Review of PIAA 18-inch HYBRID light bar

@automatcentral was kind enough to get me a 18" PIAA LED Hybrid light bar in exchange for a review, with that in mind I still want to be as unbiased as possible.

PIAA link - $599
AutomatCentral Link - $315

Packaging:

The light arrived packaged well and undamaged, nothing more to note here!




Quality:

As everyone is aware, light bars are available in a WIDE price range. You can get an 18" light bar on Amazon for $30. PIAA states this one is $600 (but @automatcentral for #315), so when I received this light bar I was looking for differentiators.





The Good:

• Great build quality on the lights - they felt solid and well made. The mounting hardware was beefy and solid. The bolts are large and they included rubber pads to protect what you are mounting to.
• Wiring harness - the wiring harness provided was great quality. All of the wires were a generous gauge and well insulated and protected. They provide a relay and inline fuse. The switch has an LED.
• Good weatherproof conectors
• Good strain relief on all wires
• Expandability if you want more lights
• Everything you need is in the box - this includes zip ties, hardware for expanding, hex wrenches, etc.

The Meh:

• There a finite number (7) of mounting points for the light. This is probably not problem for most people but I had existing holes I wanted to attach to and adjustability was not unlimited.
• The instructions were adequate
• The provided switch is too big to fit through the firewall so if you want to go that way you will need to cut and splice wires

The Bad:

• None so far. I will update if anything occurs during operation.

Installation:

This is not an installation thread, I still apologize for not taking more pictures of installation. I followed this guide for installing lights in the stock bumper. This location is nice since the lights are mostly hidden. However, they are so low that it is more difficult to adjust the angle properly.




Installation notes:

• Like I mentioned before I had to cut and re-splice the switch wires to get them through the firewall
• I mounted the relay with dual lock velcro and it seems solid
  
• I had to shift my license plate up

Performance

• As you can see from the above pictures the light is exceedingly bright. Bright enough to completely overwhelm my stock headlights, which I am very pleased about.
• The pattern is as mentioned on the PIAA website - it is not overly wide and has a long range.
• I did NOT (and was not expecting to) see a distinct cutoff at the top of the pattern, this might also be a result of me mounting so low, but I do not recommend using these for any sort of street driving as you will blind oncoming drivers.
• We will see about the longevity!

Conclusion

My initial impression is that for the price these lights seem to deliver. They are well made and are very bright. I expect them to last for years and will update this review if there are any failures. As they are currently, I can recommend them. I have made the mistake of buying the cheap amazon light bars before and so far the quality of these justify the price.

 

Looking for a decent 20-30" combo spot / flood bar but not super expensive as I am spending more on mechanical stuff now.

There's such a large variety of price points and quality levels. Just getting into it, it feels overwhelming - anyone have some good leads like these?