Hid lights or light bar

[Jason Harrell]

forgive me if I am missing this topic somewhere, but am considering installing an extra light(light bar or otherwise) or upgrading to HID lights on my Venture mp. Has anyone already done this? If there is a discussion on this, maybe steer me in that direction?

Thanks

 

[Mooseman]

I have HID's in my MP. They're both a blessing and a curse. When they work, they give very good light but I'm cheap and keep buying the eBay kits. The bulbs are fine, it's the ballasts that don't last. Sometimes one or the other won't fire and I have to shut down and restart the engine to get it going.

Another advantage to running HID's is you free up a few watts (35w vs 60w per bulb) so if you wanted to add some extra LED lights, it won't tax the stator.

 

[Jason Harrell]

Thanks Mooseman. I have read about maybe some difficulties seeing in fog or heavy snows with hid lights....is that your experience as well?

 

[Mooseman]

Not particularly. Just keep it on low and I haven't issues although I haven't hit fog with them.

 

[4StrokeAddict]

We have the sled start HID kit in our Apex. It was so awesome I bought one for my viper. I was tired of feeling like I was in a shadow riding behind or had the sun behind me when riding infront of the Apex. Oncoming sleds will hate them, you will love them...

 

[Mooseman]

If they're adjusted properly, they shouldn't blind oncoming sleds too much but they are brighter than halogens. Biggest reason is that the headlights are not designed for HID and scatter light a bit more than halogens, which is why these are a bad idea on cars without a proper conversion kit with lenses.

 

[4StrokeAddict]

They are adjusted properly. They are just extremely bright compared to anything else out there and yes, there is a lot of scatter. I also had eye surgery and am more sensitive to light than most...

 

[Jason Harrell]

The sledstart kit is what I'm looking at...will probably have them installed. I have an led headlight that puts out about the same lumens as the kit..it lights up the land for about 300 yards...I would be very happy with that

 

[karlburns]

Your out in Unalakleet, I don't think you need to worry about running into to many sleds like the rest of us...

Here's to hoping we get a ton of snow this year

 

[Jason Harrell]

Yeah..we got very little snow last year...hoping this wet weather pattern keeps up. karlburns...have you or any of your friends used the led light bars? just curious if they are worth it. I know some iron dog folks use them, and have used them in the past, but I have only seen them come through here in the daytime. I'm too lazy by February to get out of bed and watch them come through early in the mornings.

 

[karlburns]

I run the light bars on my Rhino and have zero problem. I am debating putting hids and possibly a light bar this year as well. One of my many many many ideas to try.

 

[Mooseman]

Even in "populated" areas where I often cross other riders on the trail, I have yet to have any sled flash me their high beams when I'm on low beams. Our lights are already poorly designed for the normal halogens where the lows are too low if the highs are properly aimed and vice versa. That issue is documented a lot on the site. So when we stick some HID's in there, they don't blind oncoming sleds so much.

I only mentioned cars for idiots that do stick HID's in cars and do blind oncoming vehicles.

 

[Jason Harrell]

The dealer actually wants me to try riding with the regular halogens first because they believe that the lights are bright enough already. I actually appreciate their opinion as they aren't trying to just go along and sell me some expensive lighting system. Anyways, I'm gonna try riding with the stock lights...and Piaa extreme white bulbs. If they don't suffice, I will definitely be adding the hid lights. Snow in our forecast and our temps are supposed to drop down to the teens this week..my daughter is impatiently waiting along with me for our sled to ship out

 

[steiner]

The Piaa will be a lot better than the stock bulb and a good HID kit will completely out shine them both.

 

[karlburns]

The stock and piaa lights are a lot brighter then the old two stroke lights but they are nothing compared to HID's. I'm finally throwing a set in my new sled this year after swapping them in my rhino. I did a comparisson. with the stock lights and then hids in my rhino this fall and the difference was 10x. With the stock lights I didn't feel comfortable running faster then 20-30 on the dunes. With HID's I was denting the floorboard just like during the day.