Driving lights - Metal or plastic housing??????

I have a lot of success with Light Force lights. They might look a cheap plastic light but I have been using them for a couple of years now with out any problems. In fact I am still on the origian globs.
I have seen a lot of steel case driving lights fall apart on the out back roads.

Wayne

I have Hella Rallye 4000's on my Cruiser. I bought them 7 years ago and they have been round Australia, driven countless high speed corrugated km's and survived a head on impact serious enough to completely write off a 100 series Landcruiser!

No kidding, check this out.....

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They have resided on my HJ75, HJ60 V8, Fairlane, F100, GU Patrol, 2 x 100 series and my V8 75 series at some stage or another without a problem. In all that time they have NEVER failed, NEVER gone out of adjustment (well....except for the crash) and still work brilliantly (pun intended).

I don't think I could recommend these highly enough.

obm,
I'm also a lightforce fan, besides thier performance the're easy to fit the clip on covers that give you the style of light you want/need (spread,spot,combo etc) I run a spot & combo on mine and reckon it's great, the covers are about $30

Cheers Browny

I'd go with a decent brand in a plastic-type housing. I've got Cibie Tourini spots - great lights with a long throw, but I've been through a few globes, so I can't really recomend them. They are made of "carbon fibre reinforced polymid". With bigger lights, I think it's worthwhile using stabiliser rods to keep them from vibrating too much. This is probably more important on metal lights,

Andrew

Metal case lights will stand the test of time much better IMO

G'day outbackmob, I'd definately go with metal housing, on the vehicles I have owned ,Nissan GQ's, I have always used IPF, a combination of driving and spot lights, we travelled all over the the top end and all those corrugated roads, the lights were great it was the mounts that were'nt up to it, but fixed that easy enough. The lights I use are the top of the range 900 DC series. I live outside the city about 70kms away and in the mountains so the lights are great.
Hope this helps
andy

I think the Lightforce are more waterproof for creek crossings than my " leak a lot " Hellas that I have to cover with garbidge bags to stop them from turning into fish tanks .
Be careful if you buy the big lights though , as those welded tabs are not as strong as they look for corrugations . ARB will not warrant the tabs failing , if the big lights have been mounted .
Cheers .

I use and recommend Lightforce. They are nice and light so they don't bounce around on corrugations like the glass/metal lights I have used in the past.
A mate sent me this link and they have them the cheapest I have seen anywhere.

outback proven-lights

Sounds like the metal engel vs plastic waeco arguement - Both are good units.
Lightforce or 4000's will both be fine and will pump out huge amounts of light and are reasonably priced..
Plastic fridge & metal lights do me fine.

My experience with the Lightforce Blitz 240 Lamps is not all that great. Whilst they aren't a bad lamp when new I have had ongoing problems with the globes getting blackened internally which seriously affects the lamp performance. The blackening is not unlike what you see often on an incandescant globe which is nearing the end of it's life. It looks like smoke stuck on the inside of the bulb. Although I have had 3 or 4 replaced under warranty it's all the stuffing around and re-adjustment of the lamps each time a globe is replaced that is a pain. They are guaranteed for 2000 hours but mine have had this problem within about 30 hours. Also the globes have to be fitted exactly right as they are a two pin type and sometimes to get a good beam they have to be pulled out slightly and re-checked. This is because they don't have a proper metal "keyed" base with a spring clip locking mechanism, like a H1 or H3 globe does, which hold the globe in it's exact position the reflector designer requires and ensures correct orientation of the globe in terms of 360 degrees. This fundamental is critical for correct operation of the lamps assuming the lamp is of good quality and design in the first place. The probem with the two pin globes is that they are made like film projector globes and you can easily fit the slightly "cocked" to the left or right as well as the problem already mentioned re how far you push them home in the globe holder which just consists of two small holes for the pins. Being the type they are makes them VERY fragile and the glass base section where the pins emerge breaks very easily so you have to handle them like eggs although once fitted thery seem to handle the rough stuff ok. Many professional truckies I have spoken to in WA no longer use them as they claim when hitting wildlife the lamps just "explode" and apparently you can't buy all the individual parts like a good quality well backed metal lamp eg Hella Rally 4000's. I never had any of these problems with my Bosch SL5/SL200 lamps which I used for about 30 years until they were destroyed when I got shunted from the rear into a WRX while stationary at a set of traffic lights. The big black Bosch lamps were the first of many copies by Narva and Hella later to be called "Bull Lights"Based on my experience with the Lightforce I purchased a set of Rally 4000's for my son who lives in Onslow and he is very happy with them. I have also bought myself a set for my GU4 Patrol to replace the IPF lamps which came as part of the Bullbar/Driving Lamp/Towbar package offered by Nissan as I didn't think the IPF were all that flash but they are better than just the standard Patrol hi beams. I am very happy with the Hella lamps and I think you get what you pay for. I mean just look around and you will see how many serious night drivers, truckies and people who live in remote areas are using them and I think that tells a story worth listening to. Regarding pencil or spread I know many drivers use both and I suppose it depends on where you are driving mostly regards roadside vegetation and how fast you want to drive at night but I have always found two pencils are the best for me. This is because one lamp pretty well illuminates the whole road width so if you use two good big lamps they give pleny of close range light that is spead quite wide as well as long range light so I don't believe you need a spead but again it's horses for courses. If money and the potential for theft is not an issue then I would look at HID technology lamps and Hella Predator's would have to be my first choice. They were as far as I know the first to bring these lamps for automotive use to Australia and it is surprising how many I saw on 4WD's and trucks on a recent 3 week trip to the Pilbara. Hope this helps.