Southern California Club Xterra
Southern California Club Xterra => SCCX General Discussion => Topic started by: viper on June 11, 2016, 05:28:00 PM
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I am in the market for LED light bars.
I can find a lot of dirt cheap LED light bars in all shapes and sizes on EBay.
As far as I can tell, these are cheap mass-produced in China.
The posted specs are impressive. Don't know that I can believe them (are they really the Wattage posted and are they really waterproof)
question:
1) what is the difference with the quality, higher-priced LED light bars ? (they must be dropping something to make that price)
2) Can I trust the cheap LED light bars ?
3) would you buy them ?
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Also, which quality LED bar vendors would you recommend and why?
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In my opinion if you go the cheap knock-off route you will get a product that will probably work. Then after a little while they will start failing on you. Many are not weather sealed well and cannot hold up to vibration or shock from off roading. The parts are inferior as well as the electrical circuits/wiring. If you have issues, good luck getting customer service from China if it's bought off of ebay unless it's a United States distributor. At least with one here in the U.S. you will have customer service (hopefully) and the product should be accompanied by a U.S. warranty. If it's not, I would make sure to steer clear. Sure they look great and have a lot of fantastic claims but I don't know of any that seem to last the test of time.
That being said, there are a lot of very over priced lighting manufacturing out there. They produce a superior product this I will not deny but along with that you are still getting the premium price tag. There are lots of other companies that offer a really good product at reasonable prices but you will have to research them which seems like that what you are trying to do. I for one don't need a $1,200 light bar because I don't wheel much at night and it makes a tasty target for your neighborhood tweeker to pay you a visit. Attend some of the runs that get posted up here, food truck meet ups or mod days and see what guys have, how they have them set up and what may work for you before you spend your hard earned cash. Trade shows and these forums are a really good place to start for that info. In my humble opinion when it comes to external lighting you are almost always going to get exactly what you pay for.
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Celt hit pretty much everything on the head. Also, the primary difference between a cheap and expensive light bar are the optics. LEDs are pretty much all produced in China, the optics are what make the difference. That being said, I do quite a bit of night wheeling, but I still only went with some mid grade lights. They are plenty sufficient for what I do.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
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Thanks guys,
what is a good mid-grade brand, one with a decent price/quality trade-off?
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What size are you look for, I tested quite a few and can give you an idea what to stay away from
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I run a set of these and have been very happy with them, http://www.lazerstarlights.com/i-16072084-pair-4-inch-endeavour-3-watt-flood-4-led-2304029.html I got them at a trade show for a reduced price but can't remember the exact amount.
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My friends cheap lightbar has held up fine with nearly 2 years of a lot of off roading. He tested his and it was putting out what it said it should. In fact his expensive rear light ended up being the one that leaks. Many say to put an extra bead of silicone on them.
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I was thinking of putting a 50" on the roof for mainly flood lights, to lighten up the area and smaller spot lights in the front winch bumper.
Considering having one of them be an amber light, because they claim they help with low-viz situations (dust, fog, ...)
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My research so far has learned me that the quality gear like Rigid is too expensive for my taste.
I found Rough Country (http://www.roughcountry.com/) to be listed as one of the more budget friendly quality brands. ($400 for a 50" curved dual row).
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When I bought my 40" a couple years ago, "Totron" was the mid-range Chinese brand that everyone was recommending. They were known for having better quality control than most of the other factories in China that were pumping lights out. I paid $380 for a 40" straight bar, and this was 2 years ago when they were still pretty expensive, even for the Chinese ones. Even after TONS of use over the past 2 years (I use this light bar a lot), the only issues I've had are one LED bulb that has burned out, and a tiny bit of moisture that gets into the left side of the bar after heavy, heavy exposure to rain. The moisture issue has only happened twice, and both times it was after spending an entire day chasing thunderstorms. It results in a very light buildup of moisture on one side of the inside of the lens, (just a couple inches long), which cleared up within 48 hours on it's own both times.
Unfortunately, it looks like the name "Totron" is all over internet listings (especially eBay) for light bars that aren't actually made by this company or in this factory anymore, so I'm not sure if the brand even still exists. It seems like the name has just become synonymous with "knock-off Chinese light bar" instead of actually being a brand.
So with that in mind, I'd recommend what everyone else has said thus far. Just make sure you're getting a warranty and support that is good in the US, and is US based. The Rough Country example you stated is inline with that strategy - they're a US company that tends to sell more economical products, so they'll sell you the same Chinese made light bars you're seeing all over eBay, but it'll have their name on the side and you'll get the piece of mind of being able to go back to them if you have any issues. Unfortunately, you'll pay a markup over buying it directly from China yourself (or from a no-name distributer in the US that also won't stand behind it), but that's the price of piece of mind I guess.
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I tend to follow the Harbor Freight model and think I could buy 10 cheap light bars for the price of a Rigid and so far I have not had to replace more than once. Not to mention, if I have to replace in a couple of years there will probably be now models/features I would want. If I spend too much on the truck, I have no money left to actually get off the road.
Does a 50" bar fit on an X, the mounts I have seen are all for 40"-41.5"?
Does anyone in San Diego have a light bar mounted using Gorilla brand mounts I could possibly check out?
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a 50" bar can be done but it has to mount to the A pillar just above the windshield, a 40" bar will mount to the front of the wind fairing.
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i may do an amazon 20" one in the lower facia (above the license plate) to supplement the stock fogs for $35-$40 (plus wiring harness).
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I was thinking of putting a 50" on the roof for mainly flood lights, to lighten up the area and smaller spot lights in the front winch bumper.
Considering having one of them be an amber light, because they claim they help with low-viz situations (dust, fog, ...)
If you are getting a 50 I say go for a cheap one. Reason being you want flood and not spot, since you are not looking for distance you really don't need better optics.
I have 3 different 40 inch bar that you can look at it, if you like it you can have it at my cost when I bought them. They range from 240 to 340 and they have good optics.
For the cubes in the bumper I recommend getting good quality 40w cubes . You can aim them better then a 10 inch bar.
From a quality perspective, you get a better product with baja design. Rigid isn't really worth the money. I can say I put the 2 40 inch China lights I got against the rigid, one China brand couldn't compare, but the other is equal or better. Both China brand uses Cree LEDs. So for cost per light I would be willing to go with the cheaper China brand.
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Does anyone know the light quality between the bumper mounted 20" vs roof mounted 40". I was thinking of just going cheap and simple as well with the 20" thinking I would not use it to often and my friend says its not just twice the light with a 40 up high but like 3-4 times more ground lit up ahead of you due to the height. His opinion was to definitely spend the $100 or so more and do the roof mount 40.
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Anybody else put a 50" on their Xterra ?
Or do most people opt for the 40" on the X ?
Do cheap china brands come with brackets at all, or do I have to find these separately ?
For those that come with brackets, do they typically apply well on the X ?
Does anyone have a good source for brackets for 40" (mounted above wind shield) or 50" (mounted on the A pillars) for the Xterra (1st gen) ?
Or am I looking at having to have brackets fabricated ?
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When I buy a cheap china light bar, will I have to buy a separate wiring harness or do they typically come with it ?
If not, will any generic wiring harness do, or are do I need to look out for a wiring harness for my Xterra ?
(The responses I have gotten so far have been very usefull)
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Does anyone know the light quality between the bumper mounted 20" vs roof mounted 40".
It really depends on what you're trying to do with it. But if you're looking for one light to do it all, I'd recommend a 40" on the roof over a 20" mounted on the bumper. As your buddy stated, the 40" will give you twice as much light, but the light will also be very usable because of the location. In my opinion, a 40" mounted to the roof with a combination spot and flood beam is a great setup. However, the disadvantages to this setup are: 1) you need to get wiring onto your roof to install it there. Even if you have the existing off road lights, the circuit can't handle the amperage draw of a typical 40" light bar (unless you go with a single row bar or something). 2) You will spill A LOT of light onto the windshield and hood, which makes it very difficult to see. This is even worse if you have a white or silver vehicle, and especially if you're running the combo flood/spot beam (but the flood does a great job of illuminating the sides of the roadway as you're driving, so it's desirable). Some people fabricate their own glare shields out of metal or plastic and install them along the bottom of the light bar to help with this. I actually found good luck with just installing a Vigg Designs hood blackout decal on the hood, but my lightbar is a little further back in my aftermarket roof rack than most setups so it doesn't spill onto the windshield at all.
Anybody else put a 50" on their Xterra ?
Or do most people opt for the 40" on the X ?
Most people run a 40" because it fits very well with brackets that attach to the OEM roof rack bolt locations. I have seen people run 50" bars though, but they either fabricated their own brackets, or used a bracket that mounts to the a-pillar (as knightrider mentioned) which is actually designed for the Navara.
Do cheap china brands come with brackets at all, or do I have to find these separately ?
For those that come with brackets, do they typically apply well on the X ?
Most will come with brackets that attach to the ends of the bar, but they are very generic and simple, and are designed for applications where the light bar is being mounted to a flat piece of metal. I've seen people drill into the wind faring to mount a 20" or 30" bar this way (along with a piece of metal behind the faring for strength), but a 40" would be too wide and would require some minor fabrication to make the included mounts work.
Does anyone have a good source for brackets for 40" (mounted above wind shield) or 50" (mounted on the A pillars) for the Xterra (1st gen) ?
Or am I looking at having to have brackets fabricated ?
In my opinion, the Offroad Gorilla brackets are hands down the best ones you can buy. I was running these on my factory roof rack with a 40" bar, and they're designed perfectly for our vehicles. They make several versions, depending on exactly how wide the light bar is and whether it's straight or curved. You can purchase them here:
http://www.offroadgorilla.com/shop/grrilla-light-bar-mounts