Ladies and Gentlemen! So I picked up a set of Quadratec’s new LED taillights (https://www.quadratec.com/p/quadratec/led-tail-lamps-07-17-jeep-wrangler-jk) and in an effort to help my fellow Jeepers I am posting a review of said lights.
First I want to point out that I only have the stock taillights to compare to. I wish I had a set of JW speakers since those really seem to be extremely popular replacements for the stock lights. I also wont waste any time with an install guide, its two screws and a wiring harness, couldn’t be easier.
The lights themselves: Wiring and connectors is top notch, all wiring is sealed with epoxy (see picture in the next post below). Connectors look to be nearly identical to the stock plugs. The lenses appear to be a different type of plastic vs the stock lights. The plastic seems to be cleaner and clearer (my jeep is a 2012 so I expect some of the stock light appearance is due to age and UV degradation). The Qtec lights do appear to be a thinner material, this is obviously not a destructive test so I cant say anything about durability at this point. I’ll make sure to post any long term results in the future if anyone is interested. Or feel free to PM me or respond here at any time and ill try to give an update. Overall I think the quality of the lenses and housing is maybe slightly under that of stock, and this is purely based on feel. I will consider a weight comparison if anyone is really interested.
Light Output: So this is the main reason I wanted them. I feel that ALL the stock lighting on the JK is substandard. These are SIGNIFICANTLY brighter than stock in terms of running lights, brake, and turn signal. I have a few pictures ill post below to try and illustrate the comparison. A lot of people are also wanting better reverse lights, which these deliver though with some caveats. The reverse lights are brighter than stock that is for sure, but I still think that they are not ideal for what Jeepers want. It may be asking too much to get a truly bright reverse light. I had auxillary lights on my stock taillights and I am thinking about how to keep them with the new taillights as well. Also, there is a strange beam pattern from the stock lights (see my photo below), basically there are horizontal shadows.
Aesthetics: I HUGELY prefer the stock look compared to say JW Speakers which is why I went with these lights. They look basically identical to stock lights except for the bank of LEDs which each light can be seen individually.
Overall: at $150 bucks I think these are priced right and if you like the stock look but want to add some extra safety and light output, you should absolutely consider these lights. I think I would give them 4 stars out of five with the loss of points from the horizontal shadows created by the lens when the reverse lights are on.
I don’t want to ramble too much more about what I THINK you guys/gals might want to hear, I would much rather you ask the questions and ill try and give you a good response.
First I want to point out that I only have the stock taillights to compare to. I wish I had a set of JW speakers since those really seem to be extremely popular replacements for the stock lights. I also wont waste any time with an install guide, its two screws and a wiring harness, couldn’t be easier.
The lights themselves: Wiring and connectors is top notch, all wiring is sealed with epoxy (see picture in the next post below). Connectors look to be nearly identical to the stock plugs. The lenses appear to be a different type of plastic vs the stock lights. The plastic seems to be cleaner and clearer (my jeep is a 2012 so I expect some of the stock light appearance is due to age and UV degradation). The Qtec lights do appear to be a thinner material, this is obviously not a destructive test so I cant say anything about durability at this point. I’ll make sure to post any long term results in the future if anyone is interested. Or feel free to PM me or respond here at any time and ill try to give an update. Overall I think the quality of the lenses and housing is maybe slightly under that of stock, and this is purely based on feel. I will consider a weight comparison if anyone is really interested.
Light Output: So this is the main reason I wanted them. I feel that ALL the stock lighting on the JK is substandard. These are SIGNIFICANTLY brighter than stock in terms of running lights, brake, and turn signal. I have a few pictures ill post below to try and illustrate the comparison. A lot of people are also wanting better reverse lights, which these deliver though with some caveats. The reverse lights are brighter than stock that is for sure, but I still think that they are not ideal for what Jeepers want. It may be asking too much to get a truly bright reverse light. I had auxillary lights on my stock taillights and I am thinking about how to keep them with the new taillights as well. Also, there is a strange beam pattern from the stock lights (see my photo below), basically there are horizontal shadows.
Aesthetics: I HUGELY prefer the stock look compared to say JW Speakers which is why I went with these lights. They look basically identical to stock lights except for the bank of LEDs which each light can be seen individually.
Overall: at $150 bucks I think these are priced right and if you like the stock look but want to add some extra safety and light output, you should absolutely consider these lights. I think I would give them 4 stars out of five with the loss of points from the horizontal shadows created by the lens when the reverse lights are on.
I don’t want to ramble too much more about what I THINK you guys/gals might want to hear, I would much rather you ask the questions and ill try and give you a good response.