Scrambler82 wrote:
I have been looking on line for pricing on a 30" LED Off-Road Light Bar and I need to say I am disgusted with most of the LED Suppliers out there on the Web.

Why should all of the LED Light Bars cost as much as they do, there is no reason !

LEDs are inexpensive, yes it does take engineering to design and bring product to the market but you don't need to recover your costs on every unit.

I recently saw ads for "Light Bar Supply.com", great pricing, POOR reviews, beyond anything I could have written or thought of...  !  
Isn't there a company that makes GOOD QUALITY LED Lighting at a reasonable price AND doesn't charge an arm and a leg for shipping  !

I guess I will be using my old style Off-Road Lighting when I get to that project !

Thanks for listening and PLEASE comment !

You notice I didn't put any question marks... just exclamation point !  I am disgusted  with the US SELLER of Chinese Products !
Not all LED bars are Chinese but often many components are or will be. I won't go as far to insult anyone but if you are in any type of "specialty work" or skilled trade? What do you make an hr? What is your time of life force worth in exchange for monetary compensation?

The reason I ask is this: i.e.  Cree Builds 585K facility in China 

Just a a sideline topic here; GM and Chrysler own more factories and facilities than Ford in Mexico and other countries. Why? Because the average skilled worker here makes $39 Prevailing wage and these companies can pay these guys $2 an hr and they WORK without complaint, they show up for work. When I use to teach in the plants in Detroit back in the late 90's. Chrysler would start you off as a base line worker at $29.29 hr, full bennies in 30 days. Bu 60 days that individual has possible the worst attendance as his fellow crew members, and due to the Union rules, its all you can do to fire one of these guys. They'll move that person around from dept to dept for MONTHs before they gather enough work evidence to rid themselves of the parasite. Now not to say that they dont have similar problems in Mexico, but then again they saved themselves $27 an hr too? and the pickings are plentiful i'm sure.

With that in mind lets not forget the market dictates value too. When there was two companies, Rigid Lighting and Baja designs, and If I recall there was a third company; the best level of Optics, LED's, extruded aluminum housings, Military stainless steel breathers and hardware, Double row 50" LED bar from rigid was a paltry $1799. Every 4Wheel parts store and other shops proudly displayed those bad boys in their showrooms and you bet your sweet keester the [TEST] button 'worked' in the showroom in its best efforts to dry your eyes out from 2 feet away too!

AS soon as a half a dozen new LED light companies started to flood the scene, Rigid marked that top of the line 50" bar up to $2199 - Not down but up.. and they sell for that PLUS $100+ hr at electrical install rate. So expect a $2500 deal if you will.

Now the reality is for many of us, that's a house payment, maybe 2 car payments, and a community-college credit hr payment for your oldest child or Jamman's 'scripts this month [lol]. Let's not forget most people will gladly throw that on a credit card and defer those payments from denting their immediate wallet without question usually, (and we wonder why we work 50+ hrs a week these days).

I'm likely preaching to the choir here but when a company can rake in money on a product that they get made for pennies on the dollar, PLUS bulk, save on labor costs, raw materials, taxes being far less that the import tariffs are laughable because YOU and others like us expect to earn a living wage for the time here in 'Murica to afford ALL the nice things. Really brings $8.25 an hr minimum wage into focus. If only the masses truly understood what time was really worth.




Is there any reason to wonder why companies like Amazon are buying up everything and making ALL of the money? Christ they just bought Target stores now too.. Lobbying to pay for your local and federal government puppets doesnt come cheap when your $100 is worth $34.14 worth of 1980's buying power after inflation. but companies like Cree are raking in $1.65B a year in profit.. Amazon $177.86B but avg persons debt, highest ever known.

I know for some people this answer may seem complicated to relate to let alone barely seem relevant, but those who know better understand it perfectly fine. I know you two above this do, I just feel it needed to be pointed out for future readers of this who may not fully understand how everything comes full circle. I understand your frustration..

As far as products, there's a lot of good stuff out there that is fair across the spectrum of quality, service, and price. But you'll be forced into picking the two that are most important to you. Personally, you know what I roll with by my build sheet but then again, there's nothing wrong with old stuff either except the High wattage drain/bulb replacement issues that plague those things. It is what it is though.

Last edited on Fri Mar 23rd, 2018 01:03 am by Undrstm8ed