LED Light Bars; Post Up Pics
- Thread starter D45
- Start date
ExploringNH
Explorer
Figured I would toss a photo in this thread of the new Rigid 10" SR in the grille.
Just the Rigid 10":
Just the Rigid 10":
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theBostonianX
Adventurer
40in Totron on the Gobi
5in duellys X2 on the bumper
And cheapo lights (soon to be LEDS) in the wheel well.
Totrons purchased at
ExtremeLEDlightbars.com
Great quality/price and after 2 seasons up here in the Northeast with mud,snow, salt and road grime, there's nothing to really complain about.
They get the birds chirping at night time...
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fireball
Explorer
I still need a 30 or 40" bar for the front of my roof rack. Hoping to find one on sale for cyber monday. Still can't decide if I want to spend $200 or 800 on it though! Someone needs to do a LED light bar shootout and figure out if/just how much better the same size similar bars are from different mfgs!
Don't spend $800 or anywhere near that on a bar..........just because of the name
I have seen in person MANY 30" to 50" bars that cost $750-$1000 and while they are bright, they also are not that much better than my Trail Worthy Fab 30" bar, which was a great price by a great business
The only time anyone should spend more money on a light bar is if they can appreciate the differences it buys. Otherwise, most people are ok with Chinese products.
ADVW/Liam
Adventurer
No pics yet, but I just bought a 30inch bar from Trail Worthy Fab... Great customer Service, and I dealt directly with Andy. He said that it should ship out today, and stated it would normally be about 2 days. Of course, with Thanksgiving coming up in a few days, there is no telling when it will come in... I'm excited to get the bar in, and mounted on my ARB. I'm glad I did not spend all of my vacation buy-back money on a set of ARB Intensity lights! Once its mounted, I'll post a few pics.
Andy is great to deal with...........Trail Worthy Fab is a solid business
I am certain you will love it
fireball
Explorer
That's exactly my point. How am I going to know/appreciate/judge the different if I don't buy one of each and try them out? That's what is difficult about a purchase like this... few folks have experience with a variety of different lights mounted in the same location, on the same vehicle to give an objective comparison of different output, quality, etc.
I don't think I need an $800 light bar. But if the glare is less, the coverage is greater and the warranty is better it might deserve strong consideration...
theBostonianX
Adventurer
^Glare is user and vehicle specific not manufacturer specific.
Look for CREE Led technology.
I also referred to my local club for first hand knowledge with build quality and lumen output.
Know anyone close to you?
Look for CREE Led technology.
I also referred to my local club for first hand knowledge with build quality and lumen output.
Know anyone close to you?
Without getting into a debate, I will disclose the information that I know to be true. I have seen the internal differences between a Rigid Industries and several Chinese relabels.
There is a difference in glare. The technology that you pay for with some of the higher end bars comes with the circuit boards, how they're wired, and light projectors/reflectors. All of the Chinese lights we had apart had circuit boards all tied into each other. Meaning, if 2" of a circuit board were to be damaged, most if not all of the light would no longer work. In Rigid's case, they are wired every 4". So that's why you'll see in their "torture test" video, the entire light bar doesn't suffer if only part of it was damaged. If you look closely to any of the Chinese bars, you'll be able to directly see the LED itself. Rigid uses projector technology to control the light emitted from the LED. Very similar to higher end projector housings found in factory headlights. In many of the Chinese bars, the light pattern is created through the reflector. That's why you'll notice the bowl surrounding the LED is "refracted". While Rigid differentiates their hyper spot, spot, and flood with different shape and size projectors. If you have the benefit of looking at one close up, you'll see what I'm talking about. Here's a comparison of a Rigid Dually vs. the popular Totron.
The aluminum housing between higher end lights and Chinese is simple. Different quality aluminum and finish. Ever see a Rigid light turn gold? It won't. It may fade in the hot Arizona sun, but never turn gold. The anodizing quality is completely different. Only holding one next to the other will show a difference. In regard to the housing, the cooling fins on a Rigid are designed to be as close to the circuit board as possible. Obviously this dissipates heat better. The cooling fins on Chinese bars are almost there for aesthetics. The fins do not come anywhere as close to the circuit board as the Rigids.
I don't think that very many people can appreciate the differences between the two when it comes to cost. But you are paying for technology and quality. Is it worth double, sometimes, triple the asking price? That's for you to decide.
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MagicMtnDan
2020 JT Rubicon Launch Edition & 2021 F350 6.7L
This subject gets complicated and tricky quickly. Some thoughts:
* Most LED lightbars look similar.
* Most LED lightbars look like they perform similarly...from 20 feet away.
* Just going by a "CREE" label doesn't get you anything since companies (from a certain country especially) have been known to lie about LED engines, performance, specs, and anything else.
* LED lights are systems that involve engineering, design, optics, manufacturing know-how, quality and warranty (and a company's willingness and ability to stand behind their products).
* Not all LED lights are the same even though they look similar.
* Lumens don’t mean anything but people still compare lumens and dollars.
* Lux does matter, so a lux number should be present and considered on any light. Lux means distance and distance means superior optics.
If you like a light buy it. But because you (or I) bought it doesn't mean it's better. It just means we made a decision based on price and other factors.
4x4junkie
Explorer
That is all good & dandy (I've seen the differences in construction myself, and no doubt, brands like Rigid and Baja Designs are 2nd to none in terms of build quality)... however none of it compensates entirely for the 5000-6500°K CCT LED chips that everyone seems bent on using. This is why even well-constructed LED lights tend to produce more glare up-close and not as much throw distance as good HID or halogen lights have. It's a limitation within phosphor-based LED technology itself, such LEDs have a very intense output spike in the deep-blue end of the light spectrum that the human eye doesn't process well, which only intensifies it further when such high CCT chips are used.
My thought is anyone here worried about glare probably is best off skipping LEDs altogether for now and stick with good quality halogen or HID lamps (Hella, for example, I know has great examples of each). Properly wired, a good quality halogen light throws a huge amount of light energy (it's the cheaply-made and/or improperly wired ones that look 'yellow' and suck lots of amps). Sure, such lights are generally not as compact as a LED bar, but is it function over form? Or is it the other way 'round? This as well is something that has to be decided by the end user.
My thought is anyone here worried about glare probably is best off skipping LEDs altogether for now and stick with good quality halogen or HID lamps (Hella, for example, I know has great examples of each). Properly wired, a good quality halogen light throws a huge amount of light energy (it's the cheaply-made and/or improperly wired ones that look 'yellow' and suck lots of amps). Sure, such lights are generally not as compact as a LED bar, but is it function over form? Or is it the other way 'round? This as well is something that has to be decided by the end user.
I'm only going to address your glare concern. If anyone reads this they need to have an understanding of where we are both coming from.
A well constructed LED light bar will NOT have as much glare as a poorly constructed one. It's all about the optics. Ever wonder why so many people are so vehemently against HIDs in a non-projector housing? Some even go as far as not putting them in a projector housing that wasn't designed for an HID bulb. The reflector bowl simply wasn't designed to work with an HID bulb. I'm sure everyone has encountered some punk kid with plug and play HIDs in their car without a proper retrofit. It produces a blinding amount of glare for the sake of looking cool. The optics of a Chinese product is where it fails.
You are correct in that the technology for LEDs has not come far enough to outperform the distance of halogens and HIDs in a proper housing. Only recently, with Rigid's new hyper spot optics, have they come close to the distance of a designed spot lamp.
I know I sound like the biggest advocate for Rigid Industries, but I'm only trying to dispel the common misconceptions of LED light bars and their quality. I still believe that most will not need the quality that a Rigid bar can deliver. But no one should ever exclaim that "they're all the same" or "I can buy the same thing for half the cost of a Rigid". You can buy something similar and be enthusiastically happy with the results a Chinese bar delivers. But it's simply not the same thing.