Do you think there's anything better and cheaper?

[Zoolander]

I'm planning on buying the 4k's for the rack unless someone can convince me there's a cheaper alternative with similiar performance.

2x Pencil
2x Corner

$448 delivered (includes 2 wiring harnesses)
Thanks!

 

[jmoore]

I posted a similar thread not too long ago. I have two 4K drivng lights right now on my brush bar and they are great! Eventually, they are going to go on my rack and I'll replace them with 4K fogs. Yeah you might find something cheaper, but almost every review I read compares their lights to Hella 4K, so might as well spend the bux and get the real deal.

 

[stevenr]

Zoolander, how do you plan to use the lights on the rack? Are they for lighting up the road cause you live in the country, or are they for navigating through the woods on those night runs. I ask this because I have the exact set up on my rack and I do not like the pencils for offroad use. If I was wheeling in Utah or some open spaces they would be great, but my wheeling is in tight woods and they basically show 2 spots on whatever is ahead of me. I plan to change them out to Euros, because of a wider beam pattern.

 

[syoung]

^ What he said. Pencils are great on the highway, suck offroad.

 

[Mike_Rupp]

2 euro + 2 cornering = good performance everywhere

 

[Zoolander]

Well I was going to use 2 switches, one for the Pencil, one for the corners. on a trail at night, would the corners alone be enough to light up everything in front of me? I'd use the Pencils primarily for deserted roads and startling people who throw out cigarettes while driving in front of me. How different is the Euro beam from the Pencil Beam?

Also, are the 4k's the lights to go with? Seems like the general perception is yes...

 

[jmoore]

Well I was going to use 2 switches, one for the Pencil, one for the corners. on a trail at night, would the corners alone be enough to light up everything in front of me? I'd use the Pencils primarily for deserted roads and startling people who throw out cigarettes while driving in front of me. How different is the Euro beam from the Pencil Beam?

Also, are the 4k's the lights to go with? Seems like the general perception is yes...

Check out this site. It gives good descriptions of beams and use. They also have good prices.

http://www.rallylights.com/

 

[maxyedor]

I have 4 euro-beams on my rack, and have the lights on the sides pointed 20 degrees outward and slightly down. This two in the center are pointed outward just enough to overlap slightly, and they are angled dead level. This gives a hell of a lot of light for night wheeling, and throws plenty of light down the road while driving on the highway. The disco is pretty slow so I'm not too worried about driving so fast I won't have enough light. They made off-road lights illegal (ticket is like $200+) to even have uncovered in Cali. on the highway so now I only use them offroad.

 

[cptyarderho]

most high $$$ lights are really overkill. Hella 500 and spend the rest of your money on camping equipment.

 

[Jaime]

It really depends where you wheel. I go to heavily wooded areas at night where sometimes its hard to see trails going off to the sides. The cornering beams on the rack pointed outwards help tremendously in this case.

I also go through a lot of hood deep water at night, so lights on the bumper are useless in this case. During the winter, I'll turn the headlights off and just use the rack lights when going through water so as not to risk cracking the headlight lens from the sudden change in temperature.

 

[JeffM]

Don't know about better and cheaper. I've got 500's on the rack and these seem to work pretty well. Have a set of pro-comp 130's on the front which according to a few folks were supposed to rust through really quick. However it's been pretty much a year now and not even a hint of rust - so maybe i'm just lucky.

Jeff

 

[Zoolander]

Thanks for your views guys. One more question, Does anyone know if the Hella Wiring Harnesses will reach the roof rack? If I buy the lights without the harnesses (2) I'll save $50.

I'm thinking I'll hook up the Euro or Pencils to the high beam, and have a separate switch for the corner lights. I'm also debating a second switch for the rear light, or I might just hook it up to the rear fog lights. Assuming I go the route of only needing one switch, would you recommend skipping on the Hella Harnesses and just get the relays and wires locally? Would I be saving much, and what's the benefit?

Thanks again!

 

[jmoore]

I have a hella Matador on the back of my Rover. I have it running directly off a seperate fuse box in the engine bay. It has a switch on the back. Some day I may make it so I can turn it on and off from the cab, but right now it works just fine the way it is.

As far as the harnesses are concerend, I would spend the extra cash and get them. I haven't tried to run one up to my roof, but I did run one to the 4K's on my brush bar. It made the installation very simple. Also the harness has great quick disconnects that make removing the lamps easy as opposed to hard wiring them.

 

[syoung]

The 4K's are blingtastic and all- but you can get the same performance from other lamps that cost less. Most people wouldn't be able to tell a FF1000 beam from a 4K Euro anyway. I went with VisionX HID on the bumper and their 6.5" H4 hi/lo on the roof and I like them better than the 6 4K's I had before and the total cost was the same even though I'm running a pair of HID's now.
Shop around... you can't go WRONG on 4K's, but I think you can match or beat them if you shop carefully.

 

[Zoolander]

Thanks for your input guys. I just ordered 2 sets of the FF1000's, $207 including two harnesses. I love the 4k's, but the price is double and they're just so damn massive that I think they look like too much with the round 03-04 headlights.

 

[antichrist]

Check state regs too. In some states highway driving with your roof rack lights on will get you ticketed. In some states even driving with them uncovered will get you ticketed.