What's the worst lightbar made by a well-known company? (FedSig, Code 3, Whelen)
- Thread starter lotsofbars
- Start date
bfd740 said:
the flash pattern on the SCPD hi-way was a sight to be seen, shame no one caught a video of em. all lights at once. very bright, but yes towards the end they turned really ineffective. and heavy. and expensive.
nassau county still uses em to this day, with freedoms in front.
[Broken External Image]:http://billbennettphoto.com/images/Long Beach Billy Quick 1-22-11 002 copy.jpg
Dpenhaul said:
incorrect.
Code 3:
XL (Although I have seen a couple cool ones)*
420*
LP
Basic 2100
Excalibur
Whelen:
Anything with rotators (Responder DX/HD, Centurion, Delta)
Basic Edge
Not the biggest fan of the Justice; I'd go for a Liberty.
Patriot
Federal Signal:
Vista Strobe
Streethawk (Depends on the vehicle)*
Raydian*
Highlighter
*These choices are based on aesthetically-pleasing characteristics.
I do not like old bars on new vehicles, and vise-versa. My department's 1966 ALF Ladder Chief has a 4-rotator Excaibur :no:
Keep your lighting to the era of the vehicle.
XL (Although I have seen a couple cool ones)*
420*
LP
Basic 2100
Excalibur
Whelen:
Anything with rotators (Responder DX/HD, Centurion, Delta)
Basic Edge
Not the biggest fan of the Justice; I'd go for a Liberty.
Patriot
Federal Signal:
Vista Strobe
Streethawk (Depends on the vehicle)*
Raydian*
Highlighter
*These choices are based on aesthetically-pleasing characteristics.
I do not like old bars on new vehicles, and vise-versa. My department's 1966 ALF Ladder Chief has a 4-rotator Excaibur :no:
Keep your lighting to the era of the vehicle.
I'm with the C3 2100 without the ability to sync the patterns. Also the C3 RX2700, we run those at our department and the prism just isn't that brihgt, nor can they be sync'd or have multiple flash patterns. Mind you our department bought the base version with HC switching, but still, not an impressive bar.
mr. awesome said:
They had them on action-flash but the whole front more or less flashed at the same time.
MTAPD Highway is using fully-populated LED versions with Freedom heads BEHIND fully populated Freedom bars... that must be sick at night.
Anything made by WHELEN is pretty horrible i think they should get into the water bottle business since they love to include nice little expensive pieces of plasitc with water in them already anyway.
bfd740 said:
they are supposed to be used as secondary warning, leave it to SCPD to have it as primary... remember when they had the lp6000 with the three switches drilled right into the dash? all flash, left alley, right alley. that was it.
its the same stuff with the new freedoms... the whole bar goes at once... whats the point of the new blue law if it's only one head and drowned out by red and amber???
i saw a COPE car with an LP6K on it a few weeks ago.... somebody screwed a blue TIR3 into the right side, under the dome.
like this... i hope the image conveys properly.
/D/ \O|:::::|O...D\ :duh:
as far as my life experience goes they only got lighting right twice; the old S&W system (white to the outside, red dome filters inside) and the blue light law edges. some of the guys down at yaphank had them in a 'reverse boston' setup with the whole rear right side blue.
jprleedy4680 said:
Whoa...The LP was one of the best bars out there(the original one with the metal rotators) Had great light output, plenty of options(although the stingrays were prone to failure), and easy to change out things or replace bulbs.
theolog said:
They looked cool up close, but the few I've seen (Illinois State Police) were not visible from much more then a block away it seemed like. I guess what I'm saying is they just don't throw the light well.
DEPUTYSTEPHENSON said:
Oh, ok, thanks. I've never seen them in person. They never seemed to be very popular so I was wondering. Thanks!
i dont understand some of the guys saying aerodynic. i always thought they were pretty effective!
and to contribute... the whelen 8000. flame on.
opcorn:
and to contribute... the whelen 8000. flame on.
opcorn:mr. awesome said:
I do remember the 4 switches in the dash.
I've seen that done with the TIR3 numerous times but on the driver's side... if you look close they can't even mount them straight.
I don't like the "sync" pattern on the Freedoms in position 3, the unsynced pattern to the rear in position 2 is much more effective. I also don't care for the economy heads or whatever they are in the back in positions 2, 4, 5, and 7. Don't forget the reverse light flasher that doesn't work right on 80% of the cars. Have you seen the ones with LIN4's in the grille on split patterns?
I always got a kick out of the old 120 car with a red lens over an amber LED until they realized it... or the 117 with red lenses over the alley lights.
It annoys me that Marine Bureau got brand new Tahoes a couple years ago and they put old cloudy LP6000's on them
http://elightbars.org/forums/f35/long-island-thread-22926/#post187421
lets move, this isnt the place for it.
lets move, this isnt the place for it.
jdh said:
I don't like the mini-LP's; I don't know exactly why, maybe because every other truck I see around my area has one. I agree, the full-size are nice.
The Uglyst lightbar is to me the 360 by Code 3 or PSE they tryed to make a light that had me flexability but did nothing for sales the D tech is a good try for halogen unique but then the LED came into play and that is tha
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By the way what happend to the stringray system for the LP or any Code 3, used to be one of each on a code 3 or Force 4 lightbar and why did they get ride of the metal rotators and go with the free form, the motors are faster than they used to be now 100 fpm than before 95 fpm they don't make em like they used to I like code or pse but I don't own the company, I like the XL 5000 and hope it will be around for a long time but who knows when that production will stop. Federal stopped making the jet series and streethawk series, stinger also the led vertion of it. That is progress I guess out with the old in with the new nothing wrong with the new system I like the federal slr only if code or pse had something like that there sales will go up, only if the economy recovers then I'll buy the new system until then I'll stick with the older system or vintage.
I see a lot of JetSonic / Stream haters, I always liked that bar, but I accept that it isn't nearly as effective as it should be.
I had a JetSonic chain driven with a speaker in the middle on my old Datsun pickup for a long time, and then had a JetSream on my Mitsubushi pickup for a long time. Other than an MX7000, those are the only bars I have ever owned, so I'm a bit biased maybe.
I have yet to see a JetStream LED in person but if done right, that could be a damn effective bar.
I had a JetSonic chain driven with a speaker in the middle on my old Datsun pickup for a long time, and then had a JetSream on my Mitsubushi pickup for a long time. Other than an MX7000, those are the only bars I have ever owned, so I'm a bit biased maybe.
I have yet to see a JetStream LED in person but if done right, that could be a damn effective bar.
Old thread but old threads are the best now days since social media has ruined everything.
Let’s talk about it though,
First code 3,
The 420 at the time was a cheap and effective mini bar new out of the box for the price. No complaints there.
Lp was boring but did what you wanted with basic options. seemed much cooler with clear domes and filters.
Never saw many basic 2100, led-x was a hit when they first came out, really only police used them and they where bright loaded when they first came out.
excalibur was poor mans mx7000. But still modern tech for the time. That stuff seemed so bright when they where brand new. I knew the mx Excalibur strobe whereby as bright as the whelen stuff. Still cool and EXPENSIVE modern stuff at the time.
Whelen
Even a basic edge kicked ass. Especially amber stuff.
whelen rorators kinda boring and didn’t seem right with that company . The halogen piercer sweeps where neat in a popular edge strobe bar.
patriot stuff was just like a next level modern strobe low profile. Kinda cool. But nothing crazy. That was the proven foot print of the next best thing. Led whelen bar.
federal
Vista strobe did suck. Just wasn’t bright when it probably could have been. It worked, but for all the room in that thing it was a disappointment with internals. I never minded the shape. The rotator bars br
An all light clear dome streethawk with 5 rotators and dyna rays with all the lower lights was sick on a crown Vic,
raydians where weird but bright as hell for the time. I actually liked the vista and arjents shop. Those arjent bars with the sL Solaris and S2 seceond gen always where super bright up there with the famous whelen led bars.
highlighter was a proven seller. Had the famous fed sig design big rotator and was effective.
I completely agree, use age period lights with age period vehicles. Always looks so much better.
Worst bars for performance in my experience go as follows
Whelen:
Edge strobe bars (great at night useless in daylight)
Patriot (strobe predecessor to the liberty) same issue as the edge
Federalsignal:
highlighter strobe horrible daylight performance
Code 3:
Anything with the led optix modules great up close no distance performance like the competitors or their linier heads
Anything strobe has poor daylight performance
These are more or less all I know of by well known brands star is not common here ware I am
Whelen:
Edge strobe bars (great at night useless in daylight)
Patriot (strobe predecessor to the liberty) same issue as the edge
Federalsignal:
highlighter strobe horrible daylight performance
Code 3:
Anything with the led optix modules great up close no distance performance like the competitors or their linier heads
Anything strobe has poor daylight performance
These are more or less all I know of by well known brands star is not common here ware I am
We had the Tomar Blade bars 07-09 which all seemed to have massive problems and when the warranty ran out we were on our own. We had such a bad taste in our mouths that we have been slicktop ever since we deadlined the cars that had those bars on them So about the last 10 years. I just asked about going back to lightbars and was told NO....remember the ones we got the LAST TIME??!
Well anything looks ugly with a tomar bar on it... It makes you go... Wtf were they thinking and wda came up with that ugly thing!
We liked the looks of the Blade ok. They were great new....but as time went on, they leaked and went bonkers. Parts stopped working. Condensation in the lenses.
Tomar had alot of issues with water ingress causing failures (speed tech lights are known for this too) bars from other brands held up better My liberty did have some condensation issues before but putting in a few of the silica gell packets and replacing the end caps (seals were dry rotted lol) it solved my problems been 100% rock solid reliable ever since I've used the federalsignal legend as well with great reliability I won't go with a tomar again too unreliable (had one on a vehicle during a traffic control job the thing just died (back before I started using additional light heads around the vehicle) killed all warning lighting almost got killed that night when a semi hit the vehicle tomar is on a permanent do not buy list for me now
Attachments
LOL.
When I was a police officer back in 1989 we had a car with a Yankee lightbar. Sometimes the drivers side rotator would stop turning and I'd have to reach out the window and smack the side of the lightbar to get it to spin again.
For me a few the Federal Signal Vista the strobe hawk although I like the street hawk the mx7000 or Excalibur strobe bars although I love the halogen or combo models the whelen advantage comes to mind also.