Clone of ARB Intensity LED Driving Light/Light Force 250!

[vitodivita]

In my situation, I was looking for a pair of large round aux lights for my ARB bumper. I was either going to spend $5-600 for some sort of HID setup, $1k+ for LED, or go the knock-off route. The knock off cost me $250. Like I said before its a shameless purchase, and for me it's non-essential. If the lights fail, I send them back, and lesson learned. If my Jeep were to go on long distance trips with night wheeling involved, my needs would change.

Beyond that, I'm about to install a SPOD in the Jeep so I don't plan on relying on a pair of knock-offs; more lights to come in the future

 

[kojackJKU]

My HID setup was approx. 130 bucks mounted. And work AWESOME.

 

[MTSN]

While it seems altruistic on one hand to choose to support the leading R&D manufacturer on a product like LED lighting, it also seems foolish to pay a 500+% premium to get a product that's maybe 20% better quality. It sucks that players in the global market don't respect the R&D and trademarking of other company's efforts, but that's the world we live in today. I would also argue that one of the reasons ARB prices their LEDs so astronomically high is recognition that other vendors will copy the design and sell units for far under what they're selling them for, so they're going after the higher margins instead of the thin margins with high volume. For the casual/weekend user who isn't a professional racing through the desert at 140mph in the middle of the night in a third world country, the vast majority of knock off lights will be far above adequate for them and will put far less pressure on their marital bliss. I can't even imagine how pissed my girlfriend would be if she realized I spent several thousand dollars on lights knowing I could have had 80% of the quality for a tiny fraction of the cost merely because I wanted to support the pioneers of LED technology. (and no, I have not purchased any knockoffs and I DO intend to buy some JW Speaker LED headlights for my JK very soon)

 

[Rbertalotto]

In the late '60s a friend had an Alfa Romeo Giula with 2 aircraft landing lights mounted behind the grille. A friend said that it would light up the hill a few miles away. I'm sure they were a good strain on the battery and generator.

Great Thread BTW...Back in the 70s I had an IH Scout and I mounted two airplane landing lights. When I turned them on, the Scout would slow down as the alternator was working overtime. But on a local bridge here in town, at night you could pull over to the side, turn them on, and in a few minutes the lights on the bridge would shut off!

 

[vitodivita]

I must say these look pretty stout. I'll report back when these are installed.

 

[BCobe]

Post up some beam pics at night! F40 posted this video:


and it looks like one of the lights tested was a set of ARB's. If they are the LED version they didn't looks super bright.

Looks like they are going for 300ish a for a set.

 

[CJustin7]

For the casual/weekend user who isn't a professional racing through the desert at 140mph in the middle of the night in a third world country, the vast majority of knock off lights will be far above adequate for them and will put far less pressure on their marital bliss. I can't even imagine how pissed my girlfriend would be if she realized I spent several thousand dollars on lights knowing I could have had 80% of the quality for a tiny fraction of the cost merely because I wanted to support the pioneers of LED technology.

That is my (and others) point exactly. It's not poserish at all. I'm not a name brand fanboy. I look at cost and effect of each purchase. With the Chinese knockoffs..... I still get way more light and throw than I'll ever need. So more or less, I'm getting more product than I need for about 1/5th of the price as the leading brand name and I for one ..... am good with that.

 

[java]

Can anyone measure from mounting plate to top of light?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...I for one ..... am good with that.

But only if it looks exactly like the name brand product right?



Again, I'm not arguing the merit and value of low-dollar Chinese LED light products. But I stand by my words that it's poserish to buy a product that is trying to be exactly something it is not, i.e. a carbon copy albeit known lesser quality and lack of IP respect. The Chinese can be creative... reward that not their ability to reverse engineer. Anybody can knock-off a product at a lower cost, what innovation does that bring to the off-road world?

 

[bat]

But I stand by my words that it's poserish to buy a product that is trying to be exactly something it is not

This website is filled with posers and I am the President maybe sometimes it just comes down to cost. I want to be the guy driving in the front so I can go blind from the guy behind me with some of the lights in the video.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

This website is filled with posers and I am the President maybe sometimes it just comes down to cost...

Well, you seem quite comfortable with that opinion.

 

[CJustin7]

But only if it looks exactly like the name brand product right?

Maybe you missed the "I'm not a brand name fanboy" part ..... I could care less if it looks like ARB..... Only a petty person would worry about such trivial things as that, especially when it's going on someone else's rig
What I do care about is this.... Will the product I end up buying produce adequate illumination on the trail ahead of me..... Will that product cost more than it's worth.....and that's it when it comes to lighting.
Anyone whose seen my rigs, knows they are not for looks, but for purpose and pleasure. So when someone see's my rig traversing a hill or crossing a creek... Poser is not what they think at all. It's usualy, "How'd that guy get here in that rust bucket, and why is smiling so much?"

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Good news, when your Jeep wears out, China has you covered with a copy

Call it petty, call it fanboy... I call it respectful, vested and conscious. My trips and time are too valuable to chance to product(s) that can't innovate and I don't want to see those companies that do R&D for our benefit fall to oblivion. I won't and don't support carbon-copy knock-offs and I'm not going to be shy about it so save some name calling from you

 

[kojackJKU]

Obviously you don't. You loose money when people buy the copies instead of the real lights!:elkgrin:

Again, having a cheap light on the front of your rig is NOT THE SAME as having cheap important parts. If a light fails, you slow down, use your head lights and the one remaining light to KEEP MOVING. It's not like your rig magically stops moving because a light went out. IMO, neither these copies, or the real ARB lights put light far enough down the road for my liking and HID lights blow them away in that dept. So neither will be going on my rig.

Crusier, since you are so passionate about the real product, Why not loan a set to me to try for a few weeks. If I think they are up to snuff, I will buy them. If they can't get down the road like my HID's, I will package them back up, and return them at my expense. There is no place here that sell them. All we have is rigid which is poor performing at best.

 

[Doddste]

All we have is rigid which is poor performing at best.

I was under the impression that the ARB intensity lights are actually manufactured by Rigid. Can anyone confirm this?