The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Met with the Rigid guys at the 4WP Jeep and Truck Fest today. I talked with the same Rep I met with last year and got a bunch of good info.

1) Rigid uses this very thread as mandatory new hire training reading for their sales staff!!! How cool is that!?
2) There were design changes to the selective yellow SAE pods since the prototypes I tested. The new pods use different lower color temperature LEDs than their SAE white units, which is a change from the prototype that had just used the lens only. They could not hit the legally required chromaticy window with just the lens alone. Meaning the new lights will be a bit more yellow and have less green hue. This also means that just swapping the lens for those that have white SAE pods will likely not be an option.
3) Rigid has some really exciting products coming in the pipeline. They are investing in the SAE patterns which is cool to see. As the rep put it, what's the point of buying all these nice lights if you cannot use them on the street. Having helped with the selective yellow lights, I got a sneak peak at unreleased pictures of product prototypes on their phone. Their next generation lights won't be pods or bars...

 

Kick ass!

I love that Rigid is local, I always try to support local businesses!

 

You're such a tease!

 

Headlight projectors?

 

Sharks with freakin laser beams!

 

Anything special about a rear fog I should look for? I already understand the usage and switch/pilot light requirements.

 

A rear for is effectively a brighter rear taillight. What do you plan on using for one and how would you mount it?

 

I've just started looking. I'd like it to be flush mount in the bumper (stock bumper now but will later upgrade to steel). I also plan on adding additional white lights on the bumper for reverse/task lighting. So a red/white flush combo on the drivers side and all white on the passenger could work. Just wasn't sure if there was a specific beam pattern requirement on the rear fog portion.

BTW really appreciate the detail you go into with your lighting reviews. In a world with easy access to low quality junk we need people to understand what makes the good stuff good and the bad stuff garbage.

 

I am looking at upgrading my digital spectrometer to a higher end model of the same product line so that I can measure where a light falls on a CIE graph, which is something that is measured for SAE compliance. Had I had this equipment, I could have determined that the original Rigid prototypes were out of the SAE chromaticity spec. They looked like they had a slight green hue, but I had no way to measure that. Color temperature doesn't give the needed information. Anyway, when I bought my digital spectrometer a while back, it was a relatively new product. Toyota had adopted it. Looking at some of the companies that use it now, Osram, Philips, Apple the US Army and many other major names have since adopted the same equipment. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

I'll double check, but I think it is going to be pretty similar to a brake light requirement, just brighter.

 

You may want to check out some of the Stage type equipment. Pretty high end stuff, what I've seen. Many will let you try before you buy as well.

 

@crashnburn80

You Sir need a website for all this awesomeness of incredible information. Please add a donation section, so I can donate to your superior knowledge and detailed info. Sweet baby Jesus your threads of information makes me gitty like a girl!!

 

I'm actually really happy with the unit I have, and having it smart device based makes data sharing online super easy. What is really cool, is since the data is stored in the app on my phone, at any time I can compare any two lights I have ever measured with it without needing to go get my equipment. I only need the tool to take new measurements. I just need a higher end model than I originally purchased.
https://www.lightingpassport.com/#features

I actually have one. I just have a really difficult time finding the extra time to build it out, so it isn't published yet. Keeping up on the threads, testing new products, keeping up on my PMs, trying to research new ideas on-top of the day job plus family life and all the other responsibilities, I am continually sleep deprived running on caffeine. But it is all fun! One of the projects I have been looking into is using something like Stripe or other payment service for those looking to donate funds to the cause. Several have donated by PMing me for Paypal, which I do really appreciate.

 

Went with the KC g4 Amber after reading your review. Great work!

 

So did I. They've been on backorder for a month though

 

So are the white ones, they are crazy popular and for good reason.

 

I got a single Amber from Amazon for $77. Now I need to find a second one.

 

I haven’t seen them sold individually, that could be a challenge.

 

They are all over the place individually it looks like. $133 is the average price.

 

Really? I haven't found singles for that price. Gotta link? I paid $255 for a pair through Jegs (best price at the time).