Feniex Apollo Mini Lightbar: Product Spotlight
Introduction
eLightbars.org receives prototypes and pre-production items for testing, feedback, and review purposes. In some cases, we get the products before they are even announced to the market. Today, eLightbars presents a product spotlight on the Feniex Industries Apollo Mini Lightbar.
NOTE: Before we get into the good stuff, we feel it is necessary to point out that this unit is a pre-production unit. Optical lens clarity will be far superior on the final production version that dealers and customers will receive.
Product Spotlight
Feniex will soon be releasing its second mini lightbar to the market, the Apollo Mini. This lightbar contains eight Apollo lightheads of which two are front facing, two are rear facing, and four are angled/corner facing. The unit offers many features including dual color capability, flood mode, flexible mounting solutions, and custom factory programming. The unit makes excellent use of the 180° Wide-Lux optics the Apollo series offers.
Features
The Apollo Mini will be available in single or dual color variations. For those applications where brightness is key, the single color version will offer twice the light output of the dual color version. For applications where two colors are needed, the dual color version offers patterns displaying one of the two colors separately, or both colors alternating in sequence. There is also a “flood” mode which is particularly helpful if your second color is white. When activated, the bar will steady-burn all white LEDs to illuminate the immediate area around your vehicle.
Options
The Apollo Mini can be ordered with or without the cigar plug. For applications where flood mode is needed, or if other customer-requested options are needed, the unit will be shipped without the cigar plug.
You can choose from magnet mount or permanent mount options. The magnets allow for adjustments to be made to accommodate ridges on the roof of many vehicles allowing the unit to be properly seated.
Cobra Mini
The existing Cobra Mini will also evolve into this type of mini bar as well. While the Cobra series doesn’t offer dual color (or flood) options, all of the same options found in the Cobra Mini will still be available. The Cobra Mini will feature 2 front and 2 rear facing modules, and one module to each side.
Availability
Feniex has targeted a release later in 2014 for the Apollo Mini. Pricing is not yet available.
Preliminary Review
Our first impressions were that this is a good looking mini lightbar. It feels solid and offers options that some competing bars which cost twice as much don’t offer. As we mentioned above, our test unit is a pre-production model. The dome is clear, but the dome on the final production model will be optically superior to our test unit. Having said that, this dome doesn’t hinder our ability to test and review the unit in any way.
Our test unit does not feature the cigar plug, we received the hardwire version. It also features magnet mounts (4). This bar is dual color (amber/white) and offers the “full flood mode” option. All of the modules contain the 180° Wide-Lux optics.
As mentioned earlier in this article, the single color variations of any Apollo Series lighthead are going to offer twice the output of the dual color versions. Behind each optic lens, there are two surface mount LEDs. In the single color variations, those LEDs are both the same color and they light up together, effectively doubling the output of each lighthead from three to six lit LEDs. On dual color variations, only one of the LEDs behind each optic lens are lit for each single color pattern, so the output of each individual color is not quite as bright. However, having said that, one of the most impressive features on this unit is the flood mode. Whether or not you’re displaying a single or dual color pattern (on dual color units), you can override the warning pattern and display a steady, all-white LED pattern (if white is one of the two colors in your bar). While the Apollo “takedown” optics are much more effective for focusing the light in a 20° cone, the 180° Wide-Lux optics do a good job of flooding the immediate area with usable light. The Wide-Lux optics and the layout of this bar are perfect for each other.
Video
This bar really does offer a true 360° of visibility. In the video below, you'll see all of the available flash patterns as well as a quick demonstration of the flood mode in a dark warehouse area. Unfortunately, our camera doesn't perform exceptionally well in extreme low light situations, but the results are still pretty impressive. Please keep in mind that the "flood" mode is not a replacement for takedown or work lights... it is simply a 360° spread of light.
(Flood Mode Demo @ 10:15)
Images
Introduction
eLightbars.org receives prototypes and pre-production items for testing, feedback, and review purposes. In some cases, we get the products before they are even announced to the market. Today, eLightbars presents a product spotlight on the Feniex Industries Apollo Mini Lightbar.
NOTE: Before we get into the good stuff, we feel it is necessary to point out that this unit is a pre-production unit. Optical lens clarity will be far superior on the final production version that dealers and customers will receive.
Product Spotlight
Feniex will soon be releasing its second mini lightbar to the market, the Apollo Mini. This lightbar contains eight Apollo lightheads of which two are front facing, two are rear facing, and four are angled/corner facing. The unit offers many features including dual color capability, flood mode, flexible mounting solutions, and custom factory programming. The unit makes excellent use of the 180° Wide-Lux optics the Apollo series offers.
Features
The Apollo Mini will be available in single or dual color variations. For those applications where brightness is key, the single color version will offer twice the light output of the dual color version. For applications where two colors are needed, the dual color version offers patterns displaying one of the two colors separately, or both colors alternating in sequence. There is also a “flood” mode which is particularly helpful if your second color is white. When activated, the bar will steady-burn all white LEDs to illuminate the immediate area around your vehicle.
Options
The Apollo Mini can be ordered with or without the cigar plug. For applications where flood mode is needed, or if other customer-requested options are needed, the unit will be shipped without the cigar plug.
You can choose from magnet mount or permanent mount options. The magnets allow for adjustments to be made to accommodate ridges on the roof of many vehicles allowing the unit to be properly seated.
Cobra Mini
The existing Cobra Mini will also evolve into this type of mini bar as well. While the Cobra series doesn’t offer dual color (or flood) options, all of the same options found in the Cobra Mini will still be available. The Cobra Mini will feature 2 front and 2 rear facing modules, and one module to each side.
Availability
Feniex has targeted a release later in 2014 for the Apollo Mini. Pricing is not yet available.
Preliminary Review
Our first impressions were that this is a good looking mini lightbar. It feels solid and offers options that some competing bars which cost twice as much don’t offer. As we mentioned above, our test unit is a pre-production model. The dome is clear, but the dome on the final production model will be optically superior to our test unit. Having said that, this dome doesn’t hinder our ability to test and review the unit in any way.
Our test unit does not feature the cigar plug, we received the hardwire version. It also features magnet mounts (4). This bar is dual color (amber/white) and offers the “full flood mode” option. All of the modules contain the 180° Wide-Lux optics.
As mentioned earlier in this article, the single color variations of any Apollo Series lighthead are going to offer twice the output of the dual color versions. Behind each optic lens, there are two surface mount LEDs. In the single color variations, those LEDs are both the same color and they light up together, effectively doubling the output of each lighthead from three to six lit LEDs. On dual color variations, only one of the LEDs behind each optic lens are lit for each single color pattern, so the output of each individual color is not quite as bright. However, having said that, one of the most impressive features on this unit is the flood mode. Whether or not you’re displaying a single or dual color pattern (on dual color units), you can override the warning pattern and display a steady, all-white LED pattern (if white is one of the two colors in your bar). While the Apollo “takedown” optics are much more effective for focusing the light in a 20° cone, the 180° Wide-Lux optics do a good job of flooding the immediate area with usable light. The Wide-Lux optics and the layout of this bar are perfect for each other.
Video
This bar really does offer a true 360° of visibility. In the video below, you'll see all of the available flash patterns as well as a quick demonstration of the flood mode in a dark warehouse area. Unfortunately, our camera doesn't perform exceptionally well in extreme low light situations, but the results are still pretty impressive. Please keep in mind that the "flood" mode is not a replacement for takedown or work lights... it is simply a 360° spread of light.
(Flood Mode Demo @ 10:15)
Images
