I'm curious to hear everyone's opinions on what they feel are the brightest model LED's in either Whelen or Code 3. I know that sometimes color plays a factor (for example, Blue is more visible than Amber). I'm shopping around for an amber/clear light bar. I've heard that LEDX's are the absolute brightest out there, but I've read on here that some people do not like them. I have a code 3 2100 lightbar in all Optix and IMO it doesn't seem too bright. With that said, what's everyone's opinion on what they feel are the brightest LED's (offered for a lightbar) they've seen or worked with?
Opinions on the brightest LED's
- Thread starter databurst
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topflight
Member
Feniex T-4s. I put 8 and an SVP Star Sabre lightbar and they are stupid bright! The customer wants more in it now and so many he said he wants to double stack them!!
lotsofbars
Member
I would agree with Solaris. They are used in many FS lightbars and Viper S2s. I have tested a lot of lights and finally settled on the Vipers with the solaris technology. The way it is constructed, it is surrounded with mirrors on all 3 sides, forcing the light straight out and creating great off axis. The LEDX from Code 3 are certainly bright, but don't utilize a reflector, which greatly diminishes off axis output.
TritonBoulder47
Member
This is COMPLETELY subjective, and more of a personal preference than anything... Plus there are numerous threads about "what light is brightest" and so on... Use the Search function, it works great...
tsquale
Lifetime VIP Donor
I took triton's advice and used the handy dandy search function on Fed Sig's site...
Link is the search results for solaris on their site.
Search Results for: solaris | Federal Signal
Link is the search results for solaris on their site.
Search Results for: solaris | Federal Signal
Hoff
Member
Fed Sig for sure.
Then again why does it matter? All of the major brands are bright enough to fit everyone's needs.
Then again why does it matter? All of the major brands are bright enough to fit everyone's needs.
WS224
Member
ChangchungLeds
Member
I hear that the Feniex are bright, but Fed Sig have more popularity in the market, I have four Impaxx with almost two years of use with no poblem, just one fail because some water go inside. I think that we can say that Feniex are good in two years or so, we have to see how their work...
ark_firefighter
Member
www.micromanindustries.com offers true 3watt leds ... I've yet to see any big boy mfg's to updrade to that.
ChangchungLeds
Member
emtanderson51
Member
julietbravosierra
Member
emtanderson51 said:
+1 The most expensive too! Lol The only drawback from this is that it's expensive, and too bright haha
Ultimate D
Member
SRB
Member
Station 3
Member
I have seen the Fenix T-4s and at first i thought they were china junk but then when i walked up and saw the name on it and i was like OH my bad its Fenix. They are bright HEAD ON im not gonna lie but they look like toy lights fron an angle and in my opinion ANY light can be bright HEAD ON nothing special to me. My Generic PODs i forgot whos name they had on them this week were the same brightness.
grfd711
Member
Sho-me/Able 2 LED by the inch as a one inch section. The four cornea burning 5mm LEDs tops anything on the market.
jprleedy4680
Member
I have recently become a fan of the Code 3 Torus/T-Rex lightheads...XT's aren't bad either.
Hard to beat the FS Solaris technology though, I love my Viper S2's
Hard to beat the FS Solaris technology though, I love my Viper S2's
bluestinger90
Member
grfd711 said:Sho-me/Able 2 LED by the inch as a one inch section. The four cornea burning 5mm LEDs tops anything on the market.
Split red and blue, with a dim option!
TritonBoulder47
Member
Zapp Brannigan
Lifetime VIP Donor
ChangchungLeds
Member
Station 3 said:
I am using Impaxx from almost two years now, they are really bright, I compare with whelen tir3, lin3, pimp and sound off, the Impaxx are bright. Checking the reviews and opinions I am going to try with the Feniex T4 because I like the concept of two colors in the same light, sync the lights in split option you will seen better, that way all the time the four leds are on.
Do you think that your PODs are brighter than the T4???
TritonBoulder47
Member
OverLordOfYou
Member
Klein said:
just downloaded the android app to make these on the fly... too funny. Im going to have fun with this
Last edited by a moderator:
My top choices.
Tomar RECT 25 (high power) OR Tomar 200s (high power as well)
FedSig ViperS2 (fedsig solaris)
both on and off axis is amazing, which is what has sold me on these two. Now, Fedsig is a bit cheaper than tomar, so thats the main difference for me when choosing.
Tomar RECT 25 (high power) OR Tomar 200s (high power as well)
FedSig ViperS2 (fedsig solaris)
both on and off axis is amazing, which is what has sold me on these two. Now, Fedsig is a bit cheaper than tomar, so thats the main difference for me when choosing.
Most of the LED light bars out there are very bright. But there is no doubt that the Tomar Scorpion light bar is the best built and will last the longest without issues.
Eric1249
Member
I think when you want to get lights you need to determine how much you want to spend. If you have the money to spend I believe that Tomar are bright. I had the smaller Impaxx on my rear plate. Never had any problems with them. I like the clean housing as well. It is a bright light. If you catch a sale at Galls you can get them at a decent price. I had the Impaxx 600 on my running boards. They were red/clear. I had diodes hooked to them. I could use them like takedowns without having to have them flash first. Two of them as takedowns would do a decent job of lighting up my front yard.
Last week I stopped at a local SOS dealer. We put a Nforce next to the Impaxx6. The SOS was red/clear. The SOS was noticably brighter then the Impaxx6. The cost of the two lights is comparable. I got the 9 LED Nforce yesterday. It is impressive. I had a LS12 in my side window and the Nforce had a better off axis.
I think it isn't just what is brighter. You have to consider cost and application. Optics play into that as well. I remember when led's first came out. They were bright straight on. But take a couple steps to the side and it was nowhere near as bright. Just my .02
Last week I stopped at a local SOS dealer. We put a Nforce next to the Impaxx6. The SOS was red/clear. The SOS was noticably brighter then the Impaxx6. The cost of the two lights is comparable. I got the 9 LED Nforce yesterday. It is impressive. I had a LS12 in my side window and the Nforce had a better off axis.
I think it isn't just what is brighter. You have to consider cost and application. Optics play into that as well. I remember when led's first came out. They were bright straight on. But take a couple steps to the side and it was nowhere near as bright. Just my .02
Sigma Safety
Member
IRISH24 said:
Wow, that's quite a statement, especially given all the lightbars out there. You've examined all the others, have you? What did you think of the internal construction of the FS Valor?
ark_firefighter said:
Actually most of the big name manufacturer's are using "3 Watt" LEDS, even Axixtech does. The issue is, how hard do they drive them? Do they drive them at the full 3 watts and get bright light and lower life or do the underdrive them and still get decent output and longer life?
Case in point, the Whelen Vertex uses 6, 3 Watt, LEDs and drive them at about 1.8 Watts, the Axixtech HAL09 uses 9, 3 Watt, LEDs and drives them at about 2.2 Watts. Both use 3 Watt LEDs, but different number and at different drive levels.
Let's not even get into reflectors and optics that change/distort the light pattern distribution.
The best way to tell is to ask for a copy of the NFPA test sheet, then compare apples to apples.
BTW, the brightest light head on the market is the PowerArc M90 series. PowerArc freely posts the NFPA output specs of it's lights in it's online catalog. Go to PowerArc Warning Lights, click the online catalog and go to page 17 for the numbers. Does any other manufacturer do that?
JohnMarcson
Administrator