Perry Mack
Words and Photos by Perry Mack
One of the first three modifications we made to our Wrangler JKU was to replace the stock headlights (and fog lights) with LEDs. The difference was stunning – not only at night but during twilight hours when details at road level begin to fade away.
We’ve tried roof-mounted light bars but they created more noise than we care to hear on our daily driver, and we found that smaller, bumper-mounted lights didn’t provide enough illumination for our driving style. That left us with a couple of untenable choices – wearing infrared goggles or hoping science would catch up to fiction and we could get cat eyes implanted in our skulls.
Scrolling the pages of 4WDSupply.com, we read the specs for the new Lightforce Genesis driving lights. This was something we had to ‘see’. We also ordered four additional lenses, which alter the beam pattern and colour.
The specs that caught my eye were for the 210 mm (8.27 in) LED driving light with 37 Lumileds LEDs, which offers 140 watts of power to produce 13,850 raw lumens (lm), 12,000 effective lumens, a colour temp of 5000K, and an estimated life of 50,000 hours. Translation – over a kilometre of usable, long lasting light. There are three settings – full intensity as well as daytime and nighttime running lights.
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The lights have excellent fins on the back for heat dispersion. They also have a shallow depth for the size making them easy to mount for most vehicles.
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They can be wired for use as day- and night-time running lights that won’t blind other drivers.
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Lightforce is able to manipulate beam patterns and colours through the use of specifically-tuned polycarbonate lenses. This is the yellow combo beam lens.
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J.W. Speaker Evolution 2 LED headlights on high beam are ‘light years’ ahead of the OEM Jeep lights that originally came with our 2015 Wrangler.
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Genesis LEDs with a clear spot lens easily penetrate to the end of the road with a bright white light, providing exacting detail and accurate colours. With the beams pointed parallel to each other, there is little light to the side immediately in front of the 4x4. You can easily adjust the lights left or right and up or down.
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Using the clear combo (wide and spot) lens provides a wider beam pattern from right in front of the 4x4 and down the road. The light isn’t as intense nor as high on the hill at the end of the road as the spot, but now you can see the 8.5 m (28’) RV parked next to the tree at the end of the road.
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The spot amber lens is a similar colour to wearing an amber lens in ski goggles. We felt it really enhanced contrast while driving.
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This yellow is a combo lens identical to the clear combo for fog, dust, and haze.
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Our blue lens was a flood pattern. You can’t see as far up the hill at the end of the road as a spot lens, nor can you see as far off to the sides as a combo pattern provides. Instead, you get a road-width, intense light. Our favourite for highway driving.
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The overhead shot really shows the fill pattern and detail brought out by the yellow combo lens. Taken on a different day, the Jeep is a little farther down the road compared to the drivers view of the previous images.
They come with a black cover to keep you legal (depending on your mounting decision and regional laws), and an impact-tested, clip-on polycarbonate clear, spot lens for protection from road debris. Optional impact-tested, clip-on polycarbonate filters include alternate beam patterns for spot, flood, or combo. Colours include clear, crystal blue to increase clarity, amber for dust and haze, and yellow for fog, dust, and haze. You pick the colour and beam pattern combination that you like and need.
Their overall height is 232 mm with a width of 214 mm, which makes it a large light that requires a sturdy mount. Yet, a pleasant surprise was the low depth of 73 mm that allows them to be mounted on a variety of vehicles and bumpers.
However, our TeraFlex steel bumper proved impossible for us to mount the lights the way we wanted. We needed them level to keep us legal, out of the way of the winch and winch controls, and not block the existing headlights and turn signals. After enough head-scratching to triple the size of our bald spot, we decided to fab a prototype that we could manipulate. This turned out to be very cheap, easy and the results were much sturdier than we had any right to.
The lights are sold individually and come with an instruction manual and mounting bracket. An optional wiring harness is available to make installation easier (almost plug and play) with both H4 and HB3 headlight adaptors so you can quickly tap into your headlight circuit. Check your vehicle’s bulb type to determine if these harnesses will work for you.
MSRP: Genesis Light (each) - $450 USD
Genesis/Venom Harness - $79 USD
Additional Filters (each) - $23 USD