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I have a set of Vision X pods (installed), any interest in adding those to your pod review? I could pop one off for testing.

https://www.visionxusa.com/shop/16-gen3-toyota-tacoma-a-pillar-light-kit/

 

Ha! this got me. My parents made the mistake of buying a daewoo like 20 years ago. Thankfully they got rid of shortly after and went Honda.

 

My forward lighting comparison reviews are all covering SAE compliant patterns, where there is a specific industry standard beam pattern that must be met. In an off road light like those from Vision X there is no pattern standard, which makes comparing output significantly more difficult. A smaller focused spot beam will return much higher intensity measured values, but light less area, and more of a flood pattern will light more area but at much lower intensity. This all makes measured values very difficult and less meaningful to compare if the pattern isn’t standardized across the products being compared. So I don’t see value in doing any testing on those Vision X lights as I don’t have a way to meaningfully evaluate their performance against other products.

All that said, I’d check out Diode Dynamics new SSC2 Pro pods for ditch lights. Their TIR optics will offer vastly superior focus in driving or spot with less stray light which will significantly reduce hood glare.

 

A piece of dog shit is superior to cali raised

 

Since we are on the topic what’s a good upgrade to the Cali Raised light bar in the lower grille? I’m taking about brands

 

See the above comments and check out Diode Dynamics TIR optic driving light bars. They will make your Cali bar look like it never even turned on.

 

Best in the game right now?

 

Funny you would mention that. With the money I saved going with Cali raised I was able to buy a locker for my truck.

 

For the compact light bar form, yes they have the best optics engineering and performance. If you want the very best the KC Pro 6 light bar has higher peak intensity with better focus, even less stray light spill and lower 5000k color temp. However it is significantly larger in size and far more expensive. Note that the Diode Dynamics bar is a true driving light, meant to focus light for maximum distance projection in a driving pattern. Many other brands sell "driving lights" which are really just a short range flood and spot optic combo they call "driving" but is not at all a driving light. The Diode Dynamics bar has a real driving pattern, though in larger sizes you can opt also for a combo pattern with short range flood and distance driving. Unless you are frequently doing night trails requiring short range flood lighting, pure driving is the way to go. Note that many brands like Baja use open face reflectors in their light bars, this produces a ton of stray light that illuminates a very large area like a flood, regardless of their "spot" pattern claim. This does have the benefit of illuminating more area but also significantly reduces the output intensity because the light is not focused, meaning the light does not project nearly as far.

 

Caliraised is basically equivalent to rebranded china auxbeam. They don't make their own lights, it is just rebranded cheap china products that are poor performing. @Kidwidataco came over with his auxbeam 30" light bar, ditch lights and cali fogs and we did a lighting shoot out with all his LED pods, light bar, fogs and headlights against just my headlights and the peak output was about equal. All that low quality china product barely met the output of my headlight low beams alone, it was pathetic. Yes you can definitely 'save money' with Cali, but they are kids toys compared to real engineered lighting products.

As typical with most that come to my place, he upgraded to better lights and picked up an older used Rigid 30" combo light bar. We setup a test to compare output of the Rigid bar to the auxbeam combo bar, lux measurements below.



Rigid was 26x+ output intensity of auxbeam. And that was with an older Rigid bar. If you just want a light bar to have a light bar or cheap pods, Cali can save you some money but their performance is abysmal compared to real engineered lighting solutions.

 

Considering the KC lights are out of stock and might not fit where the Cali raised one is ill get a Diode Dynamics

 

If you have an Auxbeam or caliraised bar you or your friends are going to throw out, I could use one for my tractor. I only need to see about 20ft infront of me at 10mph max, so cheap is good......

 

Rigids and Baja Designs are also great imho as well in case the Diode length is not correct. There is some size variance with most brands it seems.

 

Unsure what you mean by the Diode Dynamics length is not correct. Diode Dynamics does an outstanding job on specs across the board. What tends to confuse people is when Cali mis-advertises their bars as "32" by using the outer stud as the measurement point to make their bars seem larger than the competition, when the industry standard is to use the emitter area. So what all other manufactures call a 30" light bar, Cali calls it a 32" bar. That should tell you plenty.

 

I did

 

My two small rigid pods are brighter, and throw light further down range than my 30" knock off light bar. Also, my super cheap ebay special light bars have out lasted my cali raised light bars.

Save up and get something good. Don't cheap out and throw money away like I did.

 

Not that it is “incorrect”, just making sure that he knows that it seems like some brands have different measuring points and not all bars fit in other brands mounts.

 

Fair point, most brands provide product measurements in the spec to verify before ordering.

 

Mine, total chaos upper control arms. Hundo off for any TW member!