Recommendation for a DOT legal LED driving or fog light?

I've spent a fair amount of time researching this and not finding very many options. I'm looking for DOT/SAE pattern auxiliary driving lights for my truck and motorcycles. I don't want something that puts a ton of light on the foreground and hurts your ability to see down the road. I drive through the night frequently to get out west on vacations and a lot of time as the only vehicle on the road crossing I-70/I-80. Ideally I'm looking for a 3"x3" cube or round type light.

The Rigid "SAE J581 Aux Drive" 6" driving lights are the closest thing I've found but are bigger than what I really want. http://www.rigidindustries.com/led-lighting/106612

Piaa makes the "SAE compliant" LP270 driving lights that are the size I want but Piaa gives very little detail on their output and I'm not a big Piaa fan. http://www.cyclenews.com/2016/03/article/new-products-piaa-lp270-led-lights/

It's hard for me to believe there aren't more choices out there in compact DOT approved led driving lights.

Another question. Does anyone know the difference between the SAE driving and fog light patterns? I'm guessing the fog has a distinct top cutoff without any lower cutoff whereas the driving has a top and bottom cutoff.

Thanks!

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Look at my thread, the guys gave some great suggestions: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...9-Aux-headlamps-for-Ford-truck-with-weak-LEDs

Driving vs fog. Fog lights are not for normal driving and it sounds like you want aux driving lights. In that case, don't get fog lights.

Welcome to the board.

I'm looking for DOT/SAE pattern auxiliary driving lights for my truck and motorcycles.

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OK, your subject of your question says "driving or fog" lights. A "driving" lamp is an auxiliary high beam lamp, for use only with the vehicle's high beams on empty roads in clear weather, not with low beams and not with any other traffic in front of you (in either direction). Fog lamps, on the other hand, are not for use with high beams. They're for use at very low speeds in very bad weather so you can keep track of the edge of the road and not run off it.

I don't want something that puts a ton of light on the foreground and hurts your ability to see down the road. I drive through the night frequently to get out west on vacations and a lot of time as the only vehicle on the road crossing I-70/I-80.

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Definitely "driving" lamps, then.

Ideally I'm looking for a 3"x3" cube or round type light.

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Shop carefully -- there is a lot of junk on the market.

Piaa

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Junk.

It's hard for me to believe there aren't more choices out there in compact DOT approved led driving lights.

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There is no such thing as "DOT approved" or "SAE approved" lights. Neither DOT nor SAE approve lights. An SAE or DOT lens marking is put there by the maker of the lamp, and it's their own certification that the lamp meets whichever SAE standard or aspect of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 applies to that lamp. There is no pre-testing by DOT or SAE or any assigned lab, etc; you have to trust the maker is telling the truth. The reputable companies do tell the truth, but the fast-buck artists don't.

Does anyone know the difference between the SAE driving and fog light patterns?

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They are completely different. The fog beam is basically only foreground light: wide (ideally, though some aren't), very short reach/range, with a sharp cutoff at the top of the beam. The auxiliary high beam (so-called "driving") is very much like a high beam headlamp: a strong central hot spot surrounded by less intense light. The "driving" beam may be wide or narrow; terms like "pencil beam", "cornering beam", "combo beam", etc refer unofficially to varieties of aux high beam lamp.

I'm guessing the fog has a distinct top cutoff without any lower cutoff whereas the driving has a top and bottom cutoff.

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The "driving" beam does not have any cutoff.

Given all your requirements (must be LED, must be DOT-certified, must be compact), these or these or these are the ones you would want to get.

kingofwylietx said:

Look at my thread, the guys gave some great suggestions: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...9-Aux-headlamps-for-Ford-truck-with-weak-LEDs

Driving vs fog. Fog lights are not for normal driving and it sounds like you want aux driving lights. In that case, don't get fog lights.

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Good info and I like the idea of augmenting both the high and low beams. I can't see a way to mount this option on my Ram 3500 short of adding a bull bar or light mount though (that's not out of the question I guess). It's hard to believe the Ford lighting engineers could miss so bad with a clean sheet LED design. What do they get paid for?

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Thanks for your thoughts/suggestions Virgil. Do you have an opinion on the Rigid SAE compliant products?

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DYNOBOB said:

Good info and I like the idea of augmenting both the high and low beams.

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It's relatively hard to find good/legitimate auxiliary low beams, tho that thread kingofwylietx linked is a good one to follow if that's the goal.

It's hard to believe the Ford lighting engineers could miss so bad with a clean sheet LED design. What do they get paid for?

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They get paid to maximize the saleability and minimize the build cost of Ford's vehicles. That is what they have done.

Thanks for your thoughts/suggestions Virgil. Do you have an opinion on the Rigid SAE compliant products?

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You may have noticed they were not on the list of lamps I recommended.