Review: Lezyne Deca Drive 1500XXL
The Deca Drive 1500XXL sports 3 LEDs (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.
The Lowdown: Lezyne Deca Drive 1500XXL
Lezyne‘s top end light now is the Deca Drive instead of the Mega Drive from last year. It is a lot more sleek than last year, but it shares the output of last year’s top light at about 1400 Lumens.
Beam pattern is beautiful with a wide beam and a high center optic to see far into the trail. The beam can almost be described as a clover leaf with widfe sides and a center bump. It’s sleek lines and smooth surfaces make it a lot more useable around the house too as the ultimate flashlight.
But the full output of 1500 Lumens is in a ‘hidden’ mode that most users will never realize unless they read the manual very carefully and go in to ‘race’ mode. We really prefer that manufacturers do not claim outputs that are in hidden modes that users may never find. Visually, the human eye can’t really tell and we’re really able to determine this in the lab.
But price and performance are still strong Lezyne traits, as this one sells for an aggressive $150.
| Claimed Lumens: 1500 Lumens | Mtbr Lux: 1400 |
| Measured Lumens: 1390 Lumens | Mounted weight: 279 grams |
| Lumens per $: 9.27 Lumens | Category: Headlight |
| Lumens per gram: 4.98 Lumens | Price: $150 |
| Run time on high: 1:45 Hours |
Rating:  4 Chilis-out-of-5 |
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Full Review: Lezyne Deca Drive 1500XXL
Lezyne seems to be at a crossroads where they have completely abandoned their previous, very successful and stable output designs to new, sleeker models. They’ve lost the infinite battery abilities they’re known for in favor of safer, easier to ship and more sleek designs. Lithium batteries have been the center of controversy with shipping and airline flights, especially when there’s loose cells involved.
The result is a much sleeker design with very good optics. Heat sinking is not as generous as before, so the Lumen outputs are not as flat and consistent as the previous models.
The battery/USB hatch is no longer present as the light has gone away from field replaceable batteries (click to enlarge).
But the lights are a lot more handy now and can have much more utility around the house. Mounting is still the same with two different plastic mounts for the bar sizes. But the new 35mm bars pose a problem, as the mounts won’t fit those.
The USB port is a bit difficult to access, as it deeply recessed and there’s a big rubber plug with two levels of sealing. It takes some getting used to, to give a good tug and hold it out of the way to get the USB plug in.
Continue to page 2 for the beam pattern and Lumen measurement »
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