I may be jaded about lightbars, but I don't get excited about "new" lightbars anymore. The current LED technology has plateaued to the point where pretty much all major manufacturers make bars that are plenty bright. The overall effectiveness comes down to pattern/phasing. I watched a video of a modern Las Vegas fire unit with the newest LED products installed that I think is less effective than basic flashing halogen system from 20 years ago. The whole thing is a purple glow. No definition of color and vehicle footprint. This is one of many million dollar units that I count among the causalities of good equipment but in a bad setup.
I like that Whelen is speaking to the "blurr" effect with DVI and cross unit synch products. I have my doubts about the success of auto-synch between vehicles when our toughbooks randomly won't see wifi or devices for 90 seconds sometimes and my phone occasionally won't connect to my headphones. I like the idea of vehicles automatically re-phasing and synching for on scene operations, as much as I like the idea of specific patterns for different portions of response. Delineating clearing the right of way vs. blocking it is not a new concept, but we need a combination of automation and human compliance to make that work. "Smart" portions of current technology goes unused far too often. Placing an emergency vehicle in park should shut off the headlight flasher at the very least. All major companies have that option in their controller but I am routinely blinded by parked emergency vehicles with flashing high beams, takedowns, and alley lights. This is a failure to properly equip/set up the vehicle. Smart products help, but they don't replace training in proper equipment use and they don't work when not installed/activated.
tldr; I am not getting excited about new packaging for already effective LEDs. Functionality and ease of use are what I look for now. Making products easy to use and easy to install with the needed features working is where I want to see advances.
www.whelen.com
