Hey all, so I ordered Quadratecs new J5 (Quadratec J5 LED Light Bars | Quadratec) single row led light bar with amber clearance lights when it came out a few weeks ago. I wanted to give a review of that bar here for everyone since when I first posted about it, no one had one. So I bit the bullet and decided to give it a go. I ordered the bar, mounting brackets, and wiring harness.
Here is an install video, it is extremely thorough so I don’t feel the need to go into that. Other than it went as expected, no issues. I was wiring into an apollointech (spod knock off) relay and switch setup, it it was a breeze.
https://youtu.be/GUER3hqwadw
The lightbar itself: Construction is top notch, it is very solid. It has a single row of large 27 large Cree LEDs. They are a combination of 10* spot beams and 30* flood beams. The unique thing about this one is that 5 of those LEDs have an amber LED halo which function as the clearance lights. (see close-up picture below). I think the lumen rating is 18,000 which is not as powerful as some other bars, I think the non-clearance light quadratec bar is 27,000 lumens for comparison. Despite this lower rating I feel light output is great. The spots are focused straight ahead down the road/trail and the floods do an ample job throwing light out to the sides of the road/trail.
Mounting Brackets: I have heard some say these mounts are a little higher than some. While that may be true I personally feel they are a good height and still close to the body/windshield. They came with the rubber gasket material to protect the paint which is a plus.
Pros: Quadratec is awesome, the bar came with a damaged connector, one phone call to customer service and I had a new bar two days later, as well as a prepaid label to return the old one. The bar is plenty bright and the amber lights are awesome. They look great at night when lit up.
“Cons” (in quotes because they are so minor): The amber lights are pretty bright and when there is moisture in the air (fog/rain) there is a faint amber glow you can see coming off them. Also, my windshield wipers and hood are slightly illuminated amber at night (see picture below). This is honestly pretty minor and probably doesn’t really belong in the cons section. I think I have the bar angled just so slightly downward that if I aimed it a little more horizontally, it might be even less noticeable. The next con was pointed out to be by my lady. So I figured I would throw it in here since everyone notices different things. When it is wet out the bar definitely drips onto the windshield when you turn or brake.
NOISE: Now this is probably one that everyone is interested in. I have the bar angled ever so slightly lower than some might want to aim it. See the pictures below. I was prepared for horrible wind buffeting, whistling, UFO landing sounds…I got NOTHING. Under 70mph there is almost NO discernable difference in wind noise than before. My girlfriend said the same thing. Above 75 it starts to make a little noise, but it is a similar noise to what the JK makes in general. No buffeting and no whistling.
All in all, this is a 5 star product in my opinion. I’ve had it on about two weeks, so there is no long term info to be had. If anything changes I would be sure to keep y’all informed. :iamhappy:
Pics in the next post...
Here is an install video, it is extremely thorough so I don’t feel the need to go into that. Other than it went as expected, no issues. I was wiring into an apollointech (spod knock off) relay and switch setup, it it was a breeze.
https://youtu.be/GUER3hqwadw
The lightbar itself: Construction is top notch, it is very solid. It has a single row of large 27 large Cree LEDs. They are a combination of 10* spot beams and 30* flood beams. The unique thing about this one is that 5 of those LEDs have an amber LED halo which function as the clearance lights. (see close-up picture below). I think the lumen rating is 18,000 which is not as powerful as some other bars, I think the non-clearance light quadratec bar is 27,000 lumens for comparison. Despite this lower rating I feel light output is great. The spots are focused straight ahead down the road/trail and the floods do an ample job throwing light out to the sides of the road/trail.
Mounting Brackets: I have heard some say these mounts are a little higher than some. While that may be true I personally feel they are a good height and still close to the body/windshield. They came with the rubber gasket material to protect the paint which is a plus.
Pros: Quadratec is awesome, the bar came with a damaged connector, one phone call to customer service and I had a new bar two days later, as well as a prepaid label to return the old one. The bar is plenty bright and the amber lights are awesome. They look great at night when lit up.
“Cons” (in quotes because they are so minor): The amber lights are pretty bright and when there is moisture in the air (fog/rain) there is a faint amber glow you can see coming off them. Also, my windshield wipers and hood are slightly illuminated amber at night (see picture below). This is honestly pretty minor and probably doesn’t really belong in the cons section. I think I have the bar angled just so slightly downward that if I aimed it a little more horizontally, it might be even less noticeable. The next con was pointed out to be by my lady. So I figured I would throw it in here since everyone notices different things. When it is wet out the bar definitely drips onto the windshield when you turn or brake.
NOISE: Now this is probably one that everyone is interested in. I have the bar angled ever so slightly lower than some might want to aim it. See the pictures below. I was prepared for horrible wind buffeting, whistling, UFO landing sounds…I got NOTHING. Under 70mph there is almost NO discernable difference in wind noise than before. My girlfriend said the same thing. Above 75 it starts to make a little noise, but it is a similar noise to what the JK makes in general. No buffeting and no whistling.
All in all, this is a 5 star product in my opinion. I’ve had it on about two weeks, so there is no long term info to be had. If anything changes I would be sure to keep y’all informed. :iamhappy:
Pics in the next post...