RPG Off-Road 3rd Brake Light Review (vs. GJ Motorsports)

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

So today we had a local customer who asked us to install his RPG 3rd Brake Light for his Gen3 Raptor. He had ordered this quite a while ago when the GJ Motorsports ones were impossible to get. So he's been sitting on it a while. Since then GJ Motorsports got acquired by Swarfworks and we've had no issues shipping GJ Motorsprots Brake Lights... BUT since he had ths one for so long, we installed it for him.

Now we've installed and sold GJ for a number of years and know them VERY well. So we're basically comparing the RPG one to what we've known for all these years and had first hand experience with.

1. NO instructions provided. Kind of the norm these days, you have to download them. So we did. NOT the best instructions. Granted the GJ Motorsports ones were also NOT that good. But they had hand-written notes from LVJ on how to connect the wires. I'd have like to see someone take the time to actually draw it out properly in an instruction book. Especially since the re-seller of this kit decided to brand their own instruction book, but then just dumped in hand written drawings from LVJ. BUT there were absolutely no instructions for how to connect the Stop/Tail/Turn Harness. There was a REFERENCE to "see next page" but there was no next page. We had to resort to old instructions from the GJ Motorsports kit to finalize our install (since LVJ makes them for both brake lights but GJ had a "complete" instruction book
   
   
2. The NMO mount's cable interferes with the S2 light. Now it looks like LVJ makes the NMO cable but RPG didn't take into account the room necessary inside for the S2 to slide in, so the cable gets in the way. You have to actually remove the plastic boot, that protects the assembly, in order to get the light in. Also the top red LED wiring also gets in the way also, so it's kind of a pain. This is what it actually looks like installed. We could not get the plastic cover on at all
   
   
   
   
3. The RED led lights they use... they don't bother to trim the wires or connect anything. They give you about 3' of wire hanging off the back that you have to trim yourself. On top of that you have to strip back each wire and crimp them all together. They include blue "beanies" (we call them in the security trade) which are NOT used in the auto world. So that was odd to see. You only see this in the security/phone world. In the auto world you would see a heat shrinkable butt connector... we ended up not using the "beanies" (that's what we call them) and provided our own weatherproof heat shrinkable butt connectors
   
   
   (Stock photo, they supply you with a few of these)
   
   
4. They do not provide gaskets for the S2 lights. GJ Motorsports does. Now one can argue they are NOT necessary since the S2 lights themselves just sit into an anodized metal bezel. But the fact GJ provides these as part of the kit is added value.
   
   
5. Now... one thing I did not like was how they mount the camera. So the factory camera is attached to the brake light with a grey "cage". It secures the camera with 2 bolts to the factory brake light. However with the RPG you remove this cage. They give you a wide screw that SQUISHES onto the side of the plastic of the camera to hold it. This is a bit... WEIRD. We actually ended up loosening up the camera trying to adjust the angle later and had to remove the brake light and RE-TIGHTEN the screw down. As it's not the best way to mount a camera. It's almost as if the camera mounting was an after thought.
   
   
   
6. This is a personal thing for me but the brake light is more of a slate/grey color. It's not black. I DO like the finish, it's a matte finish BUT I would have liked to see a BLACK finish. GJ has a black finish which blends in nicer, although it's more GLOSSY. Soooo win/lose on this one. Thumbs up for the matte finish. Thumbs down on the slate/grey color instead of black.
   
   
   
7. This isn't a knock on RPG but something to take note of... there are still no PLUG AND PLAY connectors. you still have to crimp on the 4 wires onto the factory harness. They do provide some decent crimps that were easy to work with. I know eventually when LVJ can source the conenctors it'll be plug and play but something to keep in mind. you WILL be crimping things
   
   
8. The gasket works... BUT you need to be careful with it as it's EXTREMELY STICKY. It can be a pain with alllll the wires hanging off, especially an NMO. I highly suggest the FIRST THING you do is install the gasket before anything else. Install it on the back of the tail light to properly alighn it.

I'd honestly go with the GJ Motorsports over the RPG. The GJ is more refined and has is the OG 3rd brake light. They have it dialed in as far as how everything FITS together. This was RPG's first attempt at a brake light and they missed a few things that could have made it better. Plus the RPG costs more over the GJ and the RPG is also only available by SOLE supplier, whereas the GJ is available from a variety of re-sellers. That's another pain point many have, including us, with RPG. They announced it, re-sellers took pre-orders and hyped it up and then they decided only one re-seller would sell it, causnig a lot of customers to have to get orders cancelled and/or switch to the GJ (which hey, switching to GJ turned out to be a good thing for some of our customers).

So there is some real world info on it. GOOD product but has a bunch of things that will need to be fixed to compete in the market I feel. The GJ Motorsports brake light just brings more value to the table if you ask me.

If you're looking for a 3rd brake light we do sell the GJ Motorspots and we ARE shipping them right away: https://www.4x4truckleds.com/gj-mot...-ford-f-150-2017-ford-super-duty-with-camera/

 

[swoop1156]

Been looking at these for a long time. Thanks for the write up. Chill with the CAPS on all the EMPHASIS when it's NOT needed. Kinda makes it VERY hard to read COMPREHENSIBLY. Just my take. Thanks again for the info.