Daytime running lights

[Gizmokid2005]

Really? You don't have your fogs on at all unless it's foggy? Weird. I purposely put new bright LEDs in my fogs because mine are ALWAYS on whenever my headlights are on, no matter the conditions. I just think most cars look much better and have better visibility when the fogs are on. I won't buy a car that doesn't have fog lights because I think they look incomplete to have just headlights on without any fog lights on.

Same. Stock and *proper* upgraded fog lights will not have bleed into others' vision and I prefer the extra light given by them while driving. I went from the stock halogens to Diode Dynamics LED upgrades which are great and properly cutoff. A lot of people buy cheap LEDs that aren't properly designed or go with some awful HID "OMG ITS SUPER BLUE AND BRIGHT" upgrades and those are going to be awful regardless.

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[ArchitectThom]

Same. Stock and *proper* upgraded fog lights will not have bleed into others' vision and I prefer the extra light given by them while driving. I went from the stock halogens to Diode Dynamics LED upgrades which are great and properly cutoff. A lot of people buy cheap LEDs that aren't properly designed or go with some awful HID "OMG ITS SUPER BLUE AND BRIGHT" upgrades and those are going to be awful regardless.

Oh, I HATE the super blue LEDs or HIDs. Looks awful and like you don't know what you're doing. I make sure my low beams, high beams and fogs are all between 5000 and 6000 Kelvin for color temp. Once in a while I shut off my fogs while my headlights are on at night just to see what it looks like and I hate it. I love the light put out by my fogs. They give better side visibility from about 10 feet to 50 feet, so you can see the curb better and make sure nobody's pet cat is running out in front of you.

 

[Gizmokid2005]

Oh, I HATE the super blue LEDs or HIDs. Looks awful and like you don't know what you're doing. I make sure my low beams, high beams and fogs are all between 5000 and 6000 Kelvin for color temp. Once in a while I shut off my fogs while my headlights are on at night just to see what it looks like and I hate it. I love the light put out by my fogs. They give better side visibility from about 10 feet to 50 feet, so you can see the curb better and make sure nobody's pet cat is running out in front of you.

Bingo! My whole front setup is now 6000K color temps. I don't want anything bluer, IMO is is the best "white" light you can get. Having grown up in a rural-ish part of Michigan, the extra low and side coverage is immensely helpful to avoiding critters of all shapes and sizes, not to mention all the potholes everywhere, especially in winter and spring.

 

[ArchitectThom]

Bingo! My whole front setup is now 6000K color temps. I don't want anything bluer, IMO is is the best "white" light you can get. Having grown up in a rural-ish part of Michigan, the extra low and side coverage is immensely helpful to avoiding critters of all shapes and sizes, not to mention all the potholes everywhere, especially in winter and spring.

A whiter light, like that of 5000k to 6000k provides much better visibility for the human eye. Shadows carry more detail and shapes are better defined. Exactly what you need for driving at night. I don't think enough people realize that. Too many continue to stick with yellowish halogens in the headlights and those things soften everything so much on the road. It's exactly what you DON'T want.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

Oh, I HATE the super blue LEDs or HIDs. Looks awful and like you don't know what you're doing. I make sure my low beams, high beams and fogs are all between 5000 and 6000 Kelvin for color temp. Once in a while I shut off my fogs while my headlights are on at night just to see what it looks like and I hate it. I love the light put out by my fogs. They give better side visibility from about 10 feet to 50 feet, so you can see the curb better and make sure nobody's pet cat is running out in front of you.

Bingo! My whole front setup is now 6000K color temps. I don't want anything bluer, IMO is is the best "white" light you can get. Having grown up in a rural-ish part of Michigan, the extra low and side coverage is immensely helpful to avoiding critters of all shapes and sizes, not to mention all the potholes everywhere, especially in winter and spring.

I have the dual color (can switch between white and yellow) LED fogs. I use the yellow setting (3000k) anytime it's foggy or snowy or otherwise inclement. And will switch to the white setting (6000k) for better visibility right in front of the truck, mostly for city to see the potholes better or when the pavement is wet. I don't usually run them on the highway or out in the country, usually I'm running my high beams then anyways. Or I'll turn on my grill fog style lights, which really help light up the ditches for all the animals.

 

[Gizmokid2005]

A whiter light, like that of 5000k to 6000k provides much better visibility for the human eye. Shadows carry more detail and shapes are better defined. Exactly what you need for driving at night. I don't think enough people realize that. Too many continue to stick with yellowish halogens in the headlights and those things soften everything so much on the road. It's exactly what you DON'T want.

Yup, exactly. I was super thrilled with the headlights in my '15 Mustang and was slightly disappointed to see that Ford "cheaped" out on the non-Lariat models with yellow-ish halogen bulbs instead.

I have the dual color (can switch between white and yellow) LED fogs. I use the yellow setting (3000k) anytime it's foggy or snowy or otherwise inclement. And will switch to the white setting (6000k) for better visibility right in front of the truck, mostly for city to see the potholes better or when the pavement is wet. I don't usually run them on the highway or out in the country, usually I'm running my high beams then anyways. Or I'll turn on my grill fog style lights, which really help light up the ditches for all the animals.

I considered the dual color quite heavily before I upgraded but ultimately decided that the white was best given I have hood mounted ditch lights I can modify/replace as I'd need. And where I am it's almost never rural/empty enough to employ brights, much less those ditch lights for extra visibility.

 

[VAMike]

Really? You don't have your fogs on at all unless it's foggy? Weird. I purposely put new bright LEDs in my fogs because mine are ALWAYS on whenever my headlights are on, no matter the conditions. I just think most cars look much better and have better visibility when the fogs are on. I won't buy a car that doesn't have fog lights because I think they look incomplete to have just headlights on without any fog lights on.

Fog lights make the foreground brighter and will actually interfere with your ability to see at night. I worry more about seeing than making a fashion statement with my lights that nobody else will care about, but YMMV.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

I considered the dual color quite heavily before I upgraded but ultimately decided that the white was best given I have hood mounted ditch lights I can modify/replace as I'd need. And where I am it's almost never rural/empty enough to employ brights, much less those ditch lights for extra visibility.

I also use the yellow setting very heavily in the winter, since it's dark all the time, and snowing most of the time, for 7-8 months straight. So they come in really handy for that. haha The white setting really hurts your eyes coming back off the fresh snow. The yellow allows me to actually see ahead and really extenuates the shadows and bumps. Very pleased with them!

Fog lights make the foreground brighter and will actually interfere with your ability to see at night. I worry more about seeing than making a fashion statement with my lights that nobody else will care about, but YMMV.

Agreed. They do help see up close, but certainly interfere with distance sight. That's why I use the fogs in town for slow driving where I care more about right in front of me than far ahead, and turn them off out on the highway where I'm going faster and need to see farther ahead.

 

[Gizmokid2005]

I also use the yellow setting very heavily in the winter, since it's dark all the time, and snowing most of the time, for 7-8 months straight. So they come in really handy for that. haha The white setting really hurts your eyes coming back off the fresh snow. The yellow allows me to actually see ahead and really extenuates the shadows and bumps. Very pleased with them!

Oh for sure! If I was back in Michigan/snow area again, I'd have gone for yellow in a heartbeat. Often I would run with lower lighting in blizzards so I could actually see (normally in the middle of the night) with just fogs and/or only low beams as needed. I'll likely upgrade the forward facing pod lights I have to yellow DD pods at some point since it'll help with all the dust out here in SoCal for offroading.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

Oh for sure! If I was back in Michigan/snow area again, I'd have gone for yellow in a heartbeat. Often I would run with lower lighting in blizzards so I could actually see (normally in the middle of the night) with just fogs and/or only low beams as needed. I'll likely upgrade the forward facing pod lights I have to yellow DD pods at some point since it'll help with all the dust out here in SoCal for offroading.

Yeah, I hardly ever get to use the high beams in the winter since I'd rather not make the jump to hyperspace, that really confuses the brain. haha

 

[Gizmokid2005]

Yeah, I hardly ever get to use the high beams in the winter since I'd rather not make the jump to hyperspace, that really confuses the brain. haha

For real! I went out in my F-150 a few years ago in one of the snow storms we got in the middle of the night. Some cell phone footage I got of the enjoyment still shows a lot of the hyperspace effect, though I kept it mostly under control.

 

[mtbikernate]

Really? You don't have your fogs on at all unless it's foggy? Weird. I purposely put new bright LEDs in my fogs because mine are ALWAYS on whenever my headlights are on, no matter the conditions. I just think most cars look much better and have better visibility when the fogs are on. I won't buy a car that doesn't have fog lights because I think they look incomplete to have just headlights on without any fog lights on.

Pretty much, yeah. I only use my fogs when they're necessary for visibility. Usually that's foggy conditions, but there are other limited occasions when I want to see low in front of my vehicle (in the rain at night is one example, it seems to help the lines on the pavement stand out from glare). I've had fog lights on all my vehicles for around 13yrs now. I do think they improve safety, but I think they're unnecessary in good conditions.

And in some situations, they increase risk. I live in a hilly place with lots of twisty roads. Poorly aimed lights blind people. MORE bright lights on the front of your vehicle doesn't help this situation. It makes it worse. With the hills and the twists, even well-aimed lights are going to shine in someone's face from time to time. Not making it worse by being a jerk and running every light you have all the time is helpful.

In this vein, I'm liking the auto-dimming high beams in this truck, too.

Running ONLY the fogs is a different situation.

 

[Gizmokid2005]

Pretty much, yeah. I only use my fogs when they're necessary for visibility. Usually that's foggy conditions, but there are other limited occasions when I want to see low in front of my vehicle (in the rain at night is one example, it seems to help the lines on the pavement stand out from glare). I've had fog lights on all my vehicles for around 13yrs now. I do think they improve safety, but I think they're unnecessary in good conditions.

And in some situations, they increase risk. I live in a hilly place with lots of twisty roads. Poorly aimed lights blind people. MORE bright lights on the front of your vehicle doesn't help this situation. It makes it worse. With the hills and the twists, even well-aimed lights are going to shine in someone's face from time to time. Not making it worse by being a jerk and running every light you have all the time is helpful.

In this vein, I'm liking the auto-dimming high beams in this truck, too.

Running ONLY the fogs is a different situation.

I run my fogs as part of my auto-lamps. Factory aimed fogs should cause no more glare than low beams will. It's pretty easy to put this to the test by turning them on and just walking in front of the truck and seeing how they look to you, and also putting them against a wall. Mine are very low and have very minimal forward throw without the support from the low-beams. I would pretty much never run with only the fog lights on due to lack of visibility.

I had to go in and turn off my auto high-beam feature because it was 1) not turning off fast enough when cars were coming around curvy roads; and 2) it was turning off needlessly when there was signage on nearly any roads that my lights reflected off from. It's a great idea in theory but in practice it needs a fair bit of tuning to be useful, IMO.

 

[ArchitectThom]

Fog lights make the foreground brighter and will actually interfere with your ability to see at night. I worry more about seeing than making a fashion statement with my lights that nobody else will care about, but YMMV.

I disagree. Fog lights increase my visibility greatly. Perhaps our eyes are just different. But, as I said earlier, I've turned off the fogs briefly at night while my headlights were on and they are a vast improvement when they are on. I see better down the road and I see better up close. Just my preference.

 

[ArchitectThom]

Pretty much, yeah. I only use my fogs when they're necessary for visibility. Usually that's foggy conditions, but there are other limited occasions when I want to see low in front of my vehicle (in the rain at night is one example, it seems to help the lines on the pavement stand out from glare). I've had fog lights on all my vehicles for around 13yrs now. I do think they improve safety, but I think they're unnecessary in good conditions.

And in some situations, they increase risk. I live in a hilly place with lots of twisty roads. Poorly aimed lights blind people. MORE bright lights on the front of your vehicle doesn't help this situation. It makes it worse. With the hills and the twists, even well-aimed lights are going to shine in someone's face from time to time. Not making it worse by being a jerk and running every light you have all the time is helpful.

In this vein, I'm liking the auto-dimming high beams in this truck, too.

Running ONLY the fogs is a different situation.

I guess I am just of the opinion that my ability to see better at night far outweighs the few seconds that someone else may have to look at my headlight/fog light combo as we pass each other. Seems much safer to me to have as much light shining down the road and to the sides (where my fogs shine). But maybe it's just a preference thing.

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