours charge time
- 386g
- Anodised 6063 aluminium
- £495.00 RRP
- ExposureLights.com
Key features (Zenith):
- 3 x White XPL2(W3) LEDs
- IP65 rating
- 2200 max Lumens
- 5,000 mAh Li-Ion battery
- 1-18 Hours run time
- 5 Hours charge time
- 150g
- Anodised 6063 aluminium
- £295.00 RRP
- Exposure Lights.com
My first shot of this light combo from Exposure was at The Ex Enduro where they comfortably guided me through the darkness of Friday’s night stages without incident. No mean feat. Since then, I have enjoyed a host of varying night rides that have been illuminated beautifully by these lights.
So what are the Six Pack Mk14 and Zenith Mk3 all about? The Sixpack is a bar-mount beast with integrated battery and Exposure’s Reflex technology. Whilst not AI in the sense we might cringe at, it does use accelerometers and, gyroscopes and thermistors to actively regulate the Lumen output based on what you’re riding.
In the real World, this means you get a whopping 5800 Lumens when you’re giving it the beans, then actively dimming when you stop or slow down on a climb. Exposure reckon you’ll get three hours max in this mode. Thankfully standard High and Low modes are available, with the high offering slightly less than the Reflex output with the low offering decent light for almost half a day.
Mounting is on a bar-mounted bayonet and has caused zero issues since attaching it some months ago. As ever, construction and finish is solid for both mount and light, with neither looking anything but brand new despite some serious treatment in all weathers.
Regardless of whether you select high or happy to run with Reflex when descending, the output is enormous. Either makes the task of seeing where you’re going all too easy, and letting a head light like the Zenith deal with looking where you’re actually wanting to go. When the aurora kicked off in October, I ventured up a local mountain, a six hour round trip. The Six Pack could have gone again.
The only thing you need to look out for on the Six Pack is the heat. No light this powerful will run cool, even in the cold, but the Six Pack might actually be a decent hand-warmer in the winter without you ever needing to touch it. Just don’t melt anything on it.
The Zenith feels like my Diablo’s bigger brother but no less well-made. The output, burn time and efficiency has skyrocketed since then and is a fine companion to the Six Pack. 2200 Lumens from a light this small is mad, and the Tap Technology allows you to easily change the output when full beam isn’t needed doing away with need to fumble around for the buttons.
Slightly more versatile in its mount options, you can go both bar and helmet for the Zenith. The Exposure helmet mount doesn’t fit all helmets and sometimes needs some innovative mount locations to work well.
With the Tap Technology you can save the battery for when it matters, adding 2200 Lumens to your 5800 on the way down allows you to point your face where you want to go. You can just give it the beans in the dark with this combo.
Light, powerful and compact, the Zenith is also a perfect emergency option should you get caught out after dark, with plenty of light to either get you a short distance or enough burn time to light the way should you have further to go. It’ll not take up much room in your pack too.
Both lights are rated to IP65, that being Ingress Protection, 6 (complete protection against accidental contact and protection against ingress of dust) and 5 (protection against low pressure water jets from any direction). This means they’ll do most rides in any weather, but they are not waterproof. Take them off the bike before you jet wash them.
That said, my Diablo Mk5 has been through the washing machine more than once and refuses to die. Don’t test that theory for yourself but it’s likely that they’ll exceed this requirement on the evidence I have before me.
What do we think?
Whilst almost eight hundred pounds for lights might be high in anyone’s eyes, the team at Exposure have told me that their biggest competition is customers who have already got their lights. Like my Diablo, they may well be serving you well beyond a decade.
The output, weight, quality really is something to be experienced. They are the lights against which all others are judged. Even my excellent Hope R4 has been relegated to second line duties since these arrived.
We love:
- Seeing in the dark
- Lights that last forever
- Reflex technology
Could do better:
- Six Pack gets hot
- Eight hundred quid
