My take on these LED light pods. 1 0f 4
I jumped at the chance to check out a pair of these LED light pods. The pics looked good and I figured that if they didn't work, I could always hook the up on the rear of my Jeep for camping flood lights.
My brother and I hooked up one to a 9v battery and it was pretty bright, white, and wide. It looked like the throw was pretty decent but we wouldn't know until they get mounted on the Jeep. I contacted Chris again and ordered another 6 pods. Yup, going for a commitment. They are all installed now and here's my review.
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I currently am running six ProComp55 55watt 6" round lamps on the front of my Jeep. I had 4 spots and 2 floods. They worked well enough but the color was not that natural. When I'm out in total darkness I can really see the yellowish tint coming from the lamps.
When the first pair arrived and, I have to admit, I was less than impressed. The packaging was cheap and very common to "Made in China" packaging. All the specs were printed on the outside of the box. It's a simple 2-wire connection so I was not surprised that no instructions came with the light pods.
My first concern was how tiny these things are. After running 6" round lamps for so long, I feared that I would not like the look of a 2" square lamp.
The second concern was how small the mounting screws were! They are tiny! My current mounting holes are close to 3/4" in diameter. They look weak as hell. I considered drilling a bigger hole into each mount and run a 1/2" nut/bolt, but since the light pod's base was not solid, It may not have held up to the drilling.
The third concern was that most of my current lights are spots, and these light pods are all floods. Would I loose some distance?
It's 9pm and pretty dark outside so I wanted to see how bright these suckers are. I hooked up a 9v battery and lit one up.
WOW! They are white and bright! Now I was feeling a bit better. Still can't judge how far it was throwing the lights, but it was impressive. One pod lit up my entire backyard.
Several weeks later my other light pods arrived. It's now time to install them. I removed the existing 6 ProComp 55s 6" round lamps and tried to figure out how to mount these. I needed some kind of spacer to fill in the larger mounting holes on my front bumper and windshield mounts. This is what I came up with:
I chucked the nut, washer, and bolt that came with the lights. They were too tiny and didn't look durable enough. I replaced the bolt with a #10-32x1/2" machine screw. To make a spacer, I needed 2 or 3 #10S flat washers. They fit in the holes nice. It took 3 for my bumper mounts. On the bottom of the hole, I used a 1/2" flat washer and a #10-32 machine screw nut.
All these parts came from Home Depot
* Crown #10-32x1/2" machine screw [#27872]
* Crown #10S flat washer [#20001]
* Crown 1/4" flat washer [#19821]
* Crown #10-32 machine screw nut [#18532]
In hind sight, I should have used a 3/4" length machine screw so I could also add a locking washer. I may go back and do this if the lights start working themselves loose. Your install may be different if the thickness of the mounting area is thinner or thicker.
Here's a video of my first test. I'm out in the parking lot of my local library and am using the parking space lines to judge viewable distance. I compared my OEM headlights, my windshield 6" ProComp 55watt spots, and a pair of LED light pods.
The video does not do the lights justice, as it could not pick up just how far these lamps were projecting the lights. All three lights had about the same throw distance. The ProComp on the windshield mount looks to throw farther because they are spots, but they are mounted higher and pointed straight on. When compared to the spot mounted on the bumper, the LED light pod threw light about the same distance. The LED light pods definitely gave a wide beam and the light was nice and white. It was WAY easier to see with these LED light pods than the ProComp 55s.
Testing the VOLT LED light pods from Whites4WD [test 1] - YouTube
Summary:
1. The lights are very nice. They give a natural white light output and is as wide as my ProComp 55 floods and as far as my ProComp 55 spots.
2. Being LEDs, they use a LOT less power than my halogen lamps.
3. I'm disappointed in how cheesy the mounting hardware was. I would have been happier if there was a choice for a mounting bracket with a larger mounting hole. I hope they hold up to all the bouncing my Jeep takes on the washboard trails.
4. Adjusting the elevation angle was not pleasant. The small bolts use a tiny Allen key (which was not provided). You have to remove the bolts, adjust, and reinstall the bolts. It would have been nice if they "click adjusted" after loosening the bolts. It was a pain and the adjusting took longer than the initial installation. Once set, I hope I never have to adjust them again.
5. There are mounting holes on the back of the light module. I guess they would allow for flush mounting instead of using the brackets. That's cool, but they did NOT provide a template. That sucks...
Overall, I think they are worth the $45 price tag per LED light pod. Only time will tell if they hold up. I look forward to using them in October when I have my elk hunt. It's freakin' dark out there in the backwoods and I will really be able to see how well they work.
