The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Waiting on them to ship…

 

We're waiting for our resident lighting expert to do some truly unbiased, properly instrumented testing before we draw any conclusions. Some sites make some truly amazing claims of performance (like 500% brighter than OEM headlights) by using biased, improperly instrumented testing methods. I won't mention any names though.

 

Wonder if it's the same one who makes headlights to replace the sucky POS OEM f150 headlights. Has a video showing how bad the halogen f150 headlights are, then shows theirs which are better. BUT then says how much better theirs are and cheaper too than the OEM LED headlights without the corresponding video to back that up?

 

Haha just yanking your chain. Seriously though can I see your right hand please

 

But while you are here can you tell us where to find the 4th banger on the lights?

 

If my experience with the original Morimoto LED fogs in my 2014 Tacoma is any guide, a decent warranty will be required. I had them in for less than 2 years and one was replaced twice and the other once. Personally, I don't care how good a warranty is if I have to keep replacing the product.

 

@Headlight Revolution read the room... Not trying to be d!ck but maybe go back at least 10 pages before posting up on here.

This forum and the lighting threads on tacomaworld specifically are not kind to product pushing vendors with outrageous claims. This isn't your typical forum. We rely on verifiable hard data with zero fluff and we are likely some of the most critical a$$holes on the web when it comes to many products, but specifically lighting (reference Baja Designs SAE Fog lights). We do not buy into marketing claims, clearly over hyped numbers, initial brightness, peak intensity or social media bling factor. Given the history of over promised products from many LED pushing vendors/manufactures (especially PNP LEDs), you can easily see why there is so much skepticism.

Regardless, I am excited to see how they perform in Crash's testing, but I am not holding my breath. Either way, competition is what drives every manufacture to improve their products and that only makes stuff better for us!

 

@crashnburn80 any chance you’ve tested these yet?


If not, and you would be willing, I can probably send them over. I have a backlog of other projects so they won’t be installed anytime soon

 

I have them coming. Let me check what the status is on them and get back to you.

 

I guess this fitment is normal? I was surprised I could only get one screw in because the brackets are too close together.

 

Yes. I think 3rd gens only have 1 screw holding the stock fogs in, but that may not be correct. I was able to get 2 screws back in my 2012, but realized it made the light crooked.

 

See the original SS3 review where this is covered: Diode Dynamics SS3

The lights are designed for 3rd Gen brackets, 3rd Gen only uses one mounting screw. They are compatible with 12+ 2nd Gen if you also only use one mounting screw. Attempting to use both screws on 2nd Gen will not allow the light to sit level.

 

10-4. Installed SS3 Fog amber max last night... just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing some method of having both screws in. Light output is awesome!

 

does this apply for all 2nd gens or just the 12+ 2nd gens.

Still need to install mine haven’t had the time to do it and was just wondering

 

12-15 only. 05-11 use a completely different mounting system.

 

WOW MAN! I just found this thread and I knew you had some insight on lighting that was well regarded around here, but dayum. Why can't I do the research before I buy stuff....

I put on ss3 sport fog's and the spread just seems odd when driving with them on. Like they are too far focused almost borderline "driving focused" on the outside left and not so much on the right. I've made adjustments but the patterns just don't seem even. The cutoff is fine. I can clearly see the cutoff at 25 feet when making adjustments, but the overall focus of them seems crooked. Am I overthinking it?

I also have ss3's for the ditch lights, pros w/ a combo pattern. Those I love. I rarely use them but they look night and day different compared to the sport fogs. The spread is clear, the aim is perfect. I did grab a set of SSC's to try out up there and ended up not liking them. Not even close to as bright as the SSC3's. Granted, I got the SSC2's in sport.

Is there really that much of a difference between sport/pro's/and max? I am really considering getting the max ss3 fogs because where I live it is ALWAYS foggy.

I also grabbed some SC1's w/ a red backlight that I plan on mounting in the bumper for reverse lights. I can't see shit at night with that camera or even my mirrors. Just barely enough to be confident as long as I know where I am. If I was somewhere I didn't know and backing up, I'd for sure have to get out and look first to make sure the terrain is decent, because it's like looking through NVG's on that camera, lol. No depth perception between darker areas. What could be a bush is actually a 10 foot deep hole, lol.

I find it interesting, and not sure if you know about this or not, that DD is making a new fog that's the same style as my TRD OR. Their claim is "OEM performance". Or at least what they said on a thread I saw here about them. Thinking back to before I put the SS3's on, I enjoyed the stock fog's. I just wanted brighter, and yellow. Any chance you will get a set of those ASAP from DD and review them as well? They claimed December for a release date, but that was months ago and still nothing from them, no update. If I like those, they will be the go to fogs for me and I'll grab a set as soon as they release them. I asked about pre-orders but got no reply. I suspect that's only something they reserve for shops and bulk orders, but maybe they will entertain your thoroughness as shown here and hook you up?

 

that’s what i was thinking after i viewed the pics but quickly forgot haha