Baja Designs Squadron Sports Too Bright for Street?

[AZDustBuster]

Hey everyone. I know there are threads that talk about the Bajas and a couple peoples opinions here and there about them being used on the street. But no thread has very much info on it.

I recently installed mine and holy shit I love them, they are super bright!

I am curious how many people run the Sports regularly on the street.

Maybe with the 3in lift they are aimed too high? Did you aim them down, if so, what's the best way to do that?

I heard about another piece that lowers the voltage, details on that?

Love to get peoples thoughts and experience on these being used on the street.

Thanks.

 

[MTN4RNR]

Hey everyone. I know there are threads that talk about the Bajas and a couple peoples opinions here and there about them being used on the street. But no thread has very much info on it.

I recently installed mine and holy shit I love them, they are super bright!

I am curious how many people run the Sports regularly on the street.

Maybe with the 3in lift they are aimed too high? Did you aim them down, if so, what's the best way to do that?

I heard about another piece that lowers the voltage, details on that?

Love to get peoples thoughts and experience on these being used on the street.

Thanks.

In short, legally they cannot be used on the road because they are not DOT approved. And in most situations I would consider them unnecessary (around town middle of the day, etc). Now, there are certain conditions where I will use my Squadrons (amber wide/cornering lens) where I feel they serve an actual purpose. During the day, I will run them at a lower setting (30% using my Switch Pro) when I am on 2 lane mountain roads with blind corners to make my vehicle more visible to oncoming traffic. 2 years of this and I have never been flashed or gestures at due to the lights. At night, I treat them exactly like high beams. As needed for better visibility, with no oncoming traffic or vehicles in front of me. They're too bright for use with anybody driving at you at night, period. You can't and don't want to be the judge of what's too bright or unsafe for another driver.

To answer your other question, you cannot aim them further down with the supplied hardware, and the design of the light lens doesn't allow for a "cutoff" line for any of their beam patterns. This means that regardless of how it is aimed, there will always be some form of indirect light going towards other drivers.

A Switch Pro or SPOD device can be used to dim any installed auxiliary LED's in incremental amounts.

 

[ttsphotog]

Totally agree. I have the Sports and live in the middle of the burbs. I only treat them like high beams, they are so incredibly bright. So, in the dark, no oncoming cars, turn them off when I see them coming. I can't imagine running Pros since the Sports are so bright.

In short, legally they cannot be used on the road because they are not DOT approved. And in most situations I would consider them unnecessary (around town middle of the day, etc). Now, there are certain conditions where I will use my Squadrons (amber wide/cornering lens) where I feel they serve an actual purpose. During the day, I will run them at a lower setting (30% using my Switch Pro) when I am on 2 lane mountain roads with blind corners to make my vehicle more visible to oncoming traffic. 2 years of this and I have never been flashed or gestures at due to the lights. At night, I treat them exactly like high beams. As needed for better visibility, with no oncoming traffic or vehicles in front of me. They're too bright for use with anybody driving at you at night, period. You can't and don't want to be the judge of what's too bright or unsafe for another driver.

To answer your other question, you cannot aim them further down with the supplied hardware, and the design of the light lens doesn't allow for a "cutoff" line for any of their beam patterns. This means that regardless of how it is aimed, there will always be some form of indirect light going towards other drivers.

A Switch Pro or SPOD device can be used to dim any installed auxiliary LED's in incremental amounts.

 

[rayofsi]

the wide driving pattern has a lot of light above and below the wide pattern. Too much for city driving.

Sae approved lights have no light leakage above and below the pattern for the most part.

 

[BCZECH]

Too bright, not DOT approved.
I got the License plate bracket from Baja and put my squadrons on there. I didn't want to lose the factory use of my Fogs.

 

[YetiX]

I have a friend who works for Baja Designs. I have Squadron Pros in my fogs, he has Squadron Sports. He has run his full time for the past 2-3 years with no issues. My Pros are WAY too bright to run and anything but a supplement to the high beams. I don't remember which lens he has on his, that may make a difference. I have the Driving/Spot combo lens and the spot throw the light pretty damn far which would blind oncoming drivers.

I still don't recommend driving with them on on the street though. Like others have said, even the Sports are really too bright.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I have the Pros in the amber driving combo pattern and love them. Heck, I wish they were even brighter. Lol. No such thing as too bright.

I treat them like highbeams, as well.

 

[sn_85]

I have the Squadron Sports amber wide cornering and they are too bright for daily driving imo. I use them only when I need to such as down country/farm roads at night where deer often cross the street.

 

[Judd94]

I have sport amber wide cornering and I have XD Philips 4300K HIDs. I would not recommend Bajas unless you upgrade your headlights so you don’t need fogs just to see the road. I think HIDs are brighter than stock headlights and fogs combined.
I was very hesitant for a while about the ambers but after I tried em I love em.
I use my Bajas only when no one is driving at me with the exception of rain or whatever. They compliment the HIDs very well by brightening up the HIDs periphery.

 

[AZDustBuster]

Thank you all for the great feedback. This is exactly what I was looking for. I personally feel they are too bright for street use. I think I might look into the piece that lowers the power. That way I have them at low power for street use and be able to crank them up when needed off the beaten path :cheers:.

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[gibburnz]

Fogs

I just installed mine two weeks ago and drove down a narrow street in the city where people were walking dogs. As a woman turned to see where the fire was, she saw it was my fog lights and looked like she went blind for a minute.

 

[gibburnz]

Thank you all for the great feedback. This is exactly what I was looking for. I personally feel they are too bright for street use. I think I might look into the piece that lowers the power. That way I have them at low power for street use and be able to crank them up when needed off the beaten path :cheers:.

Thanks again for the feedback!

What piece is that? I'd be interested in doing the same.

 

[litezzz]

What piece is that? I'd be interested in doing the same.

Switch Pro or SPOD device

 

[AZDustBuster]

Switch Pro or SPOD device

What he said. I'm looking into those options as I feel I can get the best of both worlds. I feel even if I aim them down as much as I can, it wont be enough due the light pattern.

 

[tke308]

Put my Baja ambers in 2-weeks ago with Xtreme pro leds. Absolutely love the setup but when running both get oncoming high beam flashes. Drive a lot of backroads home and have learned to turn off when oncoming traffic is coming but turn the Bajas back on when by myself. Has prevented a deer strike at least once in 2weeks so we’ll worr it. Love these lights. Also have 3” lift.

 

[mcarey86]

the wide driving pattern has a lot of light above and below the wide pattern. Too much for city driving.

I found it kind of funny that they say the "pattern offers a 42° flattened horizontal beam", but it really isn't all that flattened. Mine light up the tops of trees and highway signs.

 

[rayofsi]

I found it kind of funny that they say the "pattern offers a 42° flattened horizontal beam", but it really isn't all that flattened. Mine light up the tops of trees and highway signs.

yes thats what i hate about the description of the pattern.

I have a pair of baja wide driving. And definitely too much light leakage

they do say its for offroad use only for good reasons.

prefer the color temperature of baja. but prefer the .. fog pattern of rigid.

 

[Baja Designs]

Hey everyone. I know there are threads that talk about the Bajas and a couple peoples opinions here and there about them being used on the street. But no thread has very much info on it.

I recently installed mine and holy shit I love them, they are super bright!

I am curious how many people run the Sports regularly on the street.

Maybe with the 3in lift they are aimed too high? Did you aim them down, if so, what's the best way to do that?

I heard about another piece that lowers the voltage, details on that?

Love to get peoples thoughts and experience on these being used on the street.

Thanks.

With our recent updates, we don't recommend running any of our lights on the street with other traffic. The Squadron Sport used to be considered "street-friendly" when it was 1,800 lumens.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve our products and are working on an SAE approved fog light. More details will be posted here
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3161135-post57.html

Running a Switch Pros, Spod, or another power source that dims would be a great option for reducing the intensity. We still recommend using discretion when ran on the street

Baja Designs
www.bajadesigns.com

 

[EddieV4runnin]

Perfectly legal and not too bright.

 

[Friggin Idiot]

I have the older "street-friendly" 1800lm output version. I only get flashed when the roads are wet and oncoming traffic is getting a glare off the road as well as the direct beam. 2" lift and they're angled down some.