With so many LED light brands on the market, how can you choose the right LEDs for your Jeep? Here are a few points to consider when purchasing Jeep LEDs.
CREE and Epistar are the most popular chips/drivers used in the automotive LED light bar industry, although there are actually more than a dozen different brands that are commercially available.
CREE, Inc. was established in 1987 and is based in the USA. They hold thousands of patents in more than twenty countries around the world and are universally accepted as the LED industry’s most prolific innovators.
CREE effectively created the high quality LED standards that all other LED manufactures strive to achieve. As a result, the price for light bars with CREE LEDs are higher than their industry counterparts.
CREE makes the best LEDs, but other manufacturers are in a close second place when it comes to LED quality. Epistar Inc. (a Taiwan based company) and Nichia Corp (a Japan based company) produce good quality LEDs as well.
It is important to note that CREE licenses the use of its patents to others, and all three of the leading LED companies manufacture most of their LEDs in China.
Here is how these different Jeep LED brands stack up in terms of life expectancy and durability:
CREE: 50,000 to 100,000 hour Life Expectancy – Highest Standards
Epistar: 50,000 to 75,000 hour Life Expectancy – High Standards
Nichia: 50,000 to 75,000 hour Life Expectancy – High Standards
Bridgelux: 30,000 to 40,000 hour Life Expectancy – Medium Standards
Edison: 30,000 to 40,000 hour Life Expectancy – Medium Standards
Ecosmart: 10,000 to 25,000 hour Life Expectancy – Low Standards
Generic: 250 to 5,000 hour Life Expectancy – Lowest Standards
Functional Utility Inc. is rolling out new LED light options in the months to come, so check out our offroad lighting page to review our current offerings.
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