Led light bars, what brand and why

[matt1171]

I paid $325 for my 50" from my friend who runs ors4x4.com. The only difference I can tell between mine and a friends Rigid and another friends $800 light bar is that mine didn't come with a wiring harness - which is how I wanted it since I was installing a DBox at the same time.

 

[coach]

As a consumer, that is 100% your right. Only you can decide if assembled in the USA is worth 100% more of your money vs a product built with the same components built entirely in China. As for the prefer the USA assembled/made vs China, your comment is a little bit simplistic. The US generally doesn't have cheap labor. We are generally an educated country, so our labor is "higher caliber." As a result, we use our resources on better labor and farm out cheap labor. As you noted in your post, American cheap labor results is FAR poorer products than foreign cheap labor. Cheap labor in the US is generally done by people that aren't happy doing said job, whereas foreign cheap labor is generally happy for having a job at all. To illustrate my first point, here is a prime example...rigid doesn't manufacture anything...they simply buy Chinese components, and assemble them on a bench. The guys doing the assembly probably aren't getting paid a ton. On the flipside, aurora builds their own circuitboards (along with the rest of the light)...the circuit boards are made on 100% US produced circuit board printers that cost $75,000+, and have to be built by skilled well paid engineers. As a result, Aurora actually contributes MORE to the US economy than rigid, since they make it possible for well paid positions to exist in the USA. Global economics isn't as simple as made in the USA vs Made in XYZ.

BS.

There is so much BS in this post, I don't know where to begin.

Where do you think Aurora got their start? They made EXACT copies of Rigid Industries designs. They brought in Rigid lights, reverse engineered them and resold them at a much lower price point. They had no money in R&D. They bought some lights, had them shipped to China. Copied them and resold them. As such, Rigid filed patent infringements against Aurora which made them difficult to get stateside.

Things have changed recently, with Aurora doing slight modifications to their optics to get around the infringements. Thus you've seen Auroras a bit more in the US market.

The comparison charts you reference show circuit boards from three years ago vs current Aurora designs. Absolutely a current gen Aurora will perform better than a three year old Rigid. That's not the case with the current gen ones.

Rigid was first with the torture test. Yet another thing Aurora copied.

Rigid once again raised the bar with the HyperSpot beam pattern. This is not something that Aurora has, though I'm sure they will attempt to copy it like they have all Rigid products.

The idea that Aurora is supporting the US economy more than Rigid is just ridiculous. Rigid employees 150 people at its two locations in Arizona. Those are good paying jobs and many receive benefits. Those 150 people support local businesses. Rigid supports the offroad community. Rigid has a network of dealers that profit off of their products and help their bottom line, which leads to more jobs and more money injected into the economy.

What does Aurora do? When was the last time you saw them at an offroad event? How much are they paying their employees? Do they get benefits? What money is being put back into the US economy when you're buying direct from that overseas manufacturer? Have you traveled there to see the workplace and conditions? Do they have to deal with the same workplace, wage, environmental etc etc regulations and standards that we do Stateside? Name me ONE well paid position that Aurora has created stateside.

Lastly, try calling up Aurora. Not exactly an easy task. What kind of company is Rigid? You can call them. Talk to them. Understand them. Go visit them. Want a custom product that is not in their catalog? It can be done because it's made there in Arizona. Want that done from Aurora? The answer is "no" because their "engineers" haven't copied someone else's design yet to make it possible.

I'm not a Rigid fanboy. I work for a company that sells everything from the "value priced" import lights to the high end Vision-X, Rigid, Wurton, etc. OverlanderJK is absolutely right in that there is a difference between those cheap LED lights on ebay vs Rigids. I'll even say that there is a difference between the cheap ebay junk and Auroras. However, to even hint that Aurora is in the same league as a company like Rigid or Vision-X is just about the most foolish thing I have ever read.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

BS.

There is so much BS in this post, I don't know where to begin.

Where do you think Aurora got their start? They made EXACT copies of Rigid Industries designs. They brought in Rigid lights, reverse engineered them and resold them at a much lower price point. They had no money in R&D. They bought some lights, had them shipped to China. Copied them and resold them. As such, Rigid filed patent infringements against Aurora which made them difficult to get stateside.

Things have changed recently, with Aurora doing slight modifications to their optics to get around the infringements. Thus you've seen Auroras a bit more in the US market.

The comparison charts you reference show circuit boards from three years ago vs current Aurora designs. Absolutely a current gen Aurora will perform better than a three year old Rigid. That's not the case with the current gen ones.

Rigid was first with the torture test. Yet another thing Aurora copied.

Rigid once again raised the bar with the HyperSpot beam pattern. This is not something that Aurora has, though I'm sure they will attempt to copy it like they have all Rigid products.

The idea that Aurora is supporting the US economy more than Rigid is just ridiculous. Rigid employees 150 people at its two locations in Arizona. Those are good paying jobs and many receive benefits. Those 150 people support local businesses. Rigid supports the offroad community. Rigid has a network of dealers that profit off of their products and help their bottom line, which leads to more jobs and more money injected into the economy.

What does Aurora do? When was the last time you saw them at an offroad event? How much are they paying their employees? Do they get benefits? What money is being put back into the US economy when you're buying direct from that overseas manufacturer? Have you traveled there to see the workplace and conditions? Do they have to deal with the same workplace, wage, environmental etc etc regulations and standards that we do Stateside? Name me ONE well paid position that Aurora has created stateside.

Lastly, try calling up Aurora. Not exactly an easy task. What kind of company is Rigid? You can call them. Talk to them. Understand them. Go visit them. Want a custom product that is not in their catalog? It can be done because it's made there in Arizona. Want that done from Aurora? The answer is "no" because their "engineers" haven't copied someone else's design yet to make it possible.

I'm not a Rigid fanboy. I work for a company that sells everything from the "value priced" import lights to the high end Vision-X, Rigid, Wurton, etc. OverlanderJK is absolutely right in that there is a difference between those cheap LED lights on ebay vs Rigids. I'll even say that there is a difference between the cheap ebay junk and Auroras. However, to even hint that Aurora is in the same league as a company like Rigid or Vision-X is just about the most foolish thing I have ever read.

Im not going to debate global economics in this thread, as I don't think there is a point, but you are taking my statements out of context. My comments were examples, and very legitimate ones.

If you are going to make a post like yours, back it up with facts. Aurora didn't get their "start" from LED lightbars.

Fact #1, rigids R&D isnt as grand as they (or you) make it out to be. Rigid copied LED bar designs from Hanma, which has been making LED bars far longer. Go to any automotive manufacturer, and you will see a competitor model being stripped and copied. Porsche has a GTR that they are stripping down, Lexus has a Mercedes, etc. Thats the nature of the beast.

Fact #2 Yes, the original optics used by aurora were indeed close to rigids, and they were in violation of the US patent. This has since been rectified.

You say that the company is not in the same league...what evidence do you have of this?

Rigid is able to participate in offroad events because they are taking a product, marking it up, and making far more money from it that their competitors. Nothing wrong with that, capitalism is great, but the consumer isn't interested in that...the consumer cares about their dollar vs the product it buys.

Fact #3, Aurora isn't only an LED bar manufacturer...they make LED displays, etc.

I never said that Rigid makes a poor product, which is why I own rigid products. My point was that you ARE paying for the name, because you can get a product of EQUAL quality for far less money. If you feel that spending 100% is worth it, that is your choice as the end consumer. For many, it isn't worth it.

As for contributing more to the economy...Toyota profits go straight to Japan, but how much do they contribute to the US economy? How many jobs do they create?

Rigid simply assembles components, which doesn't require highly skilled labor. Producing PCB printers that Aurora uses DOES take skilled, well paid, with benefits engineers, that pay taxes.
http://www.szaurora.com/1.aspx?id=79

The above machines trickle to a lot of American productivity. Your view is overly simplistic. I don't have the exact financial data of the two companies to determine which one has a greater impact on the US economy, but you speak so matter of factly, I would be interested to see what evidence you have to support your claim.

 

[coach]

Then buy Hanma? They can be had for cheaper and they're the pioneers right?

If anyone truly believes that Aurora offers anything to the US economy, they're just wrong. Rigid does. All Aurora is doing is taking that cheap Chinese labor and taking even more profit out of it. Hanma can be gotten for much cheaper... So it must be that Aurora are the greedy ones right?

As for contributing more to the economy...Toyota profits go straight to Japan, but how much do they contribute to the US economy? How many jobs do they create?

Jeebus, really? Mississippi, Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, West Virginia... Over 36,000 jobs not including their dealer network. Plus then 10s (some say hundreds) of thousands of jobs that go into supplying the company and those that benefit from their stateside production. All of them EXTREMELY well paying jobs, full benefits, retirement and one of the best working atmospheres of any company in the US. The Toyota truck made in Texas is the most American made truck on the market today. The Camry made in KY is one of the most American.

 

[SDG]

On the flipside, aurora builds their own circuitboards (along with the rest of the light)...the circuit boards are made on 100% US produced circuit board printers that cost $75,000+, and have to be built by skilled well paid engineers. As a result, Aurora actually contributes MORE to the US economy than rigid, since they make it possible for well paid positions to exist in the USA. Global economics isn't as simple as made in the USA vs Made in XYZ.

I have a hard time with this comment. Specifically with the fact that since they use a US made PCB setup that they contribute more than a company with 150 full time employees. I would imagine that for whatever their production level is, it does not require an army of these machines... not like they are dealing with iPhone quantities here. I would even venture to say, based on the size of the PCB and the simplicity of the circuitry that 1 single machine running 24/7 would be sufficient to build the required quantity. A single board measures what, 2"x2" and the standard blank is say 12x12, so they make 36 at a time. With a generous cycle time of 5 min, that's 36 boards x 12 per hour x 24 hours per day = 10,368 boards per day per US made machine.

Maybe my math is wrong, but I don't see how buying a couple of $100,000 machines puts more money into the US economy than employing 150 full time employees.

 

[OverlanderJK]

This thread is turning into a good one now. I'll save it and get some popcorn for when I have time to read it. :thumb:

 

[Holeshot]

Ok lets get this thread back on track. The OP is asking for different companies, with personal experiences on their products. I don't really care about who brings more money in the country or what ever.

This is mainly to have reviews from those who choosed to buy products that costs less for almost identical products and performance.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

I have a hard time with this comment. Specifically with the fact that since they use a US made PCB setup that they contribute more than a company with 150 full time employees. I would imagine that for whatever their production level is, it does not require an army of these machines... not like they are dealing with iPhone quantities here. I would even venture to say, based on the size of the PCB and the simplicity of the circuitry that 1 single machine running 24/7 would be sufficient to build the required quantity. A single board measures what, 2"x2" and the standard blank is say 12x12, so they make 36 at a time. With a generous cycle time of 5 min, that's 36 boards x 12 per hour x 24 hours per day = 10,368 boards per day per US made machine.

Maybe my math is wrong, but I don't see how buying a couple of $100,000 machines puts more money into the US economy than employing 150 full time employees.

Don't want to clog up the OPs thread too much, but global economics is far more complicated than you are painting it out to be. My example was NOT aurora vs rigid specifically. The PCB board machine was a single example. Like I said, Aurora produces a lot of LED displays (like those in Times square and Vegas...)...those consume a massive amount of LEDs, made by...you guessed it...Cree, an American company, which employs a lot of people, pays a lot of taxes, etc. Furthermore, lets take rigid vs ALL the chinese companies....how many US owned, operated, and staffed vendors sell the chinese stuff? I'd venture to say that a majority of LED bars sold on the US market (51%+) are chinese....but the vendors that sell them, and are able to operate a business doing so, paying US taxes, hiring American's etc. One wouldn't be able to run a business selling only Rigid bars, but they can (and do) run a business selling the imported stuff.

Its also worth noting that the ONLY reason why ANY of us can even afford a wrangler is thanks to the Chinese buying our sh!t bonds, no thanks to the fed. Reserve for printing us into oblivion.

Take a look at these....these are the KC led pods, which retail for $378.07. KC is an American company.
http://www.kchilites.com/lights/lzr-led/kc-cube

The above lights are nothing more than rebadged Hanma lights, but are nearly triple the cost. The result is, an American company profits, but in reality, an American simply spend triple the money on a product that was "recycled" through a middle man. Now, some people may think it's worth it, but Im not one of them. I am the end consumer, and I buy the most bang for MY buck.

Some companies refuse to move with the market. If rigid doesn't alter their pricing structure, they will lose a vast marketshare (the part that keeps them afloat as a company) since race teams alone won't be able to carry them. Their pricing worked when they were first released, but now that there are hundreds of competitors, they can't keep their pricing as high.

Merry christmas.

I know most of you don't speak Russian, but you can hear the names of the lights in the video.....this entire series was the best comparison test I have seen of the 3 lights (prolight, rigid, aurora)...everything from the connectors, to brightness, to draw, to durability was tested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLS49WpKJDg

 

[Holeshot]

Now, some people may think it's worth it, but Im not one of them. I am the end consumer, and I buy the most bang for MY buck.

This is the main goal of the thread and please try to keep it clean guys if you want to keep arguing use the pm's. Best bang for your buck all depends on what you can afford. We all have different views on whats cheap or expensive. Jeeping is an expensive activity/passion/addiction, and if we can save on a similar product of a well known company, then why not. Even if they're manufactured overseas, what's the matter? Do you guys really care that much about the country economy? I don't. I do care about MY/YOUR own economy and that's the point.

Now, let other people tell us what they have and what's their own experience vs price they have.

:standing wave:

 

[coach]

One would hope so, but unfortunately this isn't true either. I can only speak to my experience with the leds we buy, but would venture to say that it is generally true for all leds.

We use leds which emit in the near infrared and actually have to perform 100% incoming inspection on them because of output. We use an integrating sphere to gauge light output and have found a gaussian distribution (bell shaped curve) of output with most falling within +/- 5% but about 20% are at 10% or more while fed the same current.

If the mfg is not binning the leds you will have some good and some bad leds in your bar. I don't know if any mfgs actually do this. Its possible to drive all the leds to the same output but its time consuming.

Theoretically a mfg could buy the most efficent leds and make bars that produce more light at the same draw, who knows if anyone does this. We have to bin all our leds to make matched sets and then adjust the set to get the desired output. Garuntee cheap mfgs don't do this and who knows if "good" mfgs do this either.

Companies like Vision-X and Rigid do this. Hanma can be spec'd to do this, it depends on who is bringing them in. KC was brought up as a company that rebrands Hanma light bars. There are differences in quality even from this one manufacturer like Hanma. They can be as good as the company contracting the work wants.

I have a hard time with this comment. Specifically with the fact that since they use a US made PCB setup that they contribute more than a company with 150 full time employees. I would imagine that for whatever their production level is, it does not require an army of these machines... not like they are dealing with iPhone quantities here. I would even venture to say, based on the size of the PCB and the simplicity of the circuitry that 1 single machine running 24/7 would be sufficient to build the required quantity. A single board measures what, 2"x2" and the standard blank is say 12x12, so they make 36 at a time. With a generous cycle time of 5 min, that's 36 boards x 12 per hour x 24 hours per day = 10,368 boards per day per US made machine.

Maybe my math is wrong, but I don't see how buying a couple of $100,000 machines puts more money into the US economy than employing 150 full time employees.

This^^^

Don't want to clog up the OPs thread too much, but global economics is far more complicated than you are painting it out to be. My example was NOT aurora vs rigid specifically. The PCB board machine was a single example. Like I said, Aurora produces a lot of LED displays (like those in Times square and Vegas...)...those consume a massive amount of LEDs, made by...you guessed it...Cree, an American company, which employs a lot of people, pays a lot of taxes, etc. Furthermore, lets take rigid vs ALL the chinese companies....how many US owned, operated, and staffed vendors sell the chinese stuff? I'd venture to say that a majority of LED bars sold on the US market (51%+) are chinese....but the vendors that sell them, and are able to operate a business doing so, paying US taxes, hiring American's etc. One wouldn't be able to run a business selling only Rigid bars, but they can (and do) run a business selling the imported stuff.

Its also worth noting that the ONLY reason why ANY of us can even afford a wrangler is thanks to the Chinese buying our sh!t bonds, no thanks to the fed. Reserve for printing us into oblivion.

Take a look at these....these are the KC led pods, which retail for $378.07. KC is an American company.
http://www.kchilites.com/lights/lzr-led/kc-cube

The above lights are nothing more than rebadged Hanma lights, but are nearly triple the cost. The result is, an American company profits, but in reality, an American simply spend triple the money on a product that was "recycled" through a middle man. Now, some people may think it's worth it, but Im not one of them. I am the end consumer, and I buy the most bang for MY buck.

Some companies refuse to move with the market. If rigid doesn't alter their pricing structure, they will lose a vast marketshare (the part that keeps them afloat as a company) since race teams alone won't be able to carry them. Their pricing worked when they were first released, but now that there are hundreds of competitors, they can't keep their pricing as high.

Merry christmas.

I know most of you don't speak Russian, but you can hear the names of the lights in the video.....this entire series was the best comparison test I have seen of the 3 lights (prolight, rigid, aurora)...everything from the connectors, to brightness, to draw, to durability was tested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLS49WpKJDg

See my note above about KC. Additionally, no one pays retail for those. It averages around $299-309 a pair including the harness and uses 5w CREE vs 3w for most import dually style lights. IMHO, they're priced too high regardless, but they are made to KC's specs and KC is paying more than just the average Joe buying through Alibaba for a standard light.

All CREE lights are not made in North Carolina anymore. They have chinese manufacturing facilities, producing LEDs... some of which are higher quality and some of which are lower quality. Just saying "CREE" doesn't mean that it is a quality light. It depends completely on the bin as one of the guys I quoted previously noted. Epistar, which is produced in Taiwan (a much more Democratic territory), offers some high quality product. Philips does as well. I'll be very surprised if we don't start seeing chip on board technology soon in more offroad products as soon as the reflectors get better versus the current SMD standard that are currently common on the market.

I can say that no one is getting rich selling light bars regardless of what brand they are... imports or otherwise. You said, "One wouldn't be able to run a business selling only Rigid bars, but they can (and do) run a business selling the imported stuff.". Those guys are one man shows and they're not getting rich and MANY have folded up shop over the last year when they realized the masses weren't flocking to buy. Too many on the market and way too much muddying of the waters with one guy fudging numbers to make it look like brand "x" was better than brand "y". This has hurt consumers tremendously as well as the honest vendors because people buy into the fluff.

This is the main goal of the thread and please try to keep it clean guys if you want to keep arguing use the pm's. Best bang for your buck all depends on what you can afford. We all have different views on whats cheap or expensive. Jeeping is an expensive activity/passion/addiction, and if we can save on a similar product of a well known company, then why not. Even if they're manufactured overseas, what's the matter? Do you guys really care that much about the country economy? I don't. I do care about MY/YOUR own economy and that's the point.

Now, let other people tell us what they have and what's their own experience vs price they have.

:standing wave:

I'm going to bite my tongue about not caring about your country's economy.

Ok, personal experiences... The higher end Vision-X lights designed and engineered in the USA and produced in South Korea in my experience blows away every other light I've put up it against, including Rigid lights. They're used by NASA, the US Border Patrol and many others. You'll pay more for them than Rigid in many cases, but it is the best of the best from everything I've seen personally. Baja Designs is very close and neck and neck with the best of the Vision-X. Rigid comes in at third with their current generation lights. Hanma, depending on which one and who is bringing it in it is can be a quality light at a very good price point and come close to the output of a Rigid. The ebay lights and ones found on the Chinese exchange sites can vary wildly and the specs are almost never as advertised, pictures are stolen (such as several ebay and Chinese exchange site sellers posting up pictures of their output which a quick google search of the picture shows it to have been a picture of a guy showing off a Rigid light or that of another manufacturer) and their certifications are generally photoshopped. I've had my hands on Aurora and it is actually a good light despite my total disdain for them. My biggest issue is that they've never had an original idea since their entrance into the offroad market and they contribute nothing to our sport or economy.

 

[KPM171]

Lots of great info on this thread, thanks guys!

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

Companies like Vision-X and Rigid do this. Hanma can be spec'd to do this, it depends on who is bringing them in. KC was brought up as a company that rebrands Hanma light bars. There are differences in quality even from this one manufacturer like Hanma. They can be as good as the company contracting the work wants.



This^^^



See my note above about KC. Additionally, no one pays retail for those. It averages around $299-309 a pair including the harness and uses 5w CREE vs 3w for most import dually style lights. IMHO, they're priced too high regardless, but they are made to KC's specs and KC is paying more than just the average Joe buying through Alibaba for a standard light.

All CREE lights are not made in North Carolina anymore. They have chinese manufacturing facilities, producing LEDs... some of which are higher quality and some of which are lower quality. Just saying "CREE" doesn't mean that it is a quality light. It depends completely on the bin as one of the guys I quoted previously noted. Epistar, which is produced in Taiwan (a much more Democratic territory), offers some high quality product. Philips does as well. I'll be very surprised if we don't start seeing chip on board technology soon in more offroad products as soon as the reflectors get better versus the current SMD standard that are currently common on the market.

I can say that no one is getting rich selling light bars regardless of what brand they are... imports or otherwise. You said, "One wouldn't be able to run a business selling only Rigid bars, but they can (and do) run a business selling the imported stuff.". Those guys are one man shows and they're not getting rich and MANY have folded up shop over the last year when they realized the masses weren't flocking to buy. Too many on the market and way too much muddying of the waters with one guy fudging numbers to make it look like brand "x" was better than brand "y". This has hurt consumers tremendously as well as the honest vendors because people buy into the fluff.



I'm going to bite my tongue about not caring about your country's economy.

Ok, personal experiences... The higher end Vision-X lights designed and engineered in the USA and produced in South Korea in my experience blows away every other light I've put up it against, including Rigid lights. They're used by NASA, the US Border Patrol and many others. You'll pay more for them than Rigid in many cases, but it is the best of the best from everything I've seen personally. Baja Designs is very close and neck and neck with the best of the Vision-X. Rigid comes in at third with their current generation lights. Hanma, depending on which one and who is bringing it in it is can be a quality light at a very good price point and come close to the output of a Rigid. The ebay lights and ones found on the Chinese exchange sites can vary wildly and the specs are almost never as advertised, pictures are stolen (such as several ebay and Chinese exchange site sellers posting up pictures of their output which a quick google search of the picture shows it to have been a picture of a guy showing off a Rigid light or that of another manufacturer) and their certifications are generally photoshopped. I've had my hands on Aurora and it is actually a good light despite my total disdain for them. My biggest issue is that they've never had an original idea since their entrance into the offroad market and they contribute nothing to our sport or economy.

I agree with this post. :thumb:

I also agree that there is a heap of dishonesty in this offroad lighting world (and EVERYONE is guilty of it.) LED light manufacturers are all trying to "d!ck measure" each other with lumen numbers (much like camera manufacturers d!ck measure with megapixels.) I saw a commercial for Nokia phone with 42 megapixels...wow, amazing...I feel inadequate with my Canon 1DsMKiii which only has 21.1. The more people know about these led lights, the easier their choice will be. Like you, I have handled many brands of lights and bars. I have seen 40" bars that put out less lights than a single rigid Dually, and I have seen 50" lightbars literally light up an entire canyon. I guess my advice to people is to do their research. If a manufacturer doesn't say what components are used in their lights, chances are they aren't top shelf. Certifications are also important. If a manufacturer (ie Rigid, Aurora, Baja, etc) spends the time and money getting their lights certified, generally speaking, they would be a premium product. I think all the companies we just mentioned supply to various industries (mining, etc) and military.

 

[coach]

I agree with this post. :thumb:

I also agree that there is a heap of dishonesty in this offroad lighting world (and EVERYONE is guilty of it.) LED light manufacturers are all trying to "d!ck measure" each other with lumen numbers (much like camera manufacturers d!ck measure with megapixels.) I saw a commercial for Nokia phone with 42 megapixels...wow, amazing...I feel inadequate with my Canon 1DsMKiii which only has 21.1. The more people know about these led lights, the easier their choice will be. Like you, I have handled many brands of lights and bars. I have seen 40" bars that put out less lights than a single rigid Dually, and I have seen 50" lightbars literally light up an entire canyon. I guess my advice to people is to do their research. If a manufacturer doesn't say what components are used in their lights, chances are they aren't top shelf. Certifications are also important. If a manufacturer (ie Rigid, Aurora, Baja, etc) spends the time and money getting their lights certified, generally speaking, they would be a premium product. I think all the companies we just mentioned supply to various industries (mining, etc) and military.

I'll mostly go along with that. :beer: Although being a sports writer and photographer in a previous life, I can see the benefit of the additional pixels and greater resolution. That phone isn't going to be able to do what your your camera can though regardless of pixel count. To draw a parallel to be relevant to this thread, I could have a 10w CREE in one light bar and a 5w CREE of the same bin in another. It's entirely possible for the 5w to be a better light simply due to the optics. How efficiently without overdriving the LED and reducing its life span is another. Features like those can make a difference even if all other things are the same. Thus why I'd prefer your five year old camera any day of the week for taking pictures versus the smartphone, even though the pixels are greater.

There is one high end light manufacturer that I didn't mention that I know uses top bin LEDs, but doesn't disclose which ones due to fears they'll be copied and they wish to keep what they have to themselves. Here's one reason why: The curved Rigid/Bull Dog/Vision-X/Putco/Baja light bars introduced earlier this year are already being copied . For your amusement, here's a pic the ripoff manufacturer is using to show them installed. Let me know if you find anything wrong with this picture.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

I'll mostly go along with that. :beer: Although being a sports writer and photographer in a previous life, I can see the benefit of the additional pixels and greater resolution. That phone isn't going to be able to do what your your camera can though regardless of pixel count. To draw a parallel to be relevant to this thread, I could have a 10w CREE in one light bar and a 5w CREE of the same bin in another. It's entirely possible for the 5w to be a better light simply due to the optics. How efficiently without overdriving the LED and reducing its life span is another. Features like those can make a difference even if all other things are the same. Thus why I'd prefer your five year old camera any day of the week for taking pictures versus the smartphone, even though the pixels are greater.

There is one high end light manufacturer that I didn't mention that I know uses top bin LEDs, but doesn't disclose which ones due to fears they'll be copied and they wish to keep what they have to themselves. Here's one reason why: The curved Rigid/Bull Dog/Vision-X/Putco/Baja light bars introduced earlier this year are already being copied . For your amusement, here's a pic the ripoff manufacturer is using to show them installed. Let me know if you find anything wrong with this picture.

I can agree with this as well. I guess my point was simply the law of diminishing returns for the average consumer. Like Overland said earlier, most of us don't run KOH, don't wheel all night, etc, so saving $500+ and put it towards other mods might be a worthwhile savings. I personally know that the Evo DTD and the dynatrac axles are the best money can buy, but I would simply not be able to utilize it, and for me personally, it would literally be a waste of money. If a 50" lightbar from hanma is $400, but is 85% the bar rigid is, for many it's worth it. Like all Jeep mods, it really isn't a one size fits all. Looking at members on this forum, you can see everyone from highschool kids to probably millionaires. While many would LOVE to spend $1500 of a lightbar, they can't afford it. I have been running both my rigids and my auroras for over 2 years now, and both have performed flawlessly. I have a few Rigid lights on order now (SRQ and A series) so I continue to support them, but some of their products I personally feel are simply overpriced.

As for your photo, I honestly can't tell (maybe Im not looking at the right spot) what's wrong with the photo (unless they are showing the premium unit and representing their own?:thinking:

 

[matt1171]

The lights in the photo are Rigid lights.

If you don't wheel at night then you definitely don't need a 50" light bar.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

The lights in the photo are Rigid lights.

If you don't wheel at night then you definitely don't need a 50" light bar.

Its not always about need. Plenty of people like to mod because of the "fire extinguisher" mentality, and plenty like the looks...and there is nothing wrong with it.

 

[Jersey_Devil]

The lights in the photo are Rigid lights.

If you don't wheel at night then you definitely don't need a 50" light bar.

I do wheel at night, but I must say when someone cuts u off that 50" bar is fun to use! U can see every hair on their middle finger! Lol

Sent from my obama monitoring device

 

[bl17z90]

I do wheel at night, but I must say when someone cuts u off that 50" bar is fun to use! U can see every hair on their middle finger! Lol

Sent from my obama monitoring device

^LOL :Lol:

 

[DCR JEEP]

Are they all made in China?

Uhhhh.... Yes. When it says made in the USA that's pretty much a cover up.

 

[JK_Dave]

One of the offroad mags I just got had an LED comparison test across different brands. I'll post up more details when I get home.