Any opinions on Baja Designs Squadron-R SAE Fog Lights? (Gen 2 SAE lights)

[cug]

When we were camping last week, we arrived after sundown at a medium difficulty trail to reach our desired campsite and it was a pain in the rear to navigate that with stock halogen headlights and fogs.

Therefore, lights have moved up in priority and I'm considering the above mentioned lights in white. I don't like amber lights all that much and I also don't like it any "bluer" than 5000k, that's why these lights are interesting.

I'm replacing stock halogen fog lights, so power draw should be roughly the same, color temp is going to be different of course, but midterm, we are also going to replace the halogen headlights with OEM LED lights, so it should be a good match.

What do you guys think?

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[Mr._Bill]

I prefer Amber for fog lights. Get a set of these brackets, and mount some lights in front of the grill that are better suited for trail use at night.

Mopar 82215428 Bumper Mount Light Bracket Jeep Wrangler Gladiator https://a.co/d/b1aMYni

 

[cug]

Understood. I think additional lights are on the table as well, but in addition to better fogs.

 

[Mr._Bill]

Agreed, the halogen fogs leave a lot to be desired. I don't know what prices are now for good lights. I was able to get a set of these for $195 several years ago.

KC HiLiTES Gravity LED G4 Amber Fog Lights for Jeep JL-Sahara-Rubicon & JT-Overland-Rubicon Stock Bumper (507) https://a.co/d/hMGBoHq

 

[bd100]

I have the lights you are asking about, the BD Squadron SAE fog lights, modern generation with projector lenses instead of the older generation with black masks. Mine are amber. They project a beam about the same width as the halogen low beams. They light the foreground but the brightness is similar to the low beams so they don't overwhelm them. You don't want the foreground to be too bright or you start losing your distance vision. They melt modest amounts of snow. In general they're better than the halogen fog lights, and they help a bit with cornering. Good cutoff for fog applications. I recommend the amber for use in rain and snow.

For navigating a trail at night I'd recommend a different approach. I recommend using the halogen high beams, and add some bumper-mounted LED driving-combo lights. Using the high beams throws more useful light onto the trail, including upward, and the bumper driving combo lights help with cornering and also with the foreground. They're like fog lights without the cutoff plus driving spots. And I aimed the driving lights slightly outward to the side of the halogen high beam, resulting in a wider band of main driving light which helps light up the fields to the left and right of the road, as well as trees and ditches up close. I mounted them with the heavy-duty bumper bracket from Quadratec, which works really well.

At the moment for the bumper lights I'm running Baja Designs S2 Sport. These are half the height of the usual bumper lights, so they're less "hey look at me". I got clear with amber covers, tried them both ways, and decided to run them with the amber covers so they blend in better with the halogens. I actually added yellow film inside the covers to make them even more amber. And these are the cheaper Sport version. They are less bright than the high beams, and I'd probably choose the Pro version next time, but they are sufficient to help see things out to a decent distance. It's like full moon instead of sunlight in brightness, but it's effective. Baja Designs has a pretty realistic simulator on the web site for comparing brightness and beam patterns. Mine are wired via the included relay to the high beams, tapped right behind the head light, so they flip off whenever I switch back to low beam. At the moment they get power from an AUX switch so I can disable them if I'm some place where the cops may get mad. But they're dimmer than the high beams so I hope nobody will care.

Regarding moving the headlights to LED, one reason to keep the halogen headlights and add LED fog and driving is that the halogens help melt snow in winter. The LEDs then help add more light for day-to-day driving. Low beam with the amber fogs catch peoples' attention and they hesitate to pull out in front from a side street. And the high beam with driving lights spread the driving beam wider, add cornering light, and light the foreground like fog lights. You end up with a pretty good wall of useful light for trail use, without blasting everything and killing your night vision. Then instantly flip to low beam if someone is coming.

Anyone who bombs through the desert at high speed will want more light, but for modest trail use I think the halogens and mild LED lights are a good practical combo. And if someone steals the S2s it's not a terrible loss. Got the "security" screws so they'll want both a spanner bit plus a hex bit for each, and the connectors are behind the locked grill, so hopefully I won't have much of a problem.

Edited to add: Quadratec JL-LMB Heavy-Duty Auxiliary Light Mount Brackets

 

[cug]

Thank you for your impression. This is very helpful!

It's interesting to hear that you say the halogen high beams are brighter than the LEDs – the highbeam on the Gladiator isn't what I'd call bright ... ;-)

Granted, I'm coming from a Porsche LED headlight, which was absolutely outstanding and I haven't had halogen lights only for a looooong time. Mostly HID, then LED.

I'm not super concerned about snow on the lights, even the lower powered Baja lights go up to a decent temperature after a while. Although they take time to heat up.

They project a beam about the same width as the halogen low beams.

Wow, that's rather disappointing. I was hoping for at least a slightly wider pattern than the headlights. I don't fully dislike the halogen lights, they are good for what they are, but they just don't seem to sufficiently light up the trail.

Regarding scenarios where I'd use them – it'll be mostly slow (!!) trail driving at night, searching for a campsite. I'd like the fogs to light up everything close up, while I can use the normal low beams for lighting up the rest. If that isn't enough, I'll start adding additional lights.

I'm not really happy with the output I'm getting from the existing lights and will start replacing existing lights that react directly to the existing switches. Then go from there. Hooking up to the highbeam for triggering the driving lights makes sense, it's something I have in another truck and generally like it, since it keeps controls at the finger tip.

 

[chorky]

I prefer Amber for fog lights. Get a set of these brackets, and mount some lights in front of the grill that are better suited for trail use at night.

Mopar 82215428 Bumper Mount Light Bracket Jeep Wrangler Gladiator https://a.co/d/b1aMYni

They have them in amber

 

[chorky]

Thank you for your impression. This is very helpful!

It's interesting to hear that you say the halogen high beams are brighter than the LEDs – the highbeam on the Gladiator isn't what I'd call bright ... ;-)

Granted, I'm coming from a Porsche LED headlight, which was absolutely outstanding and I haven't had halogen lights only for a looooong time. Mostly HID, then LED.

I'm not super concerned about snow on the lights, even the lower powered Baja lights go up to a decent temperature after a while. Although they take time to heat up.



Wow, that's rather disappointing. I was hoping for at least a slightly wider pattern than the headlights. I don't fully dislike the halogen lights, they are good for what they are, but they just don't seem to sufficiently light up the trail.

Regarding scenarios where I'd use them – it'll be mostly slow (!!) trail driving at night, searching for a campsite. I'd like the fogs to light up everything close up, while I can use the normal low beams for lighting up the rest. If that isn't enough, I'll start adding additional lights.

I'm not really happy with the output I'm getting from the existing lights and will start replacing existing lights that react directly to the existing switches. Then go from there. Hooking up to the highbeam for triggering the driving lights makes sense, it's something I have in another truck and generally like it, since it keeps controls at the finger tip.

I have not see the Gladiator with halogen head light bulbs but I will say that the LED's on bright, is underwhelming. Highly disappointing. In fact, I can't hardly see with them, so they stay on low beam and I use the XL80's when I really need to see for deer.

The BD fog's are fantastic. I like the amber color although it could be a little darker in terms of shade but then light output would be hampered. It's not the best photo but you can see that the stock LED headlights pretty much overpower the BD fog lights even though they are brighter than the stock ones. I have mine angled out to the side by several degrees - again, primarily for deer. Nobody has flashed me oncoming yet. I think the headlights are much more of an issue for oncoming vehicles than the fogs.

Well worth the cost IMO. Oh also, I can't remember the exact spec but the OEM LED fog lights have a higher draw slightly than the BD LED fog lights. I believe your halogen fog lights will be a few amps higher draw. These pull only about 1.6a per light, so 3.2a for both.

 

[chorky]

But if light is what you need. BD's XL80s are what you want. I have 4. 2 with the 'wide' angle lens in amber, and 2 with the spot lens in clear. Back yard is not a good test site but, light for light they are the best performing ones you can get. Brightest option out there. They are now offering a spot specific for the XL80 but their price tag is too much for me. The XL80's will easily put daylight down the road over a mile, enough to see deer a long way off.

They pull 5.5a each, so 11 amps for 2. And 9.500 lumens for 1 light. I dont think there is any light out there with better performance at the moment.

Their LP series 'appear' to put out more light, but they have more LED's. The XL80's only have 4 led's per light. So if doing comparison, make sure you only compare with another light that has 4 LED's no more no less, otherwise it is not a valid comparison.

 

[cug]

But if light is what you need. BD's XL80s are what you want.

It's an interesting question.

I'm not necessarily looking for the highest output, I'm looking for good illumination where I need it. Near field (0 to maybe 10m) was really lacking when we were out on the trail at night, onroad I can live with the throw of the halogen lights, even though they don't compare well to what I was used to. But I feel they have a reasonably well designed illumination pattern that's free of terrible hotspots or holes. The highbeams are a joke, I feel they border on being unsafe.

Ah, this seems to escalate into a more complicated topic than I hoped.

 

[chorky]

If you just need to see off to the side, BD's S1 or S2 series will work. They throw some good light for 200-400'. But it's not a budget breaker like the XL80's.

Or you can do the Lucid cowl lights. I have those as well. Pricy because they're one of a kind, but I am pretty satisfied with the amount of light they put out for their size.

You have me thinking I should probably go somewhere dark and get comparison photos of all my light options for later reference. But it sounds to me like the S1's will suffice for your needs so long as you don't need them for highway use.

Maybe grab their amber fog lights for the road, and the S1's for locating your campsite. I have the S1 for my rear flood lights, and the S2 Pro's in amber for reverse lights. The S1 puts out 2,320 lumen at 1.5a and the S2 Pro push 2,245 lumen at 1.7a each. The S1's are more compact and provide more light. They also have a true 'flood' beam pattern that they call 'scene' lighting I think. It really diffuses the light a lot, so you only have good lighting for 150' or so. But, it is a big round ball of sorts, so instead of just seeing the beam pattern on the ground, it illuminates up above as well, so you can see any low hangin tree branches - which is why I have those for the rear flood lights.

 

[cug]

All this makes sense and I have to do a meditation session to figure out what I really want/need. I generally prefer white light in the 5000k range, I do like a good cutoff, but some of the modern lights cut off so harshly that it can be quite annoying.

From a beam pattern I've seen so far, I actually like the Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro best, but they are in the 6000k range, which gets a little too much on the blue side for me. Again, yellow/amber isn't my favorite, but maybe that could be an option.

For the BD lights, I like that they are street legal (as are the DD), have a clear cutoff and a nice white color temperature. In general, they'd fit nicely in my longer term plan of swapping the halogens for LEDs (Jeep OEM) and potentially add some driving/combo pattern lights, also in the 5000k temp range. Triggering these together with the highbeams could be an interesting exercise, although not strictly needed as I'd use them for offroad only. Onroad I've always been okay with good stock lights, sometimes with fogs on to see a bit of the forest critters on the sides. Plus I drive sloooooow in this truck. With the Alu-Cab on the back it's heavy and I'm generally fuel consumption and brake distance conscious.

 

[bd100]

I am only saying the halogen high beams are brighter than the particular LED driving lights I have, which are merely BD S2 Sports. The sports look like half or less of the brightness in their driving spots, but spread out over a wider area. It's enough to help without blowing things out. I would go Pro next time.

The BD SAE fogs are fine for near field. Their width is about as wide as where the halogen low beams fade out, but the BD fogs are full brightness right out to that point. So you do get some benefit in width. And they are bright enough to be useful without overwhelming the headlights. The Diode Dynamics fogs go wider and can be brighter, but may cause interference with GMRS radio, which may or may not matter to you. When I asked them if they improved them in that area, they said to just try using some RF chokes on the cables. Meanwhile, the BD fogs are silent on GMRS, FM, AM, sat radio, etc. I do wish LED light tests and comparisons include radio interference as a test.

By the way, when comparing brands of lights be sure to consider evenness of light, not just peak brightness. For example, DD lights such as their driving combo often have a brighter center spot but dimmer area light, while BD lights tend to have a more even coverage. Fogs are pretty even across both brands.

And I like to use the high beams where possible because they don't have the cutoff, which helps when going up and down hills, both on trails and paved roads at speed.

 

[TheOpa]

I have these BD lights and like them very much. I have the passenger side pointed slightly towards the shoulder but the drivers side is right where it should be so it does not interfere with oncoming traffic. I like the sharp cut off for that reason and they work great in fog or just for additional illumination while driving on dark roads or offroad.

 

[TheOpa]

I have these BD lights and like them very much. I have the passenger side pointed slightly towards the shoulder but the drivers side is right where it should be so it does not interfere with oncoming traffic. I like the sharp cut off for that reason and they work great in fog or just for additional illumination while driving on dark roads or offroad.

I originally had the older version but earlier this year they were offering a free upgrade to this new style so I took advantage of that. These new ones are brighter and a better beam pattern than the previous model.

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