By jay caragay (Jcaragay) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 09:05 am: Edit

Now that I have an adventure rack fitted to my D1, it's time to start considering a lighting package. On the Adventure Rack there are four mounting tabs on the front and one on the rear.

Looking forward to getting an RTE bumper with two mounting tabs bringing the total number of forward-facing mounting tabs to six.

I would like to know your recommendations for lighting combinations. Of course, I would like to have the most illumination possible for off-road use and also have long-distance illumination for road driving.

Thanks for the consideration

By Wes Legaspi (Wes) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 10:16 am: Edit

Here's Ho Chung's reply to the same question I asked a few months ago...

'the best would be a pair of pencil beams, a pair of euro beams and a pair of
cornering beams. so...that's one pair of cornering on the bumper...a pair of pencil on the center of the roof
rack, and a pair of eurobeams on the outter position.'

By Ron on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 10:18 am: Edit

And two yellow tops and a 160 amp alternator.

hehehehe

Ron

who thought when he upgraded the series to halogens they were bright.

By Axel Haakonsen (Axel) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 10:21 am: Edit

You are not limited to four in the front and one in the back, either. If you want more lights, a cb antenna bracket works perferctly as a light mount, too....

By lynden on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 10:40 am: Edit

Boy jay, all those lights are going to cost you A LOT of $$$. You should probably sell that rack, its going to be the death of you.

Just trying to help you avoid future pain.
Lynden

PS Did I tell you I'm looking for an adventure rack???

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:04 am: Edit

Thats what I have on mine , exactly that..You can get a little X ray action going there..


Kyle

By Perrone Ford on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:05 am: Edit

Or you could buy a pair of the large Lightforce lights, put them on the front, spin one down to a pencil, the other out to flood, have 130 degrees of coverage width and be just as bright at 6 Hella 4000s for about 1/3 the price and 1/3 the drain on the battery.

Works for me...

-P

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:06 am: Edit

WRONG, Lynden. Jay should not sell that rack, he should GIVE it away...preferably to my non-profit charitable "Equip Blue's Disco" organization.

Just added a third Hella to my stock LR brush bar, courtesy of Garrett (gp). My two outers are fogs (wide spread) & middle is driving (concentrated beam). I'm diggin it the most:

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:11 am: Edit

LOL , Perrone , you think your plastic light force lights are as bright as 6 135 watt Hellas? I dont think so.......... Also , they are plastic , if they were that bad ass they would melt off the bumper into a puddle..

Kyle

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:19 am: Edit

I love my plastic Hellas. I love my plastic Hellas. I love my plastic Hellas. I love my plastic Hellas. I love my plastic Hellas. I love my plastic Hellas. I love my plastic Hellas.

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:21 am: Edit

LOL , man , read the label on those bad boys and avoid water at all costs... They may say hella on the cover , but they say Mexico on the light..

Kyle

By Perrone Ford on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:37 am: Edit

Kyle,

I've had opportunity to test my lights under the cover of forest canopy against Hella 3000, Hella 4000, IPF, and PIAA. I'm just callin' like I see it.

And by the way, the F16 has a "plastic" canopy as well. And amazingly enough, its made of the same plastic as my LightForce light.

-P

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:47 am: Edit

delete me

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:48 am: Edit

LOL but louder! My 500s have been submerged, dunked, sprayed, rained-on for over 5 years & never any water inside. Unlike these full-metal-jacket, "Hecho en los Estados Unidos" badboys:

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:50 am: Edit

LOL , I am sure it is Perrone . And I am sure the Hella guy thought his was brighter , and the IPF guy thought his was brighter , etc etc.... So you got some F-16 plastic lights eh ? You trust em enough to let me stand on one? I think I could stand on the canopy of an F-16.... And I know that the 4K will take some serious abuse... The light force are just cheap lists , thats all.. I am seeing a trend here with the use of the word "Force"...

Kyle

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 11:53 am: Edit

LOL , yes , I was thinking of that pic earlier , I dont know what the deal is with those things... And dont get me started on those little Mexican Hellas.... I have seen fish in them...

Kyle

By Michel on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 12:06 pm: Edit

6 freaking extra light....reminds me of a friend around here, 4 on the rack, 3 in the safary gard bumper, yet I've never seen those bad boys in the woods at night...

Stock lights are fine unless your breaking speed records offroad.

Michel

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 01:06 pm: Edit

Yeah , I have to agree somewhat Michel. In small spaces they arent very important. In nice bog open spaces they are a nice luxury but certainly not a need...


Kyle

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 02:02 pm: Edit

>"yet I've never seen those bad boys in the woods at night..."

he he he, poseur. An extra light or two or three really does make a difference in pitch black off-road conditions.

By Moe on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 02:11 pm: Edit

All those never used precious accessories up there waiting to be caught by a tree branch.

I am looking at getting some Hella Micro DE fog lamps and try and work them in where the light washers are on the ARB. I want some light up front and close in. Investing in four small undercarriage lights--that would be the ticket.

Kyle, are you questioning Aussie products? Lightforce comes from the land of Extreme Defenders, ARB, OME, so you know it's got to be outback tough. Yeah go ahead and stand on it as they are designed to handle roos at 110kph

By al hang on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 03:14 pm: Edit

outback tough??? kph??? you gotta be from australia or have stock in Outback Steakhouse.
The lights are plastic, doesn't matter if it's woven kevlar with matted gorilla hair it is still weaker than cast metal.


no rules, just right...


-Al

By Tucson Sean on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 04:55 pm: Edit

Just remember, if you break one of the LightForce lights, it would still be cheaper to replace than a Hella. Plus the option of adjusting the beam is a great feature. Now, if Hella would come out with an adjustable beam...

By Tom P. on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 04:01 am: Edit

Personally, two if those hella dual reflector work lamps would put out way more light in front than I would ever need. Either that, or one of those motorized marine lights (340 degree rotatable, 80 degree tilt). One of those pups is about $300 though, but would cover all my needs with one lamp.

I like a good light spread when you sink in that bog at 11pm, and camp is still 2 hours away!

Tom P.

By al hang on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 06:31 am: Edit

the lightforce lights are pretty much the same price as the hella 4K's, about 100 a light.

By Moe on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 06:56 am: Edit

Al, I grew up in Aus but now in U.S. Above, I was being facetious. I always get a kick out of patriotic lines that associate a nation with a quality product. Yes, you've heard of impeccable 'german engineering' but I have owned a VW van! So I was poking fun at those type of responses.

Anyway someone has to stand up to all the bashing on aussie products that takes place on this board Shit first ARB, now Lightforce, maybe next week OME

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 06:59 am: Edit

Yes Tom , nice lights to have up top there were you could swivel it around a bit.

Kyle

By al hang on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 07:05 am: Edit

I wouldn't worry too much about the product bashing, seems every so often new and better products slowly make it overseas to our shores. Maxi-Drive is the only line of stuff I've never heard anything bad about, other than the price. With a 2 to 1 exhcange rate, you'd think the shit would be cheap...

just venting till i get my new shafts...

-Al

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 07:10 am: Edit

(Al)>"The lights are plastic, doesn't matter if it's woven kevlar with matted gorilla hair it is still weaker than cast metal."

Don't have much experience with matted gorilla hair (wife is Irish, not Italian), but I beg to differ on the "woven kevlar weaker than cast metal"...kevlar vest beats suit of armor any day. Plus, plastics (without kevlar) can be just as durable as cast metals in plenty of applications, including these lights (without corroding, too).

(general comments, not directed specifically to Al): Besides, who gives a rat's ass if your light can beat mine in an impact with a kangaroo? I sure as hell don't. I just want a little candlepower up front. My little plastic mexican hat toy hellas have worked flawlessly (not even a burned-out bulb) on two trucks for over 5 years. I just added a third plastic toy hella that Garrett gave me - it was on his VW back in the 80's if I remember correctly. I'm looking forward to years of trouble-free service from this plastic light, too. I've spent under $100 on my lights...who's LOL now?

P.S. sorry about the Italian joke - one of my engineers is an Italian from Long Island, and I had to be sure he had his shots before I hired him

By gil on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 07:12 am: Edit

who would have thought....an italian from Long Island??

By al hang on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 08:38 am: Edit

Bill, kevlar is nice stuff but it's no substitute for metal. Even your comparison of a suit of armor versus kevlar vest isn't really apples to oranges. Kevlar vests usually come with metal plates as backing. I would worry about the mounting system on a set of lights the most, if one has fasteners going thru metal, no prob. If a light has fasteners going thru plastic, it's a different story, hell UV can weaken most plastics over time.
I also don't want a light that can kill an animal and survive, but I wouldn't mind it if it could. I just want mine to survive the occasional tree branch unscathed.


-Al

P.S. I'm glad I'm not Italian and working for you...sheesh

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 09:22 am: Edit

Correct, some (particularly early) kevlar vests do have additional backing (ceramic center plate in my case). Good point also about UV degradation of platics. As far as mounts go, I've come out to a parking lot on several occasions and seen that some jerk-off tried to literally grab my lights and run - plastic held up. Same thing happened to my friend's metal-housed IPFs - thief didn't get the light, but the housing/mount was bent to shit.

To each his own, eh?

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 09:38 am: Edit

Al , It just occured to me that Blue here has a plastigun as well. There is no arguing with him on this issue..

Kyle

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Thursday, August 16, 2001 - 09:48 am: Edit

Yep The H&K USP frame is entirely plastic, with the exception of metal inserts where the slide "slides" on frame. Obviously, barrel, springs, pins, etc are metal.

The frame will outlast the rest of it (until I have the Robar NP3 coating on metal surfaces) http://www.robarguns.com/np3.asp