The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

I've ran the BD yellow SAE's for about 3 weeks now. I have never been once flashed. Combined driving time from the early morning commute and late evening return home(approx 24 miles round trip). The beam sits right under hard cut off from the retrofits. They perform and look great for me.

 

I've had my BD sae amber/selective for a month. Have yet been flashed or pulled over. Well one time but there were looking for a red 4 door F150 for a hit and run, cool cop even asked about them. Love them so far, they make me want to swap my Rigid D2 driving on my a pillar for a set of BD lights, XL80 maybe? But first I'm saving up for a winch.

 

Just because your not flashed does not mean there is not bad glare.
I dont bother flashing any body anymore, as they just get pissed and hit you with high beams.

 

Selling the Baja SAE ambers if anyone is interested:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/baja-designs-squadron-sae-amber-led-lights-for-sale.547248/

 

I would like to do it with a custom switch.

 

They came with a harness and switch. You just need to connect the harness to your battery and to the fogs and run the supplied switch into the cab, or swap out the switch with a custom one. Everything you need should be included. You could get a little more fancy if you wanted to wire it so that the fogs could only turn on when your OEM fogs are on, or otherwise turn off when the truck turns off.

 

Ok I couldn't find the BD testing linked (and I am being lazy to look through all the pages to find it.)

 

All updates are linked at the very top of the original post: Baja Designs

 

I am blind as a bat. I don't know how I missed the links. Oh well thanks for the link here. Oh and read the rigid yellow one too very interesting. Can't wait to see what you think of their new ones.

 

Lots of info in the thread, easy to miss. It is a constant challenge to update everything each time a new product is released. And there constantly seems like a new product launch on the horizon that I am waiting for before overhauling all the comparison charts on the thread.

 

I heard back on the first round of Baja SAE compliance testing. The results are not at all surprising if you saw these lights in person.

"Those Baja lamps aren’t even close to SAE J583 compliant. Failed on photometry and gradient."

I'm awaiting results from a secondary group also running compliance tests on the Baja SAEs, but I'd be highly surprised if their test results were any different.

 

So with that data from the first round tests, would it lead you to believe BD just slapped on the SAE compliance number? How could they pass?

 

To be clear, I have not reviewed the data first hand, I was just told the results. SAE compliance certification is not what most people think. It is a pattern standard the manufacture self tests its own products against, and then says whether or not they passed their own testing based on the standard. They can then apply the SAE compliant label if they deem they pass. There is no govt testing to "approve" SAE compliance as many believe. Some manufactures have the expertise to do this in-house, and others may send a product out for 3rd party testing. As a company that has never done this before, maybe they did it incorrectly in-house and then incorrectly labeled it as SAE compliant. I honestly have no idea what they did. It will be interesting to see what the second test group says. But if you look at my Baja Designs SAE review, the outcome is not surprising.

 

Roger that. Waiting for results from second test group.

 

Crashnburn80 needs a plaque on his wall for this forum, most information on sae fog lights and blessed us with knowledge. I like my BD fogs, more less for the aesthetics of the mount. However I would like to see the nee 360 sae. On another note, I wonder if the 360 uses warmer leds? I like the size of the 360 and comparing them to BD Xl80 for future upgrades. I can tell my D2 driving pattern has a blueish tinted to it vs my factory D3s hids.

 

@NunyaBizness STICKY WORTHY Thread

 

Done

 

My man

 

Exciting news! Rigid's 360-Series lights begin shipping today, however the SAE versions are still 2-3 weeks out. Even better, Rigid has developed an OEM fog pocket mounting kit for the Tacoma/4runner/Tundra that will mount the 360 fogs in the OEM location in a super clean integrated mount, which sounds just like how Baja's pods mount in the factory location. The entire setup is bolt on, plug and play. The new mounts launch in a month. HOWEVER, the mounts are not plug and play for 2nd Gen. 3rd Gen only. But it sounds like the mounts may work for the 2012+ 2nd Gen with some minor trimming of the stock fog mount plastic. I'll be getting a pre-release set of mounts in early-mid October with the lights to test fitting on a 12+ 2nd Gen. Keep in mind the 3rd Gen OEM fog mounts and 2012+ 2nd Gen are extremely similar, such that products like the KC G4 are plug and play in both with the same part. That isn't true for the early 2nd Gens unfortunately.

Edit: I misspoke about 2nd Gen trimming fitment, it is trimming the Rigid mount to fit the 2012-2015 OEM fog mounts, not trimming the OEM parts. Apparently the 3rd Gen OEM fog mounts differ in width by 1/4" from late 2nd Gen.

And! The 360-Series lights do use warmer LEDs, which is also beneficial for selective yellow as you end up with less filtration losses.