Dave, I have used mine before in the wee hours of dark driving into work.

That is when I had them on my stock bumper, and I would get flashed.
They are only 55 watts, but they may have been aimed up a bit to high.

Even when aimed low, they put out a good amount of light.
I mainly only use mine when there is no traffic, and they sure light up the road real good.

I don't use the rack ones to much, as I get a reflection on my hood.
The ones on the ARB work great.

Baja, I agree, the Lightforce ones are great after seeing the construction of Todd's, and seeing them at Central 4WD in Kent.
But my Hella's have stood up to the weather in WA. state just fine, and they are pretty tough.

 

Driving lights are nice to keep on when it's cloudy out, but do not spread a real wide beam so they do not illuminate much of the trail. A flood light works really well to light up the trail and help pick lines in the dark. It sends out a real wide beam, kinda like a fog light but a little more spread out vertically (i think . . .). I use my floods as a driving light some times when it's kinda dark/cloudy and have never had anyone flash me. I have them aimed like a low beam, and that makes a big difference.

I really like a beam that punches out there for higher speed driving. Really nice for driving down dark highways and spotting deer and other critters that might get in your way. The spots do that for you.

The Warns I have are around $50 per light, so they are more expensive than the Hella 500s. Personally, I like the smaller lights. These things put out a lot of light and are only 5" in diameter. On the rack, the small light allows me to put a canoe up there without bumping into the lights.

 

What do you guys think of the rubber 4 1/2 inch hellas? They are 55 watt floods. reason i ask is im gonna fab up a bumper with lights inside the bumper. Completely new design. Or is the 4 1/2 too small? I can fit as big as 6 1/2 inch light.

 

You mean like this?

 

I have PIAA's and like them alot (Ion fogs). In BC, if there is a rust problem, I'd look at aluminum or poly housings. Some of the PIAA's have alum housings - not mine though.

 

Or this...

 

I use PIAA 520 driving lights here. I love them.

Noel

 

Nice Photochopchopchoppin'

 

Another nice feature of the LightForce is that they have an adjustable beam pattern... like a mag-light. You can throw out a long pencil or a more shallow flood. Pencil for pre-run, flood for rocks...

 

I've been running PIAA 520 Ion driving lights for about 1 1/2 years and they have been great so far. I have some Hellas in the factory fog light locations and they definitely aren't as good. Everything about the PIAA stuff is better, from the switch to the bulb, you name it and it's better. Just my own opinion though.

Joey

 

Don't know about the laws in the US but in the UK driving or spot lights are only legal if used together with main beam - main beam will dazzle anyway so shouldn't be used when someone is coming towards you.

Also lights mounted on the roof rack are not legal for road use but only off road as they are too high - I think the rule is over 1 metre is not legal for on road use with or without main beam.

Fogs are only legal in bad visibility (rear fogs as well.).

Cheers

 

I agree - I have the same lights. Better harness, relay, etc. I used a Toyota switch. I had a little rust on my housings and they gave me new housings for free!

 

Well of course you do get what you pay for! How much more do the PIAAs cost? 4 or 5 times as much, right?

C

 

Yeah, but I would rather pay the $$$ up front and not have to worry about them. Ex: My brother ran KC Daylighters on his old Toyota pickup for about 4 years and only had a problem with them once. However, he put a set of Daylighters on his Z-71 and had to take them off three times in three years to send them in and have the bulbs replaced. Granted, KC was nice and always just sent him a complete new pair of Daylighters. They honored their warranty but it was still a PITA to take them off every time. So, this past time a bulb blew he just sent them in, got a new set, sold that set on Ebay, and put that money towards a set of PIAAs. Problem solved.

 

Like Corey said, i am running the Lightforce 140's.
Today i took off the fog lense. Coming into work this morning i couldn't beleive how much light is being sent out.
The 140's are 75 watt. The 170's run 100 watts.

One nice thing about the fog lense is the way they are cut.
They cast a real wide fog beam.

Thats one thing i liked about the Lightforce was the different type of lenses you can attach.

The lights themselves are real light weight. So far i really like them.