Thread: Old School Driving Lights - Whats Good & What Fits an ARB Bar?

Why not go to LED?

Originally Posted by Phil B

Why not go to LED?

I don't know much about them and I don't think I can get a good quality pair for $150-$200 second hand. Aesthetics a bit too I suppose

You can get good quality Osram LED 7” Dominator lights from 4WD accessory shops (Google is your friend) for about $200 including the wiring loom

I have LED Ipfs on the front of one of my cars and they are nothing short of amazing, almost too good. They give back a load of reflected glare. Initially I was going to replace the halogens on my County with a similar set of LEDs but I’m not so sure. The halogens are less harsh on my eyes than the LED. Super Oscar for me.

I just put these (SupaNova) on the car two weeks ago. All I can say is WOW. Admittedly these were about $400 I think, but you can certainly get other a lot cheaper.

Nite Stalker (can't recall the model number) have Super Oscar copies, or at least the reflector and lens are
The body is a little different, glass and reflector quality seem very good

If you’re going for Hella, I’d suggest the Rallye 4000s, they are a lot better than than 2000s.

I see you live in Sydney, so have a think about what sort of night driving you will be doing - if you’re like me, most of it will be in hilly terrain. In my opinion, a pair of spread beams (driving beams) are much better than the spot/spread combo for this. You’re driving a Defender, how far down the road do you need to see?

In either of those lights, a pair of spreads will give you a good distance down the road, while lighting up both sides of the road, where the suicidal wildlife likes to hide. They are much better in corners, through dips and over crests. I find a spot beam on anything other than a flat, straight road really annoying as you just keep watching a circle of light dancing all over the scenery. Also, both the Super Oscar and 4000 spreads convert well to hid if you want to go down that path later. The one set of converted 2000s I’ve sat behind weren’t much chop.

I love my Super Oscars, they are a good, basic light and good enough for my usage. However, much of my love is from nostalgia - they were very big in rallying in the ‘70s and ‘80s. There are of course much better lights out there now. I would personally rate the 2000s behind the Super Oscars and the 4000s above them both. That’s just from time spent sitting behind them, I have no scientific evidence to back it up.

Cheers,
Jon

jon3950 , you asked one of the most sensible questions when you asked .."how far down the road do you want to see"?

out on highways these days there is so much night traffic that if you have "bitumen burners" on your car , every vehicle coming towards you is flashing you to come down off your high beam a long way from you which drives you friggin nuts.

the other thing is reflection from road signs , which becomes worse the "better" your lights are. also drives you nuts

I have an upgraded but not higher wattage set of bulbs(phillips) in my headlights which are a big improvement plus a rather small but efficient 5 element 18watt light bar that gives 1 lux @ 250m.....that means you can read a newspaper at 250 metres. It also means no special loom or relays....unnecessary.

I had 200mm superdooper lights on my D2 and the simple setup I have now is at least equal to what I had and doesnt blast out into the distance like all these new leds do.

kangaroos and especially dark cattle are easily seen and if a roo darts from the bush brighter lights are only going to give you a better close up view of the look of terror on its face as you slam into it.