Illuminator 9 inch driving lights (4wd Supacentre)

[Maxiy]

Hi All

I did a search and came up with nothing on the 9 inch LED driving lights from 4wd supacentre

https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/produc ... -6893.html

Was wondering what peoples thoughts on these are ? has anyone used them? are they a 'you get what you pay for' type situation ?

i mean for under $300 bucks you could replace them every 18 months. Just wanted to see what people thought

Cheers

[amyh4n]

They look copy of ARB ones

[lgd]

Unsealed 4x4 did review of lights
http://www.unsealed4x4.com.au/issue022/ ... end+002#23

[Maxiy]

They look copy of ARB ones

Yeah there seem to be many copies out there these days, just wonder if they are a good copy, or a bad copy ??

Unsealed 4x4 did review of lights

Yeah i have had a look at that comparo, but they unfortunately didnt put the Illuminators in

[coughy]

have a look here

[Sootie]

When they said in the video they went out and bought them I thought they were actually going to do something useful and put them all against a test board or a light meter or just turn them on in the dark but nope just said the price 5 times

[Maxiy]

Yeah

I have seen this video before (the only one i can find on youtube). But i dont trust a video that is reviewing a product which is sourced and sold by the guy reviewing it hahah, call me un-trusting.

Still yet to find any decent info on these, just people who have not bought them saying they are crap and cheap (probably partly because they may have just spent upwards of 1k on another brand). Then people saying they are bloody brilliant (though these reviews are coming from the 4wd supacentre newsletter so are likely to be bias as hell).

I guess the only real way to find out is to get some.

[amyh4n]

I have heard they have good spread but not that great as spot

[revolutiontriton]

the way i see it is, if a company week in week out tells you they have their $800 lights on sale at 75% off all the time than there not $800 lights are they??? nothing is free in this world and if its too good to be true than it usually is.
but thats not to say that they won't last 12months and if you feel thats a worthwhile trade then go for it.
id certainly like to hear some more unbiased feedback about them, not that id buy this stuff but it would be good to hear.
if your a follower of the low range dvds you'll notice how much they drill in that THEIR products are not CHEAP items and are built to last.
Now id like to think Roothy is a pretty straight up guy and i think thats him saying up yours 4wd action, I'm going to tell everyone how crap your products are....

let ne know how they go

[pickle]

Got a set of these on my Paj. Been on about three weeks now so no long term review but jeez these things are bright. Seem to be pretty well built and mounting brackets reasonably strong. Haven't had them out in the bush yet but have cooked a few cats around the burbs with them.
http://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/sho ... 059&page=4
Dave

[Duck]

Its as much about how the light is sealed as it is about college construction, design and performance.
I do believe that the cost is s a fair guage of the above. I don't believe that the most expensive is always justifiably the best, but believe they will be better. If you have that price as your budget limit then just buy them, but going up in price will get you better light.

[NowForThe5th]

Quite a few very valid comments up there.

The only way to really test a light is on a dark road or track and, ideally together with a whole raft of others so that some kind of comparison can be made. IP ratings can be fudged, and often are, so who wants to stick their brand new light, whether it's worth $150 or $1200, in a tub of water to test it? Nor is cost necessarily an indicator - I've had lights that were "brand name" and failed in terms of water ingress while others that were hailed as all conquering turned out to be very average.

At the end of the day you have to buy within your budget. What I'd really like to see, though, is more feedback from those who buy lesser known lights like this, not immediately after purchase while still flushed with the new addition, but 2, 3 or 5 years down the track when the light has had a few dunkings, been peppered with stones and used in a variety of conditions. There seems to be a dearth of this kind of feedback, which makes me wonder if the experience with the cheaper lights has been, like mine, somewhat disillusioning.

What I can say is that next week I'll be visiting a number of factories that make lights like this. I guess I'm wondering, right now, how they'll take a request to do some testing with a hammer and a bucket of water.

[Tony81]

the way i see it is, if a company week in week out tells you they have their $800 lights on sale at 75% off all the time than there not $800 lights are they???

One of the reasons these guys can do this though is because they buy in massive bulk, thats why when you order online generally there is a 1 to 2 month wait till you get you items. if they only bought them in lots of 50 or so i am sure the price would be massively different.

[Staf77]

I have a set of the Illuminators. All I can say is WOW! For the price they are a great light and when recently out with a mate on a night run very comparable in light quality to my mates Lightforce 215 LED's which he paid $1400 for

[Crash486]

Those lumen levels are done at 36v. Is this normal? How do you run them at that voltage?

[ag9111]

You cant, unless you spend $1000's of dollars on electronics.
The electronics would burn out pretty quickly at that voltage anyway.

[Merts]

The LEDs in those lights are designed to work between 9 and 32 volts. You could run them on either a 12 or a 24 volt system with no problems.

The raw light output in lumens is pretty meaningless for any light regardless of what voltage it's determined at. What matters is the resulting light intensity at a given distance and lateral location.

[Maxiy]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, i will likely get these lights (partly because i'm on a tight budget, and partly cause im curious).

I have to get my Bar sorted first ( with some help from NFTF)
Then my lift, then these lights are next on the list, so may be later in the year till i can post my thoughts.

[revolutiontriton]

the way i see it is, if a company week in week out tells you they have their $800 lights on sale at 75% off all the time than there not $800 lights are they???

One of the reasons these guys can do this though is because they buy in massive bulk, thats why when you order online generally there is a 1 to 2 month wait till you get you items. if they only bought them in lots of 50 or so i am sure the price would be massively different.

I highly doubt that, why not sell them at say 50% off, still sounds like a huge saving to consumers and they pocket an extra profit... What company worth their salt wouldn't do that. It's not cuz their nice guys and want to 'pass on the savings'.
Bunnings buys in bulk, but when they say you can buy a $150 battery drill for $99 that sounds reasonable not the kinds of discounts these guys claim.

I personally have no problem with them and hope they are as good as they say they are, it just shits me they way they go about their marketing.
I buy brand name products purely because their brand name. And I enjoy walking out the door and seeing the safari symbol or the rhino symbol adorning my truck. A lot of times I buy them for the fact their Australian owned or manufactured and hope to keep these companies alive and well by supporting them.
But I can totally understand the want for an item and being convinced purely on price point. The devil is in the details though.

Heck $99 bucks for a pair of spotties, maybe I'll buy some and give you all a product review on them!! Hahahaha

[snakesoup]

$99 ?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[revolutiontriton]

Yeh okay that does sound cheap but I get these email deals sent to me and I'm sure they had some ridiculously stupid offer like that not long ago. It may have been for a 42" light bar or something but even still. That's dirt cheap.

[Cowboy Dave]

If you can't sell on brand and reputation then price is not a bad substitute draw card.

[Duck]

Just had a look at the new Light force Hid/led HT230, wholly molly they are spectacular. 70whid with surround of 40wled but at $800 a light & a dual switch install $1900 all up I will admire them on the showroom floor not on my Tri

[hvac guy]

Quite a few very valid comments up there.

The only way to really test a light is on a dark road or track and, ideally together with a whole raft of others so that some kind of comparison can be made. IP ratings can be fudged, and often are, so who wants to stick their brand new light, whether it's worth $150 or $1200, in a tub of water to test it? Nor is cost necessarily an indicator - I've had lights that were "brand name" and failed in terms of water ingress while others that were hailed as all conquering turned out to be very average.

At the end of the day you have to buy within your budget. What I'd really like to see, though, is more feedback from those who buy lesser known lights like this, not immediately after purchase while still flushed with the new addition, but 2, 3 or 5 years down the track when the light has had a few dunkings, been peppered with stones and used in a variety of conditions. There seems to be a dearth of this kind of feedback, which makes me wonder if the experience with the cheaper lights has been, like mine, somewhat disillusioning.

What I can say is that next week I'll be visiting a number of factories that make lights like this. I guess I'm wondering, right now, how they'll take a request to do some testing with a hammer and a bucket of water.

Does that mean your off the fyrlyt train ?

[Maxiy]

Just bought a pair + wiring harness for $249 delivered.

Now we wait.

when i get some i shall post up a few pictures and my thoughts. They have a 30 day money back guarantee, so i guess if i think they are a heap of $h!T i can just return them.