less expensive LED light bar

Antman said:
What's wrong with a $400 Chinese Wench?

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er- Ok. I'll stop now.
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you're the reason we can't have nice things...:fear:


I'll run a group buy if anybody wants to do something with http://okledlightbars.webs.com/ ... if not I highly suggest giving Chris an opportunity...his shipping is remarkable.

I'm going to need some more "affordable" LED's that I'm going to use off road 3 times a year...and I'll post up some pics of my current model I got from Chris.

FWIW..Duc nails it...I love my Rigids....but I really like the price point of these.
 
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My thoughts on lighting...

I personally would avoid the cheap Chinese made lights from companies that offer little or no warranty. What is worse, spending $200 dollars on lights that may or may not fail and if they do fail someday you have no recourse, or spending $400 and having a tried and true light that is very unlikely to fail and if it does, the company will back it's product to the end. Companies like Baja Designs, Vision X and Rigid all sponsor vehicles and have their lights in most all of the professional motor sports, their designs are field tested and proven.

Even if you don't "use" your aux. lights all the time, why buy cheap ones??? You are driving a $30-40k vehicle, if money is an issue, save your coins for a few months and buy the good stuff. I used to do this stuff all the time.... buy the cheaper model and save money.... in the end I always ended up regretting those decisions, ended up with the better, more expensive model after all was said and done, and ended up spending more money than if I had just saved up and purchased the good stuff to begin with.

I would estimate my truck sees probably at least 50+ days of dirt a year, I do a lot of hunting and camping as well. I have never once regretted spending the money I spend on my aux lights. I find more uses for them than simply night wheeling.... for example, I went camping this last weekend and our friends joined us after dark. I pulled my truck up, lit up that nice 18" grill mounted Vision X LED bar (flood pattern) and it turned the camp site into day while they set up their tent, etc. Stuff like that seems to happen quite often and it is nice to have good, reliable lighting, even though it wouldn't have been the end of the world if they weren't the most reliable lights in this case, it is nice to have good quality gear.

There are folks out there who have the cheaper LED bars and have had great luck and swear by them. Others, not so much. We have a paid of 6" LED work lights we bought from a company similar to Harbor Frieght and they worked well..... for about a month. One of the lights is already faulty and flickers, but they were only $80 for the pair. Go figure. Your mileage may vary. Blah Blah Blah, these are just my opinions... etc, etc.
 
Here is another option for the "Less Expensive" led bars and more...
Buy Car Head/ Tail Lights, Best Car Decoration Lights & HID/ Halogen Bulbs from Dealextreme - DX
I have personally ordered other equipment from here and have always been happy with the shipping and product.
I am currently waiting on this. 55W 4300lm 6000K White Light Car HID Search Lamp w/ Remote Control Kit - White (12V) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme. Should see it in a week or two. I frequently search out old barns/houses on the Alberta prairies to photograph at night. I needed something that can throw light a fair distance to the side of my rig to see in the fields as I drive the country roads. I will report back with photos and a video to this forum once I have it mounted and active. My plan is to make a docking station between the OEM cross bars (the light has a removable base) and just run the 12V power-plug between the rear spoiler/roof into the rear power port. Clip it in when I need it, remove and store when I don't. We'll see how it works. Worth a $150.00 as a test to me, and hey, it's remote controlled. Anything remote controlled is cool in my book!
 
umm, did anyone actually read through the amazon listing?

"DISCLAIMER: MicTuning is not an authorized Tuff LED Lights TM Dealer! ***MicTuning Lights ARE NOT covered under Tuff LED Lights Warranty ***Tuff LED Lights TM is not related to MicTuning in any way****Tuff LED Lights TM will not be held liable or responsible for any issues related to quality, shipping time, costs, repairs or warranties or lack thereof. *****Tuff LED Lights TM is a US Local Seller that will ship your product within One Day from Colorado. NO WAITING for 3 weeks to receive products from overseas."

and then this...

"Ships from and sold by MIC TUNING INC."

So you're buying an unwarrantied piece of crap that may or may not work when it arrives, which will be at least three weeks after you order it.

stay away.
 
I know this is kind of an older thread, but I do want aux lighting but don't want to have to spend $600+. We could re-open whether that is right or not as has happened above but I'd rather not lol.

Question is: anyone have the non brand name LED Bars from these guys 20" Dual Row LED Light Bar | Exploration Outfitters?

They have a spot on the side of our forum full time now and I have to think that lends them some credibility.

Anyone with any experience with them/their lights?

Tim
 
TPatt88 said:
I know this is kind of an older thread, but I do want aux lighting but don't want to have to spend $600+. We could re-open whether that is right or not as has happened above but I'd rather not lol.

Question is: anyone have the non brand name LED Bars from these guys 20" Dual Row LED Light Bar | Exploration Outfitters?

They have a spot on the side of our forum full time now and I have to think that lends them some credibility.

Anyone with any experience with them/their lights?

Tim
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I don't see anything about their warranty: LED Lighting Warranty | Exploration Outfitters

They claim 10500 lumens @ 120 watts, so you're pulling ~10 amps. If my math is correct, Rigids create 40% less heat and pull about 40% less amperage. If you're running a lot of peripherals, this could be a big difference to your alternator and battery. The heat issue relates to what others have already mentioned: cooling. High heat could lead to premature failure.

Also, you have to pay an extra $20 for the wiring harness?

All that said, I can't answer your question directly because I don't have any experience with the company or their lights.
 
limamike said:
I don't see anything about their warranty: LED Lighting Warranty | Exploration Outfitters

They claim 10500 lumens @ 120 watts, so you're pulling ~10 amps. If my math is correct, Rigids create 40% less heat and pull about 40% less amperage. If you're running a lot of peripherals, this could be a big difference to your alternator and battery. The heat issue relates to what others have already mentioned: cooling. High heat could lead to premature failure.

Also, you have to pay an extra $20 for the wiring harness?

All that said, I can't answer your question directly because I don't have any experience with the company or their lights.
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Thanks for the reply [MENTION=62008]limamike[/MENTION]. I'm no lighting statistics expert but I get less heat/less amperage would be a good thing.

Right now though I don't have any other electrical goodies added to my T4R, so I assume one 20" light bar wouldn't kill me or my battery/alternator.
 
TPatt88 said:
Thanks for the reply [MENTION=62008]limamike[/MENTION]. I'm no lighting statistics expert but I get less heat/less amperage would be a good thing.

Right now though I don't have any other electrical goodies added to my T4R, so I assume one 20" light bar wouldn't kill me or my battery/alternator.
Click to expand...

If you don't have anything else going that kind of draw won't be a problem for you. The higher amperage draw is also, per their claim, a higher raw lumen rating vs the rigids (10500 vs 8400 for the 20" bar). However, there is no mention of lux on the Exploration Outfitters website, and that's really what you're concerned about anyway. Lumens = how much light the bar generates; lux = the intensity of the light at a given distance where more is better in both instances.

Here is an example of a Rigid throw pattern. The lux rating is indicated within the throw pattern, distance in meters are on both the x and y axes.

Tjg4NFJ.png
 
limamike said:
If you don't have anything else going that kind of draw won't be a problem for you. The higher amperage draw is also, per their claim, a higher raw lumen rating vs the rigids (10500 vs 8400 for the 20" bar). However, there is no mention of lux on the Exploration Outfitters website, and that's really what you're concerned about anyway. Lumens = how much light the bar generates; lux = the intensity of the light at a given distance where more is better in both instances.

Here is an example of a Rigid throw pattern. The lux rating is indicated within the throw pattern, distance in meters are on both the x and y axes.

Tjg4NFJ.png
Click to expand...

Thanks for shedding some light on the topic for me! (Lol get it, shedding some light, it's funny because we're talking about.... Oh forget it!) hahahaha.

Also- I emailed them about the lack of a warranty asking for more info than they have posted on their site (which as we saw was zilch) so I'll let you know if/when they reply and what they have to say.

Thanks again!
 
TPatt88 said:
I know this is kind of an older thread, but I do want aux lighting but don't want to have to spend $600+. We could re-open whether that is right or not as has happened above but I'd rather not lol.

Question is: anyone have the non brand name LED Bars from these guys 20" Dual Row LED Light Bar | Exploration Outfitters?

They have a spot on the side of our forum full time now and I have to think that lends them some credibility.

Anyone with any experience with them/their lights?

Tim
Click to expand...

I have bought from them and they are extremely nice, communicate well, and ship immediately. The product came exactly as advertised and worked out so well I bought a couple more...I really like the lights...these lights are identical to the other vendors you've already pointed out in the thread but at a better price point.

On the harness, unless you buy a kit, you do not get a harness - even from VisionX the harness is $40+ if you're buying individual lights, so $20 for all the wire and Deutsch plugs are a good deal - if you don't believe me go buy the parts and make it yourself - been down that road.
 
Ducmonsta said:
Yeah, too bad the link in the right bar leads you to discount tire. Can you get this addressed [MENTION=165]momo.75[/MENTION]? Or let me know who I should contact?
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Thanks for catching that. I will let Daniel know.

Hope you guys are doing well and your garage is keeping you warm and cozy. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Morris
 
KVA said:
I have bought from them and they are extremely nice, communicate well, and ship immediately. The product came exactly as advertised and worked out so well I bought a couple more...I really like the lights...these lights are identical to the other vendors you've already pointed out in the thread but at a better price point.

On the harness, unless you buy a kit, you do not get a harness - even from VisionX the harness is $40+ if you're buying individual lights, so $20 for all the wire and Deutsch plugs are a good deal - if you don't believe me go buy the parts and make it yourself - been down that road.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your experiences with them [MENTION=50210]KVA[/MENTION]! I'll have to give them a shot!

Tim
 
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