Exposure Lights Diablo Mk.7 review
This 119 gram wonder puts out close to 1200 Lumens (click to enlarge).
Editor’s Note: This article is part of Mtbr and RoadBikeReview’s 2016 Bike Lights Shootout. See the 2016 Mtbr Headlights Index and the RoadBikeReview Commuter Lights Index.
Lowdown: Exposure Lights Diablo Mk.7
The Exposure Diablo has been refined over the years as every facet of this light has been improved. Aside from an increase in brightness every year, the light now has an excellent ergonomics, switching, mounts and features. Now in its seventh edition as it claims 1300 Lumens with a run time of one hour. Running it at around 400 lumens (low mode) yields about three hours of runtime.
The Diablo Mk.7 still packs a punch in the category with a brightness measured at 1190 Lumens with a weight of 132 grams with mount.
| Claimed Lumens: 1300 Lumens | Mounted weight: 132 grams |
| Measured Lumens: 1190 Lumens | Category: Headlight |
| Lumens per $: 3.97 Lumens | Price: $250 |
| Lumens per gram: 9.17 Lumens |
Rating:  4.5 Chilis-out-of-5 |
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Review: Exposure Lights Diablo Mk.7
The greatest aspect of this light is usability. It is so light, small and bright that it disappears in to the ride. Mounts are light and discrete. And there’s external battery options available too.
Construction and finish are top-notch (click to enlarge).
When the light is mounted in its ideal spot on the helmet, it allows one to use the TAP (Tap Activated Power) feature. Essentially the whole body of the light is a switch, so changing modes is incredibly quick and effective. This avoids having to fumble for a button, especially helpful if you are wearing full fingered gloves or Winter thickness gloves where you lose the tactile touch. The end result is that easy brightness changes allow the rider to better manage battery consumption.
Another revelation with this light and other self contained lights is it works well in cold, winter conditions. Normally, lithium batteries lose up to half their runtime when in very cold conditions. The solution for this is to warm the battery with an external device or with its own power. The Exposure Diablo and other self-contained lights keep themselves warm with the LED lamp. Thus the light cools itself and keeps the battery warm with its self-contained design. It’s an unintended design consequence but an effective one for cold-weather riding.
Beam Pattern Photo
We photographed the lights in the same location setting with the same camera settings. The photo was taken in the back yard that is approximately 25 yards long. The backyard beam pattern allows you to gauge the throw and the width of the light. Compare all Beam Patterns here »
Other lights have copied the Exposure Diablo and can beat it in a price battle. But the Exposure Diablo still holds its own with a high quality light with smarter features.
For more information visit www.ibexsports.com.
119 gram weight makes this one of the lightest in its class (click to enlarge).
This article is part of Mtbr and RoadBikeReview’s 2016 Bike Lights Shootout. See the 2016 Mtbr Headlights Index and the RoadBikeReview Commuter Lights Index.
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