I bought the squadron sports because I thought they would be more acceptable for on road use since they didn't have as many lumens, I was wrong. I had to aim mine pretty for down to not get flashed. If you want daily use I would recommend their street legal SAE version.
Yes Daniel, I experienced this coming back to Lafayette, Indiana from Whitestown, Indiana back in Jan 2021. U.S. 52 is lonely at night, and so were most of the side roads. Will never forget these experiences bro. The last two months I have been heavy into research for amber fog and amber light bars for my 2000 jeep. Now I know just how much I need amber lights at night. Have learned from experience. Sometimes the BEST TEACHER IN THE LONG RUN.
Great information. Thank you for the time you put in testing. You present the testing so it is obvious which one is the better. Your testing protocol is up there with Gail Banks.
My Squadron Sport install on a Gen 5 4Runner pisses people off. I could probably adjust them to point lower but really what I do is just turn them off when someone is coming towards me. Off road they are great. On road in fog or a snow storm, they are great as long as you're not facing traffic .
Andrew, I’d like to see some footage of the BD light bar too. Not necessarily a comparison to another light bar, but just what it’s capable of. Been a long time follower on IG and I’m glad to see you making GREAT vids here on TH-cam. Keep it up bud 👍🏻
I can do that! It’s pretty wild how much light it puts out. I’ve tried but a camera just doesn’t show it like the human eye does. I had a 30” GG bar for a long time until I finally got talked into the BD Onx6 and WOW is it worth it haha.
I have the squadron sports in my fogs with the wide cornering lenses, S2 pros with spots behind my grille and the squadron pros with spots on my hood. I think it’s like 21k lumens total and I love them! 🙌🏻
Do the baja designs plug directly into the factory fog light harnesses and if so do u need anything to stop the led from flickering. Do u have any issues with all the leds messing with the computer boards on the ram, do not want to destroy them by overloading. Thanks for the help.
Nice vid. Love those lights. Only thing is they look a lil more yellower. Are those considered amber? I would like them more orangey to match running cab lights if they make option. Do you have any info?
This video is legit. I bought a ebay special light bar for my front bumper and in one week it's fogged up but I won't be replacing til it dies. The light is very bright though
Lumen - How much light is put out. Candela - How much light hitting the target. (Standardized to a certain area at a specific distance so you can compare apples to apples, off course.) Huge lumen numbers sells stuff and are easy to do, candela is not.
@@desert4seat Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
@@JustDiesels LOL. I'm sorry! It's not a BAD look! 😅😁 Honestly, that truck looks amazing. It just bears a strong resemblance to the electrically-charged mouse! (Please forgive me!!)
Technically all LED diodes come from China. Baja designs just has a cleaner design and assembled in US. Where as “China” lights have a simple design and assembled in China to lower costs. Both have pros and cons, just depends on your budget and what you need them for. 👌🏼
Thanks for this video, I just bought a 2019 tradesmen 2500. The truck did not come with fog lights, but my front bumper has the cut out for fogs. I just ordered the fog light bezels and brackets from my dealer. I want to get these Baja lights. Do you think I need to get any other brackets from CJC other than the ones that come with the lights to make the fit? I plan on powering them with one of the 6 AUX switch’s I have in my cab. Thanks for any help with this.
The one thing I can say is BAJA is closer to natural daylight to the eyes versus RIGID is more purple, Also BAJA you can switch the lens pattern instead of having to buy a whole new set of lights!
The GG laser lights are like candles compared to the Baja Designs laser lights if you want to do an apples to apples. The real difference is in the optics and electronics. GG is way cheaper, but like always you get what you pay for. I do think that GG is a crazy good value for the price though. I ran their stuff for years until I could swing enough to go BD.
I’m currently running GGLIGHTING Pods and light bar on my SXS. They offer Great products/quality stuff for the price, without putting a dent in the ol’ wallet. But I can agree that compared to Baja Designs the GG’s don’t stack up. They do put up a fight tho, plus lifetime warranty. They’re based out of Anaheim, CA. Somewhat close to me haha .
@@ThatDudeMiguel Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
I run a couple different versions of Baja on my Taco @CreamPuffCrawler and they are amazing products, Brennan, Gabe and all the rest of their team is great for info if you need any ideas.
China leds are hit and miss. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. Best suggestion is save your money and pay for high end and have something more reliable. I was using knock off TRD rigid pro foglights on my Tacoma 3rd gen and they stopped working after a couple months.
Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago. Thanks for your comment hope you can give us a try!
Sweet Cummins! Baja Designs lights are primo quality. They would be awesome in snowstorms. I guess I am getting cynical but aren’t you afraid of theft? Not a lot of people will know what they are looking at but for the few that do?
The GG wasn’t actually mounted anymore since I’d have to take off the brackets etc etc laying on my back in the dark. The on the ground shots honestly give a better view of output anyway!
@@FilmREALMS Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
Awesome video, I currently use Rigid but was thinking of maybe getting some GGlighting products because they seem to be the best “Chinese Manufacturer” and they do have bright products but definitely not the same as baja, rigid, or vision x.
Yeah for the cost the GG stuff is really solid, especially their G4d light bars. That said, if you can swing it the Baja Designs lights are on a whole new level haha
@@superdutyzack We still do them in the single row. The double row pulled a ton of power, though they were very bright. But the light ouput and draw we get with DayMakers now is so good that those have replaced the double row race bars. The DayMakers are much more UTV friendly as well.
Neither of these lights are fog lights, they're offroad lights that fit into fog pockets (not the same thing). The sport squadron is also NOT street legal, as it does not have a compliant beam pattern. And the Baja SAE is complete garbage- dimmer than factory halogen fogs. If you want the best in quality and output, get the SS3 by Diode Dynamics.
I have zero need for a street legal fog light however. My headlights do all the work on the street that I could ever want, which is why I chose to bolt in a non street legal light with as much light output as I could.
@@JustDiesels interestingly, Diode Dynamics SS3 pros have the same Cree XPL chips, amp draw, and lumens; but use advanced TIR optics instead of simple forward facing cone reflectors. They're actually brighter and have less wasted light than the Baja squadrons. Neat huh?
Oh I have no complaints about their lights! This video just wasn’t about street legal lights. If it was they would have been included. It’s about sticking the most output possible in a fog light hole haha.
You do know that the baja designs lights are made in china right? They are made with the exact same components as the amazon lights. Your just paying the extra $350.00 to have that name on them.
Their warehouse is in Santa Ana. They aren't manufacturing there, just assembling. I've known Gabe and those guys since they were selling light bars out of their garage in HB back in 2011
New videos every Wednesday!!!! Fuck I suck. LOL - Dude awesome video. Nice videography as always. One of the really biggest things with LED lighting is the beam, spread and pattern are super important. It's a hard point to get across. Excellent video.
Sadly the money is in the cheap stuff. How many people do you know with American made lights? How many have cheap china knock offs from Amazon? We should all do better and support American business if we can! 🇺🇸
Led pods are all the same besides 2 things looks and longevity.(water getting in doesn't look good + only lasting a few years) But sadly rough county is killing it. Good harness plugs and we'll built....they even make amber for dust and snow.
Sadly that’s completely false. Put a quality set of Baja Designs lights against something like Rough Country and you realize the critical role the electronics and optics play in lighting output and quality. I used to think like you and had only the Chinese lights, but man is there a difference haha.
@@JustDiesels I'm not saying auxbeam can compete but I'm also not saying rigid and BD and KC are only light to trust.....get a set of rough county and do a video I bet 100$ you buy a cheap Chinese vs rough county you'll say shit ok now the conversation is rough county rigid bd and kc.....I used to run only rigid and KC because they gave military discount and black rifle coffee members get 20% off rigid but I got a set of rough county on my sidexside and rolled hit shit put it in water the plug is amazing tight fit water proof no condensation on the pods they get decently hot to keep ice off they come with good powder coated brackets harness and switch all included. so now all I run is rough county, and the dot sae fogs are bright great cutoff line for 110$ vs Baja got busted with bad lense that didn't work for dot. And last I check a set was like 300.....sorry but 300 for 2 pods vs 300 for dot pods and a light bar I'll take more over less especially when they hold up the same.
Do you follow me on Instagram? instagram.com/avvblanc/?hl=en
I bought the squadron sports because I thought they would be more acceptable for on road use since they didn't have as many lumens, I was wrong. I had to aim mine pretty for down to not get flashed. If you want daily use I would recommend their street legal SAE version.
Did you have to reverse the mounting bracket that came with the BD's to get them pointed down enough?
Offroad only or when you live in the boonies! Country roads get pretty dark in the winter time
Then you need their LP4 or bigger lights! Ha
Yes Daniel, I experienced this coming back to Lafayette, Indiana from Whitestown, Indiana back in Jan 2021. U.S. 52 is lonely at night, and so were most of the side roads. Will never forget these experiences bro. The last two months I have been heavy into research for amber fog and amber light bars for my 2000 jeep. Now I know just how much I need amber lights at night. Have learned from experience. Sometimes the BEST TEACHER IN THE LONG RUN.
Super helpful! Am researching road lights for my Yamaha Niken GT. Literally am turning into the dark with the stock lights and need a better solution.
Great information. Thank you for the time you put in testing. You present the testing so it is obvious which one is the better. Your testing protocol is up there with Gail Banks.
Definitely saving up for those bajas 👌🏼
We have upgraded the internals of our Pods, If youd like to check them out let us know!
Damn dude those drone shots are insane!
My Squadron Sport install on a Gen 5 4Runner pisses people off. I could probably adjust them to point lower but really what I do is just turn them off when someone is coming towards me. Off road they are great. On road in fog or a snow storm, they are great as long as you're not facing traffic .
A great and detailed video. Never seen a night drone test! That made me subscribe. Thanks. The 22 taco will be dressed out soon.
GREAT post but that background music is beyond irritating!
I have six Baja design lights on my rig which are 6 years old. Never a problem with any of them. They are worth the money.
Great Review bro! Detailed, great quality and very informative! Subscribed!
Could you do a video on the custom headlights. I want to do something with my 95 3500 cummins
Andrew, I’d like to see some footage of the BD light bar too. Not necessarily a comparison to another light bar, but just what it’s capable of. Been a long time follower on IG and I’m glad to see you making GREAT vids here on TH-cam. Keep it up bud 👍🏻
I can do that! It’s pretty wild how much light it puts out. I’ve tried but a camera just doesn’t show it like the human eye does. I had a 30” GG bar for a long time until I finally got talked into the BD Onx6 and WOW is it worth it haha.
I have the squadron sports in my fogs with the wide cornering lenses, S2 pros with spots behind my grille and the squadron pros with spots on my hood. I think it’s like 21k lumens total and I love them! 🙌🏻
Do the baja designs plug directly into the factory fog light harnesses and if so do u need anything to stop the led from flickering. Do u have any issues with all the leds messing with the computer boards on the ram, do not want to destroy them by overloading. Thanks for the help.
Direct plug and play with the harness and zero issues!
@@JustDiesels Thanks so much! Where do u get the harness?
Nice vid. Love those lights. Only thing is they look a lil more yellower. Are those considered amber? I would like them more orangey to match running cab lights if they make option. Do you have any info?
I’m looking to buy some after market headlights for my 2006 Gen 3. Preferably black. What brand did you go with? Thanks!
This video is legit. I bought a ebay special light bar for my front bumper and in one week it's fogged up but I won't be replacing til it dies. The light is very bright though
How did you mount these
What are the headlights that you are running in this video?
These are custom built lights from Retroshop
How did you hook these up to your truck ? So you can turn them on when you fire up your fog lights??
these are wired directly into the factory fog lights and run off the factory switch!
When you get the kit with the extra wiring harness how do you go about that ?
Lumen - How much light is put out. Candela - How much light hitting the target.
(Standardized to a certain area at a specific distance so you can compare apples to apples, off course.) Huge lumen numbers sells stuff and are easy to do, candela is not.
Are you comparing 4 year old cheap led lights vs brand new Baja Designs?
Lol. And he actually talked me into getting some GG’s.
@@desert4seat Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
I don't know why, but I see Pikachu's face when viewing your truck from the front. Excellent video and video quality, by the way!
😂😂 haven’t heard that one before but now I can’t unsee it.
@@JustDiesels
LOL. I'm sorry! It's not a BAD look! 😅😁 Honestly, that truck looks amazing. It just bears a strong resemblance to the electrically-charged mouse! (Please forgive me!!)
Technically all LED diodes come from China. Baja designs just has a cleaner design and assembled in US. Where as “China” lights have a simple design and assembled in China to lower costs. Both have pros and cons, just depends on your budget and what you need them for. 👌🏼
Thanks for this video, I just bought a 2019 tradesmen 2500. The truck did not come with fog lights, but my front bumper has the cut out for fogs. I just ordered the fog light bezels and brackets from my dealer. I want to get these Baja lights. Do you think I need to get any other brackets from CJC other than the ones that come with the lights to make the fit?
I plan on powering them with one of the 6 AUX switch’s I have in my cab.
Thanks for any help with this.
Everything should bolt right on with the CJC kit for the 2019 trucks! They have a kit specifically designed for the 2019+ tradesman and SLT trucks!
Nice review, do you have a recommendation for projector lights and bulbs for an 08?
You pretty much have to custom make them. The basic build from Retroshop isn’t too bad price wise.
Any comparison with rigid lighting and Baja designs?
The one thing I can say is BAJA is closer to natural daylight to the eyes versus RIGID is more purple, Also BAJA you can switch the lens pattern instead of having to buy a whole new set of lights!
I’m looking at getting the cjc brackets and bd sports for my 03 dodge. How hard was it to set up the pods to the factory fog light switch?
Takes about two seconds to splice em in at the bumper!
@@JustDiesels So you run these off of the factory harness without a relay or additional harnesses?
Will the bracket work for rough country light pods?
It should, but the light output will be like the china lights in this video ahaha
How old is the GG compare to the baja get the latesr gg light's.
The GG laser lights are like candles compared to the Baja Designs laser lights if you want to do an apples to apples. The real difference is in the optics and electronics. GG is way cheaper, but like always you get what you pay for. I do think that GG is a crazy good value for the price though. I ran their stuff for years until I could swing enough to go BD.
I’m currently running GGLIGHTING Pods and light bar on my SXS. They offer Great products/quality stuff for the price, without putting a dent in the ol’ wallet. But I can agree that compared to Baja Designs the GG’s don’t stack up. They do put up a fight tho, plus lifetime warranty. They’re based out of Anaheim, CA. Somewhat close to me haha .
@@ThatDudeMiguel Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
I run a couple different versions of Baja on my Taco @CreamPuffCrawler and they are amazing products, Brennan, Gabe and all the rest of their team is great for info if you need any ideas.
Where did you order your headlights from?
They’re a custom build!
“China pod.” Im reporting this video for hate speech!! Hahahaha
Well said i am checking out baja design.
What tow hooks are those?
here's a link: www.cjcoffroad.com/CJC-Off-Road-Dodge-30-Arc-ONX6-Light-Bar-Brackets-p/cjc-30bktonx6arc-combo.htm
China leds are hit and miss. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. Best suggestion is save your money and pay for high end and have something more reliable. I was using knock off TRD rigid pro foglights on my Tacoma 3rd gen and they stopped working after a couple months.
Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago. Thanks for your comment hope you can give us a try!
Sweet Cummins! Baja Designs lights are primo quality. They would be awesome in snowstorms. I guess I am getting cynical but aren’t you afraid of theft? Not a lot of people will know what they are looking at but for the few that do?
haha Absolutely, that's why Baja Designs offers tamper proof hardware so you need key to remove the lights!
Where is GG lights drone shot?
The GG wasn’t actually mounted anymore since I’d have to take off the brackets etc etc laying on my back in the dark. The on the ground shots honestly give a better view of output anyway!
Yeah i'd like to see the two side by side from the drone. That would be the best way to really see how they stack up.
@@FilmREALMS Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
Awesome video, I currently use Rigid but was thinking of maybe getting some GGlighting products because they seem to be the best “Chinese Manufacturer” and they do have bright products but definitely not the same as baja, rigid, or vision x.
Yeah for the cost the GG stuff is really solid, especially their G4d light bars. That said, if you can swing it the Baja Designs lights are on a whole new level haha
Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
@@gglighting I saw that. I miss your race bars tho!?
@@superdutyzack We still do them in the single row. The double row pulled a ton of power, though they were very bright. But the light ouput and draw we get with DayMakers now is so good that those have replaced the double row race bars. The DayMakers are much more UTV friendly as well.
Neither of these lights are fog lights, they're offroad lights that fit into fog pockets (not the same thing). The sport squadron is also NOT street legal, as it does not have a compliant beam pattern. And the Baja SAE is complete garbage- dimmer than factory halogen fogs. If you want the best in quality and output, get the SS3 by Diode Dynamics.
I have zero need for a street legal fog light however. My headlights do all the work on the street that I could ever want, which is why I chose to bolt in a non street legal light with as much light output as I could.
@@JustDiesels interestingly, Diode Dynamics SS3 pros have the same Cree XPL chips, amp draw, and lumens; but use advanced TIR optics instead of simple forward facing cone reflectors. They're actually brighter and have less wasted light than the Baja squadrons. Neat huh?
Oh I have no complaints about their lights! This video just wasn’t about street legal lights. If it was they would have been included. It’s about sticking the most output possible in a fog light hole haha.
Truly annoying when people talk about fog lights but they’re running lights that would be utterly useless in fog like conditions.
@@EuroYardService yep. Try running these in actual fog or heavy snow, you'll get blasted by reflection and make it harder to see.
First comment
Dope visuals Mann
Clean trucks
Nice over landing
Good content/ overviews
Thank you! 🙌
Thank You!!
You do know that the baja designs lights are made in china right? They are made with the exact same components as the amazon lights. Your just paying the extra $350.00 to have that name on them.
They’re actually made in Mexico now, which is pretty fitting given the name.
Gg lighting is made in Santa Ana, California
Their warehouse is in Santa Ana. They aren't manufacturing there, just assembling. I've known Gabe and those guys since they were selling light bars out of their garage in HB back in 2011
Yes 100% BD!
New videos every Wednesday!!!! Fuck I suck. LOL - Dude awesome video. Nice videography as always. One of the really biggest things with LED lighting is the beam, spread and pattern are super important. It's a hard point to get across. Excellent video.
Totally true! It’s so hard to capture that on video too!
0:36 not even the same type, how do you want to compare 🤦♂️
Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
Prefer branded led lights instead of cheap Chinese products.
China lights🤣 company’s based in Cali. And those are outdated pods now. GG has newer lights running just as good as baja
Great video - but that music gave me anxiety and now I need a xanax.
Bajas are nice but out of my budget
Can China ever design and build something of high quality? Seems like everything they make is either a copy, a shitty made product or both.
Sadly the money is in the cheap stuff. How many people do you know with American made lights? How many have cheap china knock offs from Amazon? We should all do better and support American business if we can! 🇺🇸
Led pods are all the same besides 2 things looks and longevity.(water getting in doesn't look good + only lasting a few years)
But sadly rough county is killing it. Good harness plugs and we'll built....they even make amber for dust and snow.
Sadly that’s completely false. Put a quality set of Baja Designs lights against something like Rough Country and you realize the critical role the electronics and optics play in lighting output and quality. I used to think like you and had only the Chinese lights, but man is there a difference haha.
@@JustDiesels I'm not saying auxbeam can compete but I'm also not saying rigid and BD and KC are only light to trust.....get a set of rough county and do a video I bet 100$ you buy a cheap Chinese vs rough county you'll say shit ok now the conversation is rough county rigid bd and kc.....I used to run only rigid and KC because they gave military discount and black rifle coffee members get 20% off rigid but I got a set of rough county on my sidexside and rolled hit shit put it in water the plug is amazing tight fit water proof no condensation on the pods they get decently hot to keep ice off they come with good powder coated brackets harness and switch all included. so now all I run is rough county, and the dot sae fogs are bright great cutoff line for 110$ vs Baja got busted with bad lense that didn't work for dot. And last I check a set was like 300.....sorry but 300 for 2 pods vs 300 for dot pods and a light bar I'll take more over less especially when they hold up the same.
China pods all the way 😂😂😂
Not much actual data rathed just observation report
GGs look amazing.
Appreciate that! Our Pods have upgraded internals and optics, light out put is greatly improved over these pods which were made YEEEEARS ago.
You should get a 2nd gen i daily my 2nd gen 01 24v 284k miles rust free paid 4k lmao
Why the ugly yellow tho
It’s functional. Yellow or amber do a much better job cutting through dust, fog, or snow without glaring back at you.
Baja lights are massively over priced. I will stick with the china ones.
Baja designs has the worst customer service