GEN 2 Lights for stock bumper, SAE fogs plus...

[BroncoAZ]

I’m having some analysis paralysis choosing lighting for my 2020 Scab. My main focus is a good SAE fog light and a good pair of spots that I would connect to the high beams for dark highways. I also want to run the Baja Designs S1 flush mount in the rear bumper or S2 under the rear bumper. For the mount I like the Offroad Alliance three light bezel kit (makes it look finished to me) or their in house bracket to fit three full size cubes. The Rigid bracket also looks like it fits three without hiding any behind the bumper.

I have the following lights in my garage. The 20” bar won’t fit anywhere that I can think of. I could use these, sell these, or save them for my 87 Bronco. Everything but the 20” bar are new in boxes, the 20” bar was on my diesel truck for a couple years but is still in great condition.
Rigid SAE fog cubes 50481, the previous generation, same brightness as the new ones.
Rigid D2 Driving 50231, the previous generation that were only 3300 lumens, the new version are 4700 lumens.
Rigid 20” SR combo bar 92031, 6400 lumens
Rigid 21211 flush mount Dually flood, two pairs

I like the Baja Designs lights, I think they are better than Rigid, but their SAE fog seems like a poor choice compared to the competition. Both the Rigid and Diode Dynamics SAE fogs literally blow it away on the comparison video I was watching which seemed like it was made without bias. Are the BD SAE fog really as weak as they look in this video? Fast forward to 4:44. They are measuring 1/3 of the candela of the Rigid or DD.

Before that video I was looking at the Baja Designs with SAE fog, Pro combo for offroad, and S1 spots for the highway in the bezel or with Squadron Spots or Pro spots on the 3 cube bracket.

I could go with more Rigid lights. I could run the cubes I have but it just seems wrong to install the lower powered 50231 driving cubes on my new Raptor when there is something better available. So if I went with the bezel kit I would need to buy the newer 502313 and pick a Baja Designs S1 for the kit. I was thinking I would go Amber on the S1 because the 5K beam of the white wouldn’t match the Rigid’s 6K beam. Total cost here would be around $940. With a standard bracket kit the cost with a new 502313 plus a new spot pair would be around $770. At that point I might as well buy all new for $850 and sell my current SAE set.

I was also looking at the Diode Dynamics. They seem like a great solution for SAE legal lights. I would want their Pro lights since they are much brighter, One pair in SAE Fog, one pair in SAE driving, and probably the amber BD S1 in the bezels. On the three cube bracket I would want the third pair to be something else, I wouldn’t want their flood version, so maybe a set of their Amber fogs for poor weather. There is no good offroad cube in their collection, I would like it if they made a non SAE combo light. My buddy who is involved in the desert racing scene said the Diode Dynamics products were sub par and haven’t held up or offroad race use and prerunning. He mentioned issues with flickering, brackets being poor quality, etc.

I want to buy once cry once on this. I also don’t want a mishmash of lights on the truck. I searched, but couldn’t find the K number for the stock LED lights. They look between 5000K to 6000K to me. Suggestions?

 

[Droid]

This it the first set of aftermarket lights I've owned... All Baja Designs... I have one pair of Squadron Pro (half spot half fresnel, whatever that's called) and one pair of yellow "amber" SAEs with the blocker.

I'm happy with the the Squadron Pro, but the SAEs don't seem to do a ton. They seem to give maybe a little more contrast on the road in the rain but maybe that's just me trying to justify the purchase to myself.

Exposure locked for all these photos:

OEM Low beam headlight:


OEM Low beam headlight + SAE yellow


SAE Yellow Fog Only


OEM Low + High Beam Only


Squadron Pro + High Beam

 

[BroncoAZ]

Wow, those pics don’t make it look like the yellows are doing much with the factory headlights. The Pro’s look very impressive though. They also look a little lower color temp than the headlights. Thanks.

 

[smurfslayer]

I’ve done a bunch of lights, and the pocket area is good for in fill lighting out to mid range, but they’re low mount, well under the headlight height and not a good mount location for spots IMO. I got the B/D SAE to be street legal and give an assist to the headlights for in close and road side critter illumination. They’re adequate, but not exceptional. Based on the video the B/D SAE wouldn’t be my first choice.

First, you don’t need a smaller outboard cube, I know someone makes a mount to take 3x b/d squadron sized lights. I made my own out of 2” angle metal, 14” long on each side.

First I did 2x squadrons per side, purchasing during a Black Friday sale. I went with spot pro and driving combo sport at first. Impressive, but lacking in fill. I swapped the combo lens to wide corner - again, the sport series, so about 2450 lumen per side. H*ly $hit they’re bright and throw light everywhere. I was seeing all manner of stuff on the road side. The throw isn’t as far as the combo or spot, obviously, but within the headlight distance, it’s much clearer. With the spots on as well, I did see a little further.

Next I added a 3rd cube per side, squadron pro driving combo. I found this the happy medium for use with the wide corner. No chance of using this on road without dazzling oncoming drivers, but really great for coverage area.

Moving to where I have them now, I replaced the wide corners with B/D SAE. I needed a road legal option. This leaves me with 2x squadron pro spot/combo per side and 1 sae. The SAE is -noticeably- less impressive than either driving combo sport or wide corner. The one nice thing about it is the hard cut off for the beam pattern, so you don’t blind oncoming drivers. It’s all fun and games until you night blind someone and they start to drift into your line of travel.

I moved my b/d driving combo sports to the rear working with reverse and up fitter 6. They’re exceptional in this role.

For my money, I think the squadrons are bang for the buck, the best option for non sae. If you have a good SAE, I’d get a pair of squadron driving combos per side. I’m probably going to
- try and replace the spot lens with driving combo
- strip the bolts
- call b/d get return auth
- get new lights and install

because yes the lenses are replaceable, for a little while anyway. But after a while they’re basically fused in place.

Anyway, I like the idea of the squadron spot lenses down low, but honestly the driving combo works better for me. For SAE, rigid or DD pro(?) seem to offer a better option, DD pro seems to look like it should fit with a pair of squadrons per side. IMO, seeing the XL80 spots vs. all my squadron lights at the same time, the XL80s kind of drown out the squadrons.

 

[Oldfart]

That test in the video isn't fair to Baja Designs. The BD is the ONLY SAE light in the bunch. To be SAE legal, by definition, is going to drastically cut your light performance. That's what makes it street legal. To be fair, the BD to compare should be a wide cornering in Pro, Racer, or Sport, depending what price levels you are looking at. I have a set of the SAE lights. They are more of a fill, close and wide light. When I first used them I expected more throw, but they do go wide as hell and are real nice for back roads to see the shoulders and any critters that are coming across. I ended up liking them as I run mine most of the time.

I used an N-Fab bracket and mounted 3 BD Squadrons with no blocking issues. The SAE are on the outside, Combo Sport in the middle, Racer Spots on inside, no blocking issues at all. I agree with Smurf that the Sport Combo's are a damn impressive all around light for back roading, just remember to shut them off when another car comes towards you. I got everything from Nick@Apollo-Optics

Also OP, I don't think you are going to have any luck linking to the high beam switch. In talking to Ford Tech One, he advised me it will end up bricking your your body control module. I was ready to set up a relay on mine to do the same as you want, but apparently these trucks don't like it.

 

[BroncoAZ]

Thanks for the feedback. I considered two pairs of Diode Dynamics Pro SAE flog and driving paired with a Squardon Pro combo. With the shape being very similar it might not look too bad if the BD were on the outside, but it’s still a mishmash. The color temps aren’t a match, but the BD Pro would be the best light offroad while the others would be best (and legal) on road. I couldn’t live with mixing BD and Rigid on the front of the truck. Maybe I should start with just the two pair of Diode Dynamics and leave the third spot open until I figure out what I want. An amber fog might be a good third option for the weather we can get here. If that were the case I could always add a set of offroad lights up higher near the A pillars or a S8 bar behind the grille.

On a dark road in elk country I would just run everything unless there was oncoming traffic. I had a very close call in my sedan with a group of elk last October on a road I travel frequently. With a good set of 5K HID lights on my sedan the elk just blended in and absorbed all the light, so I want much more. Seems like half the drivers run with their high beams on against oncoming traffic during elk season.

 

[BroncoAZ]

That test in the video isn't fair to Baja Designs. The BD is the ONLY SAE light in the bunch. To be SAE legal, by definition, is going to drastically cut your light performance. That's what makes it street legal. To be fair, the BD to compare should be a wide cornering in Pro, Racer, or Sport, depending what price levels you are looking at. I have a set of the SAE lights. They are more of a fill, close and wide light. When I first used them I expected more throw, but they do go wide as hell and are real nice for back roads to see the shoulders and any critters that are coming across. I ended up liking them as I run mine most of the time.

I used an N-Fab bracket and mounted 3 BD Squadrons with no blocking issues. The SAE are on the outside, Combo Sport in the middle, Racer Spots on inside, no blocking issues at all. I got everything from Nick@Apollo-Optics

View attachment 149510

The Rigid SAE have been out for a long time, I believe they were the first SAE legal LED cubes. They were very good in the bumper of my diesel truck as a fog light with a very sharp cutoff. They also blow the BD out of the water in that comparison except for the color temp number. I haven’t researched the specific SAE standard, but I have to imagine Rigid and Diode Dynamics did before advertising theirs as such. I read that BD had to redesign their SAE lights as the first try wasn’t a tight enough beam pattern, and that they had to reduce their output. The TIR lenses on the Doide Dynamics are very efficient at putting all the light forward with minimal scatter, so it makes sense that theirs would perform as shown. I’ve used TIR optics on weapon lights.

 

[MAMiller44]

I went with @Specialtyperformanceparts mounts with the outside two as Rigid Radiance Scene and the one inner as standard Rigid Radiance. While I don’t believe the standards are true SAE I use these for true fog lights when needed on aux 3. Then the four scene pods are on aux 2. So far I’ve absolutely loved them. The orange ambient glow is just badass looking at they work great.

Plan is to eventually add Rigid DDS driving lights on a pillars, powered with aux 1. This will give me that long range the scene pods don’t.

Here’s some various pics.

 

[smurfslayer]

The color temps aren’t a match, but the BD Pro would be the best light offroad while the others would be best (and legal) on road. I couldn’t live with mixing BD and Rigid on the front of the truck.

Serious question: How often are you going to be looking at them when they’re on, other than to aim them?

I run the SAEs on an up fitter and just leave them on, high or low beam when on road. I don’t get flashed for this and I’m sure that’s because of the sharp cut off of the SAEs. For elk, mule deer, moose, or bear, I’d probably run 2x squadron pro driving combos if there were no oncoming traffic.

 

[4rdFan]

I’m having some analysis paralysis choosing lighting for my 2020 Scab. My main focus is a good SAE fog light and a good pair of spots that I would connect to the high beams for dark highways. I also want to run the Baja Designs S1 flush mount in the rear bumper or S2 under the rear bumper. For the mount I like the Offroad Alliance three light bezel kit (makes it look finished to me) or their in house bracket to fit three full size cubes. The Rigid bracket also looks like it fits three without hiding any behind the bumper.

I have the following lights in my garage. The 20” bar won’t fit anywhere that I can think of. I could use these, sell these, or save them for my 87 Bronco. Everything but the 20” bar are new in boxes, the 20” bar was on my diesel truck for a couple years but is still in great condition.
Rigid SAE fog cubes 50481, the previous generation, same brightness as the new ones.
Rigid D2 Driving 50231, the previous generation that were only 3300 lumens, the new version are 4700 lumens.
Rigid 20” SR combo bar 92031, 6400 lumens
Rigid 21211 flush mount Dually flood, two pairs

I like the Baja Designs lights, I think they are better than Rigid, but their SAE fog seems like a poor choice compared to the competition. Both the Rigid and Diode Dynamics SAE fogs literally blow it away on the comparison video I was watching which seemed like it was made without bias. Are the BD SAE fog really as weak as they look in this video? Fast forward to 4:44. They are measuring 1/3 of the candela of the Rigid or DD.

Before that video I was looking at the Baja Designs with SAE fog, Pro combo for offroad, and S1 spots for the highway in the bezel or with Squadron Spots or Pro spots on the 3 cube bracket.

I could go with more Rigid lights. I could run the cubes I have but it just seems wrong to install the lower powered 50231 driving cubes on my new Raptor when there is something better available. So if I went with the bezel kit I would need to buy the newer 502313 and pick a Baja Designs S1 for the kit. I was thinking I would go Amber on the S1 because the 5K beam of the white wouldn’t match the Rigid’s 6K beam. Total cost here would be around $940. With a standard bracket kit the cost with a new 502313 plus a new spot pair would be around $770. At that point I might as well buy all new for $850 and sell my current SAE set.

I was also looking at the Diode Dynamics. They seem like a great solution for SAE legal lights. I would want their Pro lights since they are much brighter, One pair in SAE Fog, one pair in SAE driving, and probably the amber BD S1 in the bezels. On the three cube bracket I would want the third pair to be something else, I wouldn’t want their flood version, so maybe a set of their Amber fogs for poor weather. There is no good offroad cube in their collection, I would like it if they made a non SAE combo light. My buddy who is involved in the desert racing scene said the Diode Dynamics products were sub par and haven’t held up or offroad race use and prerunning. He mentioned issues with flickering, brackets being poor quality, etc.

I want to buy once cry once on this. I also don’t want a mishmash of lights on the truck. I searched, but couldn’t find the K number for the stock LED lights. They look between 5000K to 6000K to me. Suggestions?

I have the Diode Dynamics Pro's and they are fantastic. I have it set up with 3 pairs: the innermost lights are spots, the middle lights are SAE driving, and the outermost are SAE fogs. They color match the stock lights of the truck almost perfectly and I have had no issues with them so far.