LED light bar - Baja Designs VS China

[dezertcat]

So the time has come for me to buy a light bar for my wildcat and I was wondering if anyone has actually done a real life comparison of the Baja Designs OnX light bar to a totron or moonshinexxx or any of other "made in china" light bars. My dilema is that I can buy 3-4 of the china light bars for the price of one 30" OnX.

If anyone has actually done the comparison, is the BD one actually worth 3-4 times the price? I understand how lumens work and beam patterns, so I do not need an explanation of how the light works, just meerely a comparison of which one has more effective light and if the BD one is worth the money.

Thanks for the input!!

 

[desertwheeler]

I think the quality and ability to change beams and colors on the BD lights is very nice! They are expensive that's for sure but seem to be a top quality light. I don't own any but sure wish I did.

 

[Bajaxp]

I have a 20" BD Onyx lightbar on the front of my vintage F100 race truck. I haven't done a comparison versus the brand you mentioned, but I have done a comparison versus 'the other top brand' and the Baja Designs was better. More throw and more fill. I have a combo of driving and pencil beams. I am very happy with what I bought. You do get what you pay for in this instance. My 2 pesos.

 

[Bumpers]

Ive seen a 20" totron dual row and ridgid dual row 20" compared and the light output was extremely close. Myself and lots of ppl I know have the totron lights and love them. For the money you cant beat it


I might add that im not the fondest person of buying stuff from china but everything we have is made in another country even if it is "assembled in the usa" . When the price difference is 1/5th or so its hard to argue when the quality is good.. and they honor their warranty as well.. I had one led go out on a pair of my 3" cubes I sent them a pic of the wire cut and they sent me a new light

 

[megadesertdiesel]

running a UTV at 60mph or so through the desert or dunes, do we really "need" the higest quality and high dollar lights? my thought are NO.


I am on the fence with this issue myself. I have always wanted to support the boys at Rigid since they started, but damn thay are expensive. I am needing one 30" and two 10" SR bars for my Maverick and have been rolling pennies for a while just to afford them. With what i have saved in the lightbar fund i could go out and buy the knock-off brans now, but i just cant support the knock-off companies.

 

[SGM4Life]

Good info!

 

[MAGNUM OFFROAD]

Is the title of this thread really a question? Lol!

Not trying to be a jerk, but trying to compare a piece of Baja Designs hardware to a Chinese wanna-be copy is totally comical. I too agree that "you get what you pay for", and the BD units are FAR superior in quality, design, and performance than ANY of the Chinese copy's I have seen come through my doors. Combine that with TOP notch customer service and product support and the choice is clear in my opinion. Oh, and there's that Made In America thing too if your into that.

Don't flame me, just my .02

 

[Rusty5150]

I can shed some light on this subject. I happen to know a little about lighting.

It's really not as simple as you may think. Most of the lighting manufactures rate their lumen's based on the chip they use. They do not rate once packaged with a housing, driver and optics.

Here a few things I think should be considered when selecting your light.

1. Intended use? Race or play
2. Does the manufacturer offer a warranty?
3. What is your desired beam pattern?
4. Review the mounting system. Does it work? (They all don't work)
5. Will your electrical system support the actual load? Most LEDs used in these bars are 3 watt lamps. The actual VA load is more like 4.5 watts with the driver and components.
6. What is the IP rating?

Most of the "Chinese" lights have not been engineered for Off Road. If your simply looking to have a cool looking light that is bright and may last you a few years, save the money and take your chances with a off brand light.

 

[Timberdog]

I'm from Canada but would rather buy made in the US as opposed to China regardless of the cost. I purchased a lightbar made in the US because of this. I always try to buy US or Canada made aftermarket accessories. I know they are made better and keep people employed. I know this is a bit of a rant but just my .02.

 

[ROTAX]

can someone post links to cheap light bars for comparison, like 40"

 

[sanduras]

i have one of the cheapy 30" chinese lights.couldnt afford the bd or rigid.it works pretty damn good considering.i got blasted by a trophy truck at the rage at the river race.shattered the lense,but all lights still work.i pulled it apart and put in some plexiglass and all is good.no regrets, ive had it for 2 1/2 years now

 

[the stripping shop]

i have been using the paramount bar has spot and flood good price and really bright it reaches out there. maybe iam wrong but dont all led lights come from asia. not bar but the actuall led bulb. maybe wrong but pretty sure all them have huge buy in to get them at good price just saying. never owned or bought baja design stuff. just rigid. pretty sure its about the bottom dollar

 

[Rusty5150]

I am a lighting engineer during the day. I have been working with LEDS for the last 7 to 8 years. I can assure you that its not as simple as buying a light from someone off the internet. A ton of options are available at the chip level. Color temp, grade, CRI (color rendering index), substrate and max junction temp a chip will handle. The better these numbers are the more $$ the chip costs. Any of the LED companies that are designing thier lights are specifying the chip they want to use. All the info is gathered on each chip produced in a process called "binning". The tighter the tolorance of your spec the more $$ you need to spend. The chips that dont fall into the "binning" spec become rejects and are sold to suppliers who do not specify anything. These suppliers build LED bars using a mix of chips, drivers and aluminum housing and package it into something that looks cool.

They flood the internet with these products at rock bottom prices because they did not spend any money on R&D, testing, tooling, employees, sales people, technical support, trade show booths, sponsoring events, warranty, install instructions, weather proof wiring harness, supporting racers, brick and mortar building and so on.....

I am not saying that you cant buy lights from an overseas supplier and they wont work great for your application. I am just saying its not always a cut and dry deal. There are only 3 or 4 LED lighting companies that are designing and building lights for our intended application.

my .02

 

[superdean]

I think we need even more threads about LED light bars.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

 

[s2k1]

Benchmark just installed a 40" LED bar on a SxS that the customer supplied. We were told in advance it was a Rigid but it turned out to be a China copy when we received it. The dimensions were incorrect, the wiring was incomplete and crappy quality, the mounts weren't as good, etc. The China light is bright but I still would not buy one.
We have sold tons of Rigid Industries LED products and they have been top notch. Our 2 centavos.

 

[the stripping shop]

i would love to see vision x,baja design, rigid industries, kc lights, 3 off asian brands head to head money and how much light. see what is the best bang for the buck. rusty understand your point but its a light not 2500 boat anchor of clutch lol. i see almost every manufacture is putting on led front head lights is cheap to manufacture or that much better. best bang for the buck.

 

[s2k1]

i would love to see vision x,baja design, rigid industries, kc lights, 3 off asian brands head to head money and how much light. see what is the best bang for the buck. rusty understand your point but its a light not 2500 boat anchor of clutch lol. i see almost every manufacture is putting on led front head lights is cheap to manufacture or that much better. best bang for the buck.

When I worked for Honda I tried to push them to put an LED tail light on the then in development 2004 TRX450R. It came down to cost and it was more money than a conventional tail light at the time. Everything isn't always as it seems.

 

[rupert14]

I am a lighting engineer during the day. I have been working with LEDS for the last 7 to 8 years. I can assure you that its not as simple as buying a light from someone off the internet. A ton of options are available at the chip level. Color temp, grade, CRI (color rendering index), substrate and max junction temp a chip will handle. The better these numbers are the more $$ the chip costs. Any of the LED companies that are designing thier lights are specifying the chip they want to use. All the info is gathered on each chip produced in a process called "binning". The tighter the tolorance of your spec the more $$ you need to spend. The chips that dont fall into the "binning" spec become rejects and are sold to suppliers who do not specify anything. These suppliers build LED bars using a mix of chips, drivers and aluminum housing and package it into something that looks cool.

They flood the internet with these products at rock bottom prices because they did not spend any money on R&D, testing, tooling, employees, sales people, technical support, trade show booths, sponsoring events, warranty, install instructions, weather proof wiring harness, supporting racers, brick and mortar building and so on.....

I am not saying that you cant buy lights from an overseas supplier and they wont work great for your application. I am just saying its not always a cut and dry deal. There are only 3 or 4 LED lighting companies that are designing and building lights for our intended application.

my .02

Well there you have it. I think his day job gives Rusty some credibility. Since I am a pediatric dentist here is my take.

LED lights in my handpieces are great. I also run them on my UTV and race cars. I don't think I want the one from my handpiece finding it's way into my light bar.

I am testing some bumper LED lights of a new manufacturer that has china assemble the products. I will tell you after the vegas to reno if they are as good as the name brand bars on my roof.

 

[SimsMotorsports]

I have a Baja Designs Onx that I do a lot of night racing, dunes, and recreation riding with and you couldn't pay me to switch manufactures! I don't think there is a better light out there. This is my opinion though....

 

[NIKAL]

Anyone who has looked into LED lights is going to know the BD Onx light bar is probably the best LED light on the market today.

So to compare the actual light output of the OnX to a China light like the Totron is not going to be much of a competition. Comparing these two lights is really Apples to Oranges. A better comparison would be the Rigid vs Totron. I think the OnX are 10w bulbs vs the 3w that the China made Totron and the U.S assembled Rigid use on their double row light bars. But where the good quality China light can compete is in price. The 30" OnX is around $1,200 & the Totron 30" can be bought for about $340. If your racing or if a large majority of your riding/driving is done at night, then the BD Onx is probably worth the price. If you play in the desert 6-12 times a year with a run or two each trip at night then the China made Totron is probably a better affordable choice.

Now I do have a 30" Cree Totron light on my UTV. One in our group has a older VisionX & another has a newer Rigid 30". Visually the Rigid & Totron look almost identical. When placed side by side in the dark the light output also looks to be identical, or so close that if you did not know which brand was on which vehicle, I don't think anyone could tell me which light output was the Rigid. Both the Rigid & Totron are brighter with better distance then the VisionX. But to defend the VisionX. It is at least 3 years older then the other two lights. Not even sure the older VisionX light has the Cree bulbs?

So if you want the best most bad ass LED light currently available then you will want the the BD OnX. If you don't need or can't afford the most bad ass light then the China made Totron might be just the light for you!