Rigid Industries vs Vision X LED lightbars - Test Results
Note: This comparison comes from another site. I did not write this.
This is one of the better ones out there. It may help in determining if there really is a difference in the 2 manufacturers light bars. Credit goes to the authors of the test, I am simply reposting it for information purposes. The original thread can be found at UTV underground. Here is the article:
Lumen's, foot-candles, illuminance, LUX, candlepower, lumen's, radiance. Are you as confused as I am? All these things are ways to either determine the amount of light at a certain spot, or how much light is being emitted from a light. I have read up on how to determine these and measure them and the equations to figure them out, and I am still lost. This article will not get into depth on the mathematics of it all, but will show you the difference in power consumption and light output at a certain distance.
I would like to start off by thanking the people who made this all happen. Thomas Hoover who supplied me with a Vision-X 32” & 42” Xmitter LED light bars. Dorian at DoubleTroubleHook.com for supplying a Rigid Industries 30” E-Series LED light bar. Mike Street with A Quality Electric who supplied the testing equipment and knowledge on the electrical aspect. Last but not least, my wife who sat around with us for the 3½ hours we spent testing the light bars and taking all the notes.
We are now going to go over the vehicles used and the products tested. Car 1 was a Yamaha Rhino 660cc with a stock battery. Car 2 was a Yamaha Rhino 700cc with a stock battery. No upgraded stators, alternators or other charging devices were used or installed on either vehicle. Car 1 had a Rigid Industries E-Series 30” LED bar installed. Car 2 had a Vision-X Xmitter 32” & 42” LED bar installed. Both LED bars were installed in the same location and the angles were matched to properly test light output.
Below you will find a table that shows amp draw, lumen's, watts, number of LED's and pricing on each of the LED light bars tested as per the manufactures websites.
Make/Size Rigid 30" Vision X 32" Vision X 42"
Amps 9.5 15 20
Lumens 10925 10800 14400
Watts 114 180 240
# of LEDs 60 60 80
Price $1,149.99 $1,199.95 $1,599.99
Now lets talk about our test. We used 36” tall wood stakes at 25' increments to test light output via foot-candles. What is a foot-candle you ask, well the definition is the amount of light that a birthday cake candle generates one foot away. We also tested the voltage on the battery with the vehicle running and the LED light bar on & off, the amount of amps being drawn through the light bar running, and the temperature of the housing.
This article will not tell you who is a winner or which one is the best one out there or things of that nature. It will simply give you all the information you and others have asked and put it in an informative article let you make your choice and form your own opinion from there.
Below you will find a table that has all the information side by side for comparison, then I will get into the details of the numbers shown.
Make/Size Rigid 30" Vision X 32" Vision X 42"
Amps 7.62 9.4 12.9
Volts Off 14.19 14.33 14.33
Volts 13.8 13.82 13.74
Distance Foot Candle Light Output
25' 26.90 20.80 43.20
50' 13.90 8.60 17.90
75' 8.50 4.20 9.00
100' 5.20 2.20 5.00
125' 3.70 1.40 3.50
150' 2.50 0.60 2.20
175' 2.00 0.50 1.70
200' 1.40 0.30 1.00
Temp 67◦ 65◦ 65◦
Outside Temp 70◦ 70◦ 70◦
First off lets discuss amps. The amps shown above are the amount of amps the light bar is drawing while the car is running and the bar has been turned on for 10 minutes or more. Rigid is drawing 7.62 amps on the 30”, Vision-X is drawing 9.40 amps on the 32”, and Vision-X is drawing 12.90 amps on the 42”. Thus showing us that the Rigid 30” has the least amount of amp draw between the 3 LED light bars tested.
Secondly we will discuss volts on the OEM battery while the car is running and the LED light bar is turned off than turned on. Car 1 (Rigid) had a reading of 14.19 volts while the car was at idle, the LED light bar was turned off and no other accessories were running. Car 2 (Vision-X) had a reading of 14.33 volt while the car was at idle, the LED light bar was turned off and no other accessories were running. Now we will discuss the volts on the stock Yamaha Rhino battery while the LED light bars were running. Car 1 (Rigid) had a reading of 13.80 volts while the LED light bar was turned on, the car was t idle and no other accessories were running.
That shows us that there is a 2.72% decrease in volts with the Rigid 30” LED bar running. Car 2 (Vision-X) had a reading of 13.82 volts with the 32” LED bar running, which is a 3.55% decrease in volts. Car 2 (Vision-X) had a reading of 13.72 volts while the 42” LED bar was running, which equates to a 4.10% decrease in volts. What does this sum up? The Rigid 30” bar had the lower percentage of volt loss with the LED bar running. Which now will bring us to the final and most important test, light output.
Now lumen's, LUX, candlepower and what-not are confusing to me, so we will use Foot Candle, which I went over in the beggining of this article. We tested the light output at 25' increments, up to 200'. Car 1 (Rigid) had a Foot Candle output of 26.90 at 25', 13.90 at 50', 8.50 at 75', 5.20 at 100', 3.70 at 125', 2.50 at 150', 2.00 at 175' and 1.40 at 200'. Car 2 (Vision X) with the 32” had a Foot Candle out put of 20.80' at 25', 8.60 at 50', 4.20 at 75', 2.20 at 100', 1.40 at 125', 0.80 at 150', 0.50 at 175' and 0.30 at 200'. Car 2 (Vision X) with the 42” had a Foot Candle out put of 43.20 at 25', 17.90 at 50', 9.00 at 75', 5.00 at 100', 3.50 at 125', 2.20 at 150', 1.70 at 175' and 1.00 at 200'.
What do all these numbers mean? Well lets look at 2 measurements for comparisons, 25 feet and 200 feet. The Rigid 30” had a reading of 26.90 at 25' while the Vision-X 32” had a reading of 20.80 and the 42” had a reading of 43.20 at 25'.
So at 25' the 42” Vision X bar had the highest reading of light out put. Now, the big one, 200', which is 66 yards, over half the length of a football field. The Rigid 30” had a reading of 1.40 at 200', while the Vision X 32” was reading 0.30 at 200' and the 42” was 1.00 at 200'. So by looking at the measurement we can say that the Rigid 30” LED bar puts out more light at 200' than the 32” & 42” Vision-X LED light bars.
Now we tried our best to take some photos for you to see, but are not the best photographers or have the best camera for taking pictures at night so this is what we can show you. Each picture was taken with each car in the same spot, both cars were at idle and no other accessories were running. Each orange stake shown was at 25 foot increment up to 200 feet, and the reflective sign at the farthest was at 500 feet away.
Picture 1 is the Rigid Industries E-Series 30” LED light bar.
Picture 2 is the Vision-X Xmitter 32” LED light bar.
Picture 3 is the Vision-X Xmitter 42” LED light bar.
And there you have it, that was what we tested and how we tested it. Is one bar better than the other, is there a better bar, is there a cheaper bar, is there a bar with more light out put, less amp draw? Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. Take the information found in this article and my tests to make your decision on your purchase if you are looking to buy an LED bar. In summary we can say this. The Rigid 30” had less amp draw, less volts lost, and more light output at 200 feet over the Vision-X 32” & 42” LED light bar. The Vision-X 42” LED light bar put out the most amount of light at 25 feet almost double the amount put out by the Rigid 30” and the Vision-X 32”.
I hope this has been informative
Report and shoot out done by UTVUnderground member Nick
Source of above information
Disclaimer: None of the above information belongs to or comes from me. It's all attributable to the source mentioned above.
