50" LED LIGHT BAR SHOWDOWN!! CREE EPISTAR OSRAM PHILIPS COMPARISON 

eacardoc1: “And just for the fun of it, there’s all four at the same time!” International Space Station: “It’s coming from a dirt road next to some hay bails.”

That's how you make a comparison video.

I just bought a "CREE" 50 inch light bar that was supposedly meant to be 288 watts. I tested it and the results were surprising. I hooked up a spare battery, 13.4 volts, and the current drawn by the bar was a measly 2.5 amps ==> equals 33.5 watts!!!! The light output was pretty average. I have a 188W 28" light bar, and several 30W 7" light bars as well, all cree, and they are all the brightness I would expect relative to each other, so in my mind all was good. Recently I saw a 50" light bar that was on some guys car infront of me while driving and when he turned it on it turned night into day, and then some! It was amazing.. and its hard to judge but looked like it was as bright if not brighter than when you turned on all four of those at once! It made me think that maybe, just maybe I had been screwed with all my bars.. sure enough tested them and the "188 watt" 28 inch was putting out a real 37 watts, while the "30 watt" 7 inch bar was at 12 watts!! I also tested the 28 and 50 "ers against my new 6 watt Cree chip hand held spot light torch in the backyard at night, and i had to laugh because the 6watt torch had a brighter spot beam for the output angle than either!!! Yes my neighbours must think im crazy.. I bought them all on ebay.. Those light bars are mostly scams!!!! Seriously be careful what you end up buying, and test them if not sure. Its possible to test with a $15-30 multimeter, and jumper leads. Theres a reason the led bars in the "physical" stores that are brand named cost so much more, its because they are using actual cree, epistar, philips, or osram chips, not made in china 0.1-1 watt chips. Unfortunately I have just realised that there is no point buying led bars from ebay because they are mostly fakes. From what i can tell they are all about 10-30% of what they claim. They are cheap and look awesome though.. so if thats your thing.. Personally, id rather spend the $$ on a 23" 12x10 watt cree chip led bar from a brand name and it will be brighter than all my bars I have put together. Lets not forget real CREE chips have some of the highest lumen/watt output (~100+), so 120W would yield a realistic 12000+ lumen, compared to my 50" which would have around 2500, 3000 lumen at best!!

that was a lot more in depth than I was expecting. good on you and the time you put into it! all 4 together are pretty impressive!

Great comparison. I wish I saw your review before I bought my lightbar. we need more guys like this. thanks man keep up the good work.

WOW! by far the most comprehensive comparison. NICEly done!

Wow. Haven't seen such a perfect comparison before. You did a great job!

Now you really did put things to the test!! This is how everything should be tested before we buy! GREAT DEMONSTRATION!!!!

different type of question, if I used a 120 volt to 12 volt converter, could I use this type of light in my studio for lighting up a subject and scene for photography. Are they designed to be turned on for an hour or so of time, and do they put off much heat. thanks for any suggestions. Home led light bars sometimes don't throw off the brightness these have. I am think more the flood light.

Appreciate the time and effort into making this video. Been eying up a 50" Phillips for a while now. Got a 22" curved Phillips coming in which I will install in the lower bumper cut out on my 05' Sierra. Thanks again for the video. Great job.

Well thank you so very much. Finally i found a realistic video with a hands on proyect for testing these led bars. Once again, thanks

Like everyone else i really appreciate you taking the time to do this, i just happened to catch your video right before buying my ebay lightbar..i like the smooth even flood beam of the epistar but the brightness of the cree, so i think i found a good compromise of the two with a 480w 50" curved epistar for $79 shipped. Gonna get some rough country brackets for it to mount to my 99' XJ thx again! (y)

your light bar rig is epic.. put a smile on my face. thanks

Great Job, Man.. Really nice work mounting all 4 light bars.

A year later and I still like this Video, ended up getting a 32 inch Auxbeam, very happy with it. Thank you my brother!!! PS Cyber Monday is a great day to buy stuff.

Thanks for a great video. This is clearly the best light bar comparison that I've ever seen. You come around all the details. Especially because you are so impartial in your comparison of the different types of LED brands. But i think that it have been interesting to know how much current each of them draws in use. I've tried buying some light bars with Osram 5watts LEDs and they draws to my big surprise not more current in use than my other cheaper LED bars with Epistar LEDs.. So then i think you not always have to believe that the manufacturer always use 5w LEDs against their

Watching the video closely and the driving on road especially, the Osram is the winner for sure. Great review thanks from Down Under Australia.. :-)

Thanks. Great comparison. I think the osram really lit up the roof of the barn with the most focus. I can't wait to hook up my new quad beam 54 inch with 10 watt chips! I like the difference between the flood and spot. Now I will install 2 bars. One osram, one flood style for the width. Great video. Thanks.

This is what review should be like. Thank you bud. A pleasure.

This is the best comparison video so far , up til 2020

What kind of truck are you putting these on I have A Chevy S10I would love to find a light bar like this for that truck

Thanks for doing this! It sure needed to be done. I am now in the market for a bar like this, to put on our small fleet of Trucks. Our problem point is, being able to see creatures to avoid at higher speed travel, on long stretches of very rural and low traffic highways at night. I have heard nothing but good things about the Cree bulbs, but whoever put this fixture together, sure made some poor choices. Though I'm sure someone who is using the better housings out there, is also choosing Cree bulbs. I have to think now, after seeing this. That it would be best for us, and our primarily 75mph traveling. To go with a spot type fixture. Giving us the ability to see further down the road at those speeds. Something I had not considered (spot vs flood lens) before, when shopping these long curved LED light bars. Thanks again!

If you disliked this video you need your damn head examined. great review.

I like your reasoning. Why not get another light bar, indeed. And Thanks for your reviews - please let us know how the light bars - and other light sources you review - hold up after some length of use.

You did this job how I do work..full comparison great job Creed

Mesmo não entendendo a língua inglesa, pude ver o excelente exemplo na prática. Parabéns. São Paulo-SP Brasil *** Even though I did not understand the English language, I could see the excellent example in practice. Congratulations. São Paulo-SP Brazil

The wide flood spot works for me in Oregon. I have been saved a few times just because I could see off road. The whiter Cree looks like the best even if the wires don't meet the other bar spec's. I could see and identify much more with the white light.

This was a great review! Thanks! Maybe to the naked eye, you can't see much of a difference, but through video, you can definitely see a difference in yellow-ness and, to a smaller extent, flood area. The Cree seems the brightest, whitest to me. Maybe they have slightly better LEDs and cut costs elsewhere.

it really depends on brand as well and company you may be getting them from. I have used some all spot beam 50" light bars. The cree 50" all spot is the best lights bar with the most amount of light. I have tried all 4 different types as well, most are just good flood beams. You will know if your getting a good spot beam, the light will light up about a half mile down the road. My 4 cubes on my windshield are true spots and they are 16 watts a pc and they will light up about 1/4 Nile down the road.

nice job, I like your reviews. The way you present the information is very structured and thorough. Hope to see more from you!

Best review! I really appreciate all your work on this video and the ton of unbiased information you provided. Thanks!

Nice work done here, I like the fact that you identify each LED type.

Nice review. The cree is definately bright and the sweet spot between beam & flood. What drives these LEDs? Each LED has its own driver below, or all have one master driver?

Seriously a great review of the 4. Thanks for that.

I liked the focus of the phillips and osram my only question is how bad is the windshield wash is from them i have a cree 52” and it lights my glass up more that anything.

Epistar is brighter than the rest IMHO, but that is not important right now what is which light bar has held up the longest / best

Great videos, one of the best I seen to compare the different light bar.

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to make this excellent comparison video, very appreciated!

Your reviews are great. Not many reviews out there that show/ all products in the environment it'll be used in. Thanks

great comparison - ive seen a bunch of the auxbeams on amazon and was thinking about getting a few lights and make a temporary lighting system because the truck that i will be using is technically my stepdad's, long story short he got an amazing deal on a 94 ranger that has all factory original stuff on it (runs perfect too) so i dont think he will want me mounting and wiring light bars into it, so i got to thinking about using bolted magnets wired into a box that will be powered by a computer PSU (they all have a 5 volt and 12 volt dc rail) and match an inverter to it - but this way i dont have to worry about anything and if i got my own 4x4, the lights would still be mine, or if i go with my friends, i can just put them on and basically go - i have everything in mind except for the wiring, but im not too concerned about that with decades of electrical experience in my family. I also havent gone out yet, but i definitely will to see what i actually need, so this idea might not actually happen for a long time, I am quite excited to go and cant wait (my stepdad knows all the good places in his area)

Which would you recomend most? I'm trying to stay under $180 on ebay and want a light bar with the pressure port and the wire coming in the side. One is a 480W cree light bar for $150, the other is a 480W Philips led light bar for about the same price. I'm just trying to figure out if the 480w is going to be more beneficial than the 288w bars

I love how you built that light bar mount in the back of your truck, I may have to try that.

Great video showing the differences, but how do you know they are actually Cree, Epistar etc chips other then taking the word of some seller that won't be around for long most likely?

The philips looks like the best one

Awesome comparisons. Thanks for posting. I liked all 4 the best LOL. Seriously though difficult to compare Epistar seemed the best all round performer to me.

I think I liked the epistar the best, given that you could see everything in front of you.

it looks like the Epistar is better for a flood light or for country driving. where did you get the Epistar led light bar ?

Surprisingly, harbor freight has the roadshock led bars, we have a 22 inch on the bumper of our tahoe that outshines all of my buddies big light bars. Had it for 3 years , use it alot, I mean alot of here in the mountains, still holding up

Love the test rig. Brilliantly simple.

really high quality comparison video! I think I'd rather have two smaller light bars aiming at the sides of vehicle and two spotlights aiming far in the distance, rather than one huge one.

Now that's what I call a true review.

Nice video. Appreciate the effort you took to make this video for people looking to buy a lightbar. Job well done!

thank you so much for making this video. it has helped me so much on deciding which light bar I should get for the first time.

First off, man great fuckin comparison video, best one I've found on youtube.! You sold me on the "CREE" style light bar. Just wanted to say that I got a 50inch Curved "CREE "light bar from a Reputable company and it was totally different than the one you have from EBAY in this video. The Casing one mine is much nicer, better heat vents, and the power wires come out of the side of the light bar like the other 3, not all Cut out like yours in the back. Thats what you have to be careful of when ordering off eBay they can call ANYTHING "CREE" Like generic light bar basically. But like the one I got there is Legit "CREE" Light bars made that are much nicer than the ones on eBay. Either way dude

That's a great effort. Thanks for doing this and taking the time to share your results with us. Cheers

is 250 a good price for a 50" cree Led light bar along with mount brackets & hardware?

I live in so Calif so it's prolly more expensive here....I had a 50" Cree installed on an "anti theft type" mounting bracket. Dude has to make money so he charged me $380.00 for the bar and $120.00 for the mount that's supposed to be much more difficult to get at. These prices include installation and wiring, with a cool rocker switch. How'd I do?

I love Characters. This guy is one!

Starting at 8:09 I was looking at the trees the furthest away from the mailbox. Seems like the Epistar bar had the widest light beam. The Phillips may seem brighter due to lenses focusing better. I'd say put the Phillips at roof level and Epistar at bumper level and run both.

How did this great guy get 102👎 those 102 got some serious problems best video on light bars it helped me a lot thank you bro I appreciate your hard work!💪👊

I had to replace my switch for my 2 light bars, one is a 52 30,000 lum and 50 inch light bar not sure on the lums and wattage, but is a 20 amp toggle ok to power those and also is it suppose to be warm to the touch? its a led one

I'm buying a light bar for my fire brigade and need a good spread but also decent spot..can you do a comparison with the new 7w leds.. I'm looking at 26" phillips and osram but can't make up my mind.. i like the spread of the cree in this video, but i believe its because of not being a fish eye, but have you used the new flood and spot 5d lenses.. the outer flood lens are fish eye but rippled. does that make the spread as good as none fish eye?

I'm going with the auxbeam they also have it on white to match my truck thanks bub! Great review keep it up!

I wish I had the money to send you a Rigid bar for a comparison. I'd like to see if there was a difference to support the extreme premium they want...

I suspect the height difference may have played a part in the difference too, but seem all good. Also, an ammeter would probably have been good to see if it is really 500W.

CREE got my vote i have 3- 4" inchers on my atv i love them

I’m going to be completely honest lol, I’m only buying one of these to look cool. I have gone off-roading once, and i ended up denting my xj and I got pissed. I’ll just stick with my dirt bike from now

What about the NEW "7D" light bars on ebay? Supposebly nothing is brighter than those.

Epistar would be my pick. Awesome video

Light reviews are super helpful, you should look into the Rough Country bars, their black series and X5 look cool but no one has done a quality review on them.

Great review! Thanks! 280W is a lot of juice. Can you run these for extended periods of time with a stock alternator without issues?

have you tested the wattage output on these to see if they are correct? volts x amps=watts

Test the longevity please... You have them installed. Thanks for your time and effort.

Nice Rig for mounting all the Lights. You should grab a 50" Light Bar from Rigid for Comparison. Cheers.

Nice review. And you got the ultimate oncoming traffic blinding machine.

I have a question, I'm going to buy a 30 inch LED bar, but, I can also get two 4 inch and one 21 inch LED light bar, is it better to have only one como flood/spot or the second option and why? thanks

good video thanks for the info I'm just getting started with the lights for my truck

I have a 22in philips light bar, spot and flood. 200w with 22K lumens and I love it.

I think it's worth mentioning that CREE LEDs have a lens on the chip like the Osram but not as large.

I think on the road the Osram was better, even when at your barn

Damn that Cree makes a loud high pitched noise. OSRAM looks pretty good to me really.

OSRAM you recommend the bar ?

Which light and seller did you get from Amazon great video

Was wondering about those myself. My boss got 4 of them for his "Resident Evil Umbrella Corp" car. 2 leaked almost within days of installing after we had a typical Florida rain storm. Going to be getting one for my 99 Tahoe. Kind of leaning towards the Cree as I like the wide illumination pattern, which here in FL, is needed due to the wild boar that just run out from the side of the road.

Great video! I'm liking the CREE the best for all around even though you said it was the cheapest made.

The Epistar bar in your video has flood reflectors on the outside. If you compare the last few reflectors you will see the difference in the flood and spot. Nice Review and I have seen many advertise the 5w led but have yet to see any that lived up to it...

Finally. Waaaay helpful, brother! 2 quick ?'s...Was I mistaken or did I catch the CREE strobing down a notch after it was initially illuminated? I'm asking cuz I have a small CREE UniqueFire flashlight which is Blindingly Bright...for about 6-8 seconds then it blinks down to @ 2/3 that and may even blink again down to @ 1/20 of the brightness. Clicking the switch or unscrewing/screwing the lens case sometimes will bring it back temporarily. Frustrating, but at least I wasn't in an abandoned mine or under some bug-infested old house.

When I look at the video I'd say that the Osram and Philips are the best ones since you really don't want to light up the road close to the car - you want the lights in order to see things far away like deer and moose.

Great video comparison. I'm looking to get a roof lightbar for my 2002 Sport Trac. I've been debating those Crees on Ebay. Hard to believe your Cree is a 288W model. The ones I've been looking at either the 400something watt and 560W versions. Now seeing the 288W on your video I think I could get by with that one and save some money. Previous owner of my ST hit something hard and now I can't adjust the stock headlights left to right. Only up and down. They point towards the right side of the road. :( Thanks again!

You forgot to show the people who ran off the road being blinded haha 😂

I KNOW THERES 2 KINDS OF CREE COLORS (WHITE) AND (BLUE) MY QUESTION IS, WHAT COLOR ARE THE THESE CREE LIGHTS?

Great comparison! And awesome video. Helped a lot!

July 12, 2020. Watching this great review and decided to buy all four of it just for the fun of it. . No actually I bought the Cree as it was cheaper in ebay.

so at the end which one would youd go for ?

I wonder what Ridgid looks like just for giggles. I wouldn't buy one but just wonder if these really compare to a $1,500 light.

thanks for your video. great info. I ordered an epistar light bar and ended up getting one that looked like a Cree case. same exact outer hardware. but it does have the round epistar LEDs. should I call it a loss or contact the seller?

Thanks for the review I have been looking for some thing to put on the tractor sun shade for night work so this was helpful.

спасибо, сравнительные тесты это хорошо. помагает определится чего именно хочешь.

I found an 300w epistar light bar for $97 the only reason I picked it up over the cree is because it came with an ip67 waterproof rating. I cant wait to try it out

Hi, have you check the rough country led curved lights? thinking on gettingone, but you do a great reviews, want to ask for your opinion. Thanks