Those look really nice but WOW at the price tag...if you guys can afford those, go for it, but damn. couldnt even think about justifying that price for something id rarely use. Good luck

 

My fogs are always on, the lights on the newer trucks don't provide much visibility. I wouldn't use a light bar much, but replacing the fogs with something brighter I'm all for.

LED warehouse 3" driving light - 1356 lumen ($65)

Baja Designs driving light - 4300 lumen ($350)

 

$700 for 2 lights that size? Yeah, im good, sorry

 

So to get the same lumen output (which is just a reference number really) you would need to buy almost 4x's the lights. So the price would be relatively close, yet you would still be using a cheaper quality product.
It's not all about the lumens either, it's about the spread of useful light. It's about the coloring of that light. The CRI (color rendering index) of the Cree XML 2 is superb. Meaning the light that it throws out and what you see will look like the colors they should be, not blue, not halogen tan.

And if you mention you are a forum member you can get a 10% off discount.

In terms of use... I drive home from work in the dark every night and use them every night. I don't keep them on non stop but well worth it for me.

I had my fiancé family following me home ok dark windy roads in northern CT and when we pulled over that all commented on the lights. They were amazed that not only was helping me drive but it was actually helping them.

 

They're made from unobtanium.

My DS bike is in some serious need of a decent light. I may pick 1 of those BD lights up, gotta look at the wattage etc to see if the bike can handle it.

 

I am running a regular squadron on my ktm 350 excf. It draws 42 watts DC. It blows away the trail tech HID's

It really changed night riding for me,

 

Thank you all for the good replies. I mentioned about wiring into my bright lights but didn't think about flashing others and i definitely don't want to blind someone and cause a possible accident or tick somebody off. I do a lot of hunting and when my lights are on bright, they definitely don't cast a far and wide beam. I've looked at upgrading my stock headlights to HID's and thought this might be a better option than the light bar. I wouldn't just replace the bulbs to hid's but buy the whole light kit which is actually more expensive than the light bar. The nice thing about the light bar is when we're out camping, i can leave it on while setting up and not pull a lot of power.

I do agree though, the RIGID bars are very expensive but i run them on my War Eagle boat and know they can take a beating.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

 

I've been doing some research into LED bars. I wouldn't go the rigids, not because they aren't well made (they are), but because they use cheap(er) LED's that don't produce as much light. Typically on a vehicle that goes on the road, you want something that throws light a far distance, which equals a spot beam pattern with a strong light source.

The best LED's are the Baja Designs ones previously mentioned and Vision X as they both use the 10W Cree LED's, both of them are expensive, but from what I have read, well made.
Behind that, the next best ones will use the less powerful 3W Cree LED's, and these ones here: use them, have good reviews.

The Rigids just use plain old 2W LED's.

 

BIGF350 - Do you happen to know the lumen output of the 2W vs the 10W Crees?

 

The 3W CREE's throw out 100 lumens, the 10W, 186 lumens from what I have read.

 

I'd just go with the light bar (what ever manufacturer) and hook them up to an up fitter switch (if you have those installed on your truck) then you can turn them on and off whenever you want. If you don't have the up fitters on your truck, they're pretty easy to install, here's a link showing how to install these. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/a...1&d=1286907317

 

It will actually vary by brand as LED efficacy is the variable in the brightness formula:

Φ_V(lm) = P_(W) × η_(lm/W)

and as you can see the efficiency of LEDs goes up with each year with new advances in LED technology as shown here:



LEDs are getting brighter everyday. Different materials and construction techniques will yield different results and noting the projected increases in the near future, the light you buy tomorrow will be way brighter than the one you got yesterday.

 

Lately LED's have gotten so impressive I'm starting to go with LED's whenever I can, I installed LED taillights on my truck, put LED bulbs in my camper, started buying LED bulbs for the house, just spent over $2000 for LED light fixtures for my shop at home. What sold me on the ones I bought for my shop was I saw the same lights installed in one of the buildings at work and I was so impressed with the amount of light they put out (12,000 lumens) and how well the light was distributed, I just had to get some for home. With 6 fixtures at $365 a piece they're pricy though. I just wish they weren't so expensive, I realize the prices will come down over time, but I couldn't wait.

 

Max lumens you can get out of the XPG is roughly 439 lumens, and the XML is roughly 1000 lumens. It has to do with how much power you want to put to them. But it's not that simple.




This article helped me understand a little better.

http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/cree-model-comparison/

 

I'm with ya on changing out everything for LED. At home I'm replacing all of my recessed lights with Home Depot ecosmart (Cree) lights. Instead of 65watt incandescent it's 10 watts.
At one of my stores I swapped out canopy lights. They were using over 500 watts per fixture, (30 fixtures) to 110 watts per fixture. I save roughly $900-$1000 a month on my electric bill.