Rockhopper
Member
So, I went ahead and bout the Mictuning LED Light Bar and wirigng harness.
Background:
Light bar: http://amzn.to/2dsiDsK (Listed today at $19.90, although I paid $25.90 just a few days ago)
Wiring Harness: http://amzn.to/2dbny03 (listed today at $10.90)
This brings the total package to $30.80 at todays prices.
For comparison, the Baja Designs OnX LED Light Bar costs $424.95 shipped (no harness). Harness comes in at $54.95, which makes the bar+harness $479.90.
Just so we're clear, the Mictuning light+harness is just 7% of the price of the Baja Designs. This is important to keep in mind as you read this and see the pictures below.
The Mictuning Bar feels well built and we didn't feel it flimsy in any way. All the hardware seemed very sturdy. Who knows if they'll stand the test of time, but so far they seem like an unreal deal.
Installation:
Since I have very little skills when it comes to electrical stuff (and most other stuff), I asked my friend burnoil if he could help (well, actually, do most of the work for me). I know he's detailed and knows what he is doing, so I just let him do his thing and I mostly help where I can here and there.
The bar comes with brackets that work perfectly fine on the S10. Metal is sturdy, but you do have to grind it down just a bit to make them fit perfectly. Luckily, burnoil had everything he needed and was able to grind it down and repaint the brackets before mounting them.
The wiring harness is a bit trickier. We ended up cutting off the additional line (comes with two) and chopping here and there to make the harness shorter. Not rocket science, but if you don't know what you're doing with electrical stuff (like me), you'll have a hard time.
The harness comes with a button that lights up when the light is on and turns off when the light is off. We opted to drill a hole on top of the right cover where the battery and all that stuff sits. You might say that this is an odd choice, given that you would typically opt to install this on the left side so you can operate the switch with your left hand. Truth is, this was easier and it is not a switch that will be operated often. There was no cable to route around the whole bike to get to the left side and it was very straight forward. Here's how it looks:
The harness is wired to the battery and we tapped into the heated grips connector if I'm not mistaken, which gives power to the lights when the bike is on and turns them off when the ignition is off.
Here is how the lights look installed and on.
Light
When we first turned them on, they were VERY bright. We were surprised.
Then, we began comparing with Baja Designs Squadron Pro lights and reality hit me. Then again, we are comparing a $31 LED Bar kit with a $500 kit (remember, Squadron Pro, not the OnX LED Bar).
You can see, right off the bat, that the Squadron Pros (on the right) give off plenty more light. If I had to calculate, I'd say the Squadrons looked anywhere from 30 to 60% brighter.
In this shot, a bit farther away, you can see the difference clearer. Don't mind the handlebar lights that were also turned on.
We locked ourselves in the garage and closed the door to see how they lit up the garage door:
I really like this shot because you can clearly see the difference between how much the Mictuning lights up (right) and how much the Squadrons (left) light up. You can see that the left side is completely burned out in the camera while the right side still has plenty of detail. It is very obvious that the Squadrons are a superior product. The fact that they have 2 more LEDs doesn't really matter. Even if it had the same amount of LEDs as the Mictuning bar (6), I'm almost certain they would still come up on top. Again, we're taking $31 vs $500 here; keep it in mind.
I rode back home and waited until it became dark to do a night test. Here are the results:
This is stock lighting.
This is stock lighting + the bar.
To the naked eye, while I was doing it, I was thinking that it was sort of disappointing because I couldn't see any real difference with the naked eye. However, upon closer inspection of the photos I saw the following:
- Bar lighting illuminated the top half on the house's wall on the right
- It also better illuminated the gate's metal frame (you can see it way brighter vs stock lighting)
- It also lit up the parked car's reflector which you can see in the far, far, end of the picture.
Increased Visibility to Cars
On the ride back to my house I had take several freeways. We all know LA traffic, so you can imagine most of it was clogged up. I felt like the bike was actually more visible to cars because I saw an abnormal number of cars giving me extra space to split lanes. Normally I have to rev up the engine and be as loud as I can to get a few to give me some room. Maybe drivers were feeling extra courteous that day or maybe the bike is just more visible on rear view mirrors now. I want to believe it is the latter. Even though they might not have as much "usable" light as the Squadrons, I still think that they're very bright to the eye and that will help me stay on driver radars.
Conclusion
I would do it again, period. It comes down to price and how much you need this light to be able to actually see. I rarely ride at night and I'm not in immediate danger of hitting a deer. I wanted this bar to make me more visible to others in the first place and, in second place, to give me more light than the stock candles the S10 comes with. In that order.
If my #1 priority would be to get more light because I can't see what's going on ahead of me and I'm concerned of having an accident, I would look for something else.
Since it isn't, I would still choose these lights. They look good on the bike, the make me more visible, and they light up more than the stock light would. At 93% cheaper than the Baja Designs, it really is a tough deal to beat.
I'll let you guys know if they light my bike on fire or something, but so far it seems to be an amazing deal.
Background:
Light bar: http://amzn.to/2dsiDsK (Listed today at $19.90, although I paid $25.90 just a few days ago)
Wiring Harness: http://amzn.to/2dbny03 (listed today at $10.90)
This brings the total package to $30.80 at todays prices.
For comparison, the Baja Designs OnX LED Light Bar costs $424.95 shipped (no harness). Harness comes in at $54.95, which makes the bar+harness $479.90.
Just so we're clear, the Mictuning light+harness is just 7% of the price of the Baja Designs. This is important to keep in mind as you read this and see the pictures below.
The Mictuning Bar feels well built and we didn't feel it flimsy in any way. All the hardware seemed very sturdy. Who knows if they'll stand the test of time, but so far they seem like an unreal deal.
Installation:
Since I have very little skills when it comes to electrical stuff (and most other stuff), I asked my friend burnoil if he could help (well, actually, do most of the work for me). I know he's detailed and knows what he is doing, so I just let him do his thing and I mostly help where I can here and there.
The bar comes with brackets that work perfectly fine on the S10. Metal is sturdy, but you do have to grind it down just a bit to make them fit perfectly. Luckily, burnoil had everything he needed and was able to grind it down and repaint the brackets before mounting them.
The wiring harness is a bit trickier. We ended up cutting off the additional line (comes with two) and chopping here and there to make the harness shorter. Not rocket science, but if you don't know what you're doing with electrical stuff (like me), you'll have a hard time.
The harness comes with a button that lights up when the light is on and turns off when the light is off. We opted to drill a hole on top of the right cover where the battery and all that stuff sits. You might say that this is an odd choice, given that you would typically opt to install this on the left side so you can operate the switch with your left hand. Truth is, this was easier and it is not a switch that will be operated often. There was no cable to route around the whole bike to get to the left side and it was very straight forward. Here's how it looks:
The harness is wired to the battery and we tapped into the heated grips connector if I'm not mistaken, which gives power to the lights when the bike is on and turns them off when the ignition is off.
Here is how the lights look installed and on.
Light
When we first turned them on, they were VERY bright. We were surprised.
Then, we began comparing with Baja Designs Squadron Pro lights and reality hit me. Then again, we are comparing a $31 LED Bar kit with a $500 kit (remember, Squadron Pro, not the OnX LED Bar).
You can see, right off the bat, that the Squadron Pros (on the right) give off plenty more light. If I had to calculate, I'd say the Squadrons looked anywhere from 30 to 60% brighter.
In this shot, a bit farther away, you can see the difference clearer. Don't mind the handlebar lights that were also turned on.
We locked ourselves in the garage and closed the door to see how they lit up the garage door:
I really like this shot because you can clearly see the difference between how much the Mictuning lights up (right) and how much the Squadrons (left) light up. You can see that the left side is completely burned out in the camera while the right side still has plenty of detail. It is very obvious that the Squadrons are a superior product. The fact that they have 2 more LEDs doesn't really matter. Even if it had the same amount of LEDs as the Mictuning bar (6), I'm almost certain they would still come up on top. Again, we're taking $31 vs $500 here; keep it in mind.
I rode back home and waited until it became dark to do a night test. Here are the results:
This is stock lighting.
This is stock lighting + the bar.
To the naked eye, while I was doing it, I was thinking that it was sort of disappointing because I couldn't see any real difference with the naked eye. However, upon closer inspection of the photos I saw the following:
- Bar lighting illuminated the top half on the house's wall on the right
- It also better illuminated the gate's metal frame (you can see it way brighter vs stock lighting)
- It also lit up the parked car's reflector which you can see in the far, far, end of the picture.
Increased Visibility to Cars
On the ride back to my house I had take several freeways. We all know LA traffic, so you can imagine most of it was clogged up. I felt like the bike was actually more visible to cars because I saw an abnormal number of cars giving me extra space to split lanes. Normally I have to rev up the engine and be as loud as I can to get a few to give me some room. Maybe drivers were feeling extra courteous that day or maybe the bike is just more visible on rear view mirrors now. I want to believe it is the latter. Even though they might not have as much "usable" light as the Squadrons, I still think that they're very bright to the eye and that will help me stay on driver radars.
Conclusion
I would do it again, period. It comes down to price and how much you need this light to be able to actually see. I rarely ride at night and I'm not in immediate danger of hitting a deer. I wanted this bar to make me more visible to others in the first place and, in second place, to give me more light than the stock candles the S10 comes with. In that order.
If my #1 priority would be to get more light because I can't see what's going on ahead of me and I'm concerned of having an accident, I would look for something else.
Since it isn't, I would still choose these lights. They look good on the bike, the make me more visible, and they light up more than the stock light would. At 93% cheaper than the Baja Designs, it really is a tough deal to beat.
I'll let you guys know if they light my bike on fire or something, but so far it seems to be an amazing deal.
