LED lightbars

[J_Mann]

My agency is looking to switch over from the old strobe bars to the LED bars. Obviously, the chief wants the best bang for our buck. We'd like to have 3-5 options to get price quotes for. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. What does your agency use? What are it's best features/options/prices?

Any info will help. Galls only has a few options and I know there's many many more options out there.

[PtlCop]

Depends on your price range obviously. We've been trying out 3 or 4 LED bars and i'll discuss the ones we've tried out.

First off, the 911 Galaxy & Galaxy Elite (http://www.911ep.com/products/galaxy.asp): These were some of the first we got, and they've been nothing but trouble for us. They were supposed to be on our cars for the entire vehicle cycle (about 3-4 years) and many of them required major maintenance after only a year or two. Condensation got down in them, which clouded up the lenses pretty bad. Several of them had to have most of the light modules replaced two or three times. We ended up deciding not to go with these after the initial batch.

Whelen Edge (http://www.whelen.com/_AUTOMOTIVE/de...&prod_id=362): These ended up being the best that we purchased. They required little to no maintenance, were the most visible both at night and day.

Sho-Me (http://www.able2products.com/update/...Features.htm): These also had little to no maintenance, but we found that they weren't nearly as visible during the day as the Edge was.

[syphon157]

+1 I would check out Whelen.

[J_Mann]

Price range is $1000-2000. I couldn't imagine them spending more than that. $2000 is pushing it.

[stormz5192]

I think ours were like $1200 a piece installed. Code 3 with like 30,000,000,000 leds that blind or send the motoring public into seizures.

[iamacop]

My buddy is a certified Whelen Technician. Whelen has GREAT bars. Most companies will allow you to try out a bar for atleast a month. Holler at a couple vendors with your price range and allow them to let you borrow one. Get input from the people who count, the officers.

Our Fire Department is starting to move with Tomar Scorpions. I must admit, they are freaking awesome. There are two within the department, both on admin vehicles. Here is a video of the bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qLmL38Imf0

My PD uses the Ultra Freedom Bar, with serial communications. Here is a clip of the bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh9_7_gfkuI

They are a little pricey, but a VERY nice bar for the price you're asking is probably a Whelen Liberty, it is a very common bar, here is an example of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq9bB5GAXD8

Code 3 bars really suck. They outsource their parts, Whelen makes all their parts.

[5031OKC]

We use the Whelen Justice bars. Everyone seems fairly happy with them so far.
http://www.whelen.com/_AUTOMOTIVE/de...17&prod_id=398

[(S)Sgt Elmer]

Check out elightbars.org, its a forum with tons of dealers and installers on it. You can find anything there and probably get a deal too.

[rgv_cop]

The Sheriff's Office here uses Whelen Liberty and the PD uses Federal Signal Legend. Both are extrememly bright and will blow your socks off.

The new whelen liberty now have the availablity to switch color from all blue, to all red, to red/blue all in the same bar.

The SO K-9s use interior mounted Sound-Off ultralights (8 and 12 head) plus some Sound-Off ghosts in the grill. They are very bright as well.

[crazynova]

I like the LED bars we have on our newer cars, but I looked and they are something like $3600 ea. They are the Federal Signal Vision with the rear yellow bar.

[JPSO Recruit]

Whelen Liberty, best bang for your buck.

[mlighthi]

Any one use the Tomar Balde? Fairfax county uses them around here and they are VERY bright both day and night...around $1600

[Se7en]

We use the Whelen Liberty's I believe... pretty good bars... for some reason condensation gets in them a bit... not sure why they haven't figured out a good way to seal off the light bars by now. Our newest light bar has LED take downs and alley lights, which are awesome, but I noticed some of the bulbs on the take down's are already out...

[MCSD241]

We use Whelen Liberty Economy and Code 3 LED 2100. How many you planning on buying? We buy direct from Whelen and Code 3. However, we buy so many at a time they give us a DEEP discount. We pay about 700 a piece for each. It's the pallet discount. We have few problems with them. We used to use the MX7000 exclusively.

[DetDep]

Any one use the Tomar Balde? Fairfax county uses them around here and they are VERY bright both day and night...around $1600

I was sitting at home trying to figure out for the life of me what our bars were so I could recommend them. Extremely bright at night, equally shiny during the day. Alleys and takedowns are plenty bright as well. Not a lot of wind noise either. I haven't heard of any issues with maintenance.