The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Yes. Your fogs are meant to be used at slower-than-highway speeds, when your distance vision is impacted and finding the edges of the road are crucial for navigation. Using them full time will naturally shift your vision closer to the truck, a dangerous thing at highway speeds.

 

Makes total sense. Fact is, if it's snowing pretty good highway speeds suddenly become 40 MPH give or take. I'm on the fence about the Pro vs Sport. Use will be for gnarly weather otherwise I don't see the need. I've never had aftermarket fogs so honestly don;t know if I'd want them a little brighter or less so. I do know on some occasions I feel like shutting off my regular lights! They just catch too much snow. Maybe the pros would allow that (back roads with little to no traffic).

I'll check out that review mentioned above!

 

Hi,

Thank you very much OP for all of the work you've contributed to the community.

I am searching to replace my fog lights in my 5th gen 4Runner. Hope y'all don't mind having me here. ;-) Anyway, after reading this thread for over an hour, I'm not sure I'm any closer to a decision. In fact, I am further now that I've discovered these Rigid "360 Series" lights ha.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I have three solid options available for my purposes. I am seeking a "true fog light" to go into my stock fog light location, and would like amber color as I believe that serves better for a "true" fog light. If you believe there is a better option for me, then by all means please let me know!

1. Rigid 360 SAE in Selective Yellow
2. KC HiLites in Amber
3. DiodeDynamics SS3 in Yellow, either Sport or Pro

Here's what I have so far.. please correct me if I am wrong, and all further thoughts and opinions are much appreciated!

1. The Rigids look nice, but cost the most by a long shot. The output is higher than the KC's, but the color is whiter (more yellow than amber). The lights get hotter than the KCs, could this ever be a bad thing? So why so expensive? The lens on these is actually amber which I like.

2. I was all but sold on the KC's, almost pulled the trigger before coming here. These seem like a great all around option. I do not like that the lens is not amber (mall crawler factor, so sue me), however that might be a good thing for actual light output. That said, these output the least light of all. Fantastic product and warranty, even if the performance is "sub-par?" These are priced in the middle.

3. DiodeDynamics SS3 seem interesting. They look "cool" due to the non-round appearance (personal preference), though I do not really care much about that. Two brightness options with slightly different beam pattern, but both are still acceptable for driving with them on in traffic, right (even the Pro's)? Pricing is the lowest of the bunch, but of course the Pro's add a little to the price. One nice feature is the ability to change the lens to clear and have a true 4000K color light output, though I doubt I'd ever do that.

Ugh, I dunno! Any recommendations or something I'm not considering? Please help and thank you!

 

Dude I would just go with the DD's. As you noted the Rigid are more expensive, the KC's have less light, where the DD are reasonable, have a "cool factor" visually you like, have the amber you want, and have great output to boot.

Puts you in the same shoes as me trying to decide on the extra output of the pros, or the already very good output of the sports. The $120 difference doesn't matter to me personally, but having a light that is overkill and maybe self defeating in gnarly weather is an issue (and concern).

 

It used to be a contest. With the advent of the SS3, it's not really a contest anymore.

 

Having had the KC's, then the DD SS3 (Selective Yellow Pros) in my truck the Diode Dynamics pods are clearly the best. Not even close.

 

Did you go with the Sport or Pro model?

 

Pros

 

Note the KC G4 in 5000k white is a good performer, however their amber G4 is true amber, whereas Rigid and Diode Dynamics use selective yellow. Selective yellow is the superior color for fog/poor weather conditions. Amber does not provide much contrast for visibility and can appear a bit monochromatic (though KC amber is far better than Morimoto amber in emitted spectrum) while also being lower in output. Selective yellow is much brighter and provides better contrast than amber, which enhances visibility while also having the long wavelength benefits for performance in poor weather conditions. In short you want selective yellow, not amber. Personally I run the SS3 Pros in selective yellow.

 

Ordered mine through lightwerkz during the labor day promotion. Just installed them this morning. I gotta say, These lights do exactly what I was looking to improve on. I can see the sides of the road way better and this was first night driving home with them on and I never got flashed. Even the wife said you couldn't even tell the headlights were on, so now to find some halogens that match. To think, I almost went with BD until I found this thread.

 

Welcome first poster! Uhh, yeah, zero comparison vs BD. Your photos look like 4000k, but photos can be deceiving. What color temp are you looking to match?

 

Whatever the stock halogens are I believe. Person that had this truck before me never changed them. They did a pretty lazy job at putting the front fender panels back together too. But thats a seperate project.

Im going for a color temp thats closer to the SS3 SAE. I know its not possible to match it due to halogen color limitation but I have seen your threads enough to know halogen is the way to go.

 

Thanks to everyone for your responses.

Any downsides at all to the SS3 Pro's over the Sports? (Other than cost.)

Still okay to run in traffic? No excess reflection back due to higher output and a "less defined" spread?

I guess I'm a sucker for the clean OEM+ look of the KC's / Rigid 360's, but not enough to sacrifice performance, or another $200, for it heh. I suppose I'll get some tacticool points for the SS3's while mall-crawling at least.

Thanks!

 

I have the SS3 Pros in Selective Yellow and the only downside is that they're so powerful. Of course that's also the reason I bought them. Even aimed all the way down, if you're sitting at an intersection where the crest of the hill is the center of the intersection, you will bother the drivers in the oncoming lane. That's just another reason not to run them in anything but inclement weather. But that's exactly what they're made for anyway!

 

Like Too Stroked mentioned- they are very bright. But, if aimed properly, the Pros are SAE-compliant for road use. Aim is very important when it comes to the SS3 Fog Light Kits! I run the SS3 Pros in white on my 2nd gen SR5 and have never been flashed.

-Collin

 

Travelin’ over ice roads I find the KC amber superior to any other light I’ve ever used. A case of brighter is not better. The deep amber allows me to see cracks, crevasses & other ice deformations without the resultin’ glare from a higher output, higher spectrum colour. You’re able to seen contours far better with this combination I’ve found. I say to each his own. Only you know the conditions you travel. Definitely Not one size fits all.

 

My experience exactly - except for that one "at grade" intersection. Great lights!

 

Hmm. Cool. I think I'll go for the Sport model since the primary use for these (in my case) will be on the streets near my home in the city. If I ever need more light when off-road, I'll add some floods/spots to my bull bar. I also drive an M Sport BMW, 350Z, etc., and am regularly annoyed by even stock lights on trucks/SUV's. You don't realize that trucks' OEM lights are already shining right into drivers' eyes until you've driven a true sports car that sits, basically, on the ground. I don't want to be one of those guys on the other side of the coin now. I'm sure the stock HID's in various large trucks are "SAE compliant," as well, but that doesn't mean they aren't blinding the sh*t out of other drivers constantly. Cheers

P.S. Obviously, just because you aren't flashed, doesn't mean you aren't bothering others. I gave up on trying to teach the world to drive years ago.. pointless.