Looking to add driving lights - Your likes & dislikes.

[Hilldweller]

There are lots of lights being mentioned in the thread but it seems that "offroad" lights are being confused with "driving" lights.
Two different animals, purposes, light patterns, function...

Almost anything works for offroad. Whether it's the cheap-n-stinky Krager type HID (I have a set and swear by them) or the cheaper-n-stinkier Hella 500 HID conversions that kojack loves so much. Or the rage of the decade LED bars and cubes. All great for stinkloads of light, slow-speed technical driving.
But on the highway, stick to lights with a proper pattern. You'll honestly see better and farther.

 

[kojackJKU]

As I said before, I see a LONG way down the highway at HIGH SPEEDS 50-60 mph in the dark, I use them ALOT. with the amount of moose and big caribou on our roads, if it did'nt work, I would';nt use it. My life is much to important to use some type of lighting that someone else recommends that don't work for my purpose. I am not driving slow speeds in the bush, im on wide open highways traveling at 50-60 mph at 2am. On average I see 10-12 moose/caribou on each night time trip, I would not see any using "dot" approved lighting as they do not get far enough down the road or wide enough at the far end to drive at speed safely. Here everyone uses the friggin brightest light they can, why? because its safe. Everyone here uses the unwritten rule of if you see lights coming turn yours off, works great, there are no issues. Even the police departements use hellas on their vehicles on the highway because of the moose concentration. Its not a matter of hey my lights are DOT or have proper tests using meters etc, its a matter of can I see that big jesus animal in time to avoid it. simple. My lights work for MY application. I dont care if something else tests because using a meter or device, that is irrelevant to me. What matters to me is that I see that animal down the road far enough to take proper action to miss it. In one 70km stretch of highway here, there are approx. 50 moose vechile accidents per year. There is no moose hunting allowed as its a national park. Therefore, there is a huge population of moose in this area. But other areas are just as bad. Cheap dont mean crap either. Just to let everyone know. Put the meters and devices away, and drive with your lights. Same as pixel peepers and digital camera. this one tested crap because i can see pixels at max zoom....something you will never see actually using your camera.

 

[lugueto]

I've had great experiences running KC lights. I've used Daylighters and Rally 800 in spot beams. I use them for high speed driving on lonely dark roads. Paired to a good set of headlight bulbs I could drive safely.

Recently I modified my front bar and added fog lights, which were then changed to Rigid Dually's Also in spot beams. These were aimed offset to the sides and while they dont have comparable throw to the 8" halogens, they do have great fill.

Now I have the best of both, good distance and great spread as well. I can drive safely while on the road with no traffic and I can see everything while driving off road.

 

[fourstringfletch]

Thanks kojack! That price is certainly right. A few questions if I may:

What beam pattern do you have? Any thoughts on the 500FF? Photos?

Thanks again for such emphasis on value, The Overland Journal review last year of LED contenders didn't exactly send me running for my checkbook.
Where did you mount ballasts? Any links to the HID kit?

Cheers,
Fletch

 

[Hilldweller]

The Hella 500FF works much better as a driving light than the standard 500.

 

[fourstringfletch]

Hilldweller - good thoughts on clarifying intent.

I think that most of us would be well served by a combo of off-road and driving. That's my goal, and the reason I like those new LF Venoms (in the same way I like the idea of a vacation on the moon).
Many of us drive fast after work into the darkness on highways littered with big animals, then drive slower on dirt roads in search of that perfect spot to spend the weekend.

With this in mind, any recommendations considering your experience would be appreciated greatly. What do you run?

*I just read page 2 again, good wisdom there. Feel free to add anything if you have more thoughts on a good combo.*

Cheers,
Fletch

 

[craig333]

I have a pair of those Kragen HID's paired with my hella 4000s, unfortunately the ballast failed on one them

 

[fourstringfletch]

Any experience between these two versions of the Hella Rallye 4000 euro beam?




Man with endless possibilities across an endless price range, one could certainly burn some time making this decision!

 

[Hilldweller]

Fletch,
If I were spending money right now and not getting a discount on a pair of JW Speaker TS3000R (hint hint), I'd get these: http://www.rallylights.com/all/lights/driving-fog/rallye-4000-halogen-lamp-kit.html in Eurobeam with 100w H1 bulb for driving lights.
For offroad, I have a version of these already: http://www.rallylights.com/all/ligh...4-hid-driving-lamp-kits-and-single-lamps.html that I tinted the lens yellow on.

I'd never want HID for driving lights; the warm-up time is too long. I wouldn't want LED unless they were super-duper good quality like JW Speaker or a few Trucklite and Hella products.
The JWS is desirable over the Rallye 4000 for power consumption; the Rallye 4000 outperforms it.

 

[Hilldweller]

BTW, Joanne, nice job. It looks terrific. And I bet you can see forever with those.

 

[pappawheely]

On my fast moving prerunner I have two Vision-X halogens with a hi-lo switch and a pair of hid's. The halogen's are adjusted so I can run them on the street without blinding anyone. The hid's are for the desert at speed.



On my F-350 I travel at a much slower pace so a pair of Vision-X transporters with 9 led's give me the best of both worlds. Plenty of wide beam and good vision further down the road. hid's are so bright you can't run them anywhere where you meet oncoming traffic on or off the road. The transporter has been the perfect solution for me. I also like the way it preserves the old school look of my truck.

 

[fourstringfletch]

Thanks Bill. Let me know if those TS3000's don't fit

 

[65 scout]

A bit off topic but is there anything that works better than others for seeing in fog?

 

[Beamer pilot]

On my fast moving prerunner I have two Vision-X halogens with a hi-lo switch and a pair of hid's. The halogen's are adjusted so I can run them on the street without blinding anyone. The hid's are for the desert at speed.



On my F-350 I travel at a much slower pace so a pair of Vision-X transporters with 9 led's give me the best of both worlds. Plenty of wide beam and good vision further down the road. hid's are so bright you can't run them anywhere where you meet oncoming traffic on or off the road. The transporter has been the perfect solution for me. I also like the way it preserves the old school look of my truck.

A little off topic but any info on that Chevy, always wanted to build one...

 

[GCAdventurer]

So I've seen all kinds of lights on this thread and some are pretty awesome, some are VERY expensive. I know that there are hundreds if not thousands of options to choose and no ONE is right for everyone. For what its worth (coming from a non off road driver) price, power and performance seem to be very important. In my case price was a real factor but I didn't want something that only looked good, I wanted function. Where I live there is a store called Princess Auto, they sell surplus anything and also a great deal of farm and industrial auto parts. I managed to pick up a set of 4 4 1/2" 100w halogen spot lights for about $50 on sale and managed to get a wiring harness kit with switch, relay and fuse for another $15. After rummaging through scrap yards I found a third factory roof rack cross member and used that for my light bar $20. All together it cost under $100 and has proven itself extremely good for when I need the extra light. They have saved my ***** numerous times on dark deserted interstate highways when the deer are roaming. I know, I know, they are not as good as LED's and generate lots of heat and suck back all kinds of power, but for when I need them they work great.

Since the light is not projected extremely far, I have aimed them toward the edges of the road past the normal beam of my factory high beams and they can pick off the reflection of animal eyes from over 200 feet away.