2014 Lights Shootout, Bike Light, Deca Drive, Lezyne, Lights, Lights Shootout - November 3, 2013

Review: Lezyne Deca Drive

The Deca Drive is Lezyne’s follow-on to the Mega Drive of last year. It measures almost 900 Lumens and is only 100 Lumens weaker than last year’s Mega Drive. But it is $50 cheaper and that makes this a terrific value. Furthermore, the edges have been smoothed out with some white powdercoating. The old Mega Drive had an industrial look to it, almost to a fault. It had too many sharp edges and was unwieldy to handle.

The Deca Drive has three LEDs instead of two, so it actually has a really nice beam pattern. The two side LEDs deliver a wide beam that went beyond our 45 degree markers, while the center LED threw a far beam to illuminate our 120 foot target.

The mount has been improved too with the Deca Drive, as well as the Mega Drive lights now have a robust new mount. This after all is a 265 gram light and it packs a bit of inertia on those big hits which can knock the light out of place.

This has the ‘infinite’ battery which is field replaceable, so the rider can keep replacing the battery to extend run time. But we are just not comfortable with this setup, as the battery is a powerful incendiary device with the positive and negative leads millimeters from each other. It’s just not that easy to transport and handle the spare battery safely in all conditions. So we’ll just keep the stock battery in place at all times.

Weight is heavy and size is unwieldy so this is not really appropriate as a helmet light or a flashlight. That is an unfortunate issue since this light will perform admirably in either role.

But in the end, this is a great light that is deadly stable. The light output Lumen graph is flat as a pancake throughout its battery cycle. That is what it’s designed for, so if you want a light that will deliver its promised output throughout the battery run time in all kinds of inclement conditions and hot weather, the Lezyne Deca Drive will not let you down.

Note that when you turn the light on, you will get 700 Lumens and not the 800 as advertised in the box. You have to go through a special sequence (pressing the button for 6 seconds) to go into the special overdrive mode. This is unfortunate since we believe a light is to turn on at the advertised light level without going in to a special mode. It’s not difficult to enter this mode, but we are fairly certain many users will never realize that they are not in 800 Lumen mode by default.

Specifications

Price: $150
Claimed Lumens: 800 Lumens
Measured Lumens: 896 Lumens
Measured MTBR Lux: 92 Lux
Lumens per $: 5.97 Lumens
Lumens per gram: 3.38 Lumens
Time on High: 1:30 Hours
Charge Time: 5:30/10:30 Hours (Hidden overdrive mode, can sense high powered usb charger)
Mounted Weight: 265 grams
Category: Flashlight/Commuter

Strengths

Incredible machining and craftsmanship
Excellent brightness and dual beam pattern has wide spill and far throw
Water Resistant so capable of all weather use
Field replaceable battery so run time is flexible
Very conservative Lumen rating as it registered 896 Lumens instead of the claimed 800
Light output is constant throughout the whole cycle
Battery charge indicator and available race mode
Configurable purchase options with available kit

Weaknesses

Too big now to be used as a flashlight
Lots of sharp edges with all the heatsinking
Charging on a typical USB port can take up to 10 hours
Not practical now for use on the helmet
High powered lithium cell has two adjacent leads and is easy to short out specially when transported in a pocket or hydration pack

Mounting

Mounting is done with a plastic or optional aluminum handlebar mount. Two different sizes are used for the standard or oversized bars.

Mtbr Light Meter Measurements

This light measured 92 Lux on our ambient light measurement facility. The light output measurement is performed by placing a Lux light meter beside the light. Both are pointed at the ceiling (five feet above) of a dark room. This measurement uses the ambient light produced by the bike light.

Integrating Sphere Measured Lumens

This light measured 896 Lumens in an integrating sphere. Claimed Lumens by the manufacturer is 800 Lumens. The Lumen-hour graph below shows how the light performs over the first three minutes of its battery cycle.

Compare all Lumen Tests here »

Tunnel Beam Pattern Photo

The location is useful since it has walls and a ceiling that can display a bike light beam pattern. The walls have a lot of graffiti on them and actually show detail when they are lit up by a light with a wide angle. Cones and targets are set up with the far target set up at 120 feet.