LED bar comparison with pictures (1 Viewer)

[speedrye]

Here are links to the lights I'm using:

Headlights:http://www.amazon.com/GE-H4-60NHP-BP2-Nighthawk-Headlight/dp/B002UXBEYQ/?tag=5336116720-20

Rigid Dually Pair:http://www.amazon.com/RIGID-Industries-Dually-Flood-20211/dp/B004DEZTPU/?tag=5336116720-20

Rigid SR Specter 10" (x2):http://www.rigidindustries.com/Rigid-Industries-10-SR-Series-LED-Light-Bar-p/sr-series-10s.htm

Ebay bar:http://www.ebay.com/itm/22Inch-120W...Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f2aa484c1&vxp=mtr

Baja Designs ONX bar:http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDetail?ItemNumber=512003

I've also done a little more involved write-up here with opinions, observations and the sort:http://forum.ncfjcruisers.com/t2278-led-bar-comparison-baja-designs-rigid-ebay-cheapo


I went out this evening and took some pictures. All camera settings (shutter speed, etc) are identical, but it's still a basic point and shoot camera at night.

This clearing is a little over 100' wide, and the farthest trees visible in the "All LEDs on" picture are 1600-1800' away. The ground disappears around 1300' away, so pretty much right at 1/4 mile. At the very end of the clearing, there's a house right at a mile away that you can barely see.

Upgraded GE Nighthawk headlights, low beams only: $40

Upgraded GE Nighthawk headlights, high beam only: $40

Pair of Rigid Dually flood LEDs, aimed low and wide (they're my backup lights): $150

Two Rigid SR Specter 10" lights (driving beam): $560

Ebay bar (22" 120w CREE spot/flood combo): $170

20" Baja Designs ONX bar in Driving Beam(identical to 15" bar, just has spacers): $580

All three front LED bars on (no headlights): $$$

Light locations on front of truck:
(Rigids on top, Ebay bar in middle, ONX on the bottom, and headlights are where they belong)

 

[speedrye]

The contenders:
#1 - (2) Rigid SR Specter 10" bars
http://www.rigidindustries.com/Rigid-Industries-10-SR-Series-LED-Light-Bar-p/sr-series-10s.htm
--10,200 lumens, driving pattern

Price as purchased = $560
#2 - 20" Baja Designs ONX
http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDetail?ItemNumber=512003
--8,600 lumens, driving pattern
Price as purchased = $580

#3 - 22" Ebay 120w combo bar
Ebay CREE LED bar
--12,000 lumens, spot/flood combo
Price as purchased = $168.50

This is only a preliminary test, and more will come over time.

Initial quality: Fit, Feel and Finish
The Rigid bars are mid range. The hardware is high quality, the aluminum and finish feel nice. The Rigid bars are the only one in the test that include a wiring harness, switch, etc. The polycarbonate lens is thick and easy to replace. The aluminum is cast with what I assume is a painted finish. I've had these for several years now and the sun has faded the black finish substantially. Think Nissan Xterra plastic parts... The bars come with mounting brackets that are easy to use for many mounting options.

The BD ONX bar is incredible. Everything about it is top quality. Machined, anodized black aluminum make this bar a work of art. Hardware is top quality. Mounting brackets are great as well, with a great adjustment feature where you don't have to loosen the light mounts to adjust, you just loosen the adjusters. This bar does not come with a wiring harness, but most people installing this level of light are typically wiring their own stuff. The polycarbonate lenses are easy to replace as well.

The Ebay bar is about as expected. Aluminum and finish are both a little soft, but they look nice. The end caps are plastic and seem a little more flexible than I like. There is no wiring harness and the wire itself appears to be steel or some other non-copper based wire. The polycarbonate is pretty thin, but for the span, I'm sure it's adequate to protect from rocks and other stuff. The mounting brackets are a little chintzy, but they offer decent adjustability. I prefer the end mounts of the other bars for ease, but these would work wonderfully for mounting to tubing or flat plate.

Beam Pattern:
The Rigid bars are more of a long range flood. There are no hot spots, just a wide, tall, even light everywhere you look. Much wider than the other two, with more light to the sides and a taller beam as well. These bars excel at spotting deer in the fields as you drive down country roads. The reflections from signs is terrible as a result of the wide beam.

The BD ONX bar is a long range spot beam with some flood thrown in for good measure. Distance is incredible, and I really like this beam pattern for driving down dark roads at night due to the longer range. Deer spotting isn't great, but you'll still see ones dangerously close to the road. Road sign reflections aren't as angry as with the Rigids.

The Ebay bar is a combination of flood and spot. There are 12 lights, with two flood beams on each end and eight spot beams in the middle of the light. The resulting beam is very similar to the ONX in pattern and quite nice for general driving as well.

Beam Color:
The Rigid bars are rated at 5600k and are white with a decent bluish tint. I'm not a big fan of the blue as it's harsh on the eyes at night, especially in sign reflections. Your eyes naturally adjust back to darkness much more quickly after having seen warmer color lights like red and yellow, and the blue takes more time. This is the reason why many car companies use dark orange/red for the dash lights and instrument clusters. Same reason why you see red lights in submarines, boating, etc.

The BD ONX is rated at 5000k and honestly, is more comparable to 4300k HID lights that I've seen. Very white with almost a tinge of yellow, but not quite. By far the best color of the bunch. Things seen at night look more realistically colored using this light.

The Ebay bar is rated at 6000-6500k, which is pretty blue. Honestly, I think they're closer to the 5800-6000k range because they're quite close to the Rigid bars and I trust Rigid's rating more than the Chinese translation.


Overall impressions:

All lights put out a lot of light and even though there's a big difference in lumen ratings, all put out very similar amounts of light.

The Rigid lights win for a wide beam pattern and compact housing. This light really compliments the other lights due to the extra wide output, though that's hard to see in the pictures. These lights are also much smaller than the other two, so if you're tight on space, these might be the lights for you. For the money, I'm not sure that these lights are worth the extra width, especially considering the price I got was hard to come by.

The ONX bar wins for quality, distance and color. You can't see it in the pictures, but the distance is still a good bit farther than the Ebay bar. The light color is much nicer than the other lights as well. This is a light you buy to use hard for a long time when only the best will do.

The Ebay bar wins for bang for the buck. It's got a great beam pattern, and even though the beam is more blue than I like, it's a good option for most people, assuming it lasts. It's cheap, and if it takes a beating, that's fine. If anything breaks, you throw it out since it's not serviceable like the other lights. You can buy three of these for less than the other lights, so the output would be much more than the others when the price is a factor.

 

[speedrye]

The Ebay bar looks identical to the 22" Lifetime LED bar, except it comes in a flood/spot combo that the Lifetime bar isn't offered in. I'm getting up with a guy that has the Lifetime bar in a week or so and hopefully we'll get a comparison to see if they're the same bar (though the Ebay bar doesn't come with the warranty or customer service you get from Lifetime).

 

[Tapage]

looks like the best range was from Baja Design Bar .?

 

[speedrye]

Yeah, but it barely beat the Ebay bar. In real life, it's brighter due to the whiter color vs. the Ebay bar, but it's not a drastic difference and it doesn't show up well in the pictures for some reason.

 

[UZJ40]

Good write up, but I don't understand how you compared different sizes and beam patterns. That's apples to oranges... If they were all 3 20" dual row combo lights bars, it would be a different story.

 

[speedrye]

I was primarily looking at rated lumen output and comparing similarly rated single row, ~20" lights. All of the beam patterns are the intermediate offering of these companies between flood and spot. With that said, there's a huge difference in the beam design obviously, but it's what they offer and I have no control over that. They're all roughly 20" and single row, though the Rigid bars use more, lower wattage LEDs compared to the 10w LEDs in the other bars, which again, is their only offering in a single row LED bar.
My biggest challenge was on the Rigid bars. The two 10" bars offer over 50% more lumens than the 20" Rigid SR bar does, so it seemed like a good way to go to be competitive.