Harbor Freight Long-Range Truck Lights? Opinions please

[Philberto]

Hello again,

I finally got the rebate for my Coopers, and since I have a decent amount of money to blow, but less than $100, I figured I'd go to Harbor Freight, the offroader's Wal-Mart! Anyways, they have this item, the "Off-Road Long-Range Truck Light System" that consists of 2 100-watt lights with guards (no covers though), wiring, and a switch. Now I know I'd need a relay to wire up the lights, but seeing as how they HF is offering them for $25 per kit, and I found some reviews here: http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f62/harbor-freight-off-road-lights-426487/, I'm wondering if anybody can think of any reason I shouldn't jump on 2 of them and get started with my light bar. I've also thought that maybe I'll be tempted to thrown in an HID kit later on, as it takes H3 bulbs. Here's a pic of the HF kit:



and link: http://ww2.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=3029

[Trail X]

In my experience, don't waste your money on cheap-ass lights. I did it once, won't again. Once I received my Hellas, I realized how truly terrible the Baja Blazers were.

Look for something mid-range... more like $50-60/pair and you'll be much happier.

Also, I say this all the time, but what you're purchasing is a beam pattern. Cheap lights have notoriously terrible beam patterns... generally simple parabolics, which produce a single, narrow,hot spot... wayy in the distance. That's not useful at all. You only want 'long range' lights if you are traveling over 60 mph when you need them...

So I vote thumbs down.

[Philberto]

Any suggestions for a better alternative? Looking for a total of 4 lights, 100 watts each, using a standard auto bulb, preferably 2 spots and 2 cornering.

[Trail X]

Personally?... I'm planning to swap to Hella 550s. They come in a fog beam and a driving beam.





Most lights do not come in a cornering pattern, so a fog is as close as you can get. A fog beam will be lower and narrower than a cornering beam, but will probably be ok since you're mounting it to the roof.

You're also limiting yourself if you only look at rectangular lights, for instance, another interesting option is the Hella FF300:



I'd recommend reading this http://www.expeditionexchange.com/hella/ (I purchased all of my Hellas from them), after the products (scroll down ~1/3 of the page).

[Gordinho80]

I have to agree with James. Cheap lights are just that, cheap. I had the Blazer Bajas, they OK in a pinch, but I'm MUCH happier now with 2 Hella 500FFs on my grille guard then I was with the 4 roof mounted Bajas I had.

I plan on eventually replacing the 500FFs up front with 700FFs or larger, then getting another set of the 500FFs, and mount all 4 up top to my rack. UltraVorx has 4 Hella 500s on his roof, 2 500s and 2 500FFs, the output is pretty good, as witnessed at TECORE 2. I can imagine how 4 500FFs would work up there.

[Zero]

has anyone tried the IPF lights?


http://store.arbusa.com/DrivingFog-Lights-HID-C50.aspx

[Hatchet669]

i had those on my trukc before i ran them over... they are great...










after i ran them over with my truck




replacements



for 20 bucks it aint horrible... i know the light pattern wasnt good but that was becuase i hadnt ajusted it yet... i did a little adjusting they were perfect..

[Philberto]

Damn, the ff300's are expensive! And the 550s aren't that cheap either. Does the reflector really make that much of a difference? I know beam pattern does, but I mean, outside of the freeform reflectors and cornering beams, I wonder to myself if they're worth the large difference in price when I could just as easily slap on some silicone sealant, throw in an HID kit, and be perfectly content with my cheap lights. Thanks for the pics Hatchet.

-edit: Curiosity begs the question though... why/how did you run them over?

[Zero]

I like that the lights are water proof.

[Trail X]

...Does the reflector really make that much of a difference? I know beam pattern does, but I mean, outside of the freeform reflectors and cornering beams, I wonder to myself if they're worth the large difference in price when I could just as easily slap on some silicone sealant, throw in an HID kit, and be perfectly content with my cheap lights....

As for the difference between the $20 Baja Blazers and the $130 Hella 4000s... worth EVERY penny.

I vowed to forever stay away from HID lights, so I cannot comment on this. However, Mario did do this with the Blazers... I'll let him talk about the results.

I still say... you put a fancy bow on some doodie... it's still just doodie.

[HARDTRAILZ]

Went to Harbor freight and had to look at the lights to see the quality....I would rather have better, but I did pick up a set of the rectangle owns for 7 bucks. 55 watt. Should work for something at that price. last ones they had.

[Hatchet669]

Thanks for the pics Hatchet.

-edit: Curiosity begs the question though... why/how did you run them over?

no problem... there cheap but they worked great for the price...

i washed off my truck cause i was putting on my tire marks and i put it in the sun in teh middle of the driveway to dry... well when i went to turn the truck around to do the other side.. i forgot they were in the driveway till i ran them over... i couldnt stop laughing the rest of the day...

from the OS

http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.p ... hlight=ran

[Gordinho80]

I did in fact have HIDs in the Blazers... I liked the amount of light they gave, just not how they directed it. I got a LOT of glare. I currently have HIDs in the 500FFs.

From my Build Thread...

Hella 500FF w/HID conversion kit installed and mounted to WAAG.

All current front lights... BRIGHTER!!!


Low, Highs, Hellas


Also put together this little GIF showing the light outputs

I will probably never put HIDs on the roof again. Having lights THAT bright up there is kind of pointless, in my opinion. Matter of fact, I plan on keeping most, if not all, of my lighting, off of the roof.

[Philberto]

Any pictures of what the HID's looked like in the Blazers? I may end up throwing the HID's in the ones I have on the bumper currently, but since I'm going to have a roof rack up on the roof anyways, and like the added visual acuity I get from having my lights at different angles (judging height, depth, etc), I figure I may just go with those lights and leave the HID's out of them. Was the major concern just hood glare?

[Gordinho80]

No pics of the actual light pattern... Here is a pic of what the lights looked like while on. I know its not much help.



Major issue was hood glare, yes. Another factor was the install. I had opted to put the ballasts in their own box, along with the relays and a fuse box. Lots of space taken up in the rack for something that wasn't very practical. Plus, all that extra weight up there was unnecessary.

[Philberto]

Oh wow, that's a lot of kit. Yeah, I'd probably end up using individual boxes for each ballast, and the light pattern pics wouldn't help me much anyways, as the HF lights are different anyways. It's just difficult to predict how an HID bulb will affect the light pattern of a given light due to the difference in how HID bulbs disperse light from the bulb. Knowing that the issue here is glare from the hood, I think I'll end up getting one set of the HF lights to test out the pattern, and if that's good, I'll get another set and mount them. Then, somewhere along the road, I'll get an H3 HID kit for 2 bulbs, and see if it work well with the HF lights or with the DayStar lights. That will determine what I need to do next.

PS. That Phillips head screwdriver looks like it's seen much better days.

[Gordinho80]

PS. That Phillips head screwdriver looks like it's seen much better days.

Yeah, that's what happens when you let people borrow your tools...

[Trail X]

PS. That Phillips head screwdriver looks like it's seen much better days.

Yeah, that's what happens when you let people borrow your tools...

Phillips head screwdriver? All I see is a prybar with a blue handle.

[Philberto]

That's why you have to get your own tools. The proper prybar is the one with the RED handle

[bgwolfpack]

That's why you have to get your own tools. The proper prybar is the one with the RED handle

The tools other people buy from Harbor Freight are the cheap one time use and throw away junk. Are you going to use these lights just once?
You buy tools to last a lifetime if not several lifetimes. Why not wait and buy lights that will last the life of the truck?