Moose Lights for the dark nights in Alaska (Anchorage, Fairbanks: disposal, live)

[naturesdreams]

Impressive... nothing like feeling safe driving at night for sure!

[Marty Van Diest]

On the other hand...I drove to Anchorage last night and a pickup behind me had them or similar. They were on dim but were so blinding that I eventually pulled into the left lane and slowed down so that he would pass me. I was going 65 in the right lane and he just stayed behind me...I slowed to 60 and he was still behind me. So I pulled into the left lane and slowed to 50 and he moved past.

That wasn't you was it Mark? :-)

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

On the other hand...I drove to Anchorage last night and a pickup behind me had them or similar. They were on dim but were so blinding that I eventually pulled into the left lane and slowed down so that he would pass me. I was going 65 in the right lane and he just stayed behind me...I slowed to 60 and he was still behind me. So I pulled into the left lane and slowed to 50 and he moved past.

That wasn't you was it Mark? :-)

Naw, I would have flashed the lights for you to get out of the way!

I hate when people put any lights on and don't have their beams adjusted, don't really matter what kind of lights they have, they all blind you when not installed correctly.

When driving into Anchorage you can see a lot of cars/trucks that have the HID lights now, they are a white light, and most are adjusted properly, but every so often you get some jerk that has them adjusted up the highway so he can see better on low beam, but blinds the rest of the oncoming traffic!

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by naturesdreams

Impressive... nothing like feeling safe driving at night for sure!

When you are driving in Alaska/Canada outside of a town (which there are thousands of miles of dark roads), the darkness on long drives can be stressful, you don't think about it, but you are always straining your eyes to see a critter on the road or some other obstacle that can be an issue.

When you can see down the road in plenty of time to safely evade a dangerous obstacle, it is a much easier drive!

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by AADAD

2nd on the PIAAs.

Why are those lights on with your fog lights?

When I install those type of lights, I put them on a relay so they only come on when I turn the high beams on. That way I'm not dimming the bright lights and then looking for a second switch to cut those really bright lights that will clearly blind someone on the oncoming lane.

They work well, but with a set of HID lights, they will be brighter than your bumper mounted lights with standard headlights. Having used that type of lights bumper mounted are really great, but the newer HID's beat them hands down for night driving. Those are more than likely the straight beam type lights, so you can see tunnel of light down the road, but not what is coming from the ditch like a running moose. The HID lights not only show what is down the road, but what is in the ditch a couple hundred yards ahead of you too.

[AADAD]

Cuz it's cool.

I am not a fan of the HID on the standard lights on most vehicles. they are to bright for oncoming vehicles IMHO. The PIAA are designed to set a bright light on the road and to the sides. The fogs add a dimension to that and I like that e.g. the more I see on the edges (snow, ruts) the happier I am. I have also considered mounting high lights on the roof rack but so far I have not run into conditions where I have felt that I would absolutely need them. The PIAA also have a longer "throw" than I expected and this helps as well. The high beams on the 4Runner are unbelievably powerful and when I need them they extend easily 100 yards and more depending on conditions.

[Jan Alaska]

My HID headlights work great in snow, but then most headlights work great with the reflectivity of snow. Where they fall short is when the weather is wet and cloudy, I get no reflectivity off them at all in fact I have been known to check more than once that they are even working. The one place I notice this most is on the Glen Hwy just past Eklutna as you come down onto the hay flats, the highway lighting ends there too which just adds to the problem ... Ive been looking at getting a small sport guard/grille guard so I can mount a couple of decent lights, Hella's or the like so I can acutally see the road at night.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Jan Alaska

My HID headlights work great in snow, but then most headlights work great with the reflectivity of snow. Where they fall short is when the weather is wet and cloudy, I get no reflectivity off them at all in fact I have been known to check more than once that they are even working. The one place I notice this most is on the Glen Hwy just past Eklutna as you come down onto the hay flats, the highway lighting ends there too which just adds to the problem ... Ive been looking at getting a small sport guard/grille guard so I can mount a couple of decent lights, Hella's or the like so I can acutally see the road at night.

Last year I drove a lot between Wasilla and Anchorage and neve had that problem with HID Light, both hi/lo beams.

Are you bulbs adjusted properly? Had the same effect you did with Halogen bulbs as well. Wet pavement in the dark is a hard surface to see on with no markings in most conditions to Start with. But for me, the HID lights have been the best for me.

You can get them in a yellow fog light color that works very well in that kind of dark too.

Anyway, not hitting moose or People along the highway is my point, how one does it, doesn't really matter!

[tigre79]

My PIAAS are on a separate switch from my regular headlights. I didn't wire them that way, but I like having more options. I can run them with either the low-beams when there's more traffic or the high-beams when there's very little traffic and it's extra dark out (the norm out here in the winter). My high-beams throw pretty good light to the edges of the road and the PIAAs have a good reach. There are moose around up the road (saw three on the way back from Copper Center last week - and zero other vehicles), but we also have some seriously funky visibility down here with frequent fog and heavy snow, so bright glaring lights aren't always the ticket. Having more options is a good thing when your main concern is often just making sure you know where the road is.

[RedJacket]

Those blaring lights cause accidents. Why don't you folks just pay the Moose Whisperer to teach the moose up there to look both ways before crossing.

Problem solved.