Harbor Freight LED Lights.. yay or nay

[StephanSF]

I have Piaa mounts that attach to my crash bars. They were expensive when I bought them, but haven’t moved at all. Well worth the price. https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/parts/piaa-360-x-4-universal-bracket-p



I have since mounted a slim led spot under my headlights. Unfortunately it’s been snowy and haven’t had a chance to ride with this yet. I generally try to avoid riding at night. That usually doesn’t work out.View attachment 76578View attachment 76580

Definitely like the look of that light bar. Does it put out a decent amount of light ?

 

[StephanSF]

I have an opinion ! LOL I think the real question is how do YOU intend to use the lights? What are you expecting out of these lights (for your purpose)

I could type for hours on this subject.. LOL Short version.. Ha-Ha If you want to use HF lights for some extra day time safety lights, your "good". If your looking for and wanting to "add" some light above the stock head light bulbs, it will "add" some but they are just "OK- IMOP". ( You would be better off adding some high quality HID bulbs to your stock headlights and have way more light out put at this stage in the extra light game)

Your in Vegas, if you want more light for high-way use out in the desert, I would personally say no. If your looking for more light for riding some dirt roads out in the desert at night, I would say HELL NO.

I agree, not everyone needs the same output in light. Totally depends on what you might be doing & where. So these lights for what you 'might' be using them for might be great.
I have installed these for people before and have compared them to MANY other brands. Ive personally installed about every brand of light on the market on either bikes or vehicles over the years.

For how I use my bike, and where I ride, Im a big fan of Baja Designs. (I have found myself crossing Utah on dirt roads at 1AM. Ive been traveling the AZBDR out on a side of a mountain in the middle of the night, Etc, Etc) Ive been buying and using Baja lights for about 15-18 years now. Ive recently upgraded my cheep HID bulbs in my headlights to some new more modern HID Morimoto set up. These on there own are almost as bright as my S2 from Baja. Very happy, very bright.

I would end by saying this, if what you want to try is the HF, go for it ! If you really want to see / be seen, and you want long term brightness and reliability you will be moving away from the HF pretty quickly. Sometimes its a learning process. (it was for me for sure over the years, I now have probably 10-12K lumens now and turn the dark to day)

Of course everything is an individual choice, but a good place to start making those choices is to solicit the experience and expertise of people who have gone though it, like you for example. Those Baja design lights look real nice, but $450 for a 10" light bar is probably more than I want to spend given that I try and avoid night driving. My stock S-10 headlights suck, partly because I crashed the bike and one of the lights broke and is kind of bouncing around in there.. but a replacement assembly is $450 and since i am still a noob, I expect Ill be crashing again and as long as I can still see with this broken headlight assembly, Im going to avoid replacing it. I did put LED bulbs in it and while low beam is better, my high beam is a complete joke (especially when compared to my goldwing which improved greatly from replacing the stock bulbs with pathfinder LEDs).

Since posting my initial question, I have seen that there are quite a few lights available for even less on Amazon and that seems like a good place to start.. get something inexpensive, try it out, and learn from there.

Anyway, thanks for the input..

 

[StephanSF]

I have Piaa mounts that attach to my crash bars. They were expensive when I bought them, but haven’t moved at all. Well worth the price. https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/parts/piaa-360-x-4-universal-bracket-p



I have since mounted a slim led spot under my headlights. Unfortunately it’s been snowy and haven’t had a chance to ride with this yet. I generally try to avoid riding at night. That usually doesn’t work out.View attachment 76578View attachment 76580

What light bar is that ?

 

[Mak10]

Inexpensive light bar and relay wired to high beam switch

I’ve been wanting to add a auxiliary spot led to mount under my headlights. It had to be slim enough so as to not interfere with my front fender on full compression. Also I wanted it to turn on/off with my high beams. It turned out really well. Parts list of what I used: Nilight spot led...

www.yamahasupertenere.com

 

[StephanSF]

Inexpensive light bar and relay wired to high beam switch

I’ve been wanting to add a auxiliary spot led to mount under my headlights. It had to be slim enough so as to not interfere with my front fender on full compression. Also I wanted it to turn on/off with my high beams. It turned out really well. Parts list of what I used: Nilight spot led...

www.yamahasupertenere.com

Nice write up for the install.. I bookmarked it. Did you say that you have enough clearance that the 7" of suspension travel is not an issue with where the lights are mounted ? Should I ever do that install, I think I might leave the switch.. not sure I want the lights to only come on with highbeams... havent really thought that through yet.

Thanks for sharing !!

 

[AVGeek]

Baja Design doesn’t make a slim light bar that fits under the Tenere headlights.

BD used to make a ST specific light kit, but in looking at their website, it appears they discontinued it. Too bad, as it was amazingly bright, and with the harness they included, you could run at 100%, 50% or strobe mode. I had this along with a set of Tabasco's brackets on my handlebars with Lazer Star 10W spots, and it was the best lighting setup of any of my vehicles. I also used the Skene controller on the handlebar spots, it let me run them all the time at a reduced output.

 

[s.ga.rider]

I have the hf pods on my s10 and the hf wiring kit and they have been great. Very reasonably priced and better so with coupons. Ive done the entire mabdr with them plus however many other thousands of miles, a lot of those are off road. I would definitely recommend them.

 

[Stantdm]

Painting with a broad brush is a bit unfair at times but if I use something electrical it isn't going to come from Harbor Freight.

 

[StephanSF]

Painting with a broad brush is a bit unfair at times but if I use something electrical it isn't going to come from Harbor Freight.

To each their own, but I have bought a number of electrical items like angle grinders, hammer drills, heat guns and so on and they work fine. Im not a pro and only use things occasionally for smal DIY projects, and Ive been happy. And even if stuff breaks, they will replace it and/or you can probably buy 10 of their items for one from Home Depot. Works for me.

 

[Stantdm]

To each their own, but I have bought a number of electrical items like angle grinders, hammer drills, heat guns and so on and they work fine. Im not a pro and only use things occasionally for smal DIY projects, and Ive been happy. And even if stuff breaks, they will replace it and/or you can probably buy 10 of their items for one from Home Depot. Works for me.

I have purchased a recip saw that died in a week. My neighbor bought a belt sander that didn't work right out of the box. I did buy a trickle charger that worked for a year so things are improving perhaps.