Do I 'NEED" piaa's or hella's ???

[ottor]

I mean ... 5 - 8 years ago, they were tops... but - has technology advanced so that wouldn't most lights be as good? Are you paying for the name/status and possibly passing up a great light at under half the cost??

Can I get a 'similar' light at K-Mart that carries a lesser name brand, and still end up with a great light - or.. do you still 'get what you pay for' ??

Looking for four - 6" lights for a light bar on top, but really don't feel like spending almost $500 on PIAA's..
Would I be happy with a lesser light??

Thanks,

Rick

 

[JDraper]

Hi Rick, Welcome to the board!!! You'll find LOTS of good info here, along with lots of opinions . As for your lighting, the K-Mart and Wal-Mart lights don't cut it compared to Hella, PIAA's and KC Hilites. I have the KC Daylighters on my truck and love 'em. They run about $120/Set with wiring from Dead Link Removed. Summit's part # is KCC-624.

A lot of the people on this board have one of the 3 brands you mentioned and all of them perform well.

Again, welcome to the board!!

 

[mattadams]

first off, what PIAA's cost $500? Well other then maybe their HID systems.
Second though, if you go with a lesser brand, you will probably end up being disapointed. The only "cheaper" wal-mart brand I've heard good things about is Pilot's, most every other brand really cuts on quality to make it cheaper, and you'll end up spending more money buying replacements then you wou ld if you got one good high-quality set.

 

[ottor]

"Needing" Hella's ???

The $500 was an off the wall figure for 'several' pairs..
I'm just beginning the mods, and since I'm not hung up on using an item just because of the name, I thought I'd check and see if some of the cheaper ones work as well...

I appreciate the feedback - I kinna thought that you "Get what you pay for" still, but ... thought I'd check amongst the experts in this area to see if there were any more cost effective options... I'll stick with some KC's.. Thought I'd go for some 150 watt distance, and a pair of good floods. Certainly within my budget, and they look good too.

Also, (throwing this out there instead of creating a new post..) - anyone know of a Safari type luggage rack that has some lighting brackets attached, or adaptable? They'd be back a little, as I have a Moonroof, so would that work or should I be looking for a separate light bar?

thanks for all your help ..... I love this forum!

rick

 

[Brian1]

I have used cheap lights for a while then I got 2 sets of Hella 500's (total of 4 lights) It was a major difference in light even though they had the same amount of watts. 2 sets of hella 500's will run probably $120.

 

[red96camaro]

You'll see a difference in the lights but at the moment because of money I am using a walmart offroad light called ralley. I changed the bulbs that came with it to Eurolite bulbs and they are pretty decend. Great for the money anyway. I mean it was 50 or 60 bucks for the lights, wiring and the better bulbs I threw in.

 

[KEbert]

Funny that you ask this question because I just finished installing my new PIAA 520 Ion fog's. They are amazing. You pay for the quality of the light when you pay more. For example, my brother put some lowered Honda fog lights on his car and sure, they are bright, but they dont cut off at a certain point unlike PIAA's or Hellas will. The lenses are precisley cut to have optimum lighting, unlike generic brands do.

So I say, go for it and get the good lights, they are well worth it. My PIAA's are more then I expected.