Have been ripped off?

[beatlejuice]

I am a commuter and have a ride (briefly) through an unlit bit of country road. I've just brought an Exposure Spark Front Light for some £74. Is it really 10 times better that a 3 Watt LED front light costing £6.99 from eBay? Sure the Exposure nicely made and I like the pulsing mode. What are other people opinions?

 

[GrasB]

I directly compared a £15 200 lumen torch with a Exposure Joystick. 3 things stuck out...
1) The beam was much better on the joystick, while they had very similar beam angles the joystick was much more consistent across it's beam.
2) You actually had a clue how much power was left in the batteries on the joystick
3) We had total confidence that if the joystick was completely immersed in water it would survive, say falling off in a ford. We certainly did not have that confidence in the torch.

Was the joystick worth the extra money was a very personal thing. It basically came down to are you a person who looks at baseline performance @ low price or are you someone who doesn't mind paying extra for value added features.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

One thing that springs to mind immediately on the eBay listing

Look at the 5th photo (bottom left). The light isn't that visible from an angle. Bright enough head-on but cars coming out of side streets, glancing whilst rolling forward, aren't looking at you head-on.

For that reason I'd view the eBay one as no more than a secondary front light.

 

[beatlejuice]

Thanks both Sheffield Tiger & GrasB for your opinions. I feel much better and my money was well spent.

 

[BentMikey]

I have some exposure lights - the joystick and the maxx-d. I used to use Fenix P3Ds on the bike, and I'd go with GrasB's comments. The Fenixes were much better value for money, but not as reliable as the Exposure and harder to use.

The exposures have perhaps the best and quickest light release around, IMO., whilst the Fenix on the twofish lockblock takes longer to release. The Fenixs were much more vulnerable to vibration, sometimes turning off, and don't give any battery life indication, unlike the exposures.

That's not to say the exposures are perfect either - a minor niggle I have is that the charge plugs seem to have a loose fit in the charging port, and it's a bit of a fiddle to get the auxillary light powered by the charge port.