We are back with another chapter in our MadMatt product review series. We’ve been working with MadMatt for a number of years; he has covered how far Ultra Vision lighting has progressed in the past 10 years and an in-depth review of our NITRO Maxx 180 Driving Lights. This time, MadMatt will be taking us through his ‘Guide to Even Illumination and Safety’, covering the essentials of what makes a great spotlight, how they function in real-world situations, and how the features of our Ultra Vision lights make travelling on country roads easier.
Even Illumination
Some light bars are good at throwing light into the distance but not so great at ensuring the spread of light is even. Regardless of your driving environment, it’s ideal to have a gradual spread of light from the hotspot in the middle to the edges of light. MadMatt makes a strong case for why an even spread of illumination makes your drive easier and safer by gradually spreading light from the hotspot centre to the periphery.
Peripheral View
Traditionally, spotlights are designed to give the maximum light distance, and light bars are designed to provide added width, which is why you see so many vehicles accessorised with both options. MadMatt points out one of the most essential features of our Ultra Vision Lighting spotlights is the central LED spread reflector, which functions as a mini light bar spreading light to a wide depth of field. This centre spread reflector keeps your periphery illuminated and your drive safer, especially if you will likely encounter wildlife on rural roads.
Intensity & Hi-Lo Feature
Useable light is a great way to measure a driving light’s effectiveness; MadMatt tells us that while extra distance is a great feature, it also means that when a car approaches, you need to dip your headlights sooner than expected as they are in your field of illumination. This highlights one of the most popular features of our driving lights: the hi-lo feature. The hi-lo feature means that you can keep just the central light bar-like reflector on, still giving you excellent illumination but not as much distance, so you can keep your lights on a bit longer when vehicles approach.
The hi-lo feature is also very handy when driving in areas with many road signs. On the ‘hi’ setting, there can be a lot of reflections and glare, but by switching to ‘lo’, the glare is reduced while still providing plenty of light out the front and sides.
As a premium manufacturer of Australian driving lights, we make lights designed specifically for our harsh Aussie environments and climates, expertly crafted to deliver the best lighting options to keep you safe. We also love to receive feedback from all of our customers. MadMatt, an expert in all things 4WD and off-roading, has put together this video where he gives us his opinions and criteria for what makes a great light.
Watch the video to get the full rundown of MadMatt’s Guide to Even Illumination and Safety.
Video Transcript
So how do I use my vehicle? What lights do I like? Let’s get into that right now.
Importance of an Even Light
Well, the first thing is, I like a nice, even light. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, in the centre of the beam, where I’m looking, I obviously want a good percentage of the light to be in that area. So, let’s call that the hotspot. The hotspot area—I want it to be a fairly decent size and cover the majority of where my eyes are looking when I’m on the road. But from the hot spot out to the edges of the light, I want a very gentle graduation of the light intensity so that I don’t feel like I’m looking at a hotspot here and a hotspot there and then no light next to it. I really don’t like driving under those conditions.
Ultra Vision Lighting Spotlights
Now, these lights here have been provided by a company called Ultra Vision Lighting. They’re an Australian manufacturer of spotlights, and they make a premium product. They have provided these spotlights to me so that I can do this content on them, give them some real-world feedback on how these lights operate, and my opinions on that. So, big thanks to Ultra Vision Lighting for supporting me as I support them, an Australian manufacturer.
Peripheral View
The next thing that I look for is the peripheral view. What can I see out to the side of me? Well, the reason I like to have that view is when you’re driving here in Australia, we have a lot of wildlife that can come up out of the sides of the road just before your vehicle gets to that section of the road. The number of times that having peripheral lighting has allowed me to see a wombat, a kangaroo, or some other animal in the detail of the side of the road—I couldn’t tell you; it’s been so many times.
Light Bar and Transition
Now, the reason these lights work so well in that way is in the centre here, they have a lens which is effectively like a light bar, and it’s sole job is to put light out to the sides of the vehicle. It does a really good job at that, but it transitions into the main light without any lines or hot spots in that intermediary area.
Intensity and Range
The next thing I look for and like from a light is a light that gives me really good intensity up to about a kilometre. After that, I feel like the light is kind of wasted. In some ways, it almost has a negative effect, and the negative is that when I have an oncoming vehicle coming towards me, I have to dip my light from high beam down to low beam a lot sooner than I would like. So, it means that I’m driving in darkness for quite a period of time. Now, these spotlights here will range out beyond two kilometres, so it’s like, wow, and I’d almost say that these lights at 2K or beyond are almost too much light.
Hi-Lo Feature
These lights do have a feature which helps solve the problem. You see, these spotlights have a hi-lo feature. What that means is that I can push a button, and these spotlights will dip to a low beam setting, which is effectively the centre light bar stays on, giving me a nice, let’s say, a hundred or so meters of good illumination on top of the vehicle’s high beam. That means I can stay on a decent amount of illumination until the vehicle that’s coming towards me is a lot closer. Then, I can dip down to the low beam. So that’s how these lights, although they have that massive distance, address the issue of driving in the darkness of low beam until the vehicle gets closer to you.
Driving Through Country Roads
When you’re driving through the country, which is up and down hills, when you’re going down the hill, to the best of the light’s ability, you want to be able to see down below you as much as possible. So, you want the light to travel down the hill, and then you also, more importantly, want the light to travel up the hill on the other side so you can plan where you’re going to drive. These lights have an excellent feature of height in the light beam, so I do like that feature.
