Having a few roof mounted lights on my Forester, I feel inclined to chip in here 😁 I like this bar, and I like the slim one row design. I think it'd be a nice upgrade for my reverse lights as it'd be flush with the rear roof rack... That being said, LED light bars are great for trail crawling and low speed illumination, they throw a ton of light everywhere and it's awesome. BUT... for long throw, high speed applications, they fall short. You need HID driving lights for those applications. I learned this firsthand in the mountains of West Virginia. First had the LED bar and swapped it out for Hella HIDs. The difference is "night and day" 😜 The distance of the throw on those HIDs is absolutely bonkers and they illuminate the road WAY, WAY far away (like... 1/2 to 1 mile away). If you don't need high speed, long throw solution, these LED bars are great, and I thought your review video was really spot and and fair, as always. 👍
"A few roof mounted lights" LOL :-) Yeah, most roads I drive you can't ever see more than 50 or 100 years anyway because they twist and turn, and it's always slow going in any case. :-) Hope you are well these days sir!
@@softroadingthewest I know there is a relationship between speed and time, but how fast are you going that you can see through time to 50 or 100 years away? :) Thanks for the good laugh...I'm also curious to see how the moisture things works out over time. Keep us posted!
@@zimmejoc LOL, oh man...that's a weird error on my part! Thought "yards" in my head but my fingers typed "years." The light is good, but it's not THAT good, LOL.
Wow, what a difference! Appreciate your taking the “reasonable” cost route. So many of us just can’t afford the big $$$. Now time will tell... keep us posted from time to time on how they are performing. On covering up the wire connections with shrink tubing... they make that stuff in a version that would not only shrink, but also seal against weather. Like your install!!
Oh nice, I will ask about that next time I'm at the electronics supply store! A lot of this install is temporary as I've got some changes to make to my roof rack and the wiring is going to have to come back apart, so when I re-install I will use weather protective heat shrink. I actually ran out of it in the process of this install but it didn't worth a trip to buy more since I'd just have to tear it back apart in the next couple of months...glad I didn't because I wouldn't have known to ask about the weather-resistant stuff. Thank you!
Here’s something like it. smile.amazon.com/XHF-Inch-3-2mm-Waterproof-Wear-Resistant/dp/B07VCD27L5 This page has a number of size options and lengths to choose from.
I have a similar Aux Beam in 42", get the same condensation, very small amount and dries out quickly. I was able the get about a half turn or more on the mounting screws on the front, that helped. 2.5 years and all led's still good.
Oooh I would not have thought of doing that! I will absolutely give that a try...probably best to wait until it looks dry in there I suppose..? Oh and glad to hear your Auxbeam lights are holding up, excellent news. Thank you!
@@softroadingthewest I have a set of high end lights, had a hell of a time getting them to seal up. Liquid electrical tape to seal around the power cord. Do you have much glare on your hood with the roof mounted light?
@@madcratebuilder Liquid electrical tape! I'd never heard of that. I'm learning all kinds of stuff in the comments of this one! :-) The hood is obviously lit up whereas it wouldn't be normally, but I didn't find it glare-y or bothersome in the least. The rest of the scene was so well lit up that it was just kinda like driving during the day (when your hood would also be fully lit). The high angle of the light and the placement further back definitely felt beneficial compared to when all of my lights were up on the nose of the car.
Oh, I should add though that the hyper-illuminated raindrops were a little distracting at first. I think if it was snowing or foggy, the roof-mounted light would be troublesome or even impossible to use. So still useful to have some kind of aux lighting on the bumper as well.
softroadingthewest you can actually have to much light at times. Usually it occurs in fog and snowfall of the big fluffy snowflake variety. In those conditions low beams and/or “fog/amber” lights are best.
Hey man, love the videos and can't wait to get out and explore some of these spots. I'm a lifelong Oregonian and still so many spots to see here. One note I'd like to add on your Auxbeam install. In vehicle 12V systems, the entire car chassis is the ground (-). You only need to run positive wires to a particular device and then simply attach the negative wire from the device to anything connected to the chassis. For example you could simply ensure your rack in general is grounded (likely) and then just run positive wires to the water pump, lights etc. Then just connect the negative leads to the rack. Saves time and a little money (copper isn't cheap!). Just make sure any positive wire traversing your rig is fused as close as possible to the battery.
Haha, thanks Matt. :-) I'm sure that'll earn me a few thumbs downs, but I just can't seem to contain myself to ultra-dry clinical reviews...where's the fun in that?? Thing is, I was really truly stunned and impressed by the product and felt inspired to express this in some way beyond just talking about it. I could've spent about a quarter of the time I did on this video and it would've been good enough, but I thoroughly enjoyed all the many hours I put into this one, it was a pleasure.
@@softroadingthewest niiice. Enjoying the art is what its all about. I got called a boob in a comment yesterday. 'This boob is trying to scare people for views' haha
@@MattCookOregon LOLOL...oh TH-cam. I can't believe we choose to spend our time in this place that seems to bring out the worst in some people, heh. Boob. LOL. I may have to work that into my comment on your next video.
@@softroadingthewest lmao I hope you do. Already deleted him. I shoulda came back at him with something like... Yeah well the jerk store called... They are runnin outa you!
I'm not gonna lie, the first 2min of the video are the best ahaha I just replayed it ! and I can' stop laughing ! Thank you for your honest review of this light bar, and I'm glad we ended up to the same conclusion ! About the wind noise, I think it all depends on how the light bar is positioned on the roof. And about that moisture I have to check on mine ! It's been under the rain for more than a week now ... I also didn't knew that a light bar could cost a thousand $ ... That's more than my Forester ! unbelievable ! Thank you for the good laugh my friend !
Haha, I came *very* close to cutting out the whole French intro because it's really irrelevant and bound to get me some thumbs downs, but ultimately I'm glad I left it in. :-) I certainly laughed a bit myself while making this video. :-) I would be afraid to put lights worth that much money on my car...I have to park my car on the street and would hate to come out one morning and find a thousand dollars worth of LEDs have disappeared.
Very epic beginning! I purchased a pair of Road Shock 8" Lights from Harbor Freight just before Christmas. Have not had a chance to mount them yet, but do have high hopes, like you, for a good budget off road light. Usually the moisture failure is where the wires run into the case and in the wiring since they don't usually seal inside the wiring loom. I find the Road Shocks have a very tight seal going into the case as well as the wiring loom is sealed with a water resistant plug. They are rated for brief submersion such as water crossings. Nice thing is they do include a plug with pigtail if you don't use their wiring system so you don't have to cut their wire loom and compromise the water resistance it offers. Looking forward to future reviews on the Auxbeam. George.
@@softroadingthewest I believe I read somewhere where people where sealing that area on the cheaper units and had good success. Not just around where the wire goes in, but also seal where the separate wires go into the wire loom. Big time fail point there and often overlooked. I found a Harbor Freight submersion test here th-cam.com/video/t8LVkq6jf-I/w-d-xo.html . I guess it is better than what they advertise.
No glare issue at all for me. The biggest "problem" was the raindrops getting hyperlit right in front of my eyes...a bit distracting at first but eventually I started tuning it out. I think it would be impossible to use the roof-mounted bar if it was snowing or foggy...I still want to add some better lights down low.
Here’s the hot tip for decreasing the wind noise by about 90%. Go to the automotive store ( Autozone, Pep Boys, whatever) and buy some plastic auto trim and cut them to the length of the light and slide them over each individual heat sync on the rear of the light. It’s cheap, easy, and it works. I have a 50’ light on my Jeep TJ and the noise was so loud after about 25 mph that you had to really turn the sterio up so you wouldn’t go nuts. After I did this I can have the sterio off at 60mph with no annoying noise.
Oooh, great tip! The noise I'm getting is very subtle, but I felt obligated to report on it. I really only notice it at the moment it starts (as I get up to speed) and then it's so subtle that it fades from my awareness...we'll see if I stop noticing it or if it starts to get to me, heh. Thank you!
I had a similar issue with one of my lights. I took the whole face place off to allow interior to dry completely. Then put it back together making sure all the machine screw were tight. Then I checked the other three lights. All three needed most of the machine screws tightened anywhere from half a turn to a turn and a half. No moisture issues from that point forward.
That's a good idea, I have to uninstall it at some point soon to reconfigure the roof rack a bit, so I will do just that while I have the light removed. Thanks!
Thank you! My Forester is hands down my favorite car ever...it has literally changed my life. :-) Good luck with the build! Hopefully you'll make a video of it?
softroadingthewest Yes! that’s the plan! I just started making videos, currently riding the “small channel struggle bus”. I do a lot of hiking and camping so looking to show a lot more of that in the future while incorporating some subie camping in the mix. Have a great weekend!
@@DanielleRootes Nice! Best of luck with the channel! I stumbled into doing this rather accidentally but I'm having a ton of fun! Hope you're getting someplace nice this weekend. Enjoy!
Something you might consider is adding a couple of smaller lights up there one on each side of the light bar but pointed more to the side. Not 90* but more of 45* I found that it really helps on those back roads to see off to the left and right for animals that sometimes jump out in front of you. Great video
thank you for talking about the camera settings and not having them on auto! a lot of reviews dont do that so you dont know if you're seeing an accurate comparison or not.
If you see this... You now know my story. Lighting is on the list, and I grwatly appreciate the budget minded reviews! Btw, I received what you sent. Cross country in like three days! The USPS is in the ball, lol. Thanks again!
Wow, that was fast, glad you got it!! The Auxbeam bar has continued to be an excellent value. The hardware, which *looks* like stainless steel but clearly isn't, is rusting, and it has some moisture inside, but it continues to work and I truly love this thing on the trail.
@@softroadingthewest Great! Appreciate the update. Good to know it's still holding up, especially since you're not exactly, umm, gentle 😉 Happy Thanksgiving Brother!
My light bar was all prewired. Just had to run the switch through the fire wall. Although mine is mounted to the front of the vehicle (not a Sube). That bar does a great job!
I was waiting for you to see the light (pun intended) and do this to the Forester. Great video sir!!! The price for light bars can get out of control really fast. It depends on what you're looking for really. The spendy lights like Rigid for example will require no modification to seal them properly out of the box, will be brighter, have top notch construction and hardware that should last the life of your vehicle and have amazing support if they don't, but is that worth 10x the price of the Auxbeam bar? That's up to the individual to decide but for many it isn't and that's perfectly fine! I put some cheapie driving lights on my beater car and they had condensation inside of them the first rain. Some LED emitters stopped working after a couple months. I was super disappointed but then again they were $40.
"ohhhh yaaaaaa!" Loved it man! Love how filmed the process of planning how toount and wire it up. Definitely helpful and yes there are plenty of other videos on how to wire up lights but it's nice to see a bit of what you did to connect yours up so thanks for sharing. That light bar looks bright! I've always liked and appreciated how affordable the auxbeam lights are! And I agree that they are a great lighting solution for those who don't have the money for the higher end stuff. Some people can argue how crap they are but relatively they are fine and do the job. Just like the led lights on Amazon lol. But anyways great video and thanks for sharing. Amazing videography as well you put alot of work into this video. All the different shots and the camera settings! Much appreciated video 👍 we need to get you to 100k subs now 👊
Thanks Marc! We'll see how it holds up but I've read largely favorable reports on these, given the price. I simply love how much better I can see on the trail, I had NO IDEA what I was missing! For a lousy $80 I should have done this long ago!
@@softroadingthewest ohh definitely. It's very apparent in the video how much light that thing emits and the difference when you switched from your regular halogens to high beam and then auxbeam 👌thatsss seriously the lighting u need out there in the middle of no where! I would have totally have gotten these as well but scared to wire it up. I would hate to wire some lights I spent good money on just to mess it up. So I've been lagging on the light upgrades.
I've contemplated on getting a light bar or pod lights for some time now for the forester but haven't gone through with it yet. Your video definitely helped me out and made me realize how much I could've used this over the weekend exploring in the dark. Thanks for the good video and I might be following in your footsteps on this one by the way lol. Looks awesome and its bright. They can sponsor me too lol. Cheers
Recently found your channel and think it's great! I'm trying to get into the whole off road, camping, and hiking thing. I also have a Forester, but mine is 98 so some videos are relatable too
I had dual Auxbeams (i think they were 6" each) mounted to the custom front bumper of my Jeep XJ. They worked GREAT and took a beating. I sold the XJ with the lights, and will definitely be putting a set of Auxbeams on my new 2020 Subaru Outback Onyx XT as soon as i figure out my gear configuration. Those people who spend $1000 for a light bar are out of their minds.
Great videos! Just discovered them a week ago. Hope to run into to someday on the road ( Preferably Dirt). I’m up in McMinnville set up for back road exploring in a Tacoma used to do it on a motorcycle but body is to old for dirt camping. Thanks for taking the time on your videos. Cheers, Jeff
What a big difference that will make it so much better for sure looks good up top I’m so impressed on your Subaru amazing off road ability as always be safe
We have Auxbeam on our tow trucks. I had a vehicle pull out in front of me in our wrecker. I ended up hitting them. The lightbar took a hit to the passenger side. I was doing 50MPH at impact. The lightbar was on the bumper of the wrecker. It had some visual damage but worked like the day we got it. I have a 54 inch on my personal truck and love it.
When I get my Outback 2021. I would like to add lighting into the front grill. I just have to figure out which lights will work. I rather have them tucked away.
Clean install, well done. Only thing I'd change on the wiring is greasing the crimps and connections before install, which provides an O2 and H2O barrier.
Oooh...excellent tip. I admit I did not even know that was a thing. I will start doing that. I have some lights to put on the rear of the roof and I want to get something else for down low in front. If I shoot video of any of that, I will show greasing, as I do want to set a good example wherever I can. :-) I've had some kind of aux lighting on the car for a year and a half here in wet western Oregon and not had any issues... knock on wood, LOL... but using grease makes total sense. Thank you!
@@softroadingthewest It helps but obviously isn't vital. I'm in western Oregon as well, you and I share a climate and might be neighbors. When I flat bedded my Yota ~5 years ago I did the wiring the same way you did, crimps with no grease. No issues so far, fingers crossed. If you ever need another space to work on your Subi, hit me up. I've got an enclosed shop and most of the shop toys.
I was going to recommend the same thing. A little dielectric grease on all of the terminals would help stave off corrosion especially in the conditions that you find yourself in.
I'm just wondering when you drilled into your roof cargo box if that will start to get water in there? Maybe you put some silicone on the inside to prevent that ?!?!
There are already a number of holes in the bottom of the box from before I got it, and I always have a bit of water in there at this time of year. But yes, when I re-do the final install (going to reinforce inside the box among other things) I will do some silicone sealing...of that hole and all the others as long as I'm at it. :-)
Great video! I really want to add this to my Santa Fe, and I think I've gotten some ideas from you. The last thing I want to do is drill into my roof, and it was great to see a low impact install like this.
I bought 2 of them for my f250 and was very happy with them after I went and bought a tap jig because they sent them to me with no threads in the ends to put the mounting bolt. Little bit of work but overall a great light for how little I had to spend. Probably going to get another auxbeam for the Foz!
That's great to hear. When Auxbeam reached out, I did some research on their products prior to accepting their item, and found largely favorable reviews. I talked to someone who has been running several Auxbeam lights for something like 5 years with no issue. For an extremely affordable alternative to the thousand-dollar lights, that's impressive...and the thing is, it still lights up the trail *really* well. I'd be very curious to see how much better I would see for the additional $900, heh. :-) Thanks for watching!
That's a great product and a great price but just don't do enough night time driving in the forester to warrant installing a LED light bar, usually tucked up in the camper trailer before night fall. I purchased from Subaru way back some better high beam globes which are great for me. Looking forward to see some night time driving with the new light bar in future videos, keep up the good work...cheers.
Indeed, something like this only makes sense if you regularly find yourself on trails after dark. I suspect there'll be more night driving coming soon, I was enjoying this way too much! :-)
Donald, why didn’t you just put another metal bar on the other side to hang the other end of the light from? The box end is bound to have different vibration patterns from the metal bar side, plus, if you ever want to move the box you’ll have to re-accommodate that light end. I also noticed a correct use of the subjonctif!
A few factors there. The unistrut rack does not extend under the box...I'd have no way to secure a length of strut over on that side. But as the box sits right on my cross bars, and I was able to add a piece of strut also right atop the cross bars, that created two perfectly parallel mounting points. To configure the mounting of the lightbar any differently would've required completely removing the box from the roof and redesigning my entire roof rack build, something I simply didn't have time to undertake, nor did I want to tear everything apart in order to mount a lightbar that I didn't even know if I was going to like and want to keep. In order to test it out for the video, mounting to the box made a nice easy interim solution. At the time I was unsure how well this would work, but as it turned out, it's been just fine, and I've left it like that for almost a year now with no issues. I generally don't have time to muck around with changing something that's actually working, haha. :-)
softroadingthewest I ve seen you dropped some kalamata olives in your stir fry, if I had an address or something I could send you a jar with the best oregano of the 2020 season!
Donald une autre excellente vidéo et une critique honnête! Merci d'avoir partagé. Peut-être qu'une histoire sur la façon dont vous vous êtes lancé dans le overlanding pourrait être cool à partager.
Nicely done! Just wondering what temperature range you are seeing on the housing of the light bar. I have purchased and am installing on some Yakima Mighty Mounts. This will be on front bar under my SkyBox 16... Just wondering if the housing gets hot enough to be if a concern for the SkyBox aerobar clamps and if I need some type of heat shield between the clamp and the housing. Also, great comments about the dielectric grease!
I have had very few opportunities to be on the trail at night since installing it and I did not previously think to see how hot it was getting. I suppose that's something I can easily test out at home though. I don't have a way to measure surface temperature with any accuracy but I'll try to remember to run it for a while next time I'm out working on the car and see how hot it gets.
Nice video Don! Could have sworn I saw you in the Willamette street Starbucks yesterday morning. If it wasn’t you then you have a doppelgänger out there.
That was me! That's funny, right after Starbucks yesterday I was over at Market of Choice and a random stranger stopped me and said "Hey, I subscribe to you on TH-cam!" First time that's ever happened! :-)
Hi Donald Just an idea, but it looks like, maybe where the cable enters the light bar, might be letting through possibly. Flange may need a tighten up as they probably only check it works at end of production line not check for moisture resistance. Just a thought...
I agree, that spot looks to me to be the weakest link and highly suspect as the point of entry. Once I get the thing dried back out inside I'm definitely going to reinforce that somehow. Thanks for watching!
Amazing light bar though. From watching your video it's the difference literally between night and day. Just an idea but if you intend to purchase another for the tail end of your rig then how about fixing a powerful magnet strip (and cloth liner so it doesn't scratch) to back of auxbeam with enough slack cable so you can produce the quantity of light e.g. 'where you sit round the camp fire. Just a suggestion...
Can you please tell me the dimensions of the light bar? The website doesn't list how tall or deep it is and I'd like to mount it under the roof rack cross bar (inbetween the bar and roof) for a stealth look.
Awesome video and clear evaluation. Like many others commenting I don't want to spend big big dollars on the top lights and this seems to be an excellent solution. Keep up the great content. ATB
Where the heck do I start?!?! First: Just came over from Primal outdoors and I finally found someone that SOFT Overlands like me (Ridgeline).... Video is super fun! And love the French!
Haha, thanks! Appreciate you coming over from Jason's channel to check mine out. I do have one video from about a year ago which includes a buddy with a Ridgeline: th-cam.com/video/6ncDJOQYb2I/w-d-xo.html
Great idea, thank you! I do actually need to disassemble this again soon for some other changes I'm making up there, and will look at a tidier permanent solution for the wiring.
Love the Jurassic park looking thumbnail for this video, most epic yet. I have a pair of the little Auxbeam spotlights on my rig and think they are great, especially for the price. I would really love to know why/how those big names deserve those big prices when these work just as well
Well, a lot of those expensive ones are definitely sexier looking, but that's not quite enough enticement for me to drop that kind of cash. I would hope for the money they throw more & better light somehow, never get water inside, and generate zero wind noise. I would actually be very curious to test one of the expensive 30" single row bars and compare it to this one. I don't doubt it would be better, I just struggle to imagine it's $900 worth of better. :-)
very informative video... just wondering how you control the power to the light bar from the cockpit? Or did you do a terminal block install video previously?
I haven't done a video about our original light install...that was before I was really active on TH-cam. I just have some basic metal toggle switches inside the car, which kept the wiring nice and simple (vs, say, switches that light up). This *seemed* like the more durable, sturdy approach compared to all the plastic switches I see people using, but in fact three out of my four metal toggle switches have apparently disintegrated internally, they're just floppy and no longer actually switch anything. Really frustrating. I'm lucky I have one that hasn't failed so I could do this video without diving into replacing the switches at the same time, but I'm going to have to come up with a new solution for the switches very soon. I have more lights to install and I fear the one working switch I have left is going to fail like the others.
Merci Donald, tu as relevé le défi de t'exprimer en français, j'adore ! Si un jour tu traverses l'atlantique, je pense qu'on sera quelques-uns à vouloir te rencontrer et partager des balades en Subaru !
J'y irai, c'est sûr. J'ai de la famille (dans un sens) en France que je n'ai pas vu depuis des années et j'ai hâte d'y retourner. Certainement pas en 2020 mais j'espère faire le voyage en 2021 et je voudrai bien rencontrer mes amis de TH-cam!
I was thinking of doing the same thing on my outback. But my thing is I'm worried I'll get a reflection off the hood. Do you have any issues with it being on the top? And also I agree. Some of them lights are way overpriced. I paid 100 bucks for my KC highlights wich wasn't to bad. But like to get a little more lighting so debating on a roof mount light bar
It illuminates the hood, but there's no particular glare. I haven't found it bothersome because everything else around is also lit up, kinda like it would be during the day, so I don't feel blinded by the light on the hood. It's really only fog, snow, and sometimes rain where I have had any kind of issue feeling dazzled by glare.
@@softroadingthewest awesome, thank you for your input. Your reply helped me make my decision. And I'm gonna go with it. Good lighting at night when your in the boonies is definitely important.
About that wind noise , I'm not sure if anyone has brought up this idea to you. Wrap it around few times with a bungee cord, that does the job. My cross bars have pretty bad wind noise, bungee cord minimize it down until like.....140km/h.
Interesting! No, no one made that particular suggestion. There was a tip to apply some kind of plastic auto trim to one of the cooling fins. It seems that anything which disrupts the way the air flows over the light bar may help. I'll see if it ends up bugging me or not. For the moment, at the times I notice the wind noise, it makes me happy... "Aaahhh, the sweet sound of being able to see on the trail at night!" :-) Also, it's highly unlikely, but if somehow I ever managed to get my slug of a Forester up to 140kph (87 mph) wind noise would be the least of my worries, LOL.
@@softroadingthewest yeah, give that a try if the noise starts to bother you while driving at around city speed limits. Few dollars that did the trick.... No need for those hundreds of dollars wind fairing!
Thanks! French was my college major so I was, you know, analyzing and writing essays on middle-ages French lit in French. I lived in France a couple of years and married a French woman, so all my in-laws spoke French, and all our family vacations were, necessarily, to France. :-) I'm divorced now but I still love France and its culture and its people, and remain in touch with "my family" in France. My children, alas, while technically French citizens who spent their formative years speaking French, have both pretty much lost it, though I'm sure they would regain it quickly if forced to. Might do them some good to spend a summer with their grandparents and cousins in the old country. :-)
Hi there! How about a(n) [almost] 1-year update?? A lot of budget lights seem pretty good out of the box, but only time can tell, and you do a great job of putting gear through its paces. :)
I doubt I will do a whole video about that, but the light has held up just fine, it's still on my car, it gets used and it works great...I'm happy to have it up there, it helps a ton on the trail at night. Some of the mounting hardware that had the appearance of "stainless steel" has rusted, and in the wet months it perpetually has some moisture inside, but so far it keeps getting the job done.
No, not a problem at all. The only issue along those lines was how the rain drops got hyper-illuminated right up close...a bit distracting until I got used to it. I do think a roof-mounted light like this would be difficult to use in fog or if it was snowing...some extra lighting low on the bumper would still be useful.
I had no issue at all with glare on the windshield or coming off the hood. I would say the worst thing about the position of the light was the raindrops getting so brightly lit. I imagine a roof mounted light would be difficult or impossible to use if it was snowing or foggy. While this light bar seems beyond ample for lighting up the trail, I still want to put something else down low in front for supplemental light when conditions such as falling snow or fog preclude using the roof-mounted bar. I did really like having the light coming from above and further back on the car in terms of how it lit the scene in front of me...a much broader field of vision than when all my lights were up on the nose of the car, plus I could still see much further down the road as well.
4:30 Uni-strut debut with music: Yea boiiiii You didn't mention in the video but do you have issues with glare on the hood with it mounted there? I've heard of people with that issue with that location.
That was one thing I was curious about as well, but ultimately it hasn't seemed problematic to me...I mean, there is clearly way more light on the hood than there would normally be, but the trail is so incredibly well lit up that I don't feel blinded by the hood. It's just kinda like driving during the day really, when there is also light reflecting off the hood. Was I actually maybe hoping it would give me a legitimate excuse to run black vinyl down the center portion of hood? Maybe. LOL. A treatment which while perhaps a bit overdone, I still think looks quite good on the SH Forester, but from my initial experience, that doesn't seem to be strictly necessary.
Hmm. I'm not 100% sure how to figure that out. Per their website it's a 90-watt array and obviously on a 12-volt system. Does that mean 7.5 amp draw? Does that sound right? To compare, the virtually useless pair of Hella 500s I removed were 55 watts each for a total of 110 watts (if that's how that works) or 9.16 amp draw on that single circuit. More power draw and using them was like wandering through a haunted house with just a candle to light the way, LOL.
I have upgraded bulbs for my low beams. I imagine I'll do the same when one of my high beam bulbs finally burns out. I'm just frugal enough to keep using what I have as long as it's technically still working. :-)
MDR! Ca fait plaisir de pouvoir utiliser mon français un peu! Je suis en train de le perdre car je n'ai presque plus de contact avec des français. Sauf Jordan bien sûr, mais lui il refuse de parler français. 8^D
Hahah, je ne m'attendais pas à t'entendre parler Français en tombant sur cette vidéo, quelle belle surprise ! N'hésite pas à faire un tour sur ma petite chaine, c'est toujours un plaisir de découvrir d'autres passionnés. Merci pour ta vidéo qui a répondu à quelques-unes de mes questions sur le format 31" !
Frankly, I've never been a fan of that look. No offense to anyone who runs ditch lights. :-) I can see how they could provide a little assistance if one only had bumper-mounted aux lights, but with lighting on the roof illuminating everything to the front and sides of me, I don't think it would make a significant difference in visibility for me. For now I'm going to focus on getting some effective lighting down low in front (because that roof-mounted light bar will be useless in fog or if it's snowing), and some auxiliary backup lighting so I can see through my tinted windows at night. :-)
I damaged the bar doing something stupid. In the process, the mounting hardware for the bar came dangerously close to damaging my radiator (the fault, I must point out, is entirely mine, for attempting an obstacle I had zero chance of surmounting). I already had plans in the works for moving in a new direction with the front end anyway, so even though I managed to repair the bar & its mounting brackets, I decided not to reinstall it. I would still recommend it to anyone who likes it. It's an excellent addition to the SH Forester. While it's not advertised as a protective bar, it did indeed prevent my plastic bumper cover from being damaged on countless occasions.
I had no desire to drill the roof, which is why I ran mine up along the side of the windshield. I'm not going to wire the aux backup lights into the car's system, I'm just going to have a separate switch. I don't want them to come on every time I shift into reverse. Probably 90% of the time I'm backing up, it's daytime or someplace well lit at night. I want to be able to just switch them on only when I need them. Plus not risk screwing something up with the car's stock wiring. :-)
I'm definitely budget minded like yourself and though I can appreciate the cost of said Auxbeam and the like, I have to say, the cheap anodization and seals don't make it worth the price. You'll get condensation inside within a year because there's no pressure equalization mechanism. I went with a Cali Raised roof bar and Diode Dynamics 12" for my bumper, both offer a Gore pressure valve. I will concede they're more expensive than the Aux but both under $200.
At under $200 that still seems pretty reasonable compared to a lot of bars I saw. I'll be curious to see how the Auxbeam fares. I've had numerous commenters tell me they've had Auxbeam products on their rigs for years and still working. Crossing my fingers! :-)
I did notice a few basic LED options last time I was in Harbor Freight. I'll be curious to know how those fare. I like seeing budget choices out there. I had a fuzzy sense that some of the lights out there were on the spendy side, but I didn't even realize how ludicrously expensive until I went looking for similar examples of single-row ~30" bars...holy crap! :-o
Great light for a great price. Great install. If you stagger your in line butt splices it will not look like a big boob stuffed in shrink tube. I was going to say a garter snake that swallowed a rabbit untill i read you comment section. Thanks for the video.
LOL...Matt Cook will appreciate that one, haha. That is a GREAT tip though. Fortunately this was a temporary install and it all has to come back apart, so when I re-install the permanent setup after reconfiguring my roof rack a bit I will definitely employ that technique along with the other excellent tips I have received - thank you!
After seeing your stock lights I don’t see how you went out exploring at night. That’s a big difference and as you said not everyone can afford $500.00 or more for a set of lights.
LOL, I had NO idea how blind I was. I mean, the human eye is obviously much more sensitive and responsive over a wider dynamic range than a camera can record, so with the camera manually set to properly expose the light from the LED, the headlights only on the same setting look very inadequate. That was an empirical comparison showing exactly how much more light the light bar produces, though in reality our eyes function more like a camera set on auto exposure...they adjust to the amount of light available. So with just my headlights, I myself could see more than just that tiny puddle of light the camera captured. That said, even with my auto-exposure human eyes adjusting themselves to the amount of light available, the difference in how much better I can see with the light bar is just insane. I had NO idea what I was missing. :-)
softroadingthewest I’ve watched all your videos so far and I kept wondering how you can see at night out in the woods. I don’t see you having a problem with the lights you installed now.
Hi from Turkey , Istanbul,, ı owner 2010 forester ,,,,ı am following to you for good ideasii ı will do like you to my forester . you are a good example for me.Thanks ı am waiting your new videos have a nice fORESTER days
the only thing I dont like from my point of view on this install .... my father he's a electronic tech and he would tell you to protect your connection in to your relay and bloc multi connector... to put it in a close compartement cause you are asking for problem with corosion. no offense ;)
Merci! C'était ma spécialité à la fac, et puis je me suis marié avec une française. :-) J'ai passé pas mal de temps en France au cours de ma vie. Maintenant que je suis divorcé, j'ai rarement l'occasion d'utiliser mon français et je suis en train de perdre la facilité que j'avais auparavant à le parler.
@VE2XIP Sa dépend je sais pas je suis jamais allé en Oregon mais le paysage du Quebec est très beau. JE pecher le saumon et je peux te dire que les rivieres et le paysage sont a coupé le souffle !
Yes, it didn't take long. Although it still works. At some point I need to do some work on the roof rack, and when I do, I'm going to disassemble the Auxbeam bar, make sure it's good and dry inside, then do some extra sealing work on it. I'm quite happy with it otherwise so I'd like to keep it working.
Having a few roof mounted lights on my Forester, I feel inclined to chip in here 😁
I like this bar, and I like the slim one row design. I think it'd be a nice upgrade for my reverse lights as it'd be flush with the rear roof rack...
That being said, LED light bars are great for trail crawling and low speed illumination, they throw a ton of light everywhere and it's awesome.
BUT... for long throw, high speed applications, they fall short. You need HID driving lights for those applications. I learned this firsthand in the mountains of West Virginia. First had the LED bar and swapped it out for Hella HIDs. The difference is "night and day" 😜 The distance of the throw on those HIDs is absolutely bonkers and they illuminate the road WAY, WAY far away (like... 1/2 to 1 mile away).
If you don't need high speed, long throw solution, these LED bars are great, and I thought your review video was really spot and and fair, as always. 👍
"A few roof mounted lights" LOL :-) Yeah, most roads I drive you can't ever see more than 50 or 100 years anyway because they twist and turn, and it's always slow going in any case. :-) Hope you are well these days sir!
@@softroadingthewest I know there is a relationship between speed and time, but how fast are you going that you can see through time to 50 or 100 years away? :) Thanks for the good laugh...I'm also curious to see how the moisture things works out over time. Keep us posted!
@@zimmejoc LOL, oh man...that's a weird error on my part! Thought "yards" in my head but my fingers typed "years." The light is good, but it's not THAT good, LOL.
@@softroadingthewest Update: I installed this same bar as a rear facing reverse gear activated aux lamp and it's great! Very bright and low profile!
@@softroadingthewest Light years lol.
Wow, what a difference! Appreciate your taking the “reasonable” cost route. So many of us just can’t afford the big $$$. Now time will tell... keep us posted from time to time on how they are performing. On covering up the wire connections with shrink tubing... they make that stuff in a version that would not only shrink, but also seal against weather. Like your install!!
Oh nice, I will ask about that next time I'm at the electronics supply store! A lot of this install is temporary as I've got some changes to make to my roof rack and the wiring is going to have to come back apart, so when I re-install I will use weather protective heat shrink. I actually ran out of it in the process of this install but it didn't worth a trip to buy more since I'd just have to tear it back apart in the next couple of months...glad I didn't because I wouldn't have known to ask about the weather-resistant stuff. Thank you!
Here’s something like it.
smile.amazon.com/XHF-Inch-3-2mm-Waterproof-Wear-Resistant/dp/B07VCD27L5
This page has a number of size options and lengths to choose from.
@@richardburguillos3118 That stuff looks useful!
I have a similar Aux Beam in 42", get the same condensation, very small amount and dries out quickly. I was able the get about a half turn or more on the mounting screws on the front, that helped. 2.5 years and all led's still good.
Oooh I would not have thought of doing that! I will absolutely give that a try...probably best to wait until it looks dry in there I suppose..? Oh and glad to hear your Auxbeam lights are holding up, excellent news. Thank you!
@@softroadingthewest I have a set of high end lights, had a hell of a time getting them to seal up. Liquid electrical tape to seal around the power cord. Do you have much glare on your hood with the roof mounted light?
@@madcratebuilder Liquid electrical tape! I'd never heard of that. I'm learning all kinds of stuff in the comments of this one! :-) The hood is obviously lit up whereas it wouldn't be normally, but I didn't find it glare-y or bothersome in the least. The rest of the scene was so well lit up that it was just kinda like driving during the day (when your hood would also be fully lit). The high angle of the light and the placement further back definitely felt beneficial compared to when all of my lights were up on the nose of the car.
Oh, I should add though that the hyper-illuminated raindrops were a little distracting at first. I think if it was snowing or foggy, the roof-mounted light would be troublesome or even impossible to use. So still useful to have some kind of aux lighting on the bumper as well.
softroadingthewest you can actually have to much light at times. Usually it occurs in fog and snowfall of the big fluffy snowflake variety. In those conditions low beams and/or “fog/amber” lights are best.
15:08 did you check bolts to see if any of them are loose? I think you can tighten them with an allen wrench.
Great video!
I did not, but when I take it back off to rig up the permanent install, I'm going to open it up, let it dry out, then snug everything up.
Hey man, love the videos and can't wait to get out and explore some of these spots. I'm a lifelong Oregonian and still so many spots to see here.
One note I'd like to add on your Auxbeam install. In vehicle 12V systems, the entire car chassis is the ground (-). You only need to run positive wires to a particular device and then simply attach the negative wire from the device to anything connected to the chassis. For example you could simply ensure your rack in general is grounded (likely) and then just run positive wires to the water pump, lights etc. Then just connect the negative leads to the rack. Saves time and a little money (copper isn't cheap!). Just make sure any positive wire traversing your rig is fused as close as possible to the battery.
I approve of this dramatic intro!
Haha, thanks Matt. :-) I'm sure that'll earn me a few thumbs downs, but I just can't seem to contain myself to ultra-dry clinical reviews...where's the fun in that?? Thing is, I was really truly stunned and impressed by the product and felt inspired to express this in some way beyond just talking about it. I could've spent about a quarter of the time I did on this video and it would've been good enough, but I thoroughly enjoyed all the many hours I put into this one, it was a pleasure.
@@softroadingthewest niiice. Enjoying the art is what its all about. I got called a boob in a comment yesterday. 'This boob is trying to scare people for views' haha
@@MattCookOregon LOLOL...oh TH-cam. I can't believe we choose to spend our time in this place that seems to bring out the worst in some people, heh.
Boob. LOL. I may have to work that into my comment on your next video.
@@softroadingthewest lmao I hope you do. Already deleted him. I shoulda came back at him with something like... Yeah well the jerk store called... They are runnin outa you!
I'm not gonna lie, the first 2min of the video are the best ahaha I just replayed it ! and I can' stop laughing !
Thank you for your honest review of this light bar, and I'm glad we ended up to the same conclusion !
About the wind noise, I think it all depends on how the light bar is positioned on the roof. And about that moisture I have to check on mine ! It's been under the rain for more than a week now ...
I also didn't knew that a light bar could cost a thousand $ ... That's more than my Forester ! unbelievable !
Thank you for the good laugh my friend !
Haha, I came *very* close to cutting out the whole French intro because it's really irrelevant and bound to get me some thumbs downs, but ultimately I'm glad I left it in. :-) I certainly laughed a bit myself while making this video. :-) I would be afraid to put lights worth that much money on my car...I have to park my car on the street and would hate to come out one morning and find a thousand dollars worth of LEDs have disappeared.
Very epic beginning!
I purchased a pair of Road Shock 8" Lights from Harbor Freight just before Christmas. Have not had a chance to mount them yet, but do have high hopes, like you, for a good budget off road light. Usually the moisture failure is where the wires run into the case and in the wiring since they don't usually seal inside the wiring loom. I find the Road Shocks have a very tight seal going into the case as well as the wiring loom is sealed with a water resistant plug. They are rated for brief submersion such as water crossings. Nice thing is they do include a plug with pigtail if you don't use their wiring system so you don't have to cut their wire loom and compromise the water resistance it offers.
Looking forward to future reviews on the Auxbeam. George.
That does look like it could be a weak point on this one. I wonder if some additional sealing right there would be advisable.
@@softroadingthewest I believe I read somewhere where people where sealing that area on the cheaper units and had good success. Not just around where the wire goes in, but also seal where the separate wires go into the wire loom. Big time fail point there and often overlooked.
I found a Harbor Freight submersion test here th-cam.com/video/t8LVkq6jf-I/w-d-xo.html . I guess it is better than what they advertise.
Do you have any problems with light glare off the hood or top of the windshield?
Great and inspiring video!
No glare issue at all for me. The biggest "problem" was the raindrops getting hyperlit right in front of my eyes...a bit distracting at first but eventually I started tuning it out. I think it would be impossible to use the roof-mounted bar if it was snowing or foggy...I still want to add some better lights down low.
That light bar is amazing! Please do more videos at night using the light bar.
Next time I'm on the trail at night, you can count on it! :-)
Here’s the hot tip for decreasing the wind noise by about 90%. Go to the automotive store ( Autozone, Pep Boys, whatever) and buy some plastic auto trim and cut them to the length of the light and slide them over each individual heat sync on the rear of the light. It’s cheap, easy, and it works. I have a 50’ light on my Jeep TJ and the noise was so loud after about 25 mph that you had to really turn the sterio up so you wouldn’t go nuts. After I did this I can have the sterio off at 60mph with no annoying noise.
Oooh, great tip! The noise I'm getting is very subtle, but I felt obligated to report on it. I really only notice it at the moment it starts (as I get up to speed) and then it's so subtle that it fades from my awareness...we'll see if I stop noticing it or if it starts to get to me, heh. Thank you!
I had a similar issue with one of my lights. I took the whole face place off to allow interior to dry completely. Then put it back together making sure all the machine screw were tight. Then I checked the other three lights. All three needed most of the machine screws tightened anywhere from half a turn to a turn and a half. No moisture issues from that point forward.
That's a good idea, I have to uninstall it at some point soon to reconfigure the roof rack a bit, so I will do just that while I have the light removed. Thanks!
I love the budget building. I did the same thing with my 4Runner and will continue that with the F-150.
Hey man! Love your videos. I have a Subaru Forester as well. Best car I ever owned! I plan to build it out this summer!
Thank you! My Forester is hands down my favorite car ever...it has literally changed my life. :-) Good luck with the build! Hopefully you'll make a video of it?
softroadingthewest Yes! that’s the plan! I just started making videos, currently riding the “small channel struggle bus”. I do a lot of hiking and camping so looking to show a lot more of that in the future while incorporating some subie camping in the mix. Have a great weekend!
@@DanielleRootes Nice! Best of luck with the channel! I stumbled into doing this rather accidentally but I'm having a ton of fun! Hope you're getting someplace nice this weekend. Enjoy!
👍👍👍👏👏👏♥️♥️♥️
Something you might consider is adding a couple of smaller lights up there one on each side of the light bar but pointed more to the side. Not 90* but more of 45* I found that it really helps on those back roads to see off to the left and right for animals that sometimes jump out in front of you.
Great video
thank you for talking about the camera settings and not having them on auto! a lot of reviews dont do that so you dont know if you're seeing an accurate comparison or not.
If you see this...
You now know my story. Lighting is on the list, and I grwatly appreciate the budget minded reviews! Btw, I received what you sent. Cross country in like three days! The USPS is in the ball, lol. Thanks again!
Wow, that was fast, glad you got it!! The Auxbeam bar has continued to be an excellent value. The hardware, which *looks* like stainless steel but clearly isn't, is rusting, and it has some moisture inside, but it continues to work and I truly love this thing on the trail.
@@softroadingthewest Great! Appreciate the update. Good to know it's still holding up, especially since you're not exactly, umm, gentle 😉
Happy Thanksgiving Brother!
My light bar was all prewired. Just had to run the switch through the fire wall. Although mine is mounted to the front of the vehicle (not a Sube). That bar does a great job!
I was waiting for you to see the light (pun intended) and do this to the Forester. Great video sir!!!
The price for light bars can get out of control really fast. It depends on what you're looking for really. The spendy lights like Rigid for example will require no modification to seal them properly out of the box, will be brighter, have top notch construction and hardware that should last the life of your vehicle and have amazing support if they don't, but is that worth 10x the price of the Auxbeam bar? That's up to the individual to decide but for many it isn't and that's perfectly fine!
I put some cheapie driving lights on my beater car and they had condensation inside of them the first rain. Some LED emitters stopped working after a couple months. I was super disappointed but then again they were $40.
"ohhhh yaaaaaa!" Loved it man! Love how filmed the process of planning how toount and wire it up. Definitely helpful and yes there are plenty of other videos on how to wire up lights but it's nice to see a bit of what you did to connect yours up so thanks for sharing. That light bar looks bright! I've always liked and appreciated how affordable the auxbeam lights are! And I agree that they are a great lighting solution for those who don't have the money for the higher end stuff. Some people can argue how crap they are but relatively they are fine and do the job. Just like the led lights on Amazon lol. But anyways great video and thanks for sharing. Amazing videography as well you put alot of work into this video. All the different shots and the camera settings! Much appreciated video 👍 we need to get you to 100k subs now 👊
Thanks Marc! We'll see how it holds up but I've read largely favorable reports on these, given the price. I simply love how much better I can see on the trail, I had NO IDEA what I was missing! For a lousy $80 I should have done this long ago!
@@softroadingthewest ohh definitely. It's very apparent in the video how much light that thing emits and the difference when you switched from your regular halogens to high beam and then auxbeam 👌thatsss seriously the lighting u need out there in the middle of no where! I would have totally have gotten these as well but scared to wire it up. I would hate to wire some lights I spent good money on just to mess it up. So I've been lagging on the light upgrades.
I've contemplated on getting a light bar or pod lights for some time now for the forester but haven't gone through with it yet. Your video definitely helped me out and made me realize how much I could've used this over the weekend exploring in the dark. Thanks for the good video and I might be following in your footsteps on this one by the way lol. Looks awesome and its bright. They can sponsor me too lol. Cheers
Recently found your channel and think it's great! I'm trying to get into the whole off road, camping, and hiking thing. I also have a Forester, but mine is 98 so some videos are relatable too
I had dual Auxbeams (i think they were 6" each) mounted to the custom front bumper of my Jeep XJ. They worked GREAT and took a beating.
I sold the XJ with the lights, and will definitely be putting a set of Auxbeams on my new 2020 Subaru Outback Onyx XT as soon as i figure out my gear configuration.
Those people who spend $1000 for a light bar are out of their minds.
Great videos! Just discovered them a week ago. Hope to run into to someday on the road ( Preferably Dirt). I’m up in McMinnville set up for back road exploring in a Tacoma used to do it on a motorcycle but body is to old for dirt camping. Thanks for taking the time on your videos. Cheers, Jeff
What a big difference that will make it so much better for sure looks good up top I’m so impressed on your Subaru amazing off road ability as always be safe
The first thought was "here comes the sun.......doodadoodoo " a BEATLES reference on how bright that light is WOW!!!!!!
We have Auxbeam on our tow trucks. I had a vehicle pull out in front of me in our wrecker. I ended up hitting them. The lightbar took a hit to the passenger side. I was doing 50MPH at impact. The lightbar was on the bumper of the wrecker. It had some visual damage but worked like the day we got it. I have a 54 inch on my personal truck and love it.
When I get my Outback 2021. I would like to add lighting into the front grill. I just have to figure out which lights will work. I rather have them tucked away.
Clean install, well done. Only thing I'd change on the wiring is greasing the crimps and connections before install, which provides an O2 and H2O barrier.
Oooh...excellent tip. I admit I did not even know that was a thing. I will start doing that. I have some lights to put on the rear of the roof and I want to get something else for down low in front. If I shoot video of any of that, I will show greasing, as I do want to set a good example wherever I can. :-) I've had some kind of aux lighting on the car for a year and a half here in wet western Oregon and not had any issues... knock on wood, LOL... but using grease makes total sense. Thank you!
@@softroadingthewest It helps but obviously isn't vital. I'm in western Oregon as well, you and I share a climate and might be neighbors. When I flat bedded my Yota ~5 years ago I did the wiring the same way you did, crimps with no grease. No issues so far, fingers crossed.
If you ever need another space to work on your Subi, hit me up. I've got an enclosed shop and most of the shop toys.
I was going to recommend the same thing. A little dielectric grease on all of the terminals would help stave off corrosion especially in the conditions that you find yourself in.
@@om617yota8 Nice, thank you!
I'm just wondering when you drilled into your roof cargo box if that will start to get water in there? Maybe you put some silicone on the inside to prevent that ?!?!
There are already a number of holes in the bottom of the box from before I got it, and I always have a bit of water in there at this time of year. But yes, when I re-do the final install (going to reinforce inside the box among other things) I will do some silicone sealing...of that hole and all the others as long as I'm at it. :-)
Great video! I really want to add this to my Santa Fe, and I think I've gotten some ideas from you. The last thing I want to do is drill into my roof, and it was great to see a low impact install like this.
I bought 2 of them for my f250 and was very happy with them after I went and bought a tap jig because they sent them to me with no threads in the ends to put the mounting bolt. Little bit of work but overall a great light for how little I had to spend. Probably going to get another auxbeam for the Foz!
That's great to hear. When Auxbeam reached out, I did some research on their products prior to accepting their item, and found largely favorable reviews. I talked to someone who has been running several Auxbeam lights for something like 5 years with no issue. For an extremely affordable alternative to the thousand-dollar lights, that's impressive...and the thing is, it still lights up the trail *really* well. I'd be very curious to see how much better I would see for the additional $900, heh. :-) Thanks for watching!
That's a great product and a great price but just don't do enough night time driving in the forester to warrant installing a LED light bar, usually tucked up in the camper trailer before night fall. I purchased from Subaru way back some better high beam globes which are great for me. Looking forward to see some night time driving with the new light bar in future videos, keep up the good work...cheers.
Indeed, something like this only makes sense if you regularly find yourself on trails after dark. I suspect there'll be more night driving coming soon, I was enjoying this way too much! :-)
Donald, why didn’t you just put another metal bar on the other side to hang the other end of the light from? The box end is bound to have different vibration patterns from the metal bar side, plus, if you ever want to move the box you’ll have to re-accommodate that light end. I also noticed a correct use of the subjonctif!
A few factors there. The unistrut rack does not extend under the box...I'd have no way to secure a length of strut over on that side. But as the box sits right on my cross bars, and I was able to add a piece of strut also right atop the cross bars, that created two perfectly parallel mounting points. To configure the mounting of the lightbar any differently would've required completely removing the box from the roof and redesigning my entire roof rack build, something I simply didn't have time to undertake, nor did I want to tear everything apart in order to mount a lightbar that I didn't even know if I was going to like and want to keep. In order to test it out for the video, mounting to the box made a nice easy interim solution. At the time I was unsure how well this would work, but as it turned out, it's been just fine, and I've left it like that for almost a year now with no issues. I generally don't have time to muck around with changing something that's actually working, haha. :-)
softroadingthewest I ve seen you dropped some kalamata olives in your stir fry, if I had an address or something I could send you a jar with the best oregano of the 2020 season!
Donald une autre excellente vidéo et une critique honnête! Merci d'avoir partagé. Peut-être qu'une histoire sur la façon dont vous vous êtes lancé dans le overlanding pourrait être cool à partager.
Ah oui, pas mal comme idée. Celle-là par contre je ferais entièrement en anglais. J'aime me servir de mon français, mais pas tant que ça. :-)
Nicely done! Just wondering what temperature range you are seeing on the housing of the light bar. I have purchased and am installing on some Yakima Mighty Mounts. This will be on front bar under my SkyBox 16... Just wondering if the housing gets hot enough to be if a concern for the SkyBox aerobar clamps and if I need some type of heat shield between the clamp and the housing. Also, great comments about the dielectric grease!
I have had very few opportunities to be on the trail at night since installing it and I did not previously think to see how hot it was getting. I suppose that's something I can easily test out at home though. I don't have a way to measure surface temperature with any accuracy but I'll try to remember to run it for a while next time I'm out working on the car and see how hot it gets.
Nice video Don! Could have sworn I saw you in the Willamette street Starbucks yesterday morning. If it wasn’t you then you have a doppelgänger out there.
That was me! That's funny, right after Starbucks yesterday I was over at Market of Choice and a random stranger stopped me and said "Hey, I subscribe to you on TH-cam!" First time that's ever happened! :-)
softroadingthewest Cool. It was a quick glance and the thought that you looked familiar. Nice to see you even though we didn’t actually meet.
@@johnsholian4318 Next time! I don't get Starbucks often but that's the one I usually hit when I do.
Hi Donald
Just an idea, but it looks like, maybe where the cable enters the light bar, might be letting through possibly. Flange may need a tighten up as they probably only check it works at end of production line not check for moisture resistance. Just a thought...
I agree, that spot looks to me to be the weakest link and highly suspect as the point of entry. Once I get the thing dried back out inside I'm definitely going to reinforce that somehow. Thanks for watching!
Amazing light bar though. From watching your video it's the difference literally between night and day. Just an idea but if you intend to purchase another for the tail end of your rig then how about fixing a powerful magnet strip (and cloth liner so it doesn't scratch) to back of auxbeam with enough slack cable so you can produce the quantity of light e.g. 'where you sit round the camp fire. Just a suggestion...
Can you please tell me the dimensions of the light bar? The website doesn't list how tall or deep it is and I'd like to mount it under the roof rack cross bar (inbetween the bar and roof) for a stealth look.
Just under 1.75" tall, just under 3.25" deep
@@softroadingthewest Perfect size, thanks!!
Awesome video and clear evaluation. Like many others commenting I don't want to spend big big dollars on the top lights and this seems to be an excellent solution. Keep up the great content. ATB
I just get mine from eBay when I had my jeep. 50” led bar with harness was only like 70 bucks. Very cheap and boy was it bright.
That beam is so awesome !!! Talking about "high illumination".....WOW....so cool ! Love it dude !! Great job ! Wolf....from west central Florida.
Where the heck do I start?!?! First: Just came over from Primal outdoors and I finally found someone that SOFT Overlands like me (Ridgeline).... Video is super fun! And love the French!
Haha, thanks! Appreciate you coming over from Jason's channel to check mine out. I do have one video from about a year ago which includes a buddy with a Ridgeline: th-cam.com/video/6ncDJOQYb2I/w-d-xo.html
Yo yo!
The light looks great!
Try some flex tubing for your wires up top for additional protection.
Keep up the good work!
Great idea, thank you! I do actually need to disassemble this again soon for some other changes I'm making up there, and will look at a tidier permanent solution for the wiring.
I got a subaru outback 2010. I need a lift kit and a light bar and black head light housing.
Love the Jurassic park looking thumbnail for this video, most epic yet. I have a pair of the little Auxbeam spotlights on my rig and think they are great, especially for the price. I would really love to know why/how those big names deserve those big prices when these work just as well
Well, a lot of those expensive ones are definitely sexier looking, but that's not quite enough enticement for me to drop that kind of cash. I would hope for the money they throw more & better light somehow, never get water inside, and generate zero wind noise. I would actually be very curious to test one of the expensive 30" single row bars and compare it to this one. I don't doubt it would be better, I just struggle to imagine it's $900 worth of better. :-)
very informative video... just wondering how you control the power to the light bar from the cockpit? Or did you do a terminal block install video previously?
I haven't done a video about our original light install...that was before I was really active on TH-cam. I just have some basic metal toggle switches inside the car, which kept the wiring nice and simple (vs, say, switches that light up). This *seemed* like the more durable, sturdy approach compared to all the plastic switches I see people using, but in fact three out of my four metal toggle switches have apparently disintegrated internally, they're just floppy and no longer actually switch anything. Really frustrating. I'm lucky I have one that hasn't failed so I could do this video without diving into replacing the switches at the same time, but I'm going to have to come up with a new solution for the switches very soon. I have more lights to install and I fear the one working switch I have left is going to fail like the others.
enjoyed this review. i have been looking at getting some light bars
Merci Donald, tu as relevé le défi de t'exprimer en français, j'adore ! Si un jour tu traverses l'atlantique, je pense qu'on sera quelques-uns à vouloir te rencontrer et partager des balades en Subaru !
J'y irai, c'est sûr. J'ai de la famille (dans un sens) en France que je n'ai pas vu depuis des années et j'ai hâte d'y retourner. Certainement pas en 2020 mais j'espère faire le voyage en 2021 et je voudrai bien rencontrer mes amis de TH-cam!
I was thinking of doing the same thing on my outback. But my thing is I'm worried I'll get a reflection off the hood. Do you have any issues with it being on the top? And also I agree. Some of them lights are way overpriced. I paid 100 bucks for my KC highlights wich wasn't to bad. But like to get a little more lighting so debating on a roof mount light bar
It illuminates the hood, but there's no particular glare. I haven't found it bothersome because everything else around is also lit up, kinda like it would be during the day, so I don't feel blinded by the light on the hood. It's really only fog, snow, and sometimes rain where I have had any kind of issue feeling dazzled by glare.
@@softroadingthewest awesome, thank you for your input. Your reply helped me make my decision. And I'm gonna go with it. Good lighting at night when your in the boonies is definitely important.
About that wind noise , I'm not sure if anyone has brought up this idea to you. Wrap it around few times with a bungee cord, that does the job. My cross bars have pretty bad wind noise, bungee cord minimize it down until like.....140km/h.
Interesting! No, no one made that particular suggestion. There was a tip to apply some kind of plastic auto trim to one of the cooling fins. It seems that anything which disrupts the way the air flows over the light bar may help. I'll see if it ends up bugging me or not. For the moment, at the times I notice the wind noise, it makes me happy... "Aaahhh, the sweet sound of being able to see on the trail at night!" :-)
Also, it's highly unlikely, but if somehow I ever managed to get my slug of a Forester up to 140kph (87 mph) wind noise would be the least of my worries, LOL.
@@softroadingthewest yeah, give that a try if the noise starts to bother you while driving at around city speed limits. Few dollars that did the trick.... No need for those hundreds of dollars wind fairing!
As someone who is fluent in French (anglophone originally from Montréal) I must say you did quite well.
Thanks! French was my college major so I was, you know, analyzing and writing essays on middle-ages French lit in French. I lived in France a couple of years and married a French woman, so all my in-laws spoke French, and all our family vacations were, necessarily, to France. :-) I'm divorced now but I still love France and its culture and its people, and remain in touch with "my family" in France. My children, alas, while technically French citizens who spent their formative years speaking French, have both pretty much lost it, though I'm sure they would regain it quickly if forced to. Might do them some good to spend a summer with their grandparents and cousins in the old country. :-)
@@softroadingthewest That's awesome. If they need a chaperone... I've never (sadly) been to France. lol
Hi there! How about a(n) [almost] 1-year update?? A lot of budget lights seem pretty good out of the box, but only time can tell, and you do a great job of putting gear through its paces. :)
I doubt I will do a whole video about that, but the light has held up just fine, it's still on my car, it gets used and it works great...I'm happy to have it up there, it helps a ton on the trail at night. Some of the mounting hardware that had the appearance of "stainless steel" has rusted, and in the wet months it perpetually has some moisture inside, but so far it keeps getting the job done.
love how you say ruff box not roof. very informative video!
You gotta retrofit those headlights asap. Stock SH Forester headlights suck so much!
Running the light up top, do you get much reflection or glare?
No, not a problem at all. The only issue along those lines was how the rain drops got hyper-illuminated right up close...a bit distracting until I got used to it. I do think a roof-mounted light like this would be difficult to use in fog or if it was snowing...some extra lighting low on the bumper would still be useful.
Well you sold me also, im gonna have two additional fog lights just like you do. So whats the worse that happens? I get a second light bar lol
Any glare from the upper part of the windshield?
I had no issue at all with glare on the windshield or coming off the hood. I would say the worst thing about the position of the light was the raindrops getting so brightly lit. I imagine a roof mounted light would be difficult or impossible to use if it was snowing or foggy. While this light bar seems beyond ample for lighting up the trail, I still want to put something else down low in front for supplemental light when conditions such as falling snow or fog preclude using the roof-mounted bar. I did really like having the light coming from above and further back on the car in terms of how it lit the scene in front of me...a much broader field of vision than when all my lights were up on the nose of the car, plus I could still see much further down the road as well.
You had me very confused for a minute there 😂
4:30 Uni-strut debut with music:
Yea boiiiii
You didn't mention in the video but do you have issues with glare on the hood with it mounted there? I've heard of people with that issue with that location.
That was one thing I was curious about as well, but ultimately it hasn't seemed problematic to me...I mean, there is clearly way more light on the hood than there would normally be, but the trail is so incredibly well lit up that I don't feel blinded by the hood. It's just kinda like driving during the day really, when there is also light reflecting off the hood. Was I actually maybe hoping it would give me a legitimate excuse to run black vinyl down the center portion of hood? Maybe. LOL. A treatment which while perhaps a bit overdone, I still think looks quite good on the SH Forester, but from my initial experience, that doesn't seem to be strictly necessary.
Where did you get the bull bar for your subaru
Rally Innovations
Great lighting for the price. So what type of amp draw does it have. Nice vid. Creative into. 👍🏻
Hmm. I'm not 100% sure how to figure that out. Per their website it's a 90-watt array and obviously on a 12-volt system. Does that mean 7.5 amp draw? Does that sound right?
To compare, the virtually useless pair of Hella 500s I removed were 55 watts each for a total of 110 watts (if that's how that works) or 9.16 amp draw on that single circuit. More power draw and using them was like wandering through a haunted house with just a candle to light the way, LOL.
softroadingthewest yes the amps sounds about right. L.E.D. lights take less power to produce great lighting.
Oh mon dieu! Tu l'as vraiment fait! Ce big clin d'oeil à Jordan, j'adore! 🤣
"You made my day"!
Merci, je me suis bien amusé. :-)
Your DIY videos are great, keep them coming.
You can buy aftermarket bulbs for your stock light s had a100/55 bulb for my motorcycles
I have upgraded bulbs for my low beams. I imagine I'll do the same when one of my high beam bulbs finally burns out. I'm just frugal enough to keep using what I have as long as it's technically still working. :-)
Monsieur, tres bien! Magnifique. Merci beaucoup. Bon chance. Bon voyage👍🚙🏕🏔
MDR! Ca fait plaisir de pouvoir utiliser mon français un peu! Je suis en train de le perdre car je n'ai presque plus de contact avec des français. Sauf Jordan bien sûr, mais lui il refuse de parler français. 8^D
I think where I already heard this entry track ... (ALNSM) This is a cool introduction, man! =)
Hahah, je ne m'attendais pas à t'entendre parler Français en tombant sur cette vidéo, quelle belle surprise !
N'hésite pas à faire un tour sur ma petite chaine, c'est toujours un plaisir de découvrir d'autres passionnés. Merci pour ta vidéo qui a répondu à quelques-unes de mes questions sur le format 31" !
Perfect for slow driving or exploring
No A pillar mounted lights???
Frankly, I've never been a fan of that look. No offense to anyone who runs ditch lights. :-) I can see how they could provide a little assistance if one only had bumper-mounted aux lights, but with lighting on the roof illuminating everything to the front and sides of me, I don't think it would make a significant difference in visibility for me. For now I'm going to focus on getting some effective lighting down low in front (because that roof-mounted light bar will be useless in fog or if it's snowing), and some auxiliary backup lighting so I can see through my tinted windows at night. :-)
Brilliant - literally and figuratively
Awesome setup. Got a light bar on my car too!
Why remove the lightbar? Wasn't it also protecting your frontend a bit?
I damaged the bar doing something stupid. In the process, the mounting hardware for the bar came dangerously close to damaging my radiator (the fault, I must point out, is entirely mine, for attempting an obstacle I had zero chance of surmounting). I already had plans in the works for moving in a new direction with the front end anyway, so even though I managed to repair the bar & its mounting brackets, I decided not to reinstall it. I would still recommend it to anyone who likes it. It's an excellent addition to the SH Forester. While it's not advertised as a protective bar, it did indeed prevent my plastic bumper cover from being damaged on countless occasions.
@@softroadingthewest Are you going to get some other protective bar? I've seen the ones that wrap around to the headlights.
When are we going to see some night wheeling
Hopefully soon! I've been stuck in town for weeks and am itching to be out on the trails!
Kind of want to see multiple tutorials about getting wires to the roof. I think the only way is drilling, but not a fan of drilling
Also let us know when you wire in reverse lights, I want to see which wire you tap for the reverse lights
I had no desire to drill the roof, which is why I ran mine up along the side of the windshield. I'm not going to wire the aux backup lights into the car's system, I'm just going to have a separate switch. I don't want them to come on every time I shift into reverse. Probably 90% of the time I'm backing up, it's daytime or someplace well lit at night. I want to be able to just switch them on only when I need them. Plus not risk screwing something up with the car's stock wiring. :-)
@@softroadingthewest Makes sense :)
Great looking light. I need one for my Pilot 👍
Awesome video man, very helpful, I'm sold!
Music at 13:00 sounds like Mike Patey's intro... Back to work!
Nope Cory Robins into music, close enough tho bro.
I like your french is really funny. I"m a french canadian (Quebec). Always cool your video this light is very powerful.
Love the intro!
I'm definitely budget minded like yourself and though I can appreciate the cost of said Auxbeam and the like, I have to say, the cheap anodization and seals don't make it worth the price. You'll get condensation inside within a year because there's no pressure equalization mechanism. I went with a Cali Raised roof bar and Diode Dynamics 12" for my bumper, both offer a Gore pressure valve. I will concede they're more expensive than the Aux but both under $200.
At under $200 that still seems pretty reasonable compared to a lot of bars I saw. I'll be curious to see how the Auxbeam fares. I've had numerous commenters tell me they've had Auxbeam products on their rigs for years and still working. Crossing my fingers! :-)
looks great
Nice review! Thanks so much!
Awesome vid. I'm getting one!!
Awesome dude !! Great job !!!
Harbor freight is starting to carry more of this type of thing
I did notice a few basic LED options last time I was in Harbor Freight. I'll be curious to know how those fare. I like seeing budget choices out there. I had a fuzzy sense that some of the lights out there were on the spendy side, but I didn't even realize how ludicrously expensive until I went looking for similar examples of single-row ~30" bars...holy crap! :-o
J'adore pamplamouse!
Great light for a great price. Great install. If you stagger your in line butt splices it will not look like a big boob stuffed in shrink tube. I was going to say a garter snake that swallowed a rabbit untill i read you comment section. Thanks for the video.
LOL...Matt Cook will appreciate that one, haha. That is a GREAT tip though. Fortunately this was a temporary install and it all has to come back apart, so when I re-install the permanent setup after reconfiguring my roof rack a bit I will definitely employ that technique along with the other excellent tips I have received - thank you!
I am so getting one
After seeing your stock lights I don’t see how you went out exploring at night. That’s a big difference and as you said not everyone can afford $500.00 or more for a set of lights.
LOL, I had NO idea how blind I was. I mean, the human eye is obviously much more sensitive and responsive over a wider dynamic range than a camera can record, so with the camera manually set to properly expose the light from the LED, the headlights only on the same setting look very inadequate. That was an empirical comparison showing exactly how much more light the light bar produces, though in reality our eyes function more like a camera set on auto exposure...they adjust to the amount of light available. So with just my headlights, I myself could see more than just that tiny puddle of light the camera captured. That said, even with my auto-exposure human eyes adjusting themselves to the amount of light available, the difference in how much better I can see with the light bar is just insane. I had NO idea what I was missing. :-)
softroadingthewest I’ve watched all your videos so far and I kept wondering how you can see at night out in the woods. I don’t see you having a problem with the lights you installed now.
Hi from Turkey , Istanbul,, ı owner 2010 forester ,,,,ı am following to you for good ideasii ı will do like you to my forester . you are a good example for me.Thanks
ı am waiting your new videos
have a nice fORESTER days
love this video. thx.
Awesome!!!!! I Approve!!!!!
IP 67 ?
On their page for this product they do say "Protection Rate: IP67"
@@softroadingthewest , ok
the only thing I dont like from my point of view on this install .... my father he's a electronic tech and he would tell you to protect your connection in to your relay and bloc multi connector... to put it in a close compartement cause you are asking for problem with corosion. no offense ;)
Your French is good!
Merci! C'était ma spécialité à la fac, et puis je me suis marié avec une française. :-) J'ai passé pas mal de temps en France au cours de ma vie. Maintenant que je suis divorcé, j'ai rarement l'occasion d'utiliser mon français et je suis en train de perdre la facilité que j'avais auparavant à le parler.
@@softroadingthewest C'est sure que si tu pratique pas tu va le perdre, vient faire un tour au Quebec on a de belle place pour se balader en foret!
@VE2XIP Sa dépend je sais pas je suis jamais allé en Oregon mais le paysage du Quebec est très beau. JE pecher le saumon et je peux te dire que les rivieres et le paysage sont a coupé le souffle
!
So, when the intro music started followed by french, i fell off the the truck.
I'm not exactly sure what you're saying but I do hope you weren't injured! :-)
I see it now has water inside it.
Yes, it didn't take long. Although it still works. At some point I need to do some work on the roof rack, and when I do, I'm going to disassemble the Auxbeam bar, make sure it's good and dry inside, then do some extra sealing work on it. I'm quite happy with it otherwise so I'd like to keep it working.
softroadingthewest
nice francais jadore hahahah tu veux me faire competition hahahahah