Rigid Industries LED Light Bars

[Superu]

Without a doubt - impressive light output!
Without a doubt - way to expensive! $1400 for an auxiliary light

Like any new technology, early adopters will pay a premium for items like this. Fortunately, history has consistently demonstrated that as competition increases (especially in the area of automotive lighting) prices will come down.

There will always be a high end to the market, but knock-offs that do 90% of the job will soon arrive and those will work well for many of us. As another poster mentioned, SAR teams and others with a requirement for maximum light output, reliability and build quality may make the investment in these up front. The rest of us who would use them as auxiliary will be able to wait for and live with the slightly lesser alternatives that will surely arrive on the scene. :smiley_drive:

 

[emmodg]

Ever driven an Alaskan highway at night? Better yet.. You ever seen the size of Moose in Alaska? Or perhaps baja'ing down a road in the deserts of BFE at 2am, while trying to find 'that one' turn off that you vaguely remember from 2 years ago so you can finally set up camp?? Search and Rescue applications?

There are a number of circumstances where I can see one justifying these lights. I would not consider the more expensive one (30"+) auxiliary.. They are high performace driving lights at that point..

Call it what you want it. If you NEED amazing light, or have money to blow, these would be ************. Wish I had money to blow

You did not mention one thing in that list that COULD NOT be done with Hella 4000's or HID's! You are correct however - you would need money to "blow"!

 

[waterweber]

I think these thing look RAD!

I know a fair bit about LED technology since my company developes and sells lights for deepwater applications. We have been working with LEDs for a long time and high power ones for around 3 years. One thing that I have learned is that it is easy to make an OK LED light and very difficult to make a really good one.
Having seen and sold a bunch of LEDs HIDs, HMIs and Halogen lights, I can give some pretty good guidlines in terms of how they compare
Here are some really rough brightness comparisons. ( I always talk in terms of lumens and beam pattern and consider measurments in lux and candlepower nearly worthless by the way.)

Halogen lights usually output around 10 lumens / watt
HIDs and HMIs are around 40 lm/w
LEDs output around 50 lm/w (in a good design)

These are numbers that we measured as light is leaving the fixture. A lot of times people just quote the lamps rated output or the LEDs rated output which is not a very acurate number because it does not take into account losses due to optics and housing design.

To me these look pretty good. I am not sure if these guys have actually measured light output of any of these but the optics look fairly good which is a good sign. They are also using a reputible LED manufacturer, another good sign.

One other thing to note is that these LEDs are going to have a color temperature that is simular to HIDs and therefore look much whiter and better then haolgen lights.

In my opinion, one of the best features of LEDs, other than the really great light output is that you dont have to worry about lamp changes. The failure rate on these is drastically less than halogen or HID lights. The circuitry is much less complicated then HIDs and there are no filiments to break like Halogens.

I got on kind of a rant here but bottom line is that you get what you pay for and these guys look like the real deal to me.

 

[adventureduo]

I think these thing look RAD!

I know a fair bit about LED technology since my company developes and sells lights for deepwater applications. We have been working with LEDs for a long time and high power ones for around 3 years. One thing that I have learned is that it is easy to make an OK LED light and very difficult to make a really good one.
Having seen and sold a bunch of LEDs HIDs, HMIs and Halogen lights, I can give some pretty good guidlines in terms of how they compare
Here are some really rough brightness comparisons. ( I always talk in terms of lumens and beam pattern and consider measurments in lux and candlepower nearly worthless by the way.)

Halogen lights usually output around 10 lumens / watt
HIDs and HMIs are around 40 lm/w
LEDs output around 50 lm/w (in a good design)

These are numbers that we measured as light is leaving the fixture. A lot of times people just quote the lamps rated output or the LEDs rated output which is not a very acurate number because it does not take into account losses due to optics and housing design.

To me these look pretty good. I am not sure if these guys have actually measured light output of any of these but the optics look fairly good which is a good sign. They are also using a reputible LED manufacturer, another good sign.

One other thing to note is that these LEDs are going to have a color temperature that is simular to HIDs and therefore look much whiter and better then haolgen lights.

In my opinion, one of the best features of LEDs, other than the really great light output is that you dont have to worry about lamp changes. The failure rate on these is drastically less than halogen or HID lights. The circuitry is much less complicated then HIDs and there are no filiments to break like Halogens.

I got on kind of a rant here but bottom line is that you get what you pay for and these guys look like the real deal to me.

Do you know why the VisionX brand runs a tad more in price?

 

[waterweber]

Not a clue. I am not affiliated with any of these guys.
Sorry

 

[jham]

Man, it's a shame these things are so expensive. I love my rigs being "different." I would throw a 20" up top and a 10" on the RTE bumper in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the price.

I wonder if they would like some good advertisement in exchange for a good price!

 

[TEJASYOTA]

You need to read the following thread that was done on a Vision-X vs. Rigid LEDs.

http://www.utvchat.com/lightbarshootout.html

It is worth the read.

 

[obert272]

So the rigid industries 30" is the brightest in turns of length while the vision x 42" is brighter up close. That article is great, good post.

 

[zimm]

So the rigid industries 30" is the brightest in turns of length while the vision x 42" is brighter up close. That article is great, good post.

its a tighter pattern. do you want a tighter pattern?

 

[Level Edge]

Ask and you shall receive!

The testing grounds...

RAM 10" LED bar:

Were high/low beams on in this photo? Is 1-10" bar enough to make a noticeable difference when used with an average pair of OEM 65w hi-beams?