The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Sweet, appreciate the info! I'll keep an eye on this thread to see if it's worth the swap (it probably is).

 

The upgrade program reuses the gen 1 pod bodies. New board and optics are swapped. So you should be able to just swap the new optics, but the new board is more powerful (22w vs 29w).

All 2020+ Tacomas with halogen fogs have low performance H16 fogs. If going the halogen route, swap to halogen fogs from a US 16-19 TRD truck, which will have the high power wide-angle TRD H11 fogs. Then you have plenty of bulb upgrade options available as well, along with much higher power and greater output plus wider pattern than the H16 units found in 2020+ trucks.

 

Hey @GabagoolFool,
As of now, there will not be a date frame that the upgrade is valid through. We aim to upgrade all current models to the redesigned light on us, I would strongly advise considering the upgrade as the new version of this light is substantially better.
Best,
Brandon

 

The optic change has moved away from our standard reflector base optics and has upgraded to an aspherical projector-style optic. With this optic change, we were able to achieve a much more competitive width as well as much sharper cutoffs and were able to switch over to a spot lens with no restrictive lens insert. As of now, these lights will not be Userviceable due to the SAE rating. If a customer desires a lens change (ex. going from a clear to an amber) they will need to have the lights sent in and the lens change will be performed in our facility.
Best,
Brandon

 

The OEM H11 Fog Lights are pretty darn good. I personally haven't felt the need to swap them out since they have plenty of spread, decent forward illumination and they will melt pretty much any amount of snow/ice since since they are halogen.

I thought the 12-15 H11 Tacoma fog lights were also the "wide-angle" fog lights? Is it just the 16-19 H11 fogs that are the good ones?

 

All 12-15 Tacomas have the high performance H11 wide-angle fogs, like the 16-19 TRD Tacomas. I was speaking in terms of 3rd Gen. I'm un-sure if they have the same part number for 2nd vs 3rd Gen OEM units as the 3rd Gen mounts are slightly different, though aftermarket units are typically sold as compatible for both.

 

Wish someone made a bracket to stuff ‘16 fog lamps into ‘05-‘09 spots.

 

Different shapes. At least there are aftermarket options for 05-11 now, for a long time the options were very limited.

 

My solution apparently is a demello front bumper. Hopefully it has standard mounts.

 

Any idea when the thread will be updated with the new BD SAE light tests? I mean, I'm upgrading my originals regardless, just curious to see how they perform against the others.

 

I’m very curious about BD new SAE vs DD ss3 sports

 

Crash stated he some on order but that he was also somewhere down the order list and unsure when he's get his to test.

Post#6574

 

Whenever my lights show up or when I can get ahold of some another way. I don’t have any concrete date on when that may be.

 

Well, here is a hard lesson learned, and should have listened to Crashnburn80 sooner rather than later.

The reason I'm going back to my factory 2017 foglights!

We all love a good anecdote right? Should have listened to the experts? Yeah, I should have done that. I'm a huge advocate for yellow fogs, its nice to see stuff a little better in bad weather, and flipping the fogs on to see is a great way to do that, agreed? Yeah, im a bit of an idiot. Last Friday we had a total rain out of a day here in central indiana. I'm running mled 2.0 retrofits, and they do GREAT at lighting everything up even in the rain. What they totally fail to do is melt snow. It's 7:30pm, im driving home (in the monsoon that hit central Indiana), im about 15 minutes from the house, its dark. Easy enough, avoid those others with bald tires and I'll be fine. I forget the outside temperature is 33 degrees. That rain in a matter of 5 seconds turns in to nearly white-out conditions as it's now decided its cold enough to produce snow. My headlights get covered instantly, and the brief moment before I swear I was in the millennium falcon going light speed. This is where it gets better!

Me (an intellectual): I'll just flip off my low beams (fogs already on), slow down, and continue on my way.
Reality: hahahahaha you can't see shit captain, your fogs aren't hot enough to melt this!
Me (obviously an idiot): well I'm dumb.

I had 0 yellow in front of me. 0. Nada. I pulled over safely, got out and checked the problem (in the snow) and the foggies were covered. That quickly. It had been snowing for about 2 minutes at this point. I limped home on now back roads while relying on the night vision goggles that are my eye balls.

Moral of the story: DD ss3 sports absolutely positively do not melt snow. Mled 2.0 absolutely positively do not melt snow. And now I'm switching back to my factory foglights simply because I'm an idiot, didn't buy ss3 Max, and didn't think it would ever actually be an issue. At crashnburn80's recommendation, I ordered some osram fog breakers, and once they arrive I'll be replacing my ss3 sports.

Note: the ss3 sports are AMAZING fog lights in fog and great added visibility to other drivers in the rain. They simply can't keep up in the snow for me.

 

The Max or the HXBs would do best melting snow for LED fogs, but even so they take a while to get to snow melting temps. If the fogs are cold from being in freezing weather, it could take 15 minutes or more to get them hot enough to be able to self clear. In my previous Jeep that had LED headlights, when driving over the mountain passes I'd click the fogs on at the first sign of snow to start the heating process. With halogen headlights, you are not at risk of a total lighting blackout from snow, so you don't need to be as pro-active turning the LED fogs on. Since halogens produce IR, they create high heat immediately. Would be nice to have a heated lens fog option for similar performance in an LED, like JW Speakers heated headlights. At least the Tacoma's H11 wide-angle TRD fogs are pretty impressive for a stock fog, so you have some good halogen options. Many vehicles are not so fortunate.

 

The delay in the warm-up was my big reason for not going with Max or HXB. And the fact I'm not dropping $500 on fog lights lol. I'm going to try the Osram fog breakers and if I hate them I'll pursue other halogen options perhaps. Really missing 110 watt hella and piaa h1 fog bulbs on my civic (glass lenses).

 

No, I'm aware they actually dim slightly as they heat up. Not a huge deal. Clearing the lenses of snow/ice for light output was the goal. Like CrashnBurn80 said, a heating element in the lense would be incredibly helpful. I love what diode dynamics does, but they are just out of my price range for now. I know the factory halogen fogs are good, I will see how good. If I hate it, I sell the diode ss3 sports and add back to the pot maybe for the ss3 Max.