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BigMike

Member Since: 13 Jul 2010
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 2253

That's the exact thing. There isn't a method because everyones eyes are different so there can be no actual "true measure" as such. Yes you can measure watts, joules etc but its actually the throw of the light and the degrees angle thats of interet to most people. That's governed by lenses, bulb shape, amount of transparency etc.

One reason I'm so against spotlights in general is that many people (no axe to grind by the way) will look for the biggest ones with the highest wattage. It's not the way. The only true way with retail products is to actually test each one in terms of throw, brightness, angle etc. Spotlights on a vehicle need to do one thing and thats light the way - BUT, light what way? a blaze of light to the sides and directly in front? A huge throw forward in a narrow beam which can pick out a kangaroo at 200 metres but you can't see much at all at the front of the wings or to the sides. Car headlamps are a huge compromise for this reason.

Manufacturers claims should usually be taken with a lot of caution and cynicism. VisonX is actually pretty good and well tested in terms of beam length (generally what you want in a spotlight, but not always) and yes they're not cheap, but no cheap spotlight is a good spotlight. It can't be by definition. Someone might say "ah but I have 20 quid lights on my truck and theyre brilliant". Are they though? They might do what the person wants and thats cool if so, but they will not be efficient lights. Replace his 20 quid ones with visons for example, and watch the jaw drop in amazement at the difference.

The other issue is one persons "fantastic" spotlight is another persons poor one for reasons of eye so again - big problems of choice. For a retailer though, and I know you're passionate about what you sell and have tested pretty much all of it, is to try different ones in different conditions. A royal pain I know, but really the only way to say "right, for this application, these are the lights you need".

3rd Dec 2011 11:02pm

leeds

Member Since: 28 Dec 2009
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 8578

Due to your profession you probably understand light and the use of it more then most other people Mike Also how people percieve different light conditions/scenes(Apologies to MuddyM if we are getting to far offtopic

)

One real question is what do people actually need from spotlights or additional driving lights?

If it is just to look cool/how many lights can I fit on the front of their Defender, buy the cheapest ones going. (They can save themselves money by not even wiring them up!

We have additional lights on our Land Rovers but we do take them over very varied terrain. For additional driving lights i.e. long range use we use Lightforce 170s at bumper/a bar level. being mounted there switching them on does not give any glare to the eyes. Care has to be taken when using these not to blind oncoming traffic.

The lights at roof level are wired separately from main light circuit so ILLEGAL for road use, but does give a completely separate light circuit if anything goes with main circuit

These lights are wired as a middle pair and an outer pair. When travelling middle pair is normally aimed at road about 50 metresi in front of vehicle so can read the road better for potholes etc. Outer pair will be aimed so that I have better light spread to the side. Good for spotting sheep/roos etc which might dash in front of vehicle.

Dependent on terrain/road conditions and weather conditions depends on what lights I use. Sometimes I 'experiment' with what lights give me best result for driving by. Remember you have to adjust your speed to keep safely within your lights.

OK if you are comping in big desert areas at high speed at night yes you probably do need Lightforce 240 HID lights at something like £500 each. Not really needed for most UK road conditions

Must admit Mike you have given me some ideas on experimenting with different lights

Brendan

3rd Dec 2011 11:38pm

ken

Member Since: 18 Aug 2009
Location: Banging Birds with my bitches !!
Posts: 4328

Quite happy with my roof lights 1800 raw & 710 effective lumens

4th Dec 2011 12:20am

BigMike

Member Since: 13 Jul 2010
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 2253

Not sure what "raw" and "effective" lumens are Ken. Do you mean "initial" and "mean"?

4th Dec 2011 11:00am

leeds

Member Since: 28 Dec 2009
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 8578

Hi Mike, have a read here here

Basically max light output and max less all losses.

Brendan

4th Dec 2011 11:15am

BigMike

Member Since: 13 Jul 2010
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 2253

Hm, not sure about that. LEDs typically lose 20-25% of effectiveness after the first 800-1000 hours of use. Probably not an issue with most recreational vehicle users though, but the "mean" output is the actual after the burn in period and that's the true figure (for what its worth, which is really not that useful either way).

The bottom line is that good lights aren't cheap, and cheap lights aren't good. The VisionX lights are really good quality, but for driving in this country, I can't ever see a reason (excepting work use under certain applications) to have auxilliary lights of that calibre. Then again (can of worms) I don't really understand the desire to have more lights anyway, the stock lamps on a puma are good with uprated bulbs like Osram or Philips anyway. And the old chesnut "I want a light bar so I can see when wading in deep water at night", well, WTF are you doing wading in deep water at night anyway?

4th Dec 2011 12:36pm

Buzz

Member Since: 11 Oct 2011
Location: Inverness
Posts: 235

2010 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Tonga Green

Great points. I wanted roof mounted spots to give a wide, deep spread of light when driving on small country lanes at night (I live in Snowdonia). I also do alot of loading, unloading and working around the vehicle after sunset. For this I have hella work lights on the side of the rack and to the rear. The product information for work light applications is generally very good.

For the roof rack I initially wanted 4 spots, wired separately, but operating together for the night driving applications.

Like Mike I believe that for general driving the Puma headlights with uprated bulbs are more than effective. Who wants to be putting high beam on and off constantly so as not to blind oncoming traffic?

I have cocked up with the roof mounts, they give a great spread of light but are too large and for this reason I will be swapping to some smaller Hellas with a suitable beam pattern when funds allow. I shall also be looking at Warn lights.

I don't think you need to spend a fortune for UK applications, how many tractors / forestry machines have top dollar lights on them? They, however, are out in all weathers.

I think there could be some serious mileage in a retailer doing so side by side testing and I for one would be very interested in the results.

4th Dec 2011 2:40pm

ken

Member Since: 18 Aug 2009
Location: Banging Birds with my bitches !!
Posts: 4328

How about because you can

4th Dec 2011 6:05pm

BigMike

Member Since: 13 Jul 2010
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 2253

Fair enough

4th Dec 2011 6:56pm

Buzz

Member Since: 11 Oct 2011
Location: Inverness
Posts: 235

Roger, out.

4th Dec 2011 6:59pm

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