Cheap vs Expensive Lights

We all know who's going to win and I did not seriously compare the 2 lights. It was just for fun and to satisfy my curiosity to see how much better the expensive lights are and how close the performance was despite the big price difference.

The CaliRaised 40" slim light bar is 200 watts and has no claimed lumen output. The Baja Designs XL80's are 80 watts each, 160 watt combined and produce 9500 lumens each with 19,000 lumens combined. The XL80's actually draws less wattage and produces more lumens, although I dont really know if the specs on the CaliRaised light bar is true or if they just got their number from thin air, could be why they don't list a lumen output. I would guess that it produces about 15,000 lumens and that's being on the high side. I seriously thought the CaliRaised light bar would perform much better, it was a serious disappointment and the color temperature is not ideal for me at all. The BD's color temperature matched and blended with my low beams nicely, the CaliRaised did not match or blend with my low beams, it created a harsher light.

NOTE: The Xl80's were aimed a couple of degress outwards and not straight forward creating a less intense hot spot, both lights are set at 90 degrees vertically and are combo/driving beam pattern.

All photos were taken on my Nikon D7200 with a 18-140mm lens in Manual mode with fixed shutter, aperture, and ISO.


HID 5000k Low beams:



Low beams + CaliRaised light bar:



Low beams + Baja Designs XL80:





Different location

Low beams + CaliRaised light bar:



Low beams + Baja Designs XL80:

 

As usual, you get what you pay for. Light output, color quality, and build quality all come into play. Baja is one of the best and Cali caters to budget buyers. The color temp is something I think many overlook, as high color temps are really not ideal. Note that led lights advertise ‘raw lumens’, the conversion to ‘actual lumens’ will be higher in high quality name brand lights.

 

why would you compare a light bar to large pods? Totally different beam and light patterns. I'm not saying if it were apples to apples that caliraised would win, I'm sure they would not, but you at least have to be scientific about it.

 

Both lights are what I currently have mounted on my vehicle and both lights are combo/driving beams so I don't know what you mean by different beam patterns as they both have spot and flood beams.

This was just for fun but I do have a 40" ONX6+ combo pattern here that will replace the CaliRaised. I'll get some photos in the same location to get a more apples to apples comparison but don't expect it to be apples to apples, the CaliRaised light bar couldn't even match the performance of the XL80's, which have half the lumen output of a 40" ONX6+.

 

I have whole heatedly agree with the high color temps, I solely stick with Baja Designs for that reason. I didn't know about the raw lumens to actual lumens conversion, I always figured raw lumens was the max lumen output under ideal conditions, I'm assuming the optics are the cause for this boost in lumens?

 

So the Baja Designs are a better light, that puts off better results. The question you need to ask yourself though, is it twice as good?
If I was high speed driving through the night then yes, but for what I need I dont see the extra price personally.

 

Very true, every one has different purposes and needs for lighting. I tend to drive a bit fast on tight windy trails so I need a wider and further light projection to see turns before I come up to them.