BD XL Racer vs DD SS3 Pro Spot - Comparison

Nice video! How did you fix the camera issue?

The Baja open bucket legacy reflectors definitely provide a lot more stray foreground light depending on what people are looking for, vs the focused light of Diode Dynamics TIR optics. Some may prefer the increased foreground light with Baja for good reason vs the more focused distance light with the SS3s depending on the purpose. However, while the output video does appear to make Baja look like the clear winner, the Diode Dynamics are ~35% higher in output with optics light years ahead of Baja in efficiency. If you were to take a measured lux reading with proper equipment at distance, I'm beyond certain you would find that the Diode Dynamics units were able to provide significantly better distance projection and beam intensity not well represented in the video. One of the many reasons pictures/videos alone are inadequate and can be misleading without proper light measurement tools. I do significantly prefer Baja's 5000k color temp. It is worth noting the SS3s are also available in 4000k at a small premium with a lens swap.

 

I like the idea of locking the settings between videos. You'll have to experiment to see how well that works when using lights with different output levels.

The 4000k vs 6000k output performance is the same, but the 4000k will provide better contrast and look better in photos/video.

 

Exactly. That would actually be a really cool video! You'd want to use products that are very similar in output pattern/pattern/performance to not sway bias by output. But I think an outdoor test like you have done with locked exposure settings showing the different color temps would be very interesting to see.

 

We appreciate the review Colton, excellent representation!

Here's data from Intertek, proving the XL Racer's efficiency against the SS3 Pro Spot.

 

Nice video!

The BD XL is a significantly larger lamp than the Diode SS3, so this is an interesting comparison. Also, $400 vs $150...

You'll have to check out the "bigger" Diode lamp when that's available too, for a real head-to-head matchup.

 

Awesome to see actual measured output specs on a Baja product! Those are some great candela numbers. Baja Designs is the only major lighting manufacture that doesn't publish any actual output specs of their products, which is a significant short coming of such a high end brand, it is effectively a long time industry standard for all major lighting companies. Hopefully these testing numbers indicate a move to more product performance transparency. It would be awesome to see candela values and effective lumen output numbers across Baja's products listed online, bonus points for lux at 10 meters which are all standard units of performance measurement across all other major brands, listed on their respective websites available to the public.

 

Of course, you bring up some great questions!

• Is there a certain distance in which the “effective lumen” valued was identified?

In short, the effective lumens is taking into account all the light coming out of the lighting fixture. They have special equipment that can measure the specifications of a light such as an Integrated sphere and a goniometer so unfortunately there is not an easy way to capture this at home. These are the most accurate methods to collect all the different specifications compared to a hand held lux meter which is great for getting a rough idea until it comes time to test a production worthy product.

• When determining effective output is there any consideration or “extra credit” given to any light that is spilled out away from the focal center?

Today’s testing procedures do not accurately classify the extra light you are discussing. Even in the lumen count value, it captures this light but still doesn’t tell the customer most importantly how that light is being used.