RIGID D2 Driving Light, Set Of 2, 50231

Excellent!!! all that rigid it known for. Quality light, super bright, The D2 driving pattern does go everywhere. It is not focused. More of a flood. If you want focused, get a spot or hyper spot.

Installed them using different brackets than those provided in the kit (used Rigid’s 40331 mount). Good connectors provided to wire lights to harness. Sold piece of kit. Amazing amount of light given off by these things! Will definitely buy additional Rigid products in the future.

(See updates at the end of this review)

I recently bought a 2012 Ford F-150 truck, and was disappointed by the high beams. After some research, I ordered the Rigid Industries 50231 Dually D2 LED Driving Lights. I designed and built my own switch and control modules (4 switches inside the cabin, and a separate power control module with 4 relays near the front of the truck), so I did not use the Rigid Industries supplied relay and switch. It turned out I could not have used the supplied switch and relay anyway, as Rigid Industries assumes you will be installing these lights on a smaller car, so the cables are not long enough for the much bigger F-150 to position the switch inside the cabin. I designed the control module so that the D2 LED lights come on only when the truck’s high beams are on, and even then, only when an interior switch is in the on position. This way, I have created a supplemental high beam lighting system that I can turn on and off at will.

Here is my review.

Pro’s
– Insanely good spill lighting
– Exceptionally ‘white’ light
– Easy installation
– Rugged construction
– Surprisingly small housing
– High quality cabling included

Con’s
– These lights are not as bright for long distance illumination as the F-150’s existing high beams
– The included wiring harness does not provide enough cabling for trucks and full-sized SUVs

Review:

The first thing that surprised me was the size. These lights are quite small. In fact, they fit perfectly in the two small spaces below the Ford F-150 grill in between the license plate holder and the two air dams on the 6.2L F-150. I had to affix my lights upside down to align the lights with the mounting holes in the frame plate behind the grill, but that is of no consequence. Note that you can NOT mount these lights in the same location on the EcoBoost Ford F-150 because the lights will partially block the air intake of the intercooler. Once installed, these lights fit so perfectly in the front of the truck that people think these lights came factory installed.

Installation of the lights took under 1 hour, and that included cutting and splicing the supplied wires into my custom made light controller module. I mounted the brackets to the lights as tightly as my wrench would allow, which proved useful in the end. I used a level on the mounting brackets before mounting the lights to the truck to ensure the light beams would be parallel to the ground. Once installed, aiming (up/down) is a simple matter of gently forcing the lights to pivot up or down a tiny amount on the stiffly mounted brackets.

The second thing that surprised me was the light – like HOLY COW!!! These lights throw so much bright white light EVERYWHERE that the entire road and off road ditch, land, field, and trees to the sides light up like day time – no kidding. I LOVE these lights on dark country roads – you can see a deer waaaaaay off to the side long before you get close to it. I am not kidding when I say that when I first went from D2 high beam to factory low beam, I wondered if there is something wrong with the truck’s factory headlights – the D2s are that much brighter by comparison.

The other thing that will impress you is the color of the light. It is pure white – not off white or faded yellow. By comparison, my truck’s factory installed high beams seem a sickly brown next to the D2s. I find this white light creates a sharper contrast that makes it much, MUCH easier to see distant objects.

I conducted a road test late at night on a dark, deserted country highway. I covered over the left lights (truck and D2) with a blanket, and allowed only the right lights to shine down the road. I then alternately covered over either the factory high beam or the D2, and observed the difference. I noticed that a reflective road sign about 4000 feet away still seemed brighter from the F-150’s factory high beams, telling me that the D2s do not have the same long distance illumination of the F-150. While the distant reflective signs were dimmer from just the D2 lighting, the reflected D2 light was whiter, creating greater contrast.

My test, while not exhaustive or scientific, nevertheless tells me the D2s do not throw light further than my factory high beams.

Now you should know something about the F-150 high beams – they have very sharp upper and lower cut-offs, leaving a narrow horizontal band of high beam light, allowing the vehicle to focus all of its light across a very narrow angle of dispersion, and thus reaching further distances. This is one thing I do NOT light about the F-150, because while you can see distance, you can not see anything outside this narrow band. But now, when I turn on the D2s, EVERYTHING comes into view. I have discovered the D2s are an outstanding supplement to the factory high beams. Their bright, wide dispersion complements the factory narrow high beams beautifully. Frankly, I drive much more comfortably at night with the D2s energized.

I recommend these lights to anyone who does night driving on dark highways unlit by streetlamps. Your field of effective vision increases so much that it defies words. If all you do is city driving, save your money.

Update – November 2012
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I just completed a 7,000 mile round trip. I drove out to the west coast to work for a few months, and then drove back. I drove out during the day and saw all the sights, so of course I did not use these lights. I drove back alone, and I prefer night driving. I would usually head out around 8 PM when it is already dark, and drove until 7 AM the next morning. By 11 PM, the roads were deserted, and I used my D2 high beams a lot. As I have my Dually D2’s hooked up to the high beams with a switch, I can use factory high beams alone, or factory high beams with the Dually D2s.

I am neither exaggerating nor joking when I say twice during my trip the D2’s saved the trip. On two separate occasions I spotted deer running through a field toward the roadside. When you see a deer, your best response is to pulse your horn (beep – beep – beep – beep – etc.) – it mimics the sound of some predators, like wolves and coyotes. Deer seem stupid about insanely bright headlights – it is as if they don’t see them at all – but they do hear the horn pulsing, and then scatter like, well, scared deer.

There is simply no way – *NO WAY* – I would have seen these deer off to the side but still *WAY* ahead without the D2’s. Would the deer have crossed the road in front of me had I not had my D2’s on and not sounded my pulsing horn? I will never know, but what I do know is that the D2’s allowed me to eliminate the risk.

The only time I found the D2’s to not be helpful was in a blizzard. They light up such a broad area that all you see is snow everywhere. That was the only occasion in which I preferred the narrow-focus sharp cut-off factor high beams of the F-150 to the Dually D2’s.

Other reviewers have said you cannot use these lights as high beams because they are too bright. I disagree – see my review above. They are not brighter than the factory installed high beams along the narrow line of illumination of my F150 high beams, but they are insanely brighter everywhere else. I am a provokable polite driver – I always drop my high beams when oncoming cars are still way off in the distance, and I have never had other drivers flash a complaint at me. But when some ignoramous decides to leave his brights on, trust me – he changes his mind very quickly when I blast him with the D2s AND factory high beams up close.

I am more convinced now than ever – if you do a lot of night driving, you simply must have these lights.

Update – November 2016
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This things are still working, and still impress me by how much light they throw.

These are crazy bright, but not as long range as I had hoped. The spread is phenomenal, lighting everything in front of my jeep. They make night trail rides a dream. Lighting everything above the headlights beautifully. These are not safe to use on the road. They shine too bright and too wide. The included wiring harness was super simple and effective.