![]() Plus, if your commute is mainly street lit, there’s simply no need for a brighter light than this as it doesn’t make a significant difference to what you can see. When wearing casual clothes, I’m not really going to be pushing any harder than Zone 2. It’s simply not bright enough for bombing along at Tempo / Zone 3 through the still of the night - but it is plenty bright for riding at an Endurance / Zone 2 pace on even the darkest roads.įor a commuter light, rather than one for post-work training rides or long-distance winter epics, this is perfectly sufficient. You just have to be clear about the sort of riding you’ll be using this light for. The best front light for commutingĭespite having the weakest beam of all the lights on test, I really liked the Knog Blinder 900 and think there is good application for it. But if you have the money to invest, you won’t be disappointed. However, against competition such as Magicshine’s Allty1000, it’s hard to recommend that everyone should spend that much more for Expsoure’s quality. Like Assos cycling kit, you are paying for a build quality which really lasts and should be considered alongside the (proportionality higher) upfront cost. One of the most enduring features of Exposure lights, away from the excellent performance of the beams, is their longevity. Still, it functions well, is an extra nice-to-have, and solidifies this light as a tech-packed de-luxe model. Then again, if you aren’t running a MTB light with a whopping 3,000 lumens and if you do have your light correctly set up illuminating the road ahead of you, arguably this tech isn’t so necessary. ![]() With the light so bright, it is quite nice and reassuring having it dip when faced with oncoming traffic - you can be quite sure that you won’t be dazzling anyone. It’s really quite seamless, with the light smoothly reducing its brightness and equally smoothly returning to full strength - it’s not like switching between the main beam of your headlights and the dipped beam at all. This model comes with Exposure’s AKTiv tech, which automatically dims the light when faced with oncoming traffic. Like the Magicshine, I was happy barrelling along through the dark at full tilt, with the road ahead of me reassuringly brightly lit. Still, away from all the peripherals, fundamentally the Exposure Strada remains a really, really good light. The display on the rear of the Exposure Strada is a particularly neat feature of this light, displaying as it does the remaining charge of the light down to the minute. ![]() But it is rather more fiddly and harder to use than the simple - but effective - silicone strap of the Knog Blinder. It’s a similar thing for the bar clamp - Exposure’s split-clamp system is exquisitely designed, with two CNC machined pieces of metal slotting together to make the hinge and clamp. The best front bike light for performance The only question is whether the performance at this price is too good to be true - I’d hesitate to give it full marks until the Allty1000 has proved itself in a full season of riding through the cold, wind and rain. I was able to see far enough ahead and with enough detail to push up to Threshold / Zone 4 and even seated VO2 Max / Zone 5 efforts. With the super bright beam for a light which is nominally only 1,000 lumens, I was perfectly happy putting in hard efforts when riding on the darkest roads with this light. On the other hand, it uses the same quarter-turn mount as a Garmin, so can be popped onto one of those mounts which is neat. But the need for an Allen key and its fiddly nature means that this isn’t so easy to swap between bikes. The band clamp system for the mount is really neat in how it accommodates all handlebar diameters without the need for rubber shims - which seem to invariably get lost. The battery indication is more basic than the previous two lights, with a simple green LED changing to red and starting to flash as you get to 30% and 10% charge, respectively, which isn’t so helpful for power management on longer rides. ![]() On the downside, it does charge with Micro USB rather than USB-C. The Magicshine Allty1000 also has the longest battery life when shining on full.
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