comptiger5000
Adventurer
Personally, I'd pick option #3, as someone who prefers the output of halogens. If you upgrade the wiring to the headlights, you could run 100/55 bulbs in them (100w high beam, 55w low) for even more light.
Front end and Lights on a DD.
- Thread starter rich1833
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Personally, I'd pick option #3, as someone who prefers the output of halogens. If you upgrade the wiring to the headlights, you could run 100/55 bulbs in them (100w high beam, 55w low) for even more light.
comptiger5000
Adventurer
I haven't seen a set of the truck lites in person, but the 100w e-code high beams on my ZJ are pretty damn bright. Probably about on par with most OEM HID high beams for output.
I'm going to disagree with you on that. 100w halogens aren't even close to 35w HIDs. They may work good as spot beams, but I could barely tell they were on with my retrofits.
If you stick with halogen headlights, then the 100w off-road ones will be worth it. And they will melt the snow off, where HID and LED won't.
comptiger5000
Adventurer
They're very close in terms of the amount of raw light produced. Depending on where housings put that light and differences in color temp between them and any other lights on the vehicle, the 2 won't necessarily appear the same brightness, however.
I may give the super 7s, with ray's harness and 55w/100w bulbs a go. I will keep my truck lites if I do not like the output. I like the color of halogens, my HID in my hella are listed at 4300k, but once warmed up they are the same color as halogen, but a **** tonne brighter!
comptiger5000
Adventurer
The biggest difference in color between halogens and HIDs isn't necessarily the color temp (you can buy lower color temp HIDs and halogen color temps get higher with the higher wattage bulbs). The 2 types of light do show colors very differently though. HIDs (and LEDs) tend to be closer to monochrome (differences between colors are smaller), although newer ones are getting better about this. There are LEDs out there that can do just as well as halogens for color rendering, but they're still pretty $$$ to implement for vehicle lighting.
As far as how much this matters, it bothers some people more than others, so not everyone will see an issue with how colors look with HID lights, while some people (myself included) are bothered by the lack of color and tend to see better and/or with less eyestrain with other light sources, even if the total light available is the same or less.
As far as how much this matters, it bothers some people more than others, so not everyone will see an issue with how colors look with HID lights, while some people (myself included) are bothered by the lack of color and tend to see better and/or with less eyestrain with other light sources, even if the total light available is the same or less.
I find LED more an issue with this than HID. Plus even the color temp of the LED being blue are not helping. I know one thing, There is NO led light that can out distance my Hella HIDs. Plus, they are more like halogen "looking" than LED too. But I do get what your saying. But my HID hellas are very similar to halogens in the way you are talking.
rich1833
Observer
I was looking around the enterwebs and came across a build that used LEDs and lots of them but the photo of the light output shows a very nice full color in front of the vehicle. I don't know that I want or need that many lights on my jeep but it sure would make for better night wheeling. (Not that I get to do that much of it). I like the look of the bigger7" light near the windshield. But the might block your view some.
He is running a Aurora 50" D-series combo beam light bar, 2x 7" Aurora D-series combo beam lights, Aurora 10" dual row light bar and 2x Rigid Dually 2x2 flood beam lights.
He is running a Aurora 50" D-series combo beam light bar, 2x 7" Aurora D-series combo beam lights, Aurora 10" dual row light bar and 2x Rigid Dually 2x2 flood beam lights.
4x4junkie
Explorer
LED lights (at least ones currently offered) do have about the worst color rendition and shortest distance (throw) of anything on the market. Like KojackJKU said, it's their cold bluish-white light color that's the issue, they emit a huge quantity of light in the deep-blue part of the spectrum which creates far more glare than other types of lights do (and is reason why they seem so amazingly bright up close, yet have such a short throw).
If you want distance, both halogen and HID can deliver very well on that front. IMO, until manufacturers get past this craziness with the cold-white light color, LEDs are best left for something like rock (undercarriage) lights.
And FWIW, pictures can be tweaked by changing things such as exposure length, white-balance, etc. to show nearly anything the person taking the photo wants (just because a picture shows an amazing amount of light doesn't mean your eyes are going to see it the same).
Not really... A 3500°K LED chip costs about 90¢ where a 6000K chip would be around 80¢ (and no changes whatsoever within the light itself or in it's manufacturing are required for a light to be able to use either one). In a light that uses let's say 40 LED chips, that's about a $4 difference. Not exactly a big premium, even on a cheapo chinese LED bar. Light manufacturers for whatever reason are stuck on very high CCT numbers for their lights. Only reason I can fathom is that it's for marketing purposes (a higher # is always better, right??), because such color light, especially from a LED source, is close to worthless for the human eye to use effectively at night.
Agreed, and what they are trying to replicate with the FREAKIN STUPID BLUE color is the flicker of color back when only the expensive cars had HID in projectors. At the end of the light beam with projector lighting, you get a color effect, like a rainbow. Most of these projectors toss out blue/purple colors. Very annoying, some like the JW speaker projecter beams put out BROWN of all colors. Not as annoying but damn, its weird having a big brown blob at the end of your light beam. Now, the "marketing team" of pretty well all light producers jumped on this "color wagon". You started getting 6000K lights popping up from everyone. Even the reputable manufacturers were jumping onboard. Blue coated lights are everywhere....and JUNK. I have truck lites, they are BRIGHT. get them in inclement weather however, and their range is gone. Last night I was on the highway to get my son at his girlfriends house and it was overcast and a little rain, the distance I usually get from them was gone. It was very dark. I am taking them out, and swapping back to halogen with my HID Hella driving lights to get back some of my bad weather range. My hella 450 yellow fogs help there, but I really noticed it last night. That's another reason LED fog lights don't work either. They are just too "blue" no matter what brand etc. Everyone complains about the JK fog light in the bumper. Mine work great, I swapped out the incandescent bulbs and added a set of yellow halogen 35w instead of the stock 27w. They do exactly what they are supposed to, light the forground so you can see the road in crappy weather.
Like I said, I would go with the super 7, full harness etc from rallylights. They will be the best bang for the buck. Add in a set of hella 500s with HID conversion will get you distance on the trail etc, and if you can fit, a set of hella fog lights of some sort to take care of bad weather driving. Even the small sized lights from hella are very very good. All bases are covered for about the price of a set of truck lites.
Like I said, I would go with the super 7, full harness etc from rallylights. They will be the best bang for the buck. Add in a set of hella 500s with HID conversion will get you distance on the trail etc, and if you can fit, a set of hella fog lights of some sort to take care of bad weather driving. Even the small sized lights from hella are very very good. All bases are covered for about the price of a set of truck lites.
No, the super 7 are better. They toss light down the road and to the sides farther. rallylights.com has them. They were specifically designed for northern areas where we get less light per day and therefore they put out more light in the night....Very awesome. I am going with them instead of my truck lites I think. I am now figuring out if I'm going with 55w/100w hella bulbs or am I going with phillips +130 bulbs. I am leaning toward the 100w hella high beams as I never drive at anyone or behind anyone with my highs on. Wiring harness is needed for that however.