What is a true manufacturing company? Is it SoundOff Signal?

Jman423

Administrator
Sep 10, 2010
3,391
United States
Let's hear from those in the know. This will help people looking for information on which companies are trustworthy and which products are reliable.

For this discussion, we'll focus on SoundOff Signal.
 

John Smith

Member
Oct 19, 2010
304
CO, US
I recently took delivery of 4 new cars with a full complement of SoundOff BluePRINT lights. We've had them in service about a year now, and haven't had any issues.

All 4 are interior bars with plenty of exterior modules to supplement. They're stupid bright. I'll just leave it at that, stupid bright. Colors match, everything works perfectly.

The BluePRINT system leaves a bit to be desired. It can do anything you can ever dream of, the if/then matrixes truly have no limits. Flash patterns, colors, whatever you want it can do. However, figuring out how to do that, and getting the system to do it without "bugs," is challenging to say the least. The program isn't intuitive, and it always seems to have bugs for me. But play with it enough, and you learn it and once you fix the same program the same way 2-3 times the bugs seem to get ironed out. And that's of course assuming you can get your hands on the software.

I'm already ordering my next car, an admin Tahoe with minimal lighting, and it'll have SoundOff lights. My local state agency uses Whelen, and our SoundOff cars are better in every way. Except they cost more.
 

BigWil

Member
May 22, 2010
1,187
Ontario
I have 4 mPowers on my truck, and they are holding up extremely well, and are very bright, one pair through 2 Canadian winters, one pair through 1. Added 2 Bolt 2s to the grill, and they are the only perimeter light that I've seriously considered hooking up the dimming wire on. They are insanely bright
 

Jman423

Administrator
Sep 10, 2010
3,391
United States
I will say that SoundOff seems to be pretty stable these days, but while I was searching preferred vendors, at my previous employer, for what you would now know as the beacon and the work light... I spotted the origins of a few of SoundOff's lightbars. That doesn't mean that they aren't solid performers, and it almost certainly couldn't come from the overseas with some third-party firmware (as Feniex's product did), but it does mean that they are not designing all of their products in-house... and that grey line can easily shift.
 

Carlos SpicyWeiner

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 3, 2012
5,233
Lakeland, Florida
yeah... no crap.. Some people just hate cameras.

Soundoff is probably my #2
 

John Hearne

Member
May 27, 2010
346
Pontotoc County, MS
We used to buy a mix of Fed Sig and Whelen, mixing and matching based on price. For instance, we'd run Whelen lightbars but run a Touchmaster Delta for siren/light control.

Sound Off Signal came in and became aggressive with their pricing. We quickly realized that it was almost impossible to beat SOS on price and the quality was mostly there. Over seven years, we replaced two control boards in two Pinnacles, and have had a Mini 3 go bad from water intrusion but they've mostly held up. SOS has been very good about warranty replacement and the problems we've had were fixed quickly and for free.

We still but some Whelen stuff for products they do best, like mirror beams and large lightheads. Since Whelen has been drifting down in quality but not price, I don't see failure rates that are different between the two.

While its complicated, really have been impressed with their Blueprint system. If you take the time to learn how to use it, it's a very powerful way to control the lights. And again, their pricing on BluePrint make them hard to beat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hoff
Sep 16, 2018
119
Kentucky
Let's hear from those in the know. This will help people looking for information on which companies are trustworthy and which products are reliable.

For this discussion, we'll focus on SoundOff Signal.
I refer those to my posts under similar questions asked about Star Warning and Feniex. As long as your not dead set on "Made in the USA", they do perform exceptionally well.
 

Jman423

Administrator
Sep 10, 2010
3,391
United States
I think SoundOff really hit the mark with the Ghosts and the Intersectors, the other brands seemed to have to catch up on those two products. I suspect SoundOff designs some stuff in-house and imports (and customizes) other products. But as stated, at least they don't falsely claim their imported stuff is made here in the US.
 

John Smith

Member
Oct 19, 2010
304
CO, US
Their nForce and mPower lines are also pretty spectacular, they're definitely one of the brightest and most versatile considering their size. I'm not a fan of either one of those line's lightbars, just because they're ugly, but they're stupid bright still, and can do single/dual/3 color for every module.
 
Sep 16, 2018
119
Kentucky
I think SoundOff really hit the mark with the Ghosts and the Intersectors, the other brands seemed to have to catch up on those two products. I suspect SoundOff designs some stuff in-house and imports (and customizes) other products. But as stated, at least they don't falsely claim their imported stuff is made here in the US.
This is very true
 

bluestinger90

Member
Jun 5, 2010
657
BC / California
I think SoundOff really hit the mark with the Ghosts and the Intersectors, the other brands seemed to have to catch up on those two products. I suspect SoundOff designs some stuff in-house and imports (and customizes) other products. But as stated, at least they don't falsely claim their imported stuff is made here in the US.

Quite a bit of their stuff is imported.

Everything here for example is from China:


I've used some of those products and they are off exceptional quality and design.

I don't think there's anything wrong with filling your product bench with imported products - consumers sometimes want a 1 stop and shop solution - but misrepresenting it as "USA #1" is tiresome and disingenuous.

I don't see soundoff signal doing that though.

On the topic of ghost and intersector ... soundoff signal really needs to start patenting their designs.

code3, feniex, federal signal, whelen have all gone and copied the ideas and have probably been sales successes.
 

Jman423

Administrator
Sep 10, 2010
3,391
United States
I do like Whelen products, but I wouldn't consider myself a fanboy.

Having said that, I don't care for a number of their products, including most of their "V" stuff, and that's the key to their Intersector competitor.

I will be the first to admit that I didn't know how much of SoundOff's products were imported until I worked for Feniex (do the math), but it wasn't too surprising when you consider the visual cues of the products. Take Code 3/Ecco for instance... they are quite obviously imported products.
 
Sep 16, 2018
119
Kentucky
Quite a bit of their stuff is imported.

Everything here for example is from China:


I've used some of those products and they are off exceptional quality and design.

I don't think there's anything wrong with filling your product bench with imported products - consumers sometimes want a 1 stop and shop solution - but misrepresenting it as "USA #1" is tiresome and disingenuous.

I don't see soundoff signal doing that though.

On the topic of ghost and intersector ... soundoff signal really needs to start patenting their designs.

code3, feniex, federal signal, whelen have all gone and copied the ideas and have probably been sales successes.
I agree Blue, the foreign stuff nowadays is performing just as well as top brands, but as I stated in my previous posts, if you design a product here in the US and outsource the manufacturing, your opening up your product to risk of bootlegging. When it comes to design, how many possible variations could one come up with to produce an all exclusive product that doesn't look similar to others. I am a firm believer that vehicle design and layout dictates the design of lighting. Not the other way around. The cosmetic appearance is usually what separates them, and that comes through the variations in lenses,housing, and of course flash patterns and color configurations.
 
Sep 16, 2018
119
Kentucky
For a reference in imported Chinese knockoffs of svp, federal signal, and tomar go to https://www.uniformswarehouse.com/vehicle-equipment/full-size-lightbars.html
And see their swedish crap.. no wait that's Ikea.. see their Chinese knockoffs!
Incredible.... Tel me this is not a FedSig Streethawk to the TEE?
 

Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
I think it's about presentation and low cost crap and warranty. I spoke to a metro Dade guy and they just toss stuff out after warranty is over, or it sits in gsa for 20 years unsold or crushed cause it's red or blue or sirens or such things
 

kadetklapp

Member
May 21, 2010
1,568
Indiana
Must say I like the look of most of their products, but having 2.5 out of three cars of our fleet with SoundOff, I find them to be unreliable, susceptible to water, and their warranty sucks.
Have a $2000+ lightbar in my truck, first year I had it was glowing blue whenever it rained. It’s also ugly. I realized later I could have gotten a Valor for same money.
MPowers are garbage. We’ve replaced half of them (probably twelve total), controllers are want to trip breakers and pop fuses, or just error out.
 

Carlos SpicyWeiner

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 3, 2012
5,233
Lakeland, Florida
Not saying you are lying... but I'm really interested if you have any pictures or what lightbar it was. I've had a couple Mpowers fail but just wondering if yours have failed the same way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tsquale

Doyle257

Member
Jan 13, 2015
658
Cheektowaga, NY
Ive had several pinnacle bars go bad, but that was usually caused by someone monkeying with the bar, and not reassembling properly. Its always good to see a Pinnacle bar die, IMO. They are bright, but, kind of like me, too ugly to live.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Tony P

kadetklapp

Member
May 21, 2010
1,568
Indiana
Not saying you are lying... but I'm really interested if you have any pictures or what lightbar it was. I've had a couple Mpowers fail but just wondering if yours have failed the same way.
Here’s the latest stupidity from this POS. This time the red side. Despite being warrantied, it still cost over $150 in labor for a SoundOff dealer to diagnose and repair.

I’m addition our we lost four MPowers to random water intrusion which they claim was caused by us not caring for them properly? This threw the the whole system into fail mode and it’s still not right.
 

Attachments

  • 4BC1C8A8-B466-4DD6-846A-4E59A5D9CAFA.jpeg
    4BC1C8A8-B466-4DD6-846A-4E59A5D9CAFA.jpeg
    317.2 KB · Views: 13
  • Like
Reactions: SoFlaDep

Forum Statistics

Threads
53,963
Messages
449,806
Members
19,102
Latest member
Hilux01

About Us

  • Since 1997, eLightbars has been the premier venue for all things emergency warning equipment. Discussions, classified listings, pictures, videos, chat, & more! Our staff members strive to keep the forums organized and clutter-free. All of our offerings are free-of-charge with all costs offset by banner advertising. Premium offerings are available to improve your experience.

User Menu

Secure Browsing & Transactions

eLightbars.org uses SSL to secure all traffic between our server and your browsing device. All browsing and transactions within are secured by an SSL Certificate with high-strength encryption.