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Bryan Irons
Rigid Industries enters Radiance for the discerning but budget conscious off-road adventurer
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Bryan Irons
A simple 4-bolt install is all it takes to put the light bar in place. The hammer and manual impact are the best way we have found to relieve the nasty torx bolts from their rusty hallows
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Bryan Irons
These noise reducers come with the E2 series of lights and may, or may not be required to keep the cooling fins of the light bar from resonating. We needed them to keep the aluminum from singing an off-key song at about 40 KPH, but every vehicle is different. A dab on silicone between the fins to emulate the dampers will do the same, but looks a little “ghetto”.
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Bryan Irons
With the E2 above the Radiance you can see the contrasting LED configuration.
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Bryan Irons
The perfect glow for night trail rides in the pack
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Bryan Irons
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Bryan Irons
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Bryan Irons
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Bryan Irons
Words and photos by Bryan Irons
Wandering through the aisles at SEMA we were left dazed and confused by the staggering number of lighting companies originating from lands unknown (i.e. China). The first breath of clarity came from Rigid Industries where instead of sales hacks that couldn’t remember their lines, we had engineers and hard working educated staff showing us around. The second jolt of ‘Claritin clear’ was the excitement they had, not for the most expensive and high-end lighting accoutrements, but for a new line of lighting aimed at keeping the budget in check; enter Radiance.
Visually, the radiance line departs from the standard E-Line of LED light bars by using a single row of large light emitting parabolic dishes engineered to produce a dual-use beam of spot and floodlight. Typically, Rigid have relied on a dual row of lenses that offer one beam pattern or the other. An exposed circuit board shows the inner workings and precise attachment of the LED’s and components to them but also houses small LED’s that give the Radiance its name. Available in a multitude of colors, the backlighting is very faint and provides a nice “glow”.
“Behind the looking glass”, the Radiance light superstructure is all business. No arcs, no goofy angles, no fake hardware, in fact, the same housing design and structure of the E line of lights (made famous by YouTube videos of them being tortured) is used on the Radiance. This also means that mounting bracket, security hardware and lens covers designed for the E series can be used with the Radiance lights.
With 10” to 50” models in blue, green, amber, red and white backlighting, there are plenty of options, and the price is easy to deal with. We wanted a 50” but we had to sit on our hands for a few months while the entire line was rolling into production.
While the delivery truck was dragging ass with our new night light, we got antsy. Editor Stanley buggered off for a 6-month hiatus to warmer climates, during which time he trusted us with a 40” Rigid Industries E2 light bar. What a chump. We ordered a Rough Country light bar bracket from Lowriders in Delta, BC and foraged through the metric mess that Stanley had left in his wake sniffing out the Rigid E2.
Lowriders had the brackets to our door over the weekend and we decided it would be good to see the difference between the well aged and industry benchmark E2, and the Radiance… once we got it.
The E2 with dual beam patterns shocked us with the quality of light that it emitted. The combination beam pattern of the E2 made it appear like daylight conditions in front of the rig with the “flood” section of lights, while the long range “hyper spot” beam was off burning the bark off trees 1000 metres out. For less than 20A of current draw, Rigid deserves every bit of praise they have ever received for the E2, but we were still jonesing for the Radiance to arrive.
A box showed up at our door and before our Sir John A. McDonald had dried on the delivery paperwork, the new Radiance was getting a once over. With a list price of approximately 1/3 that of an E2, we were wondering what changes had been made. No wiring harness is included, and the mounting brackets are not the fancy stainless steel units we are used to seeing from Rigid. They also do not send the noise dampers in case your bar resonates in the wind. Minor things, and acceptable in order to get affordable, good quality light.
We plan on upgrading our electrical system in an upcoming issue, but for now, we wired in a 30amp relay to the main lights of the Radiance. The back lighting of the radiance only requires a few amps to run, so there was no need for a relay for those. A Weather Pack connector was added to the bar to allow for easy electrical changes once the time comes. With all this complete on the bench we swapped in the Radiance in the place of the E2.
The Rough Country brackets fit like a glove. We like this design because it also protects the outside edge of the windshield frame as well. While tree resistant, this didn’t make the light bar scumbag resistant. We used a set of Light Locks from Innovative Creations Inc. to bolt the bar in place. ICI’s light locks are inexpensive and a royal pain to get off if you lose the special key. Make sure to pick up the right thread pattern for your lights. All Rigid bars use ¼-20 SAE hardware.
Come nighttime we stumbled into the woods to check out the beam pattern and intensity. The quality of the light coming form the bar again was astounding. With a wide colour spectrum of light, seeing different coloured objects in the night was no problem. The pattern was less defined than the E2 but the majority of the light was in the areas we need most; up to about 200 metres in front of the truck and wide, spreading out almost 45 degrees from the rig. Although the numbers from our LUX meter showed that the Radiance did not have the same intensity of light as it’s older sibling, we feel that for our driving and low speed wandering, the beam pattern works very well.
The radiance part of the Radiance, to be honest, seemed a little gimmicky to us at first. Illuminating “Rigid” signs on the ends had us scratching our heads. Once turned on however, we discovered the glow to be very handy. Rather then blinding the rig in front of us, the backlight gently illuminated the area in front of the rig, highlighting low hanging trees or outcroppings coming at the windshield.
Rigid surprised us with their entry into the budget minded lighting market, but their expertise has helped them build great lights you won’t have to trade a kidney for. Offering the customer a quality product at a competitive price is another step in their success story.