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. Then again, the Exposure Strada costs over four times as much as the Allty1000, so in terms of light per penny, the Magicshine has the edge. The central part of the Magicshine’s beam does shine brighter, but the Exposure Strada casts much more light to the sides, lighting up a greater area in total - as it should, with a lumen count of 1,450. There’s an interesting battle between which is brightest out of the Magicshine Allty1000 and the Exposure Strada Mk11 RS. By extension, the Magicshine Allty1000 is also brighter than both the PDW Lars Rover Power and the Knog Blinder 900. It is clearly brighter, casts its beam further, and has a similar beam width to the Trek Commuter Pro RT - and that’s despite both lights being claimed at 1,000 lumens and Trek’s light being over twice the price. Let’s stick with the beam and lumens to start. This light is really the star performer on test - it’s the least expensive by quite a way, super bright and nicely designed.
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