Best lights for your dollar

Whether your hauling over dunes, crawling over boulders, or just driving through deer country, the ability to see is crucial. As we all know the stock Tacoma headlights are well... they leave a bit to be desired.

This is a clip of an excel sheet I made based on what I would consider to be the big three of off-road lighting (as well as one I found on an IG ad just for grins) and a few of their various pod-like lighting. So no bars.

This sheet assumes a few things, the sellers advertised lumen output is accurate, there is no amber lense or led being used, all lights are purchased in pairs so the price and lumen output is that of two lights (i.e. if one pod was 1000 lumens and $50, this sheet will show it as 2000 lumens and $100)

The far right column is a reflection of how many lumens you are getting, not your distance, not your spread, just the lumens.

If you have any suggestions for brands by all means leave them below, and if you think this should be calculated differently then let me know as well.

My next goal will be a sheet where you can put in your budget and number of slots available and it will spit out the most efficient combination of lights, which might look a little funny but hey, what give and take.

 

I vote DDS PROS 4 fogs

 

Auxbeam pods...$20, 3600lm total for the pair, 180 lumens/dollar.

 

This is a severely flawed way to analyze lighting value/performance. For starters you are listing raw lumens for some and actual lumens for others. Lumen values from the Apollo and halogen Daylighter are actual output. Raw lumens is a theoretical rating for LED where actual real lumen output drastically less and can vary significantly based on the product design. Raw lumens are not comparable across products either, and not a value that should be used to measure performance, you need actual lumen output for even a baseline. Unfortunately Baja doesn't publish any performance specs on their lights, so you won't find that information on their products.

But all that aside, projection technology has a major impact on lighting performance that should not be overlooked. For example KCs G4 Gravity fogs with 866 raw lumens completely blow away Bajas fogs with 2480 raw lumens, because KCs gravity reflector products are vastly superior in efficacy compared to Bajas products, providing almost 2.5x the output intensity for the fogs despite the far weaker raw lumen rating.

It is almost like you are evaluating lights based on engine displacement and betting on the early 70s Chevy pickup with a small block V8 mated to a 3spd because it has more displacement despite it going up against a new EcoBoost aluminum Ford Raptor with a 10spd. Similarly to how ridiculous it would be to evaluate performance based on displacement alone in that scenario is what it is like to base lighting performance on raw lumen ratings.

You might consider reviewing this thread for headlight improvements and this thread for pods. But first you should always ask what you are trying to achieve in your lighting and then look for products that match the need, not just try and find the brightest product because it may not suit your needs at all. Also if you 'just found Diode Dynamics' on instagram, you are missing out. See in the linked pod thread, their products have more advanced higher efficiency optics than Rigid and Baja, they do not disappoint.

 

Another thing missing from the OPs spreadsheet is pattern. Are you looking for fog, driving, spot, flood, etc? Where the light placed its output is almost as important as the output itself.

Another question that needs to be asked and answered is where you plan on using the lights: on road or off road? For on road use you want an SAE compliant light. Off road, that's not as important.

I love spreadsheets as much as the next guy, but in this case, it's not the best tool for the job.

 

Spreadsheets are fantastic. But you need to compare like products with consistent units of measurements for them to be useful. Even then it is a real challenge because a spot pattern in one product may be much smaller than a spot pattern in another. For example Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro driving pods are outperformed by KC's Pro 6 driving lights, in both output intensity and larger pattern area, despite they both have the same pattern type and the Diode Dynamics have higher higher power and higher actual lumen output. If looking at just data of power and lumens, and not measured output performance of Candela and beam angle it would appear that the Diode Dynamics products are higher performing product when the opposite is true.

 

Some of you dudes have way to much free time

 

This is a bad thing?

 

It's a bright crowd in here..

Lights are an easy way to spend a lot of $$, and brands, patterns, types are all different. Anyone who buys wants to justify why they made their decisions. It isn't a new thing, Daniel Stern built a career out of it..

Next you'll be telling the tire guys that all-terrains are mostly the same..

 

Absolutely agree on spreadsheets being useful. Also agree that the units of measurement need to be consistent - which is tough in the particular situation. But as a wise co-worker once told me, "When the only tool you have is a hammer (a spreadsheet in this case), the whole world starts to look like a nail." Good advice

 

Lol na just an observation

 

Why would I tell them that? All at’s are completely different but if someone writes me a spreadsheet on them I would probably suggest he has to much free time on his hands. It’s not meant to provoke an argument just an opinion no big deal

 

Lol hey you win

 

I couldn't resist.

 

So I looked up a few lights last night to check out some of these lights and found out the craziest shit. They all had the lumens output and price right in the product description so I guess I need the sheet to tell me how much money I have? I don’t know you guys are to smart for me I guess lol. I’m only joking guys don’t take it all personally also happy Friday!!