Is there a better lightbar than the Recon??

 

Yes. Recon is overpriced and not very good quality. I have had my Plasmaglow Fire and Ice for a better part of 5 years now, or about 3500-4000 hours. Every single LED is firing, straight as an arrow and full intensity. It is even stuck on with its included sticky tape, even after years of gunk, oil, and trash dripping on it. I'm severely impressed.

 

Interesting. The last Plasmaglow Fire & Ice I installed (on a friend's truck) really disappointed me. The LED's were all slightly different intensity right out of the box and half of it died less than 1 year later. It was totally messed up in less than 2 years.

 

I have not found one, I am going to make my own out of lights like these at some point.

http://www.superlumination.com/image...l_6_m_r_wm.jpg

 

Not too sure how well those will work out.

They are Clearance - Marker Lights which will not be as bright as a Stop/Turn lamp head.

If you are only going for additional lighting for the parking lamps, this should work fine for the light output. not too sure on the size (0.72 " high ) fitting in there, and still being visible from the rear ( is the center of the LED going to be inline with the edge of the top of the bumper ).

Kind of hard to use something small enough to fit in the area between the tailgate and the bumper, it is a very narrow area, that had the 2 wattage settings.

I looked for some time on a DIY line of fire bar for my 2001, and just went with the Recon version, due to a lack of dual wattage configuration ( tail & Stop / Turn ) in the size needed. On my 2006, 5 + years later, still works as day 1.

 

Believe it or not, I used pretty much those exact lights on several of my previous trucks. I had them on my '97, '99 and '02. I had three in the center and one on each side, right at the back of the bed. You couldn't see them directly, but you got this really cool "glowing" effect under the tailgate. I tried to find a way to put them on my '05, but there just isn't enough clearance as Steve said.

I'm holding off on adding anything to my '10 until I find something of a decent quality level. That last Plasmaglow strip really soured me.

 

The rear suspension is so stiff on my F350 it beat my RECON fire/ice bar to death and only half of it works right now I am really only looking for marker lights and blinkers at this point. I am also going to add LED work lights under the bumber and in the bed for back up/hook up lights when I have to hook and unhook from our fifth wheel at night.

 

Tom, that's the the same place JP get's his LED stuff through and he has been really happy so far with the quality. Although I have more clearance on my truck than the F150 does between the tailgate and bumper

 

If you had issues with the Recon bar, chances are you are going to have issues with the marker lamps in the URL above.

If you are going with aux reverse / work lamps take a look at the Defiant Truck Products brackets. They are a nice piece of gear.

 

Steve, thank you for pointing me towards Defiant Truck Products I was laying under my truck on a creeper last weekend trying to figure out how I was going to mount the lights.

 

wow raptor, your plasma looks intense. Ive never seen any other plasma that looks like that ...

 

I don't remember where I got it, but it was ~$75 and is a champ

 

i use an anzo light bar that has reverse lights as well. had it about 6 months and no problems to date..

best pic i have of it on the mac,

 

been using the recon, for 8 months now....took the dip and bought it knowing their could of been better had....it is still working, and well i'll see down the road

due to reviews from here i decided against splicing my wires and connecting to the trailer pin connect

 

Yea those would look nice.