Driving light recommendations please

[Ando81 2,949]

Hi all, I've had a few different types of driving lights on my xf ute and none of them have really impressed me. I prefer them to go further down the road like a pencil beam as my headlights show the edges of the road really well. I tried narva 180/85 rectangle ones and they only lit up the road for about 50 metres, I tried a led light bar and it lit up everywhere for about 50 metres but I would prefer something that lights up for more like 100 metres. I'm running a single relay and 4mm wire to power them so I reckon the wiring is up to the task but I'm not happy with my previous lights. I prefer rectangle ones as they suit the square xf body shape. Does anyone have hella comet 550 lights or night stalker lights on their x series?

[deankxf 20,288]

My Gemini has round Hella 140, they are impressive.

 

what are your headlights condition like.. good ones are amazing(genuine lenses with perfect reflectors)

[hendrixhc 10,920]

I had a set of 150watt Ashdown round spotties om Cortina for a while. They were very good.

 

You need to look for lights with out diffracted lenses. 

[Ando81 2,949]

I don't mind the look of these

[Outback Jack 6,352]

They look good Ando.

Longe range like ya wantand same shape as original hellas.

They usually have product page on net might show ya the range.

 

Jack.

 

Sent from my GT-S7583T using Tapatalk

[wagoon 2,429]

This is what I have setup on my wagon

 

Each light is a 7 inch wide Osram 8 degree spot beam(known as fish eye lens) with 60W power rating, they cost me $50 each off ebay. They are really really good on long straight sections of highway, or if the road is lined with high trees as the beam is quite high and it will shine to the top of the trees. The beam from the light is not suited for use on roads that do have tighter corners as they are really only for long distance coverage which these sound like they might suit. I would estimate that the light show reflectors on guide posts(or reflect animals eyes) et at about 1km and throws actual light for atleast 350-400 metres down the road. I have used very expensive spot lights when I was driving trucks and these things are an absolute bargain compared to the cost of good hella or lightforce spotties. They will never outright compete with the $400-500 per spot light range but they would be at least 75% as good in my opinion.

[steve mcqueen 1,796]

I don't mind the look of these https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/300421871212

 

These are just like your Narva 180's so you wont like them either.

The issue is the adjustment on them. They have 1 mounting bolt and will either go up and down

or right and left. You get them spot on where you want them, do them up tight then after a drive they need doing again..

What LED light bar did you have?

We have had 2 evening light displays at my work both with Great White and Big Red

and we had at least 8 4x4's in with a mixed bunch of owners all with different light bars and spotties.

Some were even el cheapo jobbies off evil bay. One guy with a light bar off ebay, his light bar impressed us quite a bit

with how far it lit up and how well it lit up but,,,, it did leak water into it but that could be fixed with a tube of all clear.

Another guy had 2 "Great white, no expense spared" round spotties (we asked him to come and demmo them aswell)

and they were the ducks guts light!!! But at over $1000+ for 2 lights, not cheap.

Big Red, also do a mean light bar or spottie. A staff member i work with has 2 big red brand spotties on his Patrol and 

he wanks over them every day, bloody loves them that much!!!

HID's are good but have lag from warming up but once on, really really bright to.

Go back to LED light bars or a LED spot light Because LED future is now.

LED light bar once you fix it on and adjust, will hardly move and give you optimum light for night time driving.

Im no expert with light bars and spotties, just going off what i have seen and heard from happy customers who come to 

my work and our 2 light displays and seen results. 

Repco has an up coming sale on light bars from Hypo and big red.

They also sell the Great white brand light.

 

Shop around still because there are savings out there and i hope other's can 'shed light' on this topic    

[Ando81 2,949]

I had an eBay job light bar about 12". Maybe a great white light bar would make mine look dull but I was too tight to spend the money at the time. I was very impressed with narva's 9" hid lights on a mates hilux a while ago but twin 9" spotties would look ridiculous on my ute

[steve mcqueen 1,796]

Yes, some of the ebay light bars are very good for the price, the 2 i have seen work looked very good and infact the Rep from Great white said

"that one there is very impressive" but it let water in which the owner new about but just hadn't sealed it up yet. 

The great white brand is a serious light, even this smaller one from them will impress...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GREAT-WHITES-WHITE-GWB5091-9-LED-12V-DRIVING-LIGHT-LIGHTS-BAR-STD-MOUNT-6000-/290820663183?hash=item43b643278f:g:vRoAAMXQKLdR1hEK

and is around the same price, perhaps a tad cheaper then what we could do. 

The Big Red brand is also very good.

 

I understand you being tight on price, most people baulk at price on items but some just go, yeah they'll do.

Any 4x4 owners around where you live?? Ask them 'what they suggest"

See one in a car park with the owner, ask them "hey, what light bar is that? blah blah blah

 

Just the smaller lights like the Narva 180's or those nite stalkers because of their small bodies and the way they mount up

are hard to get a good light from. If you plan on sticking with those type's of lights, go with the round type and not the square.

Round will give better spread and spot over the square one's. 

[Ando81 2,949]

My Gemini has round Hella 140, they are impressive.

 

what are your headlights condition like.. good ones are amazing(genuine lenses with perfect reflectors)

My headlights are genuine ones and I had the reflectors re- chromed and they have genuine glass in them so I'm really happy with them. Just hoping to be able to see further up the road to spot kangaroos that are becoming a problem in my area.

[Ando81 2,949]

Thanks for the input lads. Hey Steve, do you have a business that sells lights? I'd prefer to buy from a private business than an overseas owned mob.

[Jiminy Kriket 133]

Have you tried different H4 bulbs in your stock housings?

On my xf the headlights were woeful (aftermarket housings) and i was recommended to try Tungsram +60 H4 bulbs and what can i say.

It out performed my old mans BA with stock headlights and they were 100 times better than what i had in the xf.

The bulbs are still rated at 60/55w so they don't strain the wiring to the headlight housing either.

I know Narva and Hella also do an improved ouput range, so maybe try some better bulbs in the stock housings and see how they go.

For less than $30 from my local truck and trailer supplier i couldn't be happier with my headlights.

 

Exactly what i'm running in my car.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HEADLIGHT-GLOBE-TWIN-PACK-TUNGSRAM-MEGALIGHT-PLUS-60-12V-60-55W-H4-50440MPU-/161068803090?hash=item258072e412:g:rNkAAMXQlgtS6Ia1

[Ando81 2,949]

Cheers mate, yeah I've got narva ones that I think are +100 and they are great.

[steve mcqueen 1,796]

Thanks for the input lads. Hey Steve, do you have a business that sells lights? I'd prefer to buy from a private business than an overseas owned mob.

No, I just so happen to work at Repco, been there for 6 years. 

Im not plugging Repco and that why i say "shop around" because you have to in todays world.

There are bargains out there 

[Grimmy 312]

I'm old school but I think the best bang for you buck driving light are the good old aircraft landing light if you can find some !!

Chuck some fresh 150w sealed beams in and your set

[xhadyboy 492]

^^What he said ^^

[Ando81 2,949]

I just watched a YouTube video showing how good those aircraft landing lights are, worst part would be trying to mount them neatly as the ones I saw on eBay didn't come with a mounting housing

[xhadyboy 492]

I used to have them in my ZB back in the day .

After running them for a while they would suck the juice out of the battery.

 

I would have to remember to turn them off 10 mins before i stopped driving to give the battery a bit of catch up.

Otherwise sometimes they would send the battery flat and fairlane no start.

 

 More penetration into the night than honeymooner.

[Demmo 295]

I had the 5 inch sealed beam lights which were rated at 150 watt  and they were mounted in a rubber housing off  a cat graders work lights and  the mechanic wired them so they would only power up when engine was running   if you do use them with a normal car battery take previous posters advise cause they certainly will drain a car battery quickly  

good luck Demmo

[Ando81 2,949]

They wouldn't take long to drain a battery when they are using 300 watts total. That's 25 amps so a smaller crossflow alternator would struggle to keep power up to them after a while of continuous use

[wagoon 2,429]

60W LED's run 3.5 amps each for a total of 7 amps. I wired both my 7 inch wide 60W LED spot lights into my car's original spot light wiring instead of using the shitty standard high beams I had at the time. I added no extra fuses and literally cut the wire to the standard high beam and wired them straight to the LED's, I had zero blown fuses and zero battery issues. I only wired the LED's properly with additional fuses when I got after market headlight reflectors so I could use the high beam in the headlight and well as the LED's at the same time. Even when running the headlights high beam and the LED spotlights together at the same time on a standard alternator I have had zero blown fuses and zero battery problem for well over 2 years now.

 

My  Led's shine down the road far enough that I could safely do much better than the highest posted speed limit(in all states but NT, I haven't been game enough to do NT speed limits at night around my place with all the roos around) and still see things in time to react, so I don't see the need to use something like landing lights that will make your battery work hard(and most likely shorten the life of the battery) for unnecessary performance.

Unless you don't like the look of the LED light, at $100 per pair there is nothing for under $300 per pair that can compete with narrow angle LED's for long distance performance. Hell the $500 HID 240mm Lightforce spotties on my last truck were only at best 20% better than my current LED's

[Ando81 2,949]

So forgive me for sounding stupid, is a narrower angle number better for showing further down the road?

[Demmo 295]

They wouldn't take long to drain a battery when they are using 300 watts total. That's 25 amps so a smaller crossflow alternator would struggle to keep power up to them after a while of continuous use

totally  agree  with you on that point ando 81  perhaps i should have added a bit more info  as the cars alt. was upgraded   it had a larger battery fitted with cradle extended    also these mods were done in mid 70's .     with today's advanced products i am just using led's   and have the largest battery that fits without mods and wired through relays and separate switch to keep the fuzz happy

cheers demmo

[wagoon 2,429]

So forgive me for sounding stupid, is a narrower angle number better for showing further down the road?

Not sounding stupid mate, if you dont ask you wont know.

Yeah the smaller the angle in degrees the more concentrated the beam. Be aware as well that the osram lense(call a fish eye lense) helps to concentrate the beam as well

[Ando81 2,949]

Thanks for the help lads. A mate of mine is sending me a pair of hella comet 550 halogen lights to try and if I don't like those I will look for some 6inch led lights