The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...fog-light-review.554813/page-49#post-21044065

I'm literally copying and pasting this stuff from the first post. It's all there, save for the inserts BD is shipping to remedy the glare. You can find that a few pages back

 

Here are the inserts
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...og-light-review.554813/page-101#post-22281172

 

I’m a huge BD fan and really wanted to give the SAEs a chance but that’s a hack fix if I’ve ever seen one. You can really see in the one picture a guy posted there’s a hard side cutoff now, the light would probably be lucky to touch the side of the road.

I’d be willing to bet BD does a heavy revision and puts out some 2.0s in the future. You don’t have to compare them side by side to see that they’re just not gonna compete with diode dynamics and rigid, and it pains me to say that

 

Baja is an excellent lighting company, but this is really their first foray into road-legal lighting. I would say their expertise in desert race lighting is probably second to none, but that doesn't necessarily translate into automatic expertise everywhere else. The equipment you need to test to SAE compliant standards is expensive, which is why most companies send their prototypes out for third-party testing before going all in on production. Baja used their modeling software to simulate the beam pattern against the standard, as well as real world durability and usability testing. But skipping actual SAE compliance testing was the mistake. The lens mask is the only way to keep selling without completely retooling production.

The sale of pro/sport squadron lights as a fog light replacement prior to this was, in my opinion, a more egregious mistake. Whether or not there's language in their marketing material that calls them "off road only", people think they're actual fog lights. I am blinded by too many idiots on the road blasting what are essentially square light bars.

 

I’ve read all that and seen the pics. Guess I’m waiting to see in a Tacoma and not basing it on one photo.

 

I hear ya, just trying to help. I think @mynameistory answered your question pretty well

 

And I could be totally wrong. Very likely. Guess I’m just hoping.

 

Wanted to get a comparison of before and after. Best I could do, if the biggest issue before was the cutoff then it looks like they accomplished it. Properly aimed and in the Tacoma it may not be that far off.

 

This depends on the light. A light such as Baja with maximum legal glare, running 2 sets would cause excessive glare. A light with much more refined optics and glare control may not exceed the legal level while running two sets. However I believe only one set of aux lights is legally able to be run at a time, meaning two sets of fogs would not technically be street legal.

Note that when the KC G4 ambers were reviewed they were the first non-white long wavelength SAE LED fog for the Tacoma. High color temp 'white' LED light is much less useful in situations where you really need a fog light. While long wave length amber does great in cutting through fog, the output intensity is relatively low as is the contrast, and colors appear a bit monochromatic. Selective yellow offers much higher intensity output, with better contrast and improved visibility over amber while retaining the same long wavelength poor weather performance benefits. The KC G4 is an excellent product and one I highly recommend in their 5000k white, but for amber, newer selective yellow products from other vendors offer better performance.

 

On the top pic is on my F150, the little but of orange or yellow above the modified cut off might be my turn signals I park mode being on. It is less glare up high but not as intense as Rigid or Diode Dynamics. I still have yet to aim them 100% since the paved part in front of my garage is not level, tried my best with a measuring tape but will know how off I am tomorrow when I get to work.

 

Thanks for the update. How far is the side cutoff? Looks like the picture may be from the left side looking right? Nice truck!

 

It's ok for a Ford lol. I'll know more about the cutoff both side and upwards tomorrow morning going to work at 3am. I know the roads and how the lights performed before the retrofit kit. However when I did take it out Friday night I wasn't really paying attention, more focused on the free dinner lol. They side cut offs do seem harsh, not sure if they could have cut, no pun intended, the "blinders" in the lens to allow more side lighting or chamfered it to allow more. Maybe some is brave enough to modify there kit to see if they can get a wider light with out hurting the upwards cut off. My opinion seems like Rigid or Diode Dynamics is the way to go for general/universale mounted fogs. Nownits I had a Tundra I'd have more options, one day lol.

 

So is the rigid amber a Tacoma specific option? I can’t seem to find it. Unless it’s this: https://shop.opticsplanet.com/rigid...MIsrKfpdvJ5gIVgfhkCh2c4QksEAQYAyABEgJCEPD_BwE

 

There’s a Tacoma specific kit using those lights, someone posted a picture of theirs a few pages back

 

Got a link to the kit you bought? How was the install?

 

For Rigid you have those D-Series plus the Rago Fabrication Rigid fog mounts or the round 360 series with the upcoming OEM mount. The 360 OEM mounts have been delayed, latest is they are supposed to be available mid-Jan.

3rd Gen D-series mount:
https://www.rigidindustries.com/201...t-kit-sae-compliant-d-series-pair-465673.html

 

I know it’s not technically legal but I wasn’t worried about that, I have 4 light pockets in my bumper and needed to fill them. With the rest of my lighting needs filled I figured 4 sae fogs.

I ended up canceling my Baja Designs order and ordered 4x SS3 pro sae fogs but one set yellow and one set clear so I have fogs for any weather condition. I figure I’ll wire white to the factory switch and put them in the outside holes since they’ll get used the most and yellow on one of the factory auxiliary switches for poor weather.

 

I plan on running 2 sets of fogs as well, though both in selective yellow. One set in the stock location on the outer edges to run under most conditions and a second set of aux fogs in the inner lower valence to run on remote mountain highway passes when conditions area really bad.

Rather than 1 yellow and 1 white, you might consider 2 yellow and then swap the optic to clear when it becomes available seperately later, so you have 4000k white rather than 6000k white.

 

I think in many areas, If you have more than two aux lamps, they need to be covered when on the road?

 

Typically covers are required on non-SAE compliant lights. Laws vary by state though. For example it is legal to have J583 fogs and J581 aux high beams, you wouldn't use both these at the same time and it wouldn't make sense to require you to cover a street legal high beam or a street legal foglight just because both are on your vehicle. I believe it is illegal to run more than one aux light at a time in conjunction with your headlights though, meaning you can run headlights + fogs, or headlights + aux high beams but not technically all 3 at once. However, no one should be in front of you when running high beams anyway, so it isn't like anyone should notice unless your vehicle is subject to state inspection where they test headlight operation. However, if you had the KC Pro6 roof mount light bar in all SAE driving lights, I'm pretty sure your still going to need some covers as that is more than 2 aux driving lights.