New KC-Gravity knock-off has cropped up.

[LaBalbe]

If you don't want to be copied, then make your shit in-house and keep your formulas a closely guarded secret. If you ship your stuff off to be made somewhere else, you can't control human eyeballs and imagination.

A good example of this is Michelin; according to my dad, who used to be a supplier for their SC plant some 30+ years ago (so yes, this info is somewhat dated, and may or may not be currently accurate, but at the time it had held true for decades; also, my memory may be faulty as to the specifics), they've never even put a patent on their formula for their rubber compounds used in their tires. To file a patent would have meant that the formula was out in the public record, and sure, it would have been protected for a time, but once the patent expired it would have become available for anyone to replicate. Instead, they've kept it a closely guarded secret which protected their interests far longer than a patent would have.

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[Msfitoy]

LOL...we already gave them free rocket guidance technology...what's a few more led stuff?

 

[OFC Ranger]

LOL...we already gave them free rocket guidance technology...what's a few more led stuff?

This man gets it!

 

[OFC Ranger]

Little more progress this evening.

I got them all hard-linked to each other. I opted to keep each individual primary bracket on for a few reasons;

A. This setup is not light (no pun). Not at all.
B. Not knowing if the sub-brackets could withstand large non-static forces by only having the ones on the end with brackets connecting to the rack.

I will assume for the sake of being fair and reasonable that the KC gravity system is far more user friendly based on their hing locking whatever design for linking. This required a lot of finesse with an allen key and a wrench in tight places. Good news is it works and works well at least.

Going to start work on the harness now, I will probably go dig up some instructions and videos for the KC gravity and see what is the most efficient and common method for wiring linked light are. I know they will terminate into a single line, but not sure if they run a sub harness with each light still having a unique connection point, or if they daisy chain them into the termination end.

Before that I am going to go knock out two birds with one stone.

I prepped the panel these are going on to fix some dings and stuff with bondo and get it ready for some fresh paint.

I also need a shower.

You haven't lived until you have dry sanded in the shower, then wet sanded in the shower, then took an actual shower.

 

[OFC Ranger]

Just got the harness done a bit ago. Was toying with optimal position and I think I found it. Not bolted in yet, need to go to lowes in morning and get a piece of flat slotted stock to make a proper mount across the rack grating that the bolts can actually fasten too.

The third picture, I have to learn to manipulate camera ISO and shutter speed, so its auto adjusting at it is WAY brighter looking than in person.

The red line indicates where I am getting "mild" spillage, everything before the red light is more like a dull street light ambient spillage.

Now for every 1" to 1.5" inch I move the lights forward on the rack, well the spillage increases and is more intense moving forward. The ratio is pretty bad, like 1" results in like 10" increased spillage/glare then it compounds. So second orange line, or if I move the lights forward a total of 2" to 3" I start getting into hood glare type spillage. While I am not getting "windshield glare" any longer in any position up top, I still opted for the most set back position without forfeiting to much more rack platform space.

I really like the look of just mounting the lights directly to the front panel, but if optimization is name of the game, they are going to have to go up top.

Tomorrow evening is the plan to go out and finally put this shit to rest on cheap vs expensive if weather permits.

 

[Trigganometry]

We ran into this with the Chinese a few years ago. We paid 140K for the mold to make parts, spec’d the plastic used and had them make our weekly batches to be shipped off to the assembly plant. What nobody knew was off shifts they would use our mold and pump out product that they would sell to the secondary black market.
The tip-off was very short mold life. It was half of what it was designed to make with a 20% additional wear buffer at EOL. So we were short big time and wondering what the hell happened. Had mold shipped to us to load into one of our presses to see what we did wrong designing it. Well, that’s when we figured out what “really” happened and blacklisted them as partners for evermore. I actually learned how to swear in Chinese from that event! ?

 

[Msfitoy]

We ran into this with the Chinese a few years ago. We paid 140K for the mold to make parts, spec’d the plastic used and had them make our weekly batches to be shipped off to the assembly plant. What nobody knew was off shifts they would use our mold and pump out product that they would sell to the secondary black market.
The tip-off was very short mold life. It was half of what it was designed to make with a 20% additional wear buffer at EOL. So we were short big time and wondering what the hell happened. Had mold shipped to us to load into one of our presses to see what we did wrong designing it. Well, that’s when we figured out what “really” happened and blacklisted them as partners for evermore. I actually learned how to swear in Chinese from that event! ?

We had a small venture with a Chinese company and at the end of the 4 mil project, they wanted freebie changes and withheld the last 250K...we lawyered up and prevented them from producing in the USA, where it was intended to compete...not the smartest thing I've seen them do...

 

[OFC Ranger]

Ok so here we go.

Standby while I upload video 2.






For comparison:

KC Gravity Pro 6 YT video (not mine)






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Final Thoughts:

$1,200 more for (in my opinion) minimum (or even questionably... if any) performance gains is a hard no.

Focus point is 100 yard zero. I actually need to slightly shift my outer lights inward as they cause road sign reflection like you are staring at the sun even at 100 yards away from the side spill. I can tell you with confidence driving some longer back roads I could easily see the details of the road and its surroundings half a mile out. Off roading I would probably swing the outside lights outward a bit and create and even wider FOV.

Best tech I can do is a GoPro 7 - I made some settings changes, not sure it helped for night shooting. Hood glare is still very much grossly exaggerated, it causes me no eye strain from the cabin.

Not fog, but dust particles you see, which is good, you can really see the beam pattern.

Longevity? Couldn't tell you, but I have no loyalty to Chinese products any more than I do to gucci products. If something goes wrong I have no problem posting about it in the future.

You form your own honest opinion. My opinion is that gucci lights continue to be a product of consumers who day dream about being high speed baja racers with company backing, but for practical purposes are just over-killing their wallets with negligible performance differences, or because Instagram or similar reasons.

 

[Trigganometry]

Got to say your beam pattern is impressive! Definitely do the job. Last part of the equation is what materials are they made from and will they last long term. Got to think the KC lights are cast aluminum. Are these the same or white metal or plastic?

 

[OFC Ranger]

Got to say your beam pattern is impressive! Definitely do the job. Last part of the equation is what materials are they made from and will they last long term. Got to think the KC lights are cast aluminum. Are these the same or white metal or plastic?

Just finished uploading video 2 FYI.

To answer your question, I think they are steel.

Gravity Pro's in a 6 light configuration are about 20lbs. These, at least based on the shipping weight (which is going to include, box, foam, etc etc) are going to clock in somewhere around 35lbs.

Which is why I am assuming the price is in the "mid range" - unlike plastic housing units where you can get 6 of them for $100 bucks.

The lens is a standard polycarb material.

This is the only model of china light I can find with this simplistic 1 reflector cup design. Everything else has a bunch of those smaller 5w/10w leds in mini cups.

 

[OFC Ranger]

@Trigganometry I went back to check the factory specs.

It says aluminum housing, so I am not sure why these weigh almost double. I suspect the brackets add some weight, but I cant imagine that much in the total.

 

[Trigganometry]

@Trigganometry I went back to check the factory specs.

It says aluminum housing, so I am not sure why these weigh almost double. I suspect the brackets add some weight, but I cant imagine that much in the total.

It would be a bonus if they were aluminum. That dissipates the heat way faster. Guess time will tell on what kind of aluminum. The cheaper stuff after a few years will start blistering the paint and then cancer starts.

 

[OFC Ranger]

It would be a bonus if they were aluminum. That dissipates the heat way faster. Guess time will tell on what kind of aluminum. The cheaper stuff after a few years will start blistering the paint and then cancer starts.

Never seen that happen on any of mine that did not already have a blemish in the finish to start with. I previously mentioned on page 1 there are all kinds of grades of powder coating floating around.

 

[9zero1790]

damn those look more than capable to me esp for the price. i think one could think on it like this, maybe they do not last 5 years or more like the KC or whatever brand might.. but with the money saved if they last even 2 years its a win. in five years time you may not even need the lights anymore or have the truck. excellent job on getting the pattern set. i wish i could mount some of mine higher on a roof rack or bar. im limited by the height of garage parking.

 

[OFC Ranger]

damn those look more than capable to me esp for the price. i think one could think on it like this, maybe they do not last 5 years or more like the KC or whatever brand might.. but with the money saved if they last even 2 years its a win. in five years time you may not even need the lights anymore or have the truck. excellent job on getting the pattern set. i wish i could mount some of mine higher on a roof rack or bar. im limited by the height of garage parking.

A 2 or 3 year warranty add-on from Amazon is something like $15.00

They will replace the product, or if no longer being manufactured give you Amazon credit for the full amount.

In a sort of comical way you would almost want it to break during that period. Imagine every couple of years you get a fresh housing, fresh LEDs, fresh lenses, etc etc. All that UV and elements exposure and poof you get a shiny new unit.

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