Hi everyone. My first post but I've been a long time lurker and I've learned a lot. Just bought a 2019 Ford Edge Titanium and I've been reading that my led headlights are rated poorly. I live in the country and I want the best lighting I can get. What should I do? Hella Lightbar 350?? I look forward to all your suggestions. Thanks.
2019 Ford Edge Titanium
- Thread starter BriteNite
- Start date
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Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
Wow, you joined 9 years ago and finally posted!
I know the IIHS says that both headlamp variants' low beams produce excessive glare, and for the high beams, the Titanium (with the 301A package) and the ST (with the 401A package) the visibility was good for gradual curves and fair for sharp curves-- the other models are fair in all four tests. Sounds like you have the better high beams.
With the front-end refresh, I'm not sure you can fit the headlamps from earlier model years, so that complicates things a bit.
The Hella Lightbar 350 (in the driving beam) would be good when you need that extra high beam oomph out in the country, but it doesn't fix the glare from the low beams when you're in traffic.
You definitely need to be sure the lamps are aimed correctly. That potentially could fix some of the glare issues if the tested vehicle didn't have proper lamp aim.
Hi Alaric, thanks for being the first responder to my very first post. I know, I know, I'm a slow starter! This posting "business" is pretty complicated for a guy with minimal computer time. I really like the new Edge (so new that I actually haven't even driven it at night yet) but I just find that night driving always stresses me because of the number of wildlife collisions in our area (Alberta, CAN). There are very few times that I don't see another big blood spatter on the highway each time I'm out on the road so I'm looking for all the light I can legally get. I'm sure a headlight swap is out of the question but I think I could discretely install the Hella 350 just below the Ford emblem on the grill. Another potential "light location" might be where my beautiful factory fog lights are placed since I've learned how useless they generally seem to be. So, budget aside, what are my BEST alternatives. I find it very disappointing to have to discuss lighting upgrades to a brand new vehicle with LED headlights costing in excess of $1,000 each were I to ever break one! Nice job Ford - but they sure are pretty! I look forward to anyone's suggestions.
Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
Glad to help!
True, most factory fog lamps are pretty useless. On that vehicle, the fog lamps appear to be a little higher up than usual-- their light centers appear to be 17" or so off the ground. Still, that might just be a bit low for an auxiliary high beam to be truly effective. You'll want something much closer to the height of the factory high beams.
I don't think there's much you can do about the Fusion LEDs. I think I posted a while ago, and I noted that not only did it have excessive glare but also poor sight distance. Proper aim might help a little but I don't think anything can really cure poor sight distance combined with over-the-top glare. Kind of a bad situation to be in. You can aim upward to increase sight distance, but this only makes the glare even worse. You can aim down to reduce glare, but this only makes sight distance even worse.
Unless someone points me in a different direction I think I'll stick with my idea of trying the Hella Lightbar 350. I think I read somewhere that it is actually made by JW Speaker which, to me, sounds encouraging. Are there any other quality light bars of similar size to the Hella that would be worth considering?
Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
What kind of further comment do you have in mind? That Hella 350 as described and linked in the referenced thread is a really strong "go-to"; it's physically and optically well engineered and built, it's readily mountable and doesn't create new pedestrian hazards or aerodynamic disasters, it gives good performance, it's affordable...it's just really cost-effective, so it's the one that comes to my mind when this kind of need comes forth. I'm sure there are other lights on the market that are at least as good in some or all respects; I'm not an oracle and don't claim to know every product on the market. 
Greatful to receive your reply. I'm clearly aware of all the junk out there and just wondered if there was anything better to consider. You're clearly in a better position to offer guidance to a guy that lives in the bush and hopes not to be the next poor soul that wipes out his/her vehicle in a collision with a deer/moose/elk. They (the critters) are all out here, along with several recent human fatalities. I'm just trying not to be one of them!!
