Originally Posted by Skidmarcx

The lens is everything... If you're replacing headlights be sure to use a QUALITY projector... Also the color temperature(K) will affect output... Generally the the higher the K the lower the output, but I'm not entirely certain of the stats

Originally Posted by Kojack

I have had awesome results using hella 500 driving beam housings with 55w 4300k HIDs retrofitted in. whole setup is less than 200 bucks and worth every penny!

Originally Posted by robbins84

So a 6000k bulb has a lower output then a 2000k bulb? I feel like it would be the other way?

Originally Posted by Kojack

I did enough homework my friend.

As far as I am concerned. the 50" Rigid SPOT light bar should be comparable in beam pattern to my Hella driving lights, if its not, they should stop calling it a effing spot light. because it's obviously not. As for your comment about if the road is not perfect I should not be able to light up anything down range 1000m? Again, you have no idea what you're talking about as my lights at 1000m put out a fairly wide beam down that far. Wide enough to light up the overpass and hill behind the overpass while I am driving towards it. I think you are thinking lazer pointer. I used the eyeball test instead of any meters etc that are useless for testing real light useage. I hit my mileage reset button as soon as the overpass was visible to my eye and then clocked the mileage. 1km.....1000m was the distance. There are no other light sources and the moon was not out. It was a dark night, and that's the distance I measured off. My lights give me proper illumination from the front of my bumper on out to 1000m. Again, you have no idea what you are talking about with the comment if my lights light up that far they disturb my vision? NOPE, they work perfect, no massive hot spots, no dark spots, Just great light all the way out. I smell some Daniel stern theory here! Again I will say and stand by the statement LUMENS don't mean shit. You can have a light that puts out 1 million lumens, if it can use those effectively, then whats the point. Its sure bright to look at but totally useless as a light. And, again, LED BARS do not use their supposed lumens properly at all.....NO MATTER WHAT BAR. Vision X, rigid, Baja design, Chinese verisons. NONE can throw light down range worth a shit. Yep if you want a massive amount of light for 200 ft they are your light. If you want something to illuminate things a long way away like animals, etc that would be in your way or potential hazards then move on they are junk. HID or even halogen would work much better. LED lights are great for reverse lights, or marker lights that need to be seen. Also great for camp site or interior lights. For long distance lighting, NOPE. GO elsewhere.

The intensity light from ARB or the vision x light canon are the ONLY LED lights I would ever consider to install on my Jeep for driving in the night. But even then at almost a 1000 bucks a set, The performance per dollar is no where near what a HID will putout. I could go with a vision x 9" HID and it would completely out perform those 2 LED lights as well.

Originally Posted by dog

If there's one trend I've noticed in the Electical/Lighting/Sound forum, it's that Kojack will show up and start shitting on anything LED related with nothing but anecdotal evidence. He likes to compare apples to oranges, and is prone to ignore the finer mathematical or scientific aspects of the discussion. All of that said, I agree with him on some points in this thread. If you want 1000yd illumination, an LED light bar is definitely not what you're looking for.

The bottom line, however, is that 1000yd illumination (IMHO) is not the most useful light, unless you're doing 100mph down a straight road, which Jeeps don't do (as a general rule). And, whether your light source is LED or HID or some freakin' candles, your reflectors and lenses are what matter, not the source. And throwing lumen output out the window is plain ridiculous . There are units of measurement for a reason. Same goes for HP or torque, it all depends on how you measure it! But those measurements are not totally useless, even though some companies abuse the scale.

What it comes down to is: what tool are you looking for? Different tools are best for different jobs. Most lighting that is useful in an off-road/crawling setting, for instance, dumps within 100 or 200yds. In that case, a light bar might be just right. It'll vomit light all over the damned place. A spot/flood combo LED bar is great for general purpose near-field lighting. You'll usually get a nice driving spot in the middle (NOT at 1 km, mind you, but within 500yds) as well as near-field flood to illuminate your front-surroundings.

If you want to get crazy with distance light projection, then the light-cannon spot or the Hella drivers might be perfect for you. Just remember that a spot pattern is useful for projecting light far away in a tight pattern. If that's what you're looking for, then great! If you want general-use near-field light, a spot is the wrong tool. Get a flood or a combo.

Just depends on what you're looking for!

Originally Posted by robbins84

So a 6000k bulb has a lower output then a 2000k bulb? I feel like it would be the other way?

Originally Posted by Kojack

As far as I am concerned. the 50" Rigid SPOT light bar should be comparable in beam pattern to my Hella driving lights, if its not, they should stop calling it a effing spot light.

Originally Posted by GJeep

The eye sensitivity to different colors has a lot to do with this. We're most sensitive to specific yellow and green lights. The more blueish it gets, the less sensitive our eyes are to the light, so it's like we use a weaker light source. The same goes towards the red.

Originally Posted by GJeep

I don't like having to wait for my eyes to adjust to darker areas outside the light circle.