Blinglights Review!

Okay so I was the lucky winner of the Blinglights that Automatcentral was giving away about two weeks ago. First off I want to apologize for the time that I took to write the review. I was out of town all last week and that is what caused the delay.

Here are some pictures of my truck without the blinglights.




First off the shipping was with Godspeed. It arrived within 3 days of being shipped out in great condition just as Automatcentral described. Here is a picture after opening up the box.




The kit comes with everything you need, lights, harness, switch. The only thing I bought outside of the kit was 4 M6 machine bolts at 1" long which I had to file down to 7/8 to get them to work.



Total installation time took about an hour to an hour an a half including time to go get the bolts. I mounted mine in place of my stock fog lamps on my rugged edition 2008 tacoma.

Here are the steps in which we took when wiring these in.

1) removal of stock fog lamps.

Removing the lamps was perhaps the most difficult part of the process. To remove the lamps you have to unplug the factory wiring and push the two latches on either side of the light to pop it out of the housing. It helped to unscrew the wheel well covers underneath so that we could get to the lights. Once removed it looks like this:







2) Insert the Blinglights

This was where the bolts came in. To install the lights replacing the factory ones we had to bolt them into the housing where the factory light's latches were. When doing this it is much easier to start with the side against the bumper because there is less room for your hands. Make sure you get a hex head because you wont be able to get a screw driver up there. The lights them selves are not quite as large as the stock lights so they dont fit 100% snuggly. We tightened the bolts enough where we could adjust the blinglights as needed. (WARNING if you tighten the bolts too much you may puncture the housing.) There is a little space around the lights this takes a little time and is done best with two people so that one can guide the bolts into the light mounts and the other can screw the bolts from under the truck.

(the one on the left is stock the right one is blinglights)

(the right fog is Blinglight the left is still stock.)

3) Wiring

The hard part is over. Open the wire set and look at the diagram that came with the instructions. Several things differ from the diagram to the actual wires. For example our diagram showed a 3 prong socket when it was actually a 4 prong. (no biggie). We ran the wires next to the battery down to the housing for the fogs. Then the long wires over to the right fog. When wiring the lamps in, we used electrical grease to ensure longevity and a good connection. After connecting the wires we taped up the factory plug so that it doesnt corrode. We ziptied the wires to the frame behind the bumper so that they would not rattle. We taped up the wires for the switch and very easily pulled them through the firewall beneath the main set of wires.

We used the switch that came with it and simply drilled out one of the extra buttons on the dash. It came out quite nicely.

Then connected the relay switch and drilled a small hole next to the predrilled ones on the left side of the engine near the battery.

then finally hooked the wires to the battery terminals and switched on the switch.

Here is daytime pics with halos on.



My opinion: They are very bright lights but the halos are very weak. I cannot see the halo's at all while they are on during the day. I have not had an opportunity yet to try them at night I will tonight and post pictures. The box says a MSRP of $300+. Dont make me laugh not worth $100 with those halos. But the fogs them selves are very bright and that alone may be worth the price that is paid. But dont go after these if you are looking for good looking halos.

EDIT: Okay these things are bright as anything. I had people flashing me all the way home! They are very powerful. The Halos are visible at night but they still are not very bright and you cant see them at all with the lights fully on. But the lights themselves are impressive. They do look pretty cool with just the halos on too even if they are not super bright. Here are the pics:


Thats Halos on in a dark parking garage. but the flash went off.

My camera tends to amplify light.

Dark before the storm with Only fogs on.

All Halos!


Freaking Bright Halogens Fogs only!

After moving them behind the Grille.

Got another set for on the Roll Bar. But they dont Halo any more.


Blinglights you need to make those halos visible for the day time, Night is pretty sweet though! (but I dont know how to keep the Halos working for long periods of time. The lights themselves are good though)

 

Don't worry. I don't think you'll be disappointed with the halos when you take a look at them in the night.

I agree the MSRP on this lamp kit is extremely high; however, we're offering them for only $69.99 (including free shipping) on AutoMatCentral.com. I think you'll agree it is well worth the cost, especially for those who don't have the Tacoma stock lamps.

I look forward to seeing your night shots.

Thanks for a great review so far.

 

Thanks for the write up on these.

 

No problem, They are very nice driving lights. The Halos on mine just arent that bright.

 

Nice write up.

 

Excellent write-up! It looks like the new driving lights give you much better visibility than the stock lights.

Thanks again.
AutoMatCentral

 

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do this write up it was a lot of fun.

 

love em, but id rather have them as a color (other than white)

 

Awesome write up... great pic's

 

Great pics and write up. Thanks.

 

Yeah but the white looks more blue and it is very dull. at least for the Halos.

 

Thanks

 

Any negative feedback on these? Thinking of getting some.

 

All lights will look bright when you look at them in the beam pattern and get over exposed by the camera on auto setting.

Kudos for the install.

 

Why are they so much cheaper than the OEM or aftermarket fog kits?

 

They are smaller and are of less quality.

 

They are pretty bright. The halos burnt out after about a month or two. If you want good light that is cheap then these are okay. if price isnt a restriction then go with a hella or something else.

 

I m not too worried about the Halos, I just want some reasonably priced fog lights that will work well.

 

They work well and are brighter than stock as fogs. I like them a lot as fogs.

 

I've tried to be a silent observer of this discussion, but I feel the need to say this:
OEM and other well-known aftermarket companies inflate the price of their fog lights very high. Their profit margins on these items are quite fat.

We offer an excellent priced product with a full one year warranty -- if anything goes wrong with the lights, we'll replace the defective part or fully replace the set.