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Cowl lights

JTPatriot

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Give me your suggestions on brand and size to run, mounted on the cowl. They range in price from cheap to OH MY GOSH! So let me know what you have and how are they doing.
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rob_o

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These are my go-to lights, they can get pricey as you go up in "tiers" but are worth every penny. They are pretty modular too, so in the future if you want to remove them from your cowl you can get the proper adapter and put them in your bumper as fog lights.

https://www.diodedynamics.com/off-road-auxiliary-led/led-pods.html
 

mx5red

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I am sure there are decent inexpensive lights but harder to find comparisons/reviews online before you buy.
Baja designs are expensive and awesome. Diode Dynamics are also good, as are KC.
Do not just looks at specs to compare as I did. A lot goes into the light design and it’s not all just about the amp draw and claimed Lumens.
Are you sold on cowl mounts?
I moved my squadron pros to the cowl and the hood glare kinda bothers me. They sell some hooded faceplates that could probably reduce that but haven’t tried them.
A more focused beam pattern like from KC or Diode Dynamics (sharp cutoff) would help also.
I have:
-BD squadron pros. Love them. Loved them as off-road lights in the bumper but moved them because they were too bright to use on the street, and I wanted some dust/fog/snow lights to use on-road.
On the cowl they are awesome still but spill a lot of light and glare.
-Diode Dynamics SS3 Max. Awesome as well, sharp cutoff in beam patterns. Use them in the bumper for fog/snow. Do not spill much light.
-Diode Dynamics SS2 pro. Used them for a project, still bright. Would be a low profile cowl light, though I think I’d put a stage series 6” bar on instead. Same low profile but more light.
 

Jeeperjamie

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I got hella value fit lights on mine and I absolutely love them. They are spot beams and I think it was less than $80 for everything including mounts. Been on the jeep for 12 months zero issues. I'm thinking about adding a set of floods under the rear bumper for back up lights and adding lighting in the rear
Railroad tracks off in the distance are .35 miles away, I run on this road at lunch time so that's how I know the distance based off my Garmin 745 running watch. Pictures for the lights no justice, I can see past railroad tracks in real world.
Jeep Gladiator Cowl lights PXL_20210612_133205064


Jeep Gladiator Cowl lights PXL_20210117_064218113.NIGHT


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BNF5GB...abc_18683V8N1EFZNMMZQTZ1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1KUH6...abc_2A6MDEJQQBPPF9SPVZD9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

They went up some since last year, i think I paid like $28 a piece for them last year. That's a link to the lights and mounts I used. I had a extra wiring harness off my JKU I used to wire them up.
 

blau iii

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I'm planning on running the KC Flex Era 3 on my cowl in the spot configuration. I have KC Slimlights on my bumper and even though they're listed as spot, they have a broad cast. I'm hoping the Flex 3s in spot will throw a bit further. Plus the amber backlight will match my amber rock lights because why do anything if you can't do it while looking cool :)
 

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mx5red

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I got hella value fit lights on mine and I absolutely love them. They are spot beams and I think it was less than $80 for everything including mounts. Been on the jeep for 12 months zero issues. I'm thinking about adding a set of floods under the rear bumper for back up lights and adding lighting in the rear
Railroad tracks off in the distance are .35 miles away, I run on this road at lunch time so that's how I know the distance based off my Garmin 745 running watch. Pictures for the lights no justice, I can see past railroad tracks in real world.
PXL_20210612_133205064.jpg


PXL_20210117_064218113.NIGHT.jpg


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BNF5GB...abc_18683V8N1EFZNMMZQTZ1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1KUH6...abc_2A6MDEJQQBPPF9SPVZD9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

They went up some since last year, i think I paid like $28 a piece for them last year. That's a link to the lights and mounts I used. I had a extra wiring harness off my JKU I used to wire them up.
Looks pretty good to me
 

DeezJT

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I had cheap brands on previous vehicles. They yellowed less than 6 months, and it condensation issues, and after a year the black coating turned grey.

I went with Rigid and my reverse Lights (SRQ floods) are over 5 years old and still looks new. No yellowing, no fading, and no condensation issues. With the fronts, my setup was stolen (DSS spots, Radiance spots which I don’t recommend)… I replaced them with the mount and same DDS Spots and got D series spots in Amber. I also replaced the screws with tamper screws while adding blue loctite. If you shop around, you can find them at a very good price.

Jeep Gladiator Cowl lights DEA18E67-C732-4DA0-AD4C-51E1834212B3


Jeep Gladiator Cowl lights A003A5B4-BC27-4F90-8181-F26C3F313A64
 
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Longleaf

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Man, I love the dandcdesigns.net system too. Just can't quite pull the trigger on that yet. I picked up some cheap mounts on amazon prime day for $19 and they are pretty great for that price. I'm leaning diode dynamics as mentioned above. $180 for the pair fits somewhere between baja designs and no name amazon brand (plus you can get them DOT if you want)
Mounts- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WKCNQS7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Lights-
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084BWN51X/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A3AZNUHNBRQX4S&psc=1
 

mx5red

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Don’t have the SS2’s working now but here’s some bad pics of the SS3 Max amber in bumper with sae fog lens, and Baja Designs squadron pros in combo amber on the a-pillar. Stock LED low beam
Jeep Gladiator Cowl lights ACB9C68C-C0A7-4A1C-88D7-C806DB113D5C
Jeep Gladiator Cowl lights 0520BE1B-A593-4B58-845B-B0397D6A2BEB
Jeep Gladiator Cowl lights C6B4FC49-8AE9-4A5A-A143-6890CAFDC97D

When you light them up in a woodsy road the Baja Designs lights are way more apparent. Since they don’t have as much cutoff it really floods light well, even the spots. I like that for off-road. I Don’t get the laser beam spot light patterns unless you’re running Baja?‍♂
 

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JTPatriot

JTPatriot

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Thanks everyone for the info and pictures. Think I am leaning towards the Baja Designs squadron pros in combo amber but still looking.
 

mx5red

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I'm planning on running the KC Flex Era 3 on my cowl in the spot configuration. I have KC Slimlights on my bumper and even though they're listed as spot, they have a broad cast. I'm hoping the Flex 3s in spot will throw a bit further. Plus the amber backlight will match my amber rock lights because why do anything if you can't do it while looking cool :)
Those Slim lights look cool, I think there’s a good KC video comparing a few of their lights. Don’t the gravity pro6’s have a much more focused beam?
 

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I've had Baja Designs, Rigid, and the RoadShock (Harbor Freight) cube lights.

The Rigid is my favorite overall, but I have to say that the RoadShock lights are close to being as good and are less than half the price.

The Baja Designs Squadron lights had cheap ass housings, cheap ass wiring, and didn't use standard Deutsch connections. I sent those back for a refund.

I got the Hooke Road cube light mounts for the cowl from Amazon for like $20 bucks and they work great.

No need to spend a bunch of money to get good lighting these days.
 
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JTPatriot

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You know, I kind of like those Road shock lights. Going to have to take a hands on look at those.
 

Erievon

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I have Baja Squadrons on my a-pillar, my experience is the opposite, nothing feels cheap about them, especially the housing, and the wiring coming out of the light seems well sealed/insulated/moisture blocked. I especially love that I can change the lens on them if I so desire. I have amber driving combo lens on them now but can buy any of the other lenses if I wish.
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