Lighting Kit Comparisons

So I'm in the market for a 40" behind-the-grille setup and some fog lights at least until I upgrade to an aftermarket bumper. I wanted to try and gather up a bunch of data so that I could look at it objectively. Maybe this will be helpful to someone else too. There's 5 sheets, 40" upper grille, 30" upper grille, lower grille, fog lights, and hood mounts.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmjCih0N9sEydDlKWjhRQ3NzVFM2LTBGQVFrckJ0VHc&usp=sharing

I understand that lumen ratings are not the best measurement of a given light's output, but it is at least an additional data point to consider. I have the "benefit" of having never bought anything from any of these companies before so I'm just trying to be as objective as possible and trusting their stated specs to be accurate. Likewise with the vendor links on the sheet, I haven't done any business with any of them, but they are all at least forum vendors.

Anyways, hope this is helpful to someone. Oh, also, if I got anything wrong or if anything is missing let me know and I'll fix it. Somebody else might have done something just like this before, but I wanted to do it anyways just to learn what's out there.

excellent comparison you did there, thanks! I have both M&R and KC LED bars. I am very happy with the output of both for the money.

Nice work. You've put a lot of thought into this. Are you going to use the lights for serious off road at night use or just for show? Answering that question should help with your decision. I went with a mid priced 40" and 4" round behind the grill and some Lightforce Striker 170 50w hid's on hood mounts. The led's cover great from close to mid and the hid's cover the distance for a complete package.

Good luck!

Are you an engineer?? Looks like many of the spreadsheets I've created before buying a product.

I think you should add Whelen to you sheet. Hit up White Star Industries for what he offers, and the Whelen website for the specs.

Thanks for sharing.

Yukon Joe
GLRE Support Raptor
WWW.RUNRAPTORRUN.COM

Yukon Joe said:

Are you an engineer?? Looks like many of the spreadsheets I've created before buying a product.

I think you should add Whelen to you sheet. Hit up White Star Industries for what he offers, and the Whelen website for the specs.

Thanks for sharing.

Yukon Joe
GLRE Support Raptor
WWW.RUNRAPTORRUN.COM

Click to expand...

I agree. Great job organizing these lights together on a spreadsheet.

Also worth mentioning - TMX has their BlackHawk series which I believe are comparable to the M&R lights in lumens, warranty, and price.


STOCK BUMPER Options:

To maximize the light output with the stock bumper, adding a set of Whelens in the license plate area (around the winch in Joe's case) made an amazing difference for me. They come with 4 lenses that range between spot and flood combinations of both.

My setup:
Driving lights - Dually's
Driving lights/Floods (variable lenses) - Whelens (around the plates)
Distance lights - 40" E series behind the grill (center=spot pattern, edges=flood pattern)

The net effect is very deep and penetrating (can see half a mile away), yet also a close and midrange broad night output result.

All blending together in one smooth panoramic arc of light - they work together to seamlessly light up the night - while at the same time having an aesthetically pleasing appearance utilizing the stock bumper openings.

Regarding Vision X, you can complete your spreadsheet accordingly; They are made in the USA and also have a lifetime warranty.

I can also offer this first hand opinion..

I currently have a Rigid 40" behind the grill. A Rigid 20" in my ADD Venom and Vision X light cannons on hood mounts.

Rigid 20", 8000 lumens, $700
Rigid 40", 16000 lumens, $1200
Vision X LCs, 5000 lumens (2 lights), $450

IMHO, the best bang for the buck is the Light Cannons. No obstuctions, so you get full benifit of output and you can go back and forth between spot, euro and flood beams with a simple change of lens. You can also get lens in a variety of colors, amber, clear, blue and red. They also make a black cover. Even the lenses are designed better than others. They all have a gasket inside, so they are water/dirt tight, which is nice. Simple pop on design. They put out an incredible amount of light.

2nd best bang for the buck, 20" Rigid bar. If you are putting in the lower section of an ADD bumper or factory bumper, you will have no obstruction, so again, you get the full benifit of the light output. They put out a bit more lumens than the cannons, but you need to order in either spot, flood or combo so once installed, there is no way to modify that. Rigid also makes covers in red, amber, blue and clear. The Rigid covers snap on very tight, and they arent coming off unless you want them off. My only complain with Rigid covers; They do not have any form of "seal" on them. So water and dirt will form between the covers and light. Incredible output.

And surprisingly, the 3rd place contender is the most expense one, the Rigid 40" behind the grill install. Yes, 16000 lumens, but you lose a fair amount of output due to the grill. While there is certainly benifit to the behind the grill install such as; stealth and security, if you are plannining only 1 light purchase, this is not the best choice. Lens covers for the Rigid 20" and 40" are interchangable as they come in 10" sections, so you can use on either bar.

I hope this compliments the data provided by amphibian.

Big Blue said:

Regarding Vision X, you can complete your spreadsheet accordingly; They are made in the USA and also have a lifetime warranty.

Click to expand...

Their site just says "engineered in the USA", which typically means "actually built elsewhere". The warranty page has 2 different warranties, a 1 year and a lifetime, I wasn't sure which applied to their lights. I'll take your word for it though and update accordingly.

MotoMute said:

Also worth mentioning - TMX has their BlackHawk series which I believe are comparable to the M&R lights in lumens, warranty, and price.

Click to expand...

I added their 40" and their X1 LED x4 as a fog setup. I don't see their brackets listed though.

Yukon Joe said:

Are you an engineer?? Looks like many of the spreadsheets I've created before buying a product.

Click to expand...

I'm a software engineer, so it depends on who you ask as to if I'm a "real" engineer or not. Mechanical & Electrical guys tend to get a bit testy if I refer to myself as an engineer, but I guess great minds think alike.

Yukon Joe said:

I think you should add Whelen to you sheet. Hit up White Star Industries for what he offers, and the Whelen website for the specs.

Click to expand...

I looked at their stuff but I was trying to stick to "kits" with brackets etc as much as possible in the oem fog and 40" form factors. I'm going to try and add a couple more sheets tonight/tomorrow for lower grille (where the whelens look very good) and hood mounts, they'll definitely be on there.

Evilmonkey said:

Are you going to use the lights for serious off road at night use or just for show?

Click to expand...

Well as much as I would like to all out and throw on an aftermarket bumper with externally mounted 40" bar etc, It's not really in the cards right now. What I'd like to do is to get the most "bang for my buck" to get me something that will get me through until I can drop $5k+ on the setup I really want. Ok... and I'll be honest, the 40" behind-the-grille looks really cool...

---------- Post added at 09:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 AM ----------

Also thanks for the details about everyone's setups. Nice to see your strategies to get short/medium/long range coverage and the different patterns and colors.

MotoMute you're putting that stock bumper to work, I like it.

Spreadsheet

amphibian said:

So I'm in the market for a 40" behind-the-grille setup and some fog lights at least until I upgrade to an aftermarket bumper. I wanted to try and gather up a bunch of data so that I could look at it objectively. Maybe this will be helpful to someone else too. There's 2 sheets, one for fog light kits and one for 40" grille kits.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmjCih0N9sEydDlKWjhRQ3NzVFM2LTBGQVFrckJ0VHc&usp=sharing

I understand that lumen ratings are not the best measurement of a given light's output, but it is at least an additional data point to consider. I have the "benefit" of having never bought anything from any of these companies before so I'm just trying to be as objective as possible and trusting their stated specs to be accurate. Likewise with the vendor links on the sheet, I haven't done any business with any of them, but they are all at least forum vendors.

Anyways, hope this is helpful to someone. Oh, also, if I got anything wrong or if anything is missing let me know and I'll fix it. Somebody else might have done something just like this before, but I wanted to do it anyways just to learn what's out there.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much! Exactly the informative post that I salivate for in a forum! Kudos

Yes you do have a lifetime warranty with VisionX but they are made in South Korea.

Big Blue said:

Regarding Vision X, you can complete your spreadsheet accordingly; They are made in the USA and also have a lifetime warranty.

Click to expand...

Raptor911 said:

Yes you do have a lifetime warranty with VisionX but they are made in South Korea.

Click to expand...

I had a feeling that might be the case. Their site says "Engineered in the USA"... My guess was that if they were also made here they would have said so. Updated accordingly.