FiberOptic
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2015
- Messages
- 3
Hello, I'm newly registered here, but a longtime reader.
I've recently been impressed with a $40 led light bar (Chinese) that we tried out on our Polaris 6x6 Ranger during moose hunting in rural Alaska this fall. The light bar is 12" and rated at 72 watts and supposed contains Cree emitters and is a traditional combo beam, non-4d lensed unit. It was thoroughly abused and has held up surprisingly well thus far. It seems to work great at the sub 5mph crawling we are usually doing in the 6x6 and is very "bright". This has me wondering about the usefulness of outfitting my SUV with a light bar for those long lonely dark stretches at night with moose lurking along roadsides. My pickup is already sporting Lightforce 240's bought about 5 years ago before any research was done. They do throw pretty well, but don't seem as bright as they used to be...
I'm assuming a light bar such as the one we used off-road would be way too floody and lack the throw needed for 65 mph night driving, as well as over-lighting the near field (and being unsafe/illegal if oncoming traffic existed). But in my case, there can be hours of night driving without encountering another vehicle on the road. On a trip up from the lower 48 I have gone over 12 hours before without seeing anyone else!
I am guessing this 4d lens I'm beginning to see on some new models this year are made to address the tendency to spray light everywhere (as our 12" off-road bar does) and project further. It looks like some aspherical flashlight lenses I've seen that do indeed seem to throw far (but often with a artifact-y square beam), and am wondering if this is the way of the future for led light bars, or a passing trend? I've seen a few videos of the 60watt Philips bars with 8deg spot beam and they looked utterly impressive for throw and with a nice quality beam, especially compared to my Lightfarce 240's. Then there seems to also be 10deg spot bars, as well as 40deg flood bars with 4d lenses.
It looks like Rigid has some, as well as Chinese makers/copiers and some are using Osram 3watt and (supposed) 5w emitters, as well as Philips 3w and 5w offerings.
Does anyone have experience with these 4d lens units? Thanks
I've recently been impressed with a $40 led light bar (Chinese) that we tried out on our Polaris 6x6 Ranger during moose hunting in rural Alaska this fall. The light bar is 12" and rated at 72 watts and supposed contains Cree emitters and is a traditional combo beam, non-4d lensed unit. It was thoroughly abused and has held up surprisingly well thus far. It seems to work great at the sub 5mph crawling we are usually doing in the 6x6 and is very "bright". This has me wondering about the usefulness of outfitting my SUV with a light bar for those long lonely dark stretches at night with moose lurking along roadsides. My pickup is already sporting Lightforce 240's bought about 5 years ago before any research was done. They do throw pretty well, but don't seem as bright as they used to be...
I'm assuming a light bar such as the one we used off-road would be way too floody and lack the throw needed for 65 mph night driving, as well as over-lighting the near field (and being unsafe/illegal if oncoming traffic existed). But in my case, there can be hours of night driving without encountering another vehicle on the road. On a trip up from the lower 48 I have gone over 12 hours before without seeing anyone else!
I am guessing this 4d lens I'm beginning to see on some new models this year are made to address the tendency to spray light everywhere (as our 12" off-road bar does) and project further. It looks like some aspherical flashlight lenses I've seen that do indeed seem to throw far (but often with a artifact-y square beam), and am wondering if this is the way of the future for led light bars, or a passing trend? I've seen a few videos of the 60watt Philips bars with 8deg spot beam and they looked utterly impressive for throw and with a nice quality beam, especially compared to my Lightfarce 240's. Then there seems to also be 10deg spot bars, as well as 40deg flood bars with 4d lenses.
It looks like Rigid has some, as well as Chinese makers/copiers and some are using Osram 3watt and (supposed) 5w emitters, as well as Philips 3w and 5w offerings.
Does anyone have experience with these 4d lens units? Thanks
