My Torrent Dual Color Lightbar
So I finally purchased an Axixtech Torrent lightbar, and it arrived last week. The bar is as clean and sleek looking in person as it looks on the web. The bar is built in a solid manner. It is not easy to open up to gain access to the inside, and I do not recommend trying. Everything is very well sealed and enclosed.
The bar mounted up nicely on my 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. The support plates for the feet were all I needed in order to mount the bar to the rails of my roof rack.
My bar is a fairly standard configuration, full blue bar with dual color blue/amber LED modules at the back for the arrow bar.
The video above is very telling. In direct sun, you can still make out the led modules. And they are bright enough to cause lens flare, even in the same frame as the sun.
In the manner which I have mounted this bar, when it is not activated, it looks just like a luggage rack. You can not tell it is a lightbar until you get right up behind my vehicle. This is good, as it limits the number of people who 'shadow' me on the highway, sitting in my blind spot, because they are too afraid of passing me. I hate when that happens - but since I installed the Torrent, it hasn't happened very often.
I have already had the chance to use this lightbar twice while responding to a call. Both times I have had no issues or problems with people in my way. On both sides of the road, everyone pulled over. Cars, trucks, semi-trucks, and buses. A huge improvement to just having a dash light.
In terms of brightness, this lightbar is bright. Some of the guys at my hall were joking that it could be used as an airport landing strip light. At night time, I think I need to activate the Dim mode so I don't blind people.
In the day time this bar is easily visible from at least a mile away - if not more. At night I imagine this bar would be visible from upwards of 10 miles away at full brightness.
I have dual halogen take downs in my bar. In terms of lighting up a scene, they work more like floodlights (as opposed to spotlights) which is nice. That being said, they are still brighter then the headlights when you look at the front of the vehicle. The alley lights are nice as well. They do work, but again they are not spotlights, so it is more of a flood light effect. It is useful for lighting up a dark street or looking for an address.
In Warning Mode 3, the Takedown lights and Alley lights alternate. There is nothing you can do to really avoid that. That being said, I think they flash at half power, so they give you the flashing halogen effect from the front and side, but they are not overly blinding at night. Also of note in Mode 3, you can not turn the Takedowns on fully, nor can you turn on the Arrow Bar.
'Cruise Mode' is also very useful. Who needs scene lights? Just give yourself White or Amber corner modules and activate cruise mode. All of the corner lights light up, and stay on. This is useful at events where you need to be visible for people to approach you through a crowd - or even for when your sitting waiting for calls, flip it on, and it lights up the area around your vehicle. I will likely be using this for camping and off roading, where I need to see around the vehicle, to save on flashlight batteries and such.
The lightbar has 3 main warning modes. We have already spoken a bit about Mode 3. Mode 3 is the 'pursuit mode' which is to be used while responding to a call, or chasing someone. Each LED module (pair) in Mode 3 is fully programmable as to what flash pattern it will use. In program mode, you can cycle through each set of modules and select various flash patterns. The same holds true in Mode 2.
In Mode 2, the takedown lights and alley lights do not flash automatically. The Arrow bar also functions in Mode 2. I have set the light heads to alternate is a slower pattern in Mode 2, then I have them set at in mode 3.
In Mode 1, the whole bar alternates as if it was one single light module. You can select various flash patterns, but you have no control over which light heads are selected. I have set my Mode 1 up with Dim, and Front Cutoff, so it acts as a rear warning light. It works well.
You can view the wiring diagram and flash pattern diagram in the User Manual located here: http://www.roadwolf.ca/TORRENT.pdf
So long as the corner modules are all activated, this bar does meet and exceed SAE J845 specs. With the Amber Arrow Bar, this bar also meets and exceeds SAE J595 specs. And when configured properly, this bar can meet part of the SAE J2498 spec.
Buffalo Police Department uses Axixtech Torrents on their newer police cars. They are very effective and after speaking to a few officers about the bars, I haven't heard any complaints. Rightfully so, this bar is excellent. Honestly, the Axixtech line of emergency lighting is easily on par with the big names. In some cases Axixtech blows the competition out of the water. When I first was getting into LEDs, I was warned to stay away from any LED brand other then Axixtech. And I can totally see why. For the price, and affordability of these products, compared to the effectiveness and dependability of these products, Axixtech are by far the best out there. I have owned various Axixtech lights over the past few years, and I must say they have never let me down.
I want to thank http://www.brookingindustries.com for their help in making this project become a reality. I highly recommend checking them out, as they have been very helpful. In conclusion, this is an amazing lightbar and I would highly recommend it to anyone who does emergency service work. You will not regret it.