LED Optics EXPLAINED! Reflector, Projector, and TIR | Diode Dynamics

[9zero1790]

Actually if I had to guess the high end companies may do Taiwanese or maybe Japan. I would like to think the do the diodes / circuit boards in house, but I kind of have my doubts.

agreed. be great if they were in house but id be surprised. i have had a lot of Japan and Taiwan stuff that was great quality.

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[OFC Ranger]

Why is it NONE of the name brand companies do the the most simple and truthful demonstration that YouTubers have been doing a while now.

Put both lights in the SAME video shot and simply turn them on and off from one another so the world can see right then and there the difference and if all products are being demonstrated from the same distance and height positioning.

That is a rhetorical question, I already know the answer. God that kind of shit pisses me off.

 

[Trigganometry]

Big US manufacturers are Cree, Osram, NICHIA, to name a few. The LED alliance of US, Japan and Taiwan is putting the squeeze on China with the high output variety’s

 

[9zero1790]

Big US manufacturers are Cree, Osram, NICHIA, to name a few. The LED alliance of US, Japan and Taiwan is putting the squeeze on China with the high output variety’s

id love to see the same with hand tools.

 

[Frenchy]

Just wait and I will have some nice stuff from IPF for all of you to see!!

 

[OFC Ranger]

I still believe the majority userbase has no use for more than Amazon level lights. That is the hard truth I will stand by and it will never be popular opinion.

I thought about putting all the china company names (like Nilight) in vinyl on my truck, as a funny tongue in cheek call out, but even I couldn't bring myself to do that.

I'll admit it straight out, it is like a dirty little secret all us consumers of those brands have. Kind of like how I don't brag I buy my sneakers at Walmart (cause people paying $400 for a pair of shoes seems crazy to me).

 

[Wes Siler]

Why is it NONE of the name brand companies do the the most simple and truthful demonstration that YouTubers have been doing a while now.

Put both lights in the SAME video shot and simply turn them on and off from one another so the world can see right then and there the difference and if all products are being demonstrated from the same distance and height positioning.

That is a rhetorical question, I already know the answer. God that kind of shit pisses me off.

Camera exposure, like the human eye, isn't necessarily great at determining light performance. Instrumentation is needed.

This is why I always hammer home the lux @ distance measurement. It's a measured performance number that can easily be used to compare different products.

You're not necessarily wrong about the Chinese lights, but without impartial 3rd party performance data, it's impossible to say X Chinese light gets close to the performance of Y Australian light for Z fewer dollars. And there's always the unknown on quality or longevity. A knockoff light that lasts ~2 years for you might be one where another example produced on a different day only lasts ~2 days for someone else. Purchasing from quality brands gives you access to customer support staff, warranties, returns, and just the confidence the products will perform as advertised.

 

[OFC Ranger]

Camera exposure, like the human eye, isn't necessarily great at determining light performance. Instrumentation is needed.

This is why I always hammer home the lux @ distance measurement. It's a measured performance number that can easily be used to compare different products.

You're not necessarily wrong about the Chinese lights, but without impartial 3rd party performance data, it's impossible to say X Chinese light gets close to the performance of Y Australian light for Z fewer dollars. And there's always the unknown on quality or longevity. A knockoff light that lasts ~2 years for you might be one where another example produced on a different day only lasts ~2 days for someone else. Purchasing from quality brands gives you access to customer support staff, warranties, returns, and just the confidence the products will perform as advertised.

I get this sentiment, but it is starting to have less relevance as time goes by.

If you buy from Amazon and for whatever reason have trouble with company, you always have the option at purchase time to get a 3 year replacement plan from Amazon for $14.99 and we all know Amazon will take returns on a box of anything with next to zero questions asked. Couple that with cost of the light and you are still so far apart on price you could create an infinite 3 year window return streak at $14.99 a pop and still never close the gap in a reasonable amount.

All these years and the one failure I had, the company, Nilight in this case, asked a few basic questions, then had a replacement at my door promptly.

To add further, there are some YT videos out there that are quite extensive in comparison, people actually who have money on hand to actually run side by side comparisons between multiple tier lights. One comes to mind (sorry I don't have the link) where another well established Amazon company, Lasfit, was showing such comparable performance to Rigid and BD it just made no sense the price difference.

Then of course you saw my thread, KC Gravity Pro knock-offs and my opinion.

In regards to customer service - if someone needs help trouble shooting a 2 or 3 wire connection chances are they need to stick to Amazon level lights anyhow... lol

I will agree hands down if I was a professional off-roader in whatever sub-genre you want, like any hyper performance orientated activity, I would want to squeeze every last drop of advantage out of a product I could. However, a majority of these companies customers these are not. Hell, I am not one of them.

 

[Wes Siler]

I get this sentiment, but it is starting to have less relevance as time goes by.

If you buy from Amazon and for whatever reason have trouble with company, you always have the option at purchase time to get a 3 year replacement plan from Amazon for $14.99 and we all know Amazon will take returns on a box of anything with next to zero questions asked. Couple that with cost of the light and you are still so far apart on price you could create an infinite 3 year window return streak at $14.99 a pop and still never close the gap in a reasonable amount.

All these years and the one failure I had, the company, Nilight in this case, asked a few basic questions, then had a replacement at my door promptly.

To add further, there are some YT videos out there that are quite extensive in comparison, people actually who have money on hand to actually run side by side comparisons between multiple tier lights. One comes to mind (sorry I don't have the link) where another well established Amazon company, Lasfit, was showing such comparable performance to Rigid and BD it just made no sense the price difference.

Then of course you saw my thread, KC Gravity Pro knock-offs and my opinion.

In regards to customer service - if someone needs help trouble shooting a 2 or 3 wire connection chances are they need to stick to Amazon level lights anyhow... lol

I will agree hands down if I was a professional off-roader in whatever sub-genre you want, like any hyper performance orientated activity, I would want to squeeze every last drop of advantage out of a product I could. However, a majority of these companies customers these are not. Hell, I am not one of them.

It's definitely damning for mid-quality brands like Baja, Diode (which doesn't even make actual driving lights), and KC that their products can't out perform cheap Chinese stuff. But I'm always going to remind you that there are vastly higher performing options out there. And even given my best possible setups, I still often find myself wishing I had more.

And sure, cheap Chinese lights can easily be replaced, but that's not really the point. If I'm halfway down Baja, a light fails, and I hit a cow at 50mph, my problems are a lot worse than a few hundred bucks.

Those Lightforce's on the Land Cruiser pictured above are $1300 total. That's really not bad given how crazy good they are.

Also, my wife just bought us another Land Cruiser, this time a 100 series. Any lights anyone want to see us test on it?

 

[Frenchy]

It's definitely damning for mid-quality brands like Baja, Diode (which doesn't even make actual driving lights), and KC that their products can't out perform cheap Chinese stuff. But I'm always going to remind you that there are vastly higher performing options out there. And even given my best possible setups, I still often find myself wishing I had more.

And sure, cheap Chinese lights can easily be replaced, but that's not really the point. If I'm halfway down Baja, a light fails, and I hit a cow at 50mph, my problems are a lot worse than a few hundred bucks.

Those Lightforce's on the Land Cruiser pictured above are $1300 total. That's really not bad given how crazy good they are.

Also, my wife just bought us another Land Cruiser, this time a 100 series. Any lights anyone want to see us test on it?

You should go with IPF on it. They have Halogen and LED so the choice is yours!

 

[OFC Ranger]

It's definitely damning for mid-quality brands like Baja, Diode (which doesn't even make actual driving lights), and KC that their products can't out perform cheap Chinese stuff. But I'm always going to remind you that there are vastly higher performing options out there. And even given my best possible setups, I still often find myself wishing I had more.

And sure, cheap Chinese lights can easily be replaced, but that's not really the point. If I'm halfway down Baja, a light fails, and I hit a cow at 50mph, my problems are a lot worse than a few hundred bucks.

Those Lightforce's on the Land Cruiser pictured above are $1300 total. That's really not bad given how crazy good they are.

Also, my wife just bought us another Land Cruiser, this time a 100 series. Any lights anyone want to see us test on it?

No argument from me. In my defense I keep spare lights on hand in my vast storage array and everything needed to do electrical field repairs. Yea I have a problem. lol

 

[Wes Siler]

You should go with IPF on it. They have Halogen and LED so the choice is yours!

I've run IPFs before. Definitely a solid choice, but nowhere near the performance of today's top tier stuff.

Not sure if I'll end up doing a bumper etc etc, so I figure I'll fool myself into shopping for other options, then that will end up justifying the bumper, sliders, aux tank, cargo barrier, drawers and everything else that just make so much sense.

 

[Frenchy]

I've run IPFs before. Definitely a solid choice, but nowhere near the performance of today's top tier stuff.

Not sure if I'll end up doing a bumper etc etc, so I figure I'll fool myself into shopping for other options, then that will end up justifying the bumper, sliders, aux tank, cargo barrier, drawers and everything else that just make so much sense.

I'm curious of what you had before? On my 1993 Pathfinder im currently running the 820H headlight Assemblies with PIAA Xtreme White Hybrid H4's and they are quite nice. I have a plan for som 968's to join in as well.

 

[Wes Siler]

Whatever the top tier hid spotties were around 2010 or so. Those were 1 lux @900m for a pair. HTX2s are 1800m.

 

[Frenchy]

Whatever the top tier hid spotties were around 2010 or so. Those were 1 lux @900m for a pair. HTX2s are 1800m.

Just found it, the 900XS. Can't say I would go with an HID myself, but won't argue the potential they bring when in the right housing. That said there is more than HID.

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