richardlofthouse.cc: REVIEW: Exposure Six Pack Mk 2 (2012 model)

REVIEW: Exposure Six Pack Mk 2 (2012 model), RRP £424.95
2000 Lumens, 362g, 6 x XPG LEDs

The Six Pack was Exposure's flagship bike light, except that for 2013 they have introduced the Reflex which sells for £449.96 and has a few tweaks and additions. See the demo on www.exposurelights.com.

Apparently most of the reduced 75g weight, and new LEDs, have been added also to the Six Pack Mk 3 (2013), so this review can only describe the light in terms of it's outgoing model, the 2012 Mk 2.

In particular, you need to consider the digital theatre of the 2013 model, which allows programme modes and digital read out on the back panel. It might be less satisfactory than the Mk 2, which just uses blue LEDs to show beam modes; 3 for high, 2 for medium, 1 for low. I like the simplicity of the old model in this regard. It has a large battery and you can happily commute 1.5 hours a day for a week on low beam, without any recharging issues at all.

This leads on to the broad question of price and performance. Is this overkill for commuting? Not if you are rural or encounter dark alleys or back streets, perhaps. But the Six Pack is probably not necessary as such. There are so many other lights that offer blazing performance for alot less money, not least from Exposure. Hands up: my own light is an Exposure Joystick and on full beam 400 lumens still lights the road quite tidily, while weighing just 87 grams. Wonderful it is; also wonderful are Exposure's Flash/Flare combo with re-chargeable batteries, which I use as secondary commuter lights (that's dissing the rear Flare, which is VERY bright) and primary winter/dusk day time training lights. These cost £40 each and less bought as a pair.

Is the Six Pack desirable then, in an urban setting, and does it make you safer? I began the test some weeks ago with a sense of trepidation. The light is just SO bright I thought I was going to get yelled at by drivers and by pedestrians. It was like agit prop. Every day a new sarcasm from a white van driver, or an unhappily blinded walker. Eventually a minicab driver told me the angle was wrong and that if the police saw it they would confiscate it "and throw it in a bin." I thought I had it gently angled downwards, but apparently not. So get the angle right. It has to angle down at least 30 degrees. I've also stopped using the flashing mode, since this marks you out as a cyclist. Leave on low beam, and you get treated more like a moped rider - it's as if you've upgraded in the traditional pantheon of road users.

A word on low beam. It still lights up the nostrils of a bus driver across a junction, or allows you to count the buns on the shelf of a Greggs, also across a junction. Well maybe not, now that my light angles down, but you get the message. This is a hugely bright light on low beam. High beam is overkill. That's a way of saying that you don't really need this flagship product for commuting.

But I love it, and the Sixer has made my Joystick now seem like the perfect supplementary light rather than the main course. There are particular junctions on my commute across London, where traditionally drivers just seem to not see me. Now they do. On one occasion in pouring rain during the day light, I put the Sixer on flash mode and drivers typically moved over to allow you through standing traffic - it is uncomfortable to have that sort of light in your side mirrors, and might subliminally communicate 'emergency services!'.

Quibbles? For me, the weight hasn't been the issue I thought it would be, but I wouldn't ideally train with it. The bracket it fixes to is rock solid but takes a bit of getting used to, with re-mounting requiring the exact approach angle otherwise it skates out of the shoe.

Final thought? I love this light. Imagine a really foul night in mid-winter. What else could be better than a Six Pack? If the lighting arms race is on then just smoke the system and run full beam. I did it once or twice when the rain was streaming down, and it worked. I felt safer. On this basis I want my own Six Pack and hang the cost. But at the point of purchase I'm pretty sure I'd pick from somewhere else in the range and get the MaXx-D Mk 5, and save nearly a hundred pounds.The Six Pack is really in its element for night time off-roading. The core user is the MTB'er, or perhaps for night time Cross races like Muddy Hell.