Which Off-road Lights are Better? HID vs. LED vs. Halogen & Beam Patterns
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2018
- Halogen vs. LED vs. LED... which one is better? Spot, flood, fog beam patterns... how do they perform? In this video we take a look at some different light outputs and beam patterns. I admittedly had a little fun filming this and now have a new appreciation for how these different off-road lights perform. #ledlights #offroad #lightbar
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So many options,so little money!
I find Halogen lights to be the best bang for your buck, and for driving down long distances like highways the Halogen lights seem to make my less so much less fatigued
Thank you, Brad - finally a review we all deserve!!
I love your views and presentation. It is never about which is the best you always give pro's and con's for all the options. Great video
Thank you! I figure I have my opinion, but best to let folks decide what works best for their setup.
Thank you for putting in the work to give us a visual of these different types of lights, I know it helped me a lot!
Another great video, Brad. Thanks for taking the time to make this one.
As usual was just thinking about this very subject for my rig and you come through once again ! Awesome dude
Awesome, hope it was helpful!
This is the best light review on TH-cam!! Well done Brad!!
Hi Brad, awsome video, one of the best i've seen... I like how much you enjoy sharing what you have learned, keep up the great work!
This...THIS is the type of content that is invaluable. It's amazing to watch you have adventures in your tricked out rig, but THIS is the kind of stuff I've spent SO many hours on the internet trying to figure out for myself. Super thanks!
So glad you found it helpful, thank you!
Well done! This is the most comprehensive guide I’ve seen here on TH-cam. And I’m in the market for some lights here soon👍🏻
Cool showcase of KC lights, looks like good quality stuff and options for different rig styles.
I've really been happy with their lights, can't wait to get the light bar on the XJ!
Thanks for putting that together Brad!! Very informative, well done. I also love my KC lights!!
Glad you enjoyed it, thank you!
Been searching for three days for exactly this video. Everything is so confusing out there. Thank you!
Brad, very informative video, it looks like it took quite a bit of time and energy to set up the various lighting types. Really appreciate you taking the time to explain the lighting options, and show the beam differences on the trail.
Thanks! It was time and effort I actually had fun with... I was curious how the results were going to turn out.
Loved how you showed the beams from above
Any excuse I can use to put that drone to work!
amazing video! so glad you made this showing the differences between all of the lights available on the market. oh and the xj is going to look amazing with that setup!
I was looking for a video to educate me on these 3 different tyoes of light, great work mate
Really like your review and comparison videos! Also really like your Jeep review videos! Another great video for sure!
Brad accessorizes like a high maintenance homecoming queen!!! Awesome!!!
That certainly was an interesting comparison!! Thanks for the great video...!
Really great idea for a video!
Thanks for that from Brazil!
Watching this at 3 am with everyone asleep and hearing that thumping in the background put me in an uneasy state. Lol.
Looks awesome. Love the teaser!
Very cool, thanks for the info!
This is an awesome video. Super informative and interesting. Thanks!
Another good video and great timing for me. I looking for lights, thanks very informative.
Very helpful. Thank you!
Very helpful. I will be getting the HID lights
still stuck on HID's and halogens. When you factor in reliability, cost, performance, etc, it's nearly impossible to beat HID. It's been about 5 years since LED"s really took off and I will guarantee you that anyone who's tried LED this and that throughout those years has a box of dead LED products (leaky, blinking, dead elements, etc) HID is still the king of range. If you want to set up an LED that'll have the same output and range of a 50W HID spot, you'll be looking at a massive LED lamp that draws a few hundred watts.
Love the “Save The XJ” on the board. I have a 94 XJ. It’s great Rig. I agree SAVE THE XJ!!!
This helped me get the lights for my truck, thanks for the video, really well done.
Great to hear this was helpful for you, thank you!
Had KCs for many years but switched to Baja Design LEDs last year. And yes on matching your lights to your use and to your electrical supply. Once upon a time 25 years ago in the deepest, darkest Baja, my old ‘72 CJ rolled to a stop in the dark. D’oh. I ran the battery dry because I was using more juice than my alternator could produce. Lesson learned. Love your vids.
Nice compilation. Very informative
This is perfect! I was just considering getting off road lights for my Jeep, just the video I needed! Thanks!
Awesome! So what type of lights are you thinking of going with?
TrailRecon I used to have the regular kcs and I think I’m going to go with the led ones this time!
Thank you very much!...very informative video you got there sir...
Some good real life info in this vid. Looking to put some new lights on my xj. thanks
Great video as always Brad! I concur with you about the round lights on the Wranglers, can't wait to see your xj when your done!
Thank you! We need to get that roof fixed and then the lights are going on!
Really enjoyed this movie. Light have always been a big interest to me. I put a set of “hella’s” on my 69 Opel. On my first overseas tour in Germany, every big Bimmer an MB had a set of large driving lights. Now, 46 years later I’m still hooked.
And I’m always learning something new.
Keep up the great work(?), fun. Thanks again
I really prefer the HID, but I don’t like wait time for them to fire up to full intensity. LED’s are instant and last longer. I’m thinking of changing 2 LED Rough Country’s on my “A” pillars to KC HID pencil beams. I think they will work great and look awesome with my TJ’s round headlights. Thanks for this video Brad!
I'm interested in the XJ videos and can't wait to see them. Since that is what I drive. The light comparison was great. I'm looking at building a custom overhead console as a place to mount a CB or Ham Radio and switches for lights.
I like the look of the KG lights on the roof, they really go well with the Jeeps look and don't look out of place.
Great video but I was really hoping your were gonna include the KC led headlights. Please review those or do a headlight comparison showdown. I think you’d have a ton of views on that especially if you include the $100 Amazon LEDs to the KC’s to the JW Speaker LED headlights.
Great review Brad! I'm definitely a HID fan.
Thanks man! HID's put out some serious light for sure, it's a great option.
Great video!! Loved how you explained everything. Would have been nice if you showed how the lights performed at night for longer on screen time. Having only a few seconds to check out what their performance is just wasn’t enough. For future reference try 10 seconds for each light by itself alone. After showing each light by itself then show pairs of lights as in how they can be used to compliment each other. Also, try placing a marker of some kind at various distances from the rig. A small stand or tripod with a white paper plate with a number written on it with sharpie would work perfectly. Thank you for the great videos of things we, your viewers, couldn’t do ourselves.
Cheers mate and happy trails
As a new JL owner with the LED lighting option, the main complaint I found on all forums about the LED lighting package was how they sucked in winter driving when the snow covered them and stuck rather than melting off. Every forum I read said you need the LEDs with heated covers, or put a set of Halogens on. Thus I went with KC Daylighter Halogens - one pair Driving and one pair Spread. I figured that would be enough to get me through the snow issues, and I plan to use LEDs for any additional lighting needs to lower the total amp draw.
Very helpful video.
Hey Brad, Great video as always! Very informative. I realize you live in a warm part of the country but I think a good thing to mention is LED do not put out enough heat to melt ice or snow. I have LED headlights and fog lights and had to keep stopping during a snowstorm on my way to Cleveland to brush them off. There are lights that come with a heating element but are more expensive. Really jealous of your Gravity Pro Light Bar!
Hey!...I remember you saying in one of your videos a while back that you wanted to make a trip to Ouray, Co sometime. So imagine my surprise when my wife and I are sitting on the patio in front of Maggie’s Kitchen facing Hwy 550 when I recognize a you and your Jeep roll by on front of us...😳...btw..we did Black Bear Pass today. If you haven’t done it yet, it was really cool!! We are here on vacation from outside of Dallas , Tx. Love your videos 👍🏻. Keep the rubber side down.
I love the board in the garage, To do list save the XJ!!!!
Excellent vid!
Thank you!
Great video! I would be curious to also see the running temps of each of those. Might be important for lights near equipment on the top of a Jeep
Oh man, that would have been a great thing to have compared... maybe I'll have to do a temperature video another time. Just need to get them to loan me the lights again!
LED are great... but I live in VT and they just don't run hot enough (on the lens) to keep snow and ice off them and until HID are in my price range, I'm stuck with 130W bulbs in my Hella 500FF enclosures. All the LEDS become pretty useless after 10 minutes on the road or trail in the winter.
Y love your videos!
Great video! Talk about variety. Me personally, it’s LED only. It was interesting to see some of the comparisons. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Stoked to see the XJ light bar video!
I'm with you on the LEDs, but there is an argument to be made for HID's. Can't wait to get the light on the XJ!! Thanks!
Normally i use led. Only exception if my rally car. Hid seem to throw light further and with led i find things get more washed out. Not a big deal on the street. 80mph on a dirt road at 2am its an issue.
One disadvantage is if it snows, the leds cant melt it.
I definitely love HID lights. I did a swap on my 02' Honda civic back in the day and the results were spectacular.
As far as what type of light is best I think it just depends on what the mission is. LED great for its usage time versus battery drain if you are using the lights for camping per se, HID is great for constant travel, and halogen is great for if either of the other two really bother your eyes.
I hope to be able to truly join the overlanding culture someday. Thanks for another great video!
All excellent points. Thank you!
halo is better than led for bad weather; less scatter in fog , snow, rain
That single LED is impressive!
Have you found a better way to get wires to the roof rack yet? Thanks for all of the videos and info
HID lights kick ass.
great video
Another great vid sir! How are you enjoying the Pro6? Do the whistle like other light bars?
I've owned my TJ for 13 years and I'm still moving lights around! lol
I presently don't have any lights up on top over the windshield since I've experienced a lot of reflection from the hood. And being yellow in color, the reflection looks like it's sundown in the Jeep.
For the lower windshield corners, I presently have 6 inch KC Daylighter halogen spot lights and they light up nicely with no reflection.
On my front bumper I have (cheapo) 4 inch HID's which are awesome as they're wide angle and super bright. They have been great for many years.
I now need to decide if I want to keep the (old school) light bar above the windshield or take it off... Some nice small LED cube shaped spots up there would be nice if they didn't reflect. I need to confirm that however before I spend $$ on those...
I can't stand hood glare, I use to get it when I ran fog a-pillar lights, but having spots in that position might work better. Thanks!
Brad, why didn't you show us the light spread on the proposed xj setup? you had them mounted on the bar.....it would have been a great sneak peek!!
I have a 50 in kc pro 6 and it blew my rigids off the roof.
I have the KC halogens with the spot beam and debating switching the lens out to a spread pattern. Not sure if the difference is significant enough to spend the money it though.
Kinda late. But did you ever exchange them out for the spread
Brad, great work!
Next time you chat with KC, tell 'em to get movin' on the 50" Gravity LED Pro 6 system for the new JLs...ASAP. (impatient...). Cheers!
I've already told them there are many folks standing by! LOL! Thanks!
TrailRecon thanks, brother!
Please tell me more about the rectangular's. Do they come in a "fog light" spec.....looking for a good amber/yellow..thanks
hey brad, great video as always. I am going to put some round lights on my A-Pillar, but don't know what beam pattern to use, any suggestions? I don't have any other lights on my Jeep besides my headlights (LED).
I'm sure there are several opinions on the matter, but I personally don't like a-pillar lights because of the hood glare they cause. I would think to reduce hood glare, a spot light might work best. All depend on what kind of coverage you need.
Another thing I forgot to mention is placement of the lights. I bought my JKU with LED lights mounted on the pillars. I HATED those lightbecause they reflected so much light off of my white hood into the windshield. They blocked more visibality than they illuminated. A simple bracket corrected all of those issues for me.
Lol
The one thing I wanted to ask is this, Glass or plastic lenses makes a difference as well... and being here in Canada we have winter conditions and road salt to deal with as well...
What headlights do you use yourself for a JK... or what would you use in 2020 if you would upgrade your JK? Thanks for any pointers!
One of the most impressive lights ive ever used are vintage cibie lights. They are amazing with just a generic halogen bulb.
On my street cars i use led bulbs. No better or worse then halogen but way less energy needed.
On my rally car however i use big reflector hid lights. 2 spot 2 wide beam. Easier on the eyes and throws light further down the road.
Going back through videos on lights and remembered this one. Needed a refresher on the pros and cons. Probably going to go with halogen for mine just because of the different light frequency and price. Amber led is expensive, fog gets thick as mud down here sometimes and having the warm light from the halogen would be to my advantage. Can't afford KC sadly, looking at hella. Anyone have any experience with the mounts, heard they were hit or miss.
For my JK, on my front bumper, which KC halogen would be best?? Spot? Or spread??
Dammit, after watching this vid I purchased a pair of KC 8" Pro-Sport HID.
Hid is the winner for me .
I have a wiring question.....If I'm wiring into the JLs factory aux switches can I cut away and discard the relay and fuse that come with the supplied light harness?
Do you have a link for that light mount your gonna put on the xj? I’d imagine it’s a 50 inch right? It’s been hard to find a mount for the xj that I like. But that seems really good
!
I just bought my first jeep gladiator. It came with stock headlights but I want to put some kind of halo, ring LED headlights. Any brand recommendations?
What are the brightest ones KC makes?
My 22 inch lamphus maverix has been amazing. But the spot beam just doesnt shoot quite as far as I'd like. I know the HIDs tend to shoot the farthest and have the tightest spot beam but I'm thinking LED might be the way to go. Pair of KC gravities and I think I'd be set
Hey Brad, just curious because usually you mention that if you use Trailrecon when buying something from KC lites you get a small discount. Do you know if that option is available? Was about to checkout in there website but the purchase price is $1700 plus and thought I’d check with you before buying because a penny saved is a penny earned. Plus I am planning of putting this light bar on my 4Runner, and need to check if it will fit my Frontrunner rack without sticking out the sides to much. As always love your videos keep up the great work man.
Any LED with a heat element to keep them from getting covered in ice and snow?
Hey Brad! Just got to San Diego from Guam and looking to install a Teraflex ST3 lift, any shop recommendations? What are the dues to get in on a garage party lol
I love led lights but i'm having trouble with electrical noise that is produced would you know how to resolve it because I usually listen to the radio all the time?
HID ✌
Can you put led in the halogen off road lights?
👍🏽
LEDs just aren’t as good for night clarity IMO. For me, halogen 9” fog/spreads on the bumper and 5” spots on the pillars is plenty.
finally!!! someone who sees it my way. I thought I was a weirdo when I actually preferred the way halogens lit up the environment compared to LED. Sure LEDs are so futuristic and cool looking but I cant see shit because the beams are so narrow and concentrated.
@@MrInzombia I'll join that club. The term you're looking for is narrow spectrum lighting... I highly suggest you try some HID's in whatever beam pattern you want. The only advice is to stay low on the color temperature 5000K or less. less is better, everyone will suggest 4300K. The higher the color temp (K value like 8000-15000), the more blue it becomes and then you run into the same problem with narrow spectrum lighting. can't "see" anything even though it appears to be illuminated.
@@littlegoobie kelvin is the big deal. Also cheap led's and wrong housing
I used to love my KC Daylight's but now I'm on the Rigid Industries LED train.
Hey brad I’m loving those G46 lights! I’m looking into purchasing a set of 2 for the front bumper on my truck some time in the future how are the ones from your xj holding up even after the roll over?
So the light on the XJ bumper are the G34's, a little smaller than the G46's. They are working just fine, no issues with them after the rollover.
Oh, apologies. Well I am planning on purchasing and installing the G46 lights on my 96 Chevy C1500 but I might custom install some 4x6 led dual beam headlights in the bumper instead and use the low beam as fog/driving lights and wire the hi’s to a separate switch to power on when need on a backroad or anytime it is needed, what is your thoughts on that Brother?
4500k-5000k HID is just about the best you can get. closest temp to sunlight and has the highest lumen output for the whole spectrum of color. as long as your housing can handle the heat, a 55w 4800k HID bulb would be your best bet, not the super blue ricer bulbs that make everything blue looking
If I'm running couple of different led lights and possibly a winch later on, do i need a second battery or will one be enough?
I've got a winch, several lights and a fridge in my Jeep and only running a single battery.
ordering a 2020 Sliverado and I have 10 KC daylighters sealedbeam that are out of this world and am thinking of the new M-rack with gravity LED's , How do they compare 185,000 CP daylighters vs the new LED's. no one can answer this ?
To do list, “save the XJ” lol
Man I really like the KC lights but dang they are super pricey
Something to consider is that while the HID may have more lumens as measured at some distance from the lens it will have less effective output because the shorter wavelengths of the bluish light scatter quicker than the longer, warmer wavelengths of the halogen. So less of the HID's light will make the return trip to your eyeballs. Those bluish wavelengths also wash out details, our eyes aren't as attuned to them as to lower k light. To our eyes, the blue light is glare. As I recall, the optimum temperature for human vision is in the 3500k to 4300k range.
.. just change the lens newb
@@7wildernessSpecialist All the lens can do, newb, is filter out colors. If the bulb isn't putting out any light at 3500k, the lens can't add any light at 3500k. And if the lens blocks light at 5500k then that means there is less light overall, newb. Just changing the lens won't make a bad bulb better.
You did forget one key factor that should influence any decision on lights. The philosophy of use. Why do you need these lights? When do you need these lights? Is the temperature hot of freezing? If you are crawling rocks at night when the temp is at it's lowest and tolerably that would be drastically different than when you would be checking traps in the winter during the warmest temps in the Winter. That is a huge factor that needs to be considered. It isn't like Grandpa's day when the light burned off all the ice, snow and frost. That needs to be said. The modern day lights are drastically different and require more thought as to the requirement than they did in days past.
Why arent we discussing the shock impacts of each design? Life expectency for bulbs are sadly teated without shock/impact use but rather in totally stable test environment. Good job mentioning lack of industry standards w/in US anyhow. Albeit consumers do get to compare lumens today that werent published 20yrs ago. Definitely need shock comparisons.
I have NEVER found a "driving" off road light that works as well as the old Grote Stainless Per-Lux lights with 150 watt sealed beams. I have used them for 35 years (originals still use them now) and they (2) will totally knock out most ANY LED or HID out there. Sadly, they are no longer made.
Why doesn't anyone ever talk about temperature management on LEDs. As they warm up they have to drop their input so they don't damage themselves which reduces the light they out out. A 200w led light bar may only put out 170w when running forna prolonged period.
Dude, is that HID lamp advertised to be the same colour temperature than the LED? It looks like 5000k vs 6000k. That is very important when comparing lights. Also, any lamps for HID you would recommend?
I rather go for HID cuz I'm not putting so many lights to worry about my electrical but there are 35w, 50w, 55w and even 100w HID bulbs to be used and that is a ton of lux compared to any other option available. And for cheaper than LED (initial cost at least, but also cheaper to replace a bulb than to replace the whole light).
Auxbeam offers great value and prices but I do not like the blue color output. It actually hinders the light output . Really takes away from the purpose