The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Looking at the vertical height of the beam it doesn’t appear to be an aiming issue. Note how close the light intensity approaches the vehicle, if they were aimed high that would be pushed further out.

SAE spec does allow a gradient cut off, (vs hard projector style cut off) but these photos certainly don’t look like they would be within an SAE gradient spec with the vertical height of that pattern.

 

I see what you are saying now. Yeah I don’t know what’s going on here, super eager for your results once your set comes in. I really wanted to pickup some legal fogs and would like to go BD to match, but I also don’t want to be blinding anyone.

 

Hoping that the delivery guy dose not pull the, no one at home strategy. Almost pulled the trigger on some Rigid sae, but will wait for the review and analysis of the BD lights.

 

37 second mark. stop light screenshot



Come on BD. Don't let me down like this.

I regret selling my Rigid SAEs if this is what the output looks like. the camera isn't even below the headlights so why are the fogs glaring

 

Got them!

 

FIRE EM UP

 

Little hard to do at the office. But definitely will this evening!

 

Interesting they say wide cornering sae. Cant wait for the test to be completed, wallet is ready.

 

Baja had one job.

Rigid Selective yellow


Baja selective yellow


Rigid left vs Baja Right


Baja does not use projectors for cut offs just as many have expressed significant concern over for these lights after seeing marketing output pictures. The lights emit significant upward glare as expected from a forward facing LED pod without projectors. Projectors are industry standard for fog pods. The focus area of the Baja pattern is certainly taller than Rigid, but without the cut offs to cap the output, this blends the pattern extremely vertical causing significant glare. Waving my hand above the Baja light creates shadows on the ceiling, waving my hand above the Rigid SAE fog light produces no shadows, because no light escapes upward from the cut off. Standing in front of the Rigid lights is not offensive at all. Standing in front of the Baja lights is blinding and causes one to see spots and have trouble focusing afterward.

I will do my usual full proper review and performance analysis of the Baja SAE lights very soon, but I’ve had many members PM me questioning the cut offs based on the released marketing materials and wanted to share this initial info without delay for a full comparison write up.

 

Initial reaction;

Are you effing kidding me BD? Many months of r&d and we get the same wide cornering version. These still need work. i can't believe they're marketing this and think this is fine for road use.

 

That’s crazy how much light is on the ceiling! How the heck did they get these SAE certified? Who did they pay off!?

Glad I went with the KC G4’s after seeing these pictures.

 

That's enough of a review for me to decide to stay with my Rigid selective yellow pods. That looks about right with their promotion pics and videos. How did that pass?

 

I love Baja’s pods for off road! They have by far the best form factor and great output intensity and color quality. I was really hoping to love their SAE lights as well. I’ve had the Rigid SAE selective yellow fogs for a while and not installed them in anticipation that Baja would come out with something better.

I wouldn’t call this a review though! I set the bar much higher, this is just a pattern comparison. Full review coming soon.

They claim to have adjusted the optic and reduced the output for street use compared to the wide cornering. The lenses are labeled SAE F16, F=(Fog) J583 and 16 is 2016 compliance standard. There is an allowed vertical gradient in the fog pattern, but I don’t see how these could meet it. I’ll have to see if I can dig up that gradient test spec.

 

This is definitely disappointing. For that price point I’d expect a projection lens. How does BD justify the $65 up charge over the regular Squadron Sports? I’m waiting on backorder and considering canceling my order. If I wanted to drive around blinding people I’d get a set of Amazon lights for a fraction of the price.

 

@state48overland check it out.

 

damn that’s crazy! good thing i am not getting rid of my rigids.
have to just fine tune them fully and properly aim my retrofits and i’ll be in good shape.
i installed them both too quickly and didn’t take my time. the pods are crooked after looking further
and i don’t know if i have to adjust the pods up or down or not but i know they are not 100% proper
but this is a pic when i installed and was messing with aiming.

 

Which mount are you using? Rigid mounts were a nightmare to install and adjust. Rago Fabrication mounts are really easy, although they twist when tightening the mounting bolt. Easy enough to adjust.

 

i’m using the rago mounts. @crashnburn80 modified them to accept the amber covers which work great.
and yeah i had a little trouble moving the pods up and down but i guess i have to mess with it more because the passenger side seemed to move up and down better

and yeah pain it twists left and right when tightening the nut.

going to mess with them and a second hand would deff help me out.

i also have to adjust my retros as the cutoff may be too low because how the fogs are it almost blends with the low beams but on the road the retros seem good i know my lights were not aimed properly when i installed em over the winter i just never took the time to re aim them properly like they should be

 

Should the fog cutoff be the same or lower than the low beams?