Hella Lights.

[lilo]

Hi, I like buy a Hella Lights for my explorer xlt '91, any person have experience with this lights.

 

[leebo]

I'd like to start on a positive note.....welcome to the site. You will find any info you need all right here.

As for the lights.....they've got their ups and downs. For starters I'd like to know what you're using them for. If its for now and then use I'd say go for it. The price makes it nice for this use. But for everyday or hardcore 4x4 driving....I'll pass. Go with Piaa for this. The design of the Hella's makes them a bit prone to damage. Most have a plastic casing as opposed to a metal that most use. This is where they save the money. It's fine as long as it's not supjected to hard use. Hella can also be a pain in the butt in install. I've got a cheap set of 550's on my bumper(may be remounted under the truck) and they've given me nothing but trouble to install. The wiring harness is a big bag full of connectors and wires that you must figure out as opposed to the wires all ready to hook up like other companies use. You can figure it out with a little work. For light use I'd say go with a set of Piaa 40's for about 140 or the Hella 550 for about 80. For hard use go with a set of Piaa's no matter what.

 

[Alec]

If I may add:

If you're looking for inexpensive lights that are mostly for the road, look at Pilots. They're really inexpensive and as easy to install as PIAAs. I've had mine for over a year now (two sets) and they still work great. I did have to replace a few bulbs when the lights got hit, but that's no biggie and cost $3 a pop. I do mostly on road driving, but also some moderate offroading, and like I said they stood up well. Go to my website to look at my lights. BTW, the Pilots come with switches, I just decided to use my own.

Pilots are sold at Autozone and other places. If your local Autozone doesn't have the model you want, they can order them. Go there and ask to look at the Pilot Light catalog. Most kits are $40-$60.

Oh, and don't get Blazer or other cheap brand lights. They're as cheap as Pilots, but not quality.

 

[Sinjin]

" For hard use go with a set of Piaa's no matter what "....
oh brother, I love how people jump on a bandwagon. So I guess that baja racers, and people who use them in Moab and Colorado, must not be "hardcore 4x4 driving". Don't get me started.
ANYWAYS, Lilo about your question, it really comes down to want you want. If you think you are a professional offroader, use them every night(to get your moneys worth) and would like to break the bank go with PIAA's, however if you would like a great light,(that now comes with a new and easier wiring harnesses), go with Hella. Save the money you would of spent on PIAA's and use it towards a mod that you will use MORE OFTEN. Once again, just my opinion.

Also, this board is pretty biased when it comes to certain products, especially when it comes to lights and tires. It's great to have peoples opinions, but dont let them make you feel inferior if you go with another product. I also recommend visit other boards as well, I'm sure you will find the PIAA and HELLA battle reversed.

 

[mattadams]

I try not to get into light debates anymore simply because I hate having to constantly defend my position. So I will simply say, the only experience I have had with Hella's has been poor. Most of my friends that have had Hella's have had poor experiences with them. However, they are cheaper, and I have heard that they are gradually improving their products. I haven't had any experience with them since they started making a better product. I can tell you some known issues with previous models were as mentioned before, the wiring is not the highest quality and installation is not easy. The wiring used to be between 18-20 guage, which for those of you not familiar with wiring is much too thin for a high-draw application such as driving lights. The wiring used to have poor insulation on the wire so if precautions weren't taken to prevent wires from rubbing together, the wire could be exposed and spark and cause damage. If you know what your doing, it's not HARD but it'll still take you quite a while to do. The material that Hella used to use for its lenses allowed them to break easily if they didn't have proper covers. The lenses used to fall out of the plastic housing if not properly installed. They used to use poor seals around the lenses which would allow everything from water to mud to dust to get in to the housing and into the lens. They used to use plastic housings which were known to crack. They used to have no good warranty on them, so if you buy em and they break, your S.O.L., buy another pair (but once again there cheaper so you can replace them three times before you meet the cost of a set of PIAA's). They used to use poor quality relays which were barely sufficient for the 55 watt bulbs included with the 550's, and allowed for a lot of lost power between the battery and the lights. According to hellas website they have come up with some new ones, I haven't seem them nor heard anything about them but they sound better. Check here: Dead Link Removed They used to have poorly designed posts that made them tough to aim and tighten properly without damaging the housing. The switches used to be known for burning out or burning up, and would need to be replaced, the wattage rating on the switches was set almost exactly at that of the lights. It appears that Hella also recently started releasing higher quality switches (these you have to buy extra, they don't include the better switches with the lights yet). Check here for more information on their new switches Dead Link Removed They used to use poor quality H-3 bulbs that would burn up in half the time of another standard H-3 bulb, and despite how "easy" Hella made bulb changing sound, it actually used to be quite a difficult procedure to remove the lens, change the bulb, and get the lens back in its original position without damaging either the lens, the bulb, or the housing. Like I said, these are problems that I've heard of as occuring with older designed hella lights. They may have updated/fixed many of these in there later models. Now if the debate were KC vs. PIAA, theres a lot more to debate. KC makes good lights, they have a 25-year warranty, they don't use as cheap of housings and there lenses are sturdier. They use wiring that is sufficient for the lights, the switches are higher quality switches.

I haven't seen a baja racer using hella's in quite a while but then again I'm not too into Baja racing. I did see an explorer a while back on this board that was used for Baja racing that was sponsored by Hella and running PIAA lights. I do know that those Baja Racers that I used to see would never use typically use the 550's, they would use the higher end products that Hella makes, such as the Rally 1000's and the Rally 3000's. And as I said before, I've never used the 1000's or the 3000's, I assume they are greatly improved over the 550's.

Don't say we are biased because we know good products. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have products I like and products I don't like, and its not always manufacturer specific. For example I like warn winches but I hate the warn manual hubs (actually I hate the warn hub locking mechanism). I like certain tires and I don't like certain tires. I like certain suspension components and I don't like certain suspension components. The difference with lights is I can use exact statistics rather then personal beliefs about a specific product. Give me one person that's had problems with a PIAA light, seriously, I'd like to talk to them. So far I've never heard of anyone having a problem with one. I used to not like ARB lockers, but they recently came out with a new one which I look forward to testing so that I can once again associate ARB with a good name. I can't do this with Hella's for obvious reasons, but your welcome to try anything once

 

[leebo]

Also, this board is pretty biased when it comes to certain products, especially when it comes to lights and tires. It's great to have peoples opinions, but dont let them make you feel inferior if you go with another product. I also recommend visit other boards as well, I'm sure you will find the PIAA and HELLA battle reversed.

I myself am still looking for a light that suits my needs. I've yet to find one. I am running THREE different brands of lights right now on my truck each of which serves it's own purpose. One of them happens to be Hella. I've always not liked the Hella product, but I do run them. Why?? The price. I needed a cheap light that could light up about 5-10 feet in front of me. Am I going to use a Piaa 80 for that....no. Am I going to praise Hella for doing the job I need....no. If I run into any problems good or bad I'm going to speak about them. Hella does make a good light, but they're not the best by all means. Nor do I feal is Piaa. I do feal thought that Piaa is the better light of the two. But sometimes they might not be worth the extra cost....that's why I asked this

For starters I'd like to know what you're using them for.

Untill I hear what they want them for though it's up in the air what to buy in my mind. Heck....I'm about ready to run a set of unheard of lights in about a month or so....I might bite the bullet and cuss alot on those too....but if they're good I'm going to give them their due.

 

[Sinjin]

Good points there Leebo, thats what you should of written for your first post. This time it came across more thought out, then it just coming across as being Hella bashing.

Matt,
In your first paragraph, you basically responded to points that we all know about already and not the point at hand. And who cares about stats when it comes to lights, stats like that are for pros, for the occasional offroader it all comes down to how much you want to pay for something that is not used very often. My point is I'm sure Lilo is not a professional offroader, nor would use the lights everyday, nor SPONSORED by a light company to get them for free, so if he is looking for a good light for any kind of offroading, think about Hella, and use the money you saved from getting PIAA's for future and more useful mods. The reason why you see a lot of vechicles at SEMA or any other show with PIAA's is because they are the best lights out there, but they also get them for free, so money is not an issue.

Now about the biased thing, to prove my point go to this link over at our friends at F150World.com, http://www.f150world.com/forums/forum.asp?261 ,
all they talk about is KC's. Nothing about PIAAs or Hellas, not that they are better, just thats what they prefer and push over there, much like here.

Ok here's a BAJA racer for you as well. Hey its a ford to boot! http://dragon.home.texas.net/cer/nv2000/pics/Pic00011.jpg
Just in case your wondering those are the Hella 4000's in chrome. We saw this vehicle last weekend at the Ford Event in Dallas. Yaa your right he probably doesnt do "Hardcore 4x4 Driving" in that thing.

 

[Sinjin]

o

o

 

[rpenner54]

WHOA NELLY!!!

YO DUDES They are just lights. Yes Matt had some pretty bad experiences with Hellas and has NOT had one yet with the PIAA's. There thats it! In case your wondering I too have had Hellas. http://bart.is-s.com/~explorers/rpenner/penner10.jpg Check out that picture. Look closly at my front bumper. As you can see there are some empty hella lense holder thingies on there. Now this may seem weird to most of you but the reason there are no lenses in there is because they stopped working for no reason. This is why Matt gets frustrated with these lights. He spent a large amount of time getting his lights just wired up. He watched me spend a large amount of time a a bunch of little bucks here and there just to try to get them to work once they stopped again. That is what he is basing his comments on. Just the fact that after 3 months the darned things stoped working. Now this is not to say that the LIGHT it self is bad. The light in my opinion was GOOD. The wiring and everything else that turned it on was a nightmare. I am sorry but thats how I feel. Now when there are a number of people on here who have all had this same experince with these lights (typically the 550's) that says something about those lights. That doesn't however say anythign about any of their other lights in other series numbers. BUT the image of these lights is tainted due to these problems people have had with that particular series of lights. I know of at least 4 people who have had these and EVERY one of them had some type of problem with the wiring.

An opinion is just like a butthole everyone has one and everyones is differn't. There is no way to sway someone eleses mind set once its set. There is also no way to tell someone else to stop telling others to not make the same mistake they did. I myself will not make the mistake (yes mistake) of buying a product without asking everyone on here first about it again. I have done that and everytime I have gotten burned. When I ask on here there is the majority that rules on every subject and then there is the minority that does not rule but belives strongly that their product is just fine. Well most people will listen to the majority in this world. Thats just the way it works.

Okay off my soap box and hope I don't piss anyone off.

 

[leebo]

Lilo....please don't let us bashing each other scare you....we do it all the time. You should see us on the trail. This same attatude has lead to more damage to our trucks than you could picture. This is just a personal opion that each of us has very strongly. This has been debated time and time again....with no end in site. Please speak up on what type of light you need and we will be able to give you at least two options for you to deside on.

BTW....I like cheese.

[Edited by leebo on 11-07-2000 at 12:57 PM]

 

[Sinjin]

lol@whoa nelly!

ummmm ok so if Al Gore is voted for President this week he is the best and we should listen to this fooligan just because he was voted by the majority? LOL I dont think so.
I know, I know it's just lights, I just think some people should think what they say before they recommend something.

If you had problems with the 550's, say "550's" not Hellas in general. I've never heard anyone complain about the Hella Ralley 1000's, 2000's, 4000's etc.
I dont even care about which light is better or which bulb is what, or which relay I could blow out my ass, just dont make people feel inferior just becasuse they have something the majority doesnt.
I guess if I paid that much for something that was hardly used, I'd have to make myself feel better by knocking everyone else too.

Okay off my soap box and hope I don't piss anyone off.

 

[Sinjin]

ok ok enough is enough, lets just agree to disagree.
Well this discussion definetly made my day go by faster, I think it was pretty productive, thanks for the fun.

 

[GJarrett]

Alright Nelly, whoa now..... Aw, com'n, stop! No, this way, not there... oh, S#!t

What was the subject again? Sylvania vs GE?

Everyone is correct. They are just lights. Let's leave it at that. I did read Matt's last post where he tried to offer a "balanced" opinion in spite of his experience and noted where he said "...I do know that those Baja Racers that I used to see would never typically use the 550's, they would use the higher end products that Hella makes, such as the Rally 1000's and the Rally 3000's. And as I said before, I've never used the 1000's or the 3000's, I assume they are greatly improved over the 550's..." so I believe he did try to differentiate between the models, and noted that Hella is presently improving their product.

We are all free to spend our money as we wish and at what level we can afford. There will always be strong opinions amongst those with experience in the products discussed.

This topic can be searched for and volumes of posts and opinions will be brought up so we don't need this thread. At the same time, I believe it is getting away from product discussion and more toward personal feelings and will close the thread for Matt, who has decided to back off. I say that so people will know it was I who did it and not Matt.

I am not sure if that is the right thing, but I believe we'll all wake up tomorrow with a little less testosterone in our wits and come to the new day with a less personal attitude. Then we can all hug and start this up again