Exposure Boost DayBright / Boost-R ReAKT light set review

Exposure’s Boost DayBright and Boost-R ReAKT lights are designed to ensure you're seen on the road, day and night. They offer impressive burn times and powerful lumen outputs considering their relatively compact size.

As a rider who almost always rides with lights on during the day, I’ve found the long burn times to be particularly useful, for epic multi-day rides and commuting alike.

All-day reliability and the Pulse mode both increased my road-cycling confidence, particularly if my ride was extended or weather conditions worsened.

Exposure Boost DayBright / Boost-R ReAKT light set details and specifications

The Boost lights add to Exposure’s commuting and 'be seen' range and are an evolution of its smaller Trace front and rear lights.

I’ve tested the pair and they're available together for £135 / $162.50 – a modest £5 saving over buying both separately.

They weigh just 45g each and, like many of Exposure’s lights, are made from anodised 6063 aluminium.

Both lights are operated by a single rubberised function button and a double-press in quick succession will turn the light on. Once on, you can choose between Constant or Pulse mode. The latter is my go-to for the rear Boost-R ReAKT unit.

Holding down the function button when switched off will access three brightness settings (or programs, as Exposure calls them) – high, medium and low.

The bodies of both lights show the possible battery life based on the mode and program as a laser-etched graphic. I found this useful to refer to, especially for the rear light, which has extra features.

Remaining battery life is shown via an LED indicator. Once the lights are turned off (a single long press of the function button) a light appears from inside the lens. Green signifies 100 to 50 per cent remaining, amber 50 to 25 per cent and red 25 to 5 per cent. Flashing red indicates 5 per cent or less to empty.

Although the two lights have different LEDs, they share the same 1,400 mAh Li-Ion battery, which takes around three hours to charge fully.

A micro-USB cable is supplied, which is handy because I've found the space surrounding the charging port doesn’t enable all micro-USB connections to fit.

I’d like these lights to adopt UBS-C, which will soon be the de-facto standard in the EU and UK.

Exposure Boost DayBright front light specs

The Exposure Boost DayBright uses a single LED and delivers up to 350 lumens. At full power, you can expect battery life of two hours in the Constant mode, and six hours in Pulse mode.

In this program, the DayBright pulse pattern really is impressively bright, cutting through bright sunlight. In fact, it’s so bright I wouldn't recommend using it around dusk or when riding at night because it could dazzle other road users.

The medium program will give you six hours in the Constant mode and an impressive 12 hours in Pulse. The low-power setting lasts 12 hours in Constant and 24 hours in Pulse.

A nice little detail is the rubber flap that sits on the top of the light to stop you being dazzled, but still provides a small amount of side visibility to other road users.

The Exposure Boost DayBright costs £80 / $104 on its own.

Exposure Boost-R ReAKT rear light specs

The Boost-R ReAKT produces up to 150 lumens at full power. In Continuous mode, it will last for six hours, doubling to 12 in Pulse mode.

There are three programs and you can expect each to double the battery life, respectively. In the low program and Pulse mode, Exposure says you can expect it to last up to 48 hours.

This rear light features additional Peloton and ReAKT modes.

Peloton mode is designed to prevent dazzling riders behind you. It does this by sensing their front light and dimming accordingly.

ReAKT mode senses changes in ambient light, plus the bike's motion under braking, changing its output accordingly. Ride into a shaded tree-lined road and the light will dim or brake as you reach a junction; slow to a junction and the light will brighten to alert the road user behind.

You can select the power mode you want by holding the function button down from its off position, just like the Boost DB front light.

Once chosen and the function button is no longer pressed down, the ReAKT or Peloton programs can be selected, again by holding down the function button from the off position, but this time waiting for the fourth and fifth flashes respectively, before releasing.

Waiting for the sixth and final flash will turn both ReAKT and Peloton off.

With ReAKT enabled, the light will choose the power output based on a couple of factors.

If riding from a shaded road into bright sunlight, for example, the light will increase its power to become more visible. It can also detect when you're braking to alert other road users.

The Exposure Boost-R ReAKT DayBright costs £100 / $130 on its own.

Exposure Boost DayBright / Boost-R ReAKT light set performance

The front light has performed excellently throughout the year I’ve been testing it. It’s been securely attached to my handlebar for virtually every ride, even during the summer.

Pulse mode combines a steady light with a bright flash and is one of the highlights. The combination works well to attract attention without dazzling, as many strobing lights can do when riding at night.

The DayBright setting is very effective during daylight rides, providing me with extra confidence when riding in heavy-traffic areas.

I also like that both lights remember the previously used settings because I found I didn’t move between them that frequently.

The Boost DB is not designed to be used for riding on unlit roads at night. However, it can be used on the brightest setting to get you home in a pinch, if you’re prepared to ride at slower speeds.

On the whole, given I set the front mainly at the low and mid brightness settings, I didn't I have to charge them particularly frequently, perhaps once every two weeks.

While the modes are etched onto the lights themselves, you can’t change between them while the light is on.

You can, however, change modes from pulse to steady with a single press. I didn’t find I needed to change the brightness, or switch to the ReAKT or Peloton modes during a ride, once I’d settled on my preferred settings.

The small size meant the light didn’t clutter the bars a great deal, and it can be taken off easily for charging or storing safely. The bracket is fine at doing the job of securing the light and I’ve found it easy to change the angle of the front light on the fly.

Because of the higher lumen count compared to the rear light, you might find yourself recharging the front light twice as often as the rear, as I have.

The Boost-R ReAKT rear light packs a few more features than the front. I found the Peloton mode to work well, providing the person you ride with is behind you with a steady front light and it's dark. This is a good feature for those who like to ride socially at night.

I can see ReAKT being a helpful feature to attract even more attention to other road users. For example, it could help your riding partner if they’re not familiar with braking points along a route.

In reality, I didn’t tend to use it much, because I felt the standard modes did a great job already.

Just like the front light, I found the Pulse mode was excellent at attracting attention without dazzling other road users – certainly, it stands out among other urban bike lights and during the day.

However, the brightest setting is extremely bright and I chose not to use it at night to avoid dazzling others and wasting battery. It was nice to have it available in case weather conditions suddenly worsened, though.

The rear light has side visibility, but because of its smaller lens, it’s not as noticeable as larger-faced lights such as the Knog Cobber Mid and Cateye Rapid X2.

Battery life is exceptionally good in practice – I could go weeks without recharging. Because the lower-power mode is still quite bright, I found I could rely on this setting for most of the time, only changing it up during very sunny rides or in bad visibility.

Although the light has never fallen off, I found the standard rear mount lacked the high-quality finish I’d expect.

Once the light is locked into place by pushing in and twisting, it tends to wobble around. I’d prefer the light to stick a little more firmly to the bracket.

Unfortunately, because of the excess movement of the light, the anodised finish has been worn away, which I imagine is made worse by mud and debris getting in between and wearing it down.

Exposure Boost DayBright / Boost-R ReAKT bottom line

The Exposure Boost set is a seriously impressive bike lights package, which will suit those who ride high mileage and want the best in battery life and performance.

The slightly fiddly way to change power modes and the optional extra features on the rear light won’t be for everyone. The standard mount also allows excess movement, wearing away the anodised finish.

However, the increased visibility from the excellent Pulse mode on both lights and the long battery life mean hours of safer ride time in a variety of weather conditions.