I have a few of the Chinese totron light bars, the 33" on the front of my truck has been on there for about a year now and it still works. the difference in build quality is obvious though, the lens is thinner on the totron compared to the rigid light bar I have on my commander.
I've never covered it, and I do run on some gravel but so far it either hasn't taken a direct hit or it's tougher than it looks. the lens does not look easily changeable as it does on the rigid bar. but for the 130 bucks I paid for it I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
A buddy of mine has a cheapie on his 4 Runner. He had it a few months before LED's started burning out, etc. He took one look at my Rigid and immediately regretted being a cheap ass. Those Rigid torture tests and warranty were enough to convince me. Buy the real deal.
Go with a Rigid. Quality is great. If your worried about rocks I put the clear covers on mine and have taken a few direct rock hits and not a scratch on it.
Meh... overpriced junk. I have a cheapie on my truck behind the grill and its just as bright as a rigid bar and I could buy 3 or 4 of these for one rigid. They all break when boulders hit them dead on so a guard like the one above helps. Mine is mostly just for tards with hids in their stock housings. ..
i have the 10" vision x and the small single bulb ones in my iron cross bumper and so far havent had a problem but they are the same or more money then rigid .... i just bought a 20" rigid to mount in the winch housing of the bumper after i cut the opening bigger ... the big reason i went with the rigid is cause you can buy coloured covers for them !!!!!
I have 2x 8" rigids mounted in my grill of my 2011 dodge 3500. Replaced a set up that had 2 8"KC and 2 6" KC's with the 2 rigids. No covers on rigids. The ONLY THING I hate about them, is that they are SOOO efficient, they don't throw any heat. The slightest fog/sleet/ice etc and they are coated. Damnnit
I run a cheapie on the front of my truck. Been there for about a year now. No issues with it. It has held up to any sorta rocks and debris that are thrown at it. I even get pretty close with the pressure washer to wash bugs off and it hasn't leaked a drop of water behind the lense. No moisture issues either. I would definately buy cheap.
My friend and I put our light bars side by side in the dark. The cheap import one just pissed light all to the side in a random fashion and didn't 'throw' much down the road as far as distance goes. It was night and day as far the reach that the Rigid had. I have a 20" SR on mine.
There are lots of lights out there, some cheap and others not so cheap! I agree that Rigid is a great brand but there are others that are much better value. I got a Speed Demon light bar from Toys 4 Boys in Calgary and it came with a 2 year warranty and it works great. The other day they showed me a 20 inch bar they dragged behind a truck, drove over with a truck and put in a creek.. it was broke open but still worked. About a third of the price of rigid and just about as good . I would be careful before I buy unknown off ebay because you don't know what your getting but after touching and looking at these lights they looked good and so far have worked great.
we do tons of rigid lights down here lots of great reviews on them. I prefer to mount mine in behind the grille makes it a bit harder to steal and harder for rocks to smash. the bars from the grilles do not effect the light pattern. i'll match or beat internet prices and ship them to you.
What if a guy put some 3M tape over the lens? I did the entire front of my pickup when it was new, and it still looks new 2 years later. If the lights don't throw much for heat, then could this be an option to guard against sandblasting? Anybody tried this yet?