Best lights?

[redfox355]

Yeah another vote for FYRLYTs from me.

I've had a plethora of different driving lights over the last few years, including:
- Hella Comet 550 (100w halogen)
- Hella Rallye 4000 (100w halogen)
- Hella Rallye 4000 HID Predators (OEM HID with genuine Osram D2S HID 35w bulbs, aftermarket ballast)
- Hella Rallye 4000 converted to HID (aftermarket 35w HID bulb and ballast)
- Hella Rallye 4000 Compacts (100w halogen)
- IPF Super Rally 930 (170/100w halogen)
- FYRLYT (150w halogen)

As you can tell, I used to be a massive Hella fan boy, but now FYRLYTs are by far my favourite. Since I bought them about 2 years ago I haven’t looked at another light. Here are some reasons why:

1. FYRLYTs are halogen, so they are pretty much instant on as soon as you flick the switch. Depending on the brand, HIDs can take up to 10 seconds to warm up to full brightness. With that said, I’ve seen some of the Lightforce HIDs in action, and they came up to full brightness fairly quickly. Obviously, if you are travelling long distances with the lights on, then the switch on time is a bit less relevant.
2. FYRLYTs can be changed from spot to spread just by flicking the globe holder knob at the back of the assembly. I always drive with both set to spread and they give good throw as well as decent side spill lighting.
3. FYRLYTs 150w halogen bulbs have plenty of useable light output at a good colour temperature, unlike some HIDs. If you get aftermarket HIDs (like the aftermarket converted Rallye 4000s), they can have a significant blue tinge, even with 4300K temp (never buy above 4300k otherwise they’ll be too blue).
4. FYRLYT bulbs are cheap! I think they are about $25 each, which is nothing compared to genuine HID D2S Osram bulbs which can cost in excess of $150 each.
5. FYRLYTs are 100% rebuildable. You can replace practically any part on them quite easily.
6. FYRLYT CNC machined mounting bases are well designed. They are reversible and slotted, which allow for a variety of mounting configurations. This is especially important if you have limited space due to bullbar hoops etc. If you get the Hellas, double check that they will fit. The Rallye 4000 base doesn’t allow for any front/back adjustment, only aiming.
7. FYRLYT customer service is excellent. Paul is just brilliant to deal with. Probably the best customer service I’ve ever had from any ‘aftermarket 4wd’ company.

If you do decide to go down the Hella Rallye 4000 route with an aftermarket conversion, make sure the colour temp is 4300k and not greater. Also, internal ballast is nice so you don’t need to mount the ballast externally. With that said, external ballast mounting isn’t the end of the world, and if they are aftermarket, you can always carry a cheap spare ballast just in case one dies whilst you are on the road.
I don’t think the price of the Predators is worth it. The converted 4000s output a comparable amount of light for a lot cheaper! I’d save the coin and use it for something else on your fourby.

By the way it’s worth mentioning that I’m not affiliated with FYRLYT, I just love their product. Check out their website and they explain a lot of myths about driving lights and the rationale behind their design. It makes for good reading.

[warnabrother]

I've had 5000K and 6000K HID's.. the 6000K's had a very slight cool white colour tone. but definitely not blue.. I did prefer the 5000K though as I found these very close to pure white light..

[redfox355]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the FYRLYTs are more waterproof than the Hellas. FYRLYTs have a silicone lip seal around the lens. The back globe carrier also has a circumferential seal to prevent water ingress at the rear. There is a gore breather in the carrier to allow air pressure equalisation. There are lots of people who have put hellas into a river and they've filled up with water.

[redfox355]

Originally Posted by warnabrother

I've had 5000K and 6000K HID's.. the 6000K's had a very slight cool white colour tone. but definitely not blue.. I did prefer the 5000K though as I found these very close to pure white light..

Good point WB. HID bulbs do vary in colour between brands and batches, as well as with age as they are used. That's why a lot of ppl replace both hid headlight bulbs on their euro cars whenever one dies, otherwise you can end up with odd looking lights. This probably doesn't matter so much for driving lights though.

One more thing that I'll mention is that you don't always want lights that are filthy bright, otherwise when you dip the high beam, you will go temporarily blind whilst you adjust to the darkness.

[JGB]

Well, I'm thoroughly confused on what to get even more so now.

The fyrlyts look great and the logic sounds plausible but there seems to be a lot of nay sayers against them. Is this just fan boys upset they spent a bucket load on HID's / other lights and are reluctant to admit the fyrlyts are better?

Or are they not?

I was set on the Hella's but now I'm not so sure.

Who'd have thought picking some lights would be such a pain in the butt, haha.

[warnabrother]

Originally Posted by JGB

Well, I'm thoroughly confused on what to get even more so now.

The fyrlyts look great and the logic sounds plausible but there seems to be a lot of nay sayers against them. Is this just fan boys upset they spent a bucket load on HID's / other lights and are reluctant to admit the fyrlyts are better?

Or are they not?

I was set on the Hella's but now I'm not so sure.

Who'd have thought picking some lights would be such a pain in the butt, haha.

mate.. ANY set of spotties is going to be heaps better than what you have now.. buy what tickles your fancy and live with what you got..

the Hellas are a well made, dependable, strong unit that sell very well used if you decide you hate them (which you wont).. buy an internal ballast HID kit (4300K-600K) and burn skippy's eyes out..

if you buy with your head, you will always be thinking about the Hellas and people on forums tend to "love" whatever they have bought as they need to justify their purchase somehow.. you don't see many "I bought these lights and they are shit" topics..

all modern spotties are good..

[redfox355]

JGB, as warnabrother has mentioned, I think you’ll be happy with whatever you choose in the end. If you get the HID converted hellas, I’m positive you will be stoked. So many people run a Rallye 4000 HID conversion and get great results. However, if you do choose this path, I would consider doing the conversion yourself and saving a bit of coin. If you ask me, $600 for a converted set of Rallye 4000 HIDs is a bit steep. However, if you don’t feel comfortable with doing the conversion yourself, and are not on a tight budget, then go for it!

For me personally, I wouldn’t run just plain H3 halogen Rallye 4000s. I always thought that the amount of light the stock halogens output is a bit piss weak (although that’s easy to say when comparing to HID output). But you can always start from there and then upgrade to HID if you feel the need.

My previous rant about FYRLYTs was simply from my own experience having trialled a lot of different driving light combinations. I am finally happy to settle on these FYRLYTs for general driving light application on the road. With that said, I plan to add some LED light bars/cubes for close/wide illumination for night track driving and area illumination. I think that would be the ultimate setup for me. But everyone is different.

Btw, can you post a link to the nay sayers comments. I’d like to see what they find wrong with them?