Exposure Zenith 4

The latest incarnation of the USE Exposure Zenith helmet light gets a USB-C port upgrade for quicker and easier charging, a slightly bigger battery and increased lumen output. It’s still a top performer, and is now even more intuitive to use, but it’ll put a sizeable dent in your wallet.

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Exposure Zenith 4 light – Technical details

Priced at a hefty £280, the Zenith 4 is the largest and most powerful helmet-compatible light in the Exposure Lights line-up. It boasts a maximum output of 2360 Lumens, an increase of 160 lumens over its predecessor, the Mk3 and shares the same aesthetic as both of its other helmet models, the Diablo 15 (2000 Lumens) and Joystick 18 (1200 Lumens). It’s machined from 6063 aluminium with a stunning gunmetal grey anodised finish, laser-etched logos, and a teeny, tiny etched burn time table, which is so small in fact that I could only read it when wearing my glasses. The front and rear of the body of the light have been deeply machined out to create cooling channels, which also work to cut down the weight of the light, which weighed in at 150g. It measures 120mm in length and 412mm at the beam head.

Hidden inside is a 6,000 mAh Li-ion battery capable of belting out the full lumen count via its three white XPL2(W3) LEDs for one hour, or on its lowest setting, 36 hours, with various settings in between to tune the burn time and lumen brightness to suit your riding. Its IP67 rating (Ingress protection rating) is top level, providing complete protection from dirt and debris, as well as very high protection from anything the weather can throw at it – even full submersion, if an unplanned dip during your night ride did occur!

It’s great to see the Zenith 4 swap out the old DC charging port for a USB-C charging port. With a reported 66% quicker charging time and the convenience of one-cable charging, it can also act as a power bank, so it’s a win-win-win.

When activated via the rear button, the LEDs function as both a mode indicator and fuel gauge, utilising a simple, bright, green, amber, and red traffic light system. Talking of modes, there are seven. 1-6 offer different levels of burn time and output to suit your riding, with mode 7 acting as TAP on/off. Once set up in TAP mode, it’s simply a case of tapping the body of the light to quickly cycle through the power settings without using the rear button. The TAP setting doesn’t override the mode selected, so if you were in mode 5, for example, you can cycle through high, medium and low, as it has three presets, whereas modes 1-4 all only have high and low presets, so it would be two taps of the light. It’s a lot easier than it sounds!

The light comes in a decent quality hard case, with a power cable, a GoPro compatible helmet mount, a handlebar mount and a lanyard. All useful stuff, especially if you want to double up the Zenith’s duties for dog walking, shed rummaging in the dark or as a standalone bar-mounted light.

Exposure Zenith 4 light – Performance

The biggest benefit of a helmet light (when used with a decent bar-mounted light) is when cornering. It’s the ability to see around and down the trail before your bike is brought into line with the trail and your line of vision. Without one, you’re literally riding a bit blind, and that’s why I always use one, so I was keen to see how the Zenith would perform. I paired the helmet-mounted Zenith with my barmounted Exposure Six Pack 15 light, which I tested previously.

I was really rather pleased with myself for having seemingly mastered the Zenith’s functionality in such a short time, finding it simple and intuitive to switch to my preferred
mode using the button on the rear. The setup instructions on the website are clear and easy to follow, unlike the minuscule burn time chart etched on the back of the actual unit.
Holding down the button for 2 seconds turns on the light. Then it’s a case of keeping the button depressed as the green LED blinks up to seven times, each blink indicating a mode. 1 blink – Mode 1, 2 blinks Mode 2, etc., after which you release the button, and the green LED blinks the corresponding number of times to set the mode. Easy. I set up TAP first (mode 7) as I was intrigued to see if it would be any good.

It’s worth spending some time reading the program selection chart to work out in advance what burn time might suit the length of your rides best before riding. I tested a bunch of the modes, eventually settling on Mode 5, as it lists a three-hour run time at 940 lumens on high, 6 hours, 485 Lumens on medium and 12 hours at 300 lumens on low. As I know my night rides are sub three hours, this seemed right for me.

The helmet mount feels a little flimsier compared to my old mounts, but I didn’t encounter any problems fitting it to my helmets featuring a central channel. That said, if your helmet doesn’t have a central channel, like my Fox Speedframe Pro, then you’ll need to shell out another £22 for the curved adhesive mount or bodge something with zipties…

When it comes to the all-important beam, the Zenith’s three LEDs create a powerful hotspot that casts a bright, concentrated beam deep into the trail. It’s very impressive. It tapers off at the edge softly so that the features at my peripheral vision could easily be read at speed without being harshly illuminated and thus distracting. As I mentioned, I used it mostly twinned with the mega-powerful Exposure Sixpack 15 for cornering visibility, and boy, it really works. But it would definitely up the ante if your bar-mounted light isn’t that powerful.

On longer rides, I ran it mostly in mode 5, used as a support to my powerful main light, using the TAP function to alternate between the Medium and low settings between sections of trail that didn’t need as much additional light, only using the higher 940 Lumens for the most technical trails, easily achieving three hours plus battery life. I also ran it at the full lumen count of 2360 a few times when I knew I was going out to session a few tech sections, and it’s an insane amount of light, although it only lasted for an hour or so, which was fine as I had a main light.

Exposure Zenith 4 light – Verdict

Working backwards from the Zenith are its Diablo 15, 2000 Lumens at £240, and the Joystick 18, 1200 lumens at £195.

The Lezyne Helmet Lite Drive 1200+ helmet light could be a more affordable option at £90, although it’s a bit of a chunk and weighs almost 50 grams more than the Zenith. Power output is good, though, with a max burn time of two hours at 1200 lumens. There are also a few modes to choose from, but you don’t get the TAP feature.

Helmet lights are really important for proper technical night riding and will enhance your experience tenfold. I love the Zenith for its build quality and performance, but if your budget doesn’t stretch that far, it’s worth looking at other models in USE Exposures’ lineup.

• www.exposurelights.com

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