ARB verses The Rest

[muzza01]

Going back to your original question about the lights.  I have the 9.5 inch spotties from 4wd super centre.  I got them about 12-18 months ago.  They are stupid bright, I wouldn't want anything brighter than these, should have bought the 6 inch ones.  On the dark highway they are awesome.

I also have an imported 20inch light bar that has been on the Cruza for about 4 years.  Still working and bright as hell.  I am more than happy with both of these purchases.  Usually find the people that tell you how Shit imported products can be are the ones that have never tried them.

Each to their own with buying stuff.

[BigDog816]

As many has said, ARB gear are good except for the price.
I have an ARB bar. Why? Same reason as others has said already: tested.
It depends on what you buy. If it is safety, go for the good stuff.
If it's nice to have, you can go for the cheap brands.

Agree with that plus the other factor with bull bars is that it's easier to pay the extra for an ARB Bar because it's only 2/2.5 times as much as the cheaper ones (not x10) and its easier to see that there is a lot of testing, R&D etc for Each Vehicle.  If the ARB Bar was $12000 (vs a $1200 cheapie) it would be a lot harder to justify it.

I won some gear from 4WDSC and bought a little too about 3 years ago and it's still all going well.

For Lights I got my latest ones from Steedi, and it's great, really solid and puts out a good amount of light, might be less than a more expensive light, but I'm only trying to see the roos, not through them.

Also, probably not the place for it, but I see EFS are now doing bars and steps.

BigDog.

[DrewXT]

Going back to your original question about the lights.  I have the 9.5 inch spotties from 4wd super centre.  I got them about 12-18 months ago.  They are stupid bright, I wouldn't want anything brighter than these, should have bought the 6 inch ones.  On the dark highway they are awesome.

I also have an imported 20inch light bar that has been on the Cruza for about 4 years.  Still working and bright as hell.  I am more than happy with both of these purchases.  Usually find the people that tell you how Shit imported products can be are the ones that have never tried them.

Each to their own with buying stuff.

I think for the price point, the lights sold by ARB are ridiculously priced - I've sourced lights from the same factory in the past, and yes - they are a good light - are they worth the money ARB ask?  In my opinion, no - there are better products out there at a better price point.

Stedi for example, with their X-Style driving light - it has a higher lumen output than both the ARB Intensity and Lightforce Genesis.  LED's should be rated in lumen output rather than watts, as a good LED light may have less LED's yet more light output dependent on the reflector design.

We've installed a heap of SupaCentre lights, and for what you pay, they're an excellent product - just like the products that SunYee sells.  They have their place in the market, which is to get people out there!  Are there better products on the market?  Undoubtedly, but not necessarily at a price that everyone can justify. 

I have a pair of Hard KORR 90w lights on my car that cost me $110 with a 4WD Action subscription - Autobarn/Opposite Lock sell them for $460 a pair - would I pay that? not a chance in hell, because I can buy them from Aliexpress for about $160 a pair.

We've also found that the guys that install lights like ARB Intensity, JW Speaker, Lightforce tend to have them knocked off more, as the people who steal such things know what they're worth, and will walk straight past a set of cheaper lights, as they can't offload them as easily

[Julian Kaye]

   I would have to say that there is more money wasted on driving lights than just about any other accessory fitted to a 4x4. When you think about how much dawn/dusk/night driving you actually do it just doesn't add up to spend much more than $3-400 on lights. Then again it doesn't account for the well heeled bogan red-neck aspect which is probably laying dormant in most of us.

[doc evil]

<snip>
Stedi for example, with their X-Style driving light - it has a higher lumen output than both the ARB Intensity and Lightforce Genesis.  LED's should be rated in lumen output rather than watts, as a good LED light may have less LED's yet more light output dependent on the reflector design.
<snip>

This bit gets me............... lumen output is NOT everything.............

You can have 1 million lumen lights……….it’s how the luminous flux is spread…………….thus, if 10000 lumen focused onto 1sq metre, it is lit to 10000 lux. Likewise, the same 10000 lumen lit over 10sq m it is only 1000 lux. And then distance comes into play. The more spread you have the less lux at distance will result.

Bright lights 10m from ya car might be awesome in the coles carpark, but I’d want the most lux at 200-500m………………

[DrewXT]

This bit gets me............... lumen output is NOT everything.............

You can have 1 million lumen lights……….it’s how the luminous flux is spread…………….thus, if 10000 lumen focused onto 1sq metre, it is lit to 10000 lux. Likewise, the same 10000 lumen lit over 10sq m it is only 1000 lux. And then distance comes into play. The more spread you have the less lux at distance will result.

Bright lights 10m from ya car might be awesome in the coles carpark, but I’d want the most lux at 200-500m………………

My bad... That's why I made the comment about reflector configuration, used the incorrect terminology

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[rossm]

   I would have to say that there is more money wasted on driving lights than just about any other accessory fitted to a 4x4. When you think about how much dawn/dusk/night driving you actually do it just doesn't add up to spend much more than $3-400 on lights. Then again it doesn't account for the well heeled bogan red-neck aspect which is probably laying dormant in most of us.

I bought an ex govt fleet Prado a year ago that had been given the ARB treatment. Bull  bar, roof rack, drawers, on board air, dual battery, lift. And old school IPF driving lights. Turned them on once to see if they work ...

[WilSurf]

We did the Powerlines in Perth at night a few weeks ago and I was happy that I had my HID spots.
A member of our club has a few LED bars and man what a light he produces.

[Redback]

i honestly have no idea who evolved first, just know that TJM have been around a long time here in Brisbane atleast, and for the earlier post from another Swagger to insuinuate ARB have paved the way for them is rubbish. ARB have become a very successful company and good on them for doing so, but they are to expensive for my liking now...most of their gear that I owned has never let me down, but the rear locker they installed leaked diff oil through the breather big time, which I've read many other people having the same issue also.

TJM 1973, mostly made gear for Fords and VW Buggies, ARB 1975, mainly gear for Land Rovers and Toyota, Tony Brown drove Land Rovers and at the time knowone made accessories (bull bars and so on) for series Land Rovers or other 4WDs in NSW or VIC, sorry forgot to add the BJ40 was the first vehicle to be ARB equiped in 1976 for sale to the public.

[#jonesy]

Reading this thread I think ARB throw in a bullbar to mount the lights . Seriously how much R & D goes into lighting to justify hundreds per unit sold.

Me I have a 4WD super centre 22" bar on my car. That and the wiring loom cost less than $50. $5 for a Chinese eBay switch fits into the blank switch hole. My biggest complaint is I don't have a bullbar and the longest number play bracket isn't long enough. So the bit of aluminium angle I made my own bracket from cost almost as much.

The spread of light is great. Distance is no more than the factory lights. But it is exactly what I need driving on the other metro / country roads on my daily commute to light up the roadsides.

[alnjan]

When looking at lights a number of years ago for a led light bar, ended up buying just a cheap 20" light bar from SunYee and for what I paid I was pretty happy with the light.  The light is nothing compared to the output when compared to other light but also nothing like the price either.  At present have no need for good quality lights so that plan has been put on hold.   If I had of gone ahead with the plan at the time the light bar I was going to get was $1200, but when compared to other lights, price and output, the light bar would be worth it.

The unfortunate thing with led and hid lights is there is no formal fixed output rating of the lights.  Lumens are good but where are the lumens measured at?  One meter?  10 meters? Companies just put up figures to make their product look good.  It is when retailers put up direct comparisons of the light out puts that you can see just how good or bad light outputs are like.  Clearly shows what light has the best spread or spot light to see which light, lights up the whole roadway including the edge of the roadway and which light, lights up the roadway well ahead of you.  Lumens, watts and other stats are good but mean nothing compared to light output comparisons.  Then you can work out what light performance you can afford. 

[prodigyrf]

Just a word of caution for those ARB Intensity spots as I came across one lying face down on the sandy track 3/4 of the way out to Coongie Lake from Innamincka a few days ago. Thought it was a big cow pat at first until I caught a glimpse of the flash of SS bracket and a peculiar tail which turned out to be the wiring loom that had unplugged itself fully intact when it fell off an alloy bull bar. Well not exactly fell off because it was still bolted securely to the thick alloy mounting bracket that had cracked off at the weld line and clearly the reason for it lying on the track. They're heavy suckers and clearly stressed out the alloy mount on rough roads.

So on to Coongie for the day looking out for any fourby with an odd spot but no luck asking around until 3/4 of the way back to Inna and coming to meet us was the odd spot fourby owner who'd finally missed it at Inna and was retracing his route on the off-chance and much relieved to recover his 700 bucks worth of light, none the worse for wear bar a small crack in the extra cover. Well apart from a rethink of fabricating and welding on more substantial light mounts that is.

[rags]

Just a word of caution for those ARB Intensity spots as I came across one lying face down on the sandy track 3/4 of the way out to Coongie Lake from Innamincka a few days ago. Thought it was a big cow pat at first until I caught a glimpse of the flash of SS bracket and a peculiar tail which turned out to be the wiring loom that had unplugged itself fully intact when it fell off an alloy bull bar. Well not exactly fell off because it was still bolted securely to the thick alloy mounting bracket that had cracked off at the weld line and clearly the reason for it lying on the track. They're heavy suckers and clearly stressed out the alloy mount on rough roads.

So on to Coongie for the day looking out for any fourby with an odd spot but no luck asking around until 3/4 of the way back to Inna and coming to meet us was the odd spot fourby owner who'd finally missed it at Inna and was retracing his route on the off-chance and much relieved to recover his 700 bucks worth of light, none the worse for wear bar a small crack in the extra cover. Well apart from a rethink of fabricating and welding on more substantial light mounts that is.

Not exactly an ARB intensity light problem but rather an inferior Alloy bar, bolt one to an ARB or TJM steel bar and I doubt very much that the light would tear a section of steel away from the bar.

[prodigyrf]

Probably a correct assessment rags but I was somewhat surprised at the substantial thickness of the alloy bracket that had cracked off but the unusual weight of the light was clearly too much for it long term and something to be aware of if you're investing in these ARB Intensity spots.