Rigid Industries SR Series Review
Rigid Industries are well known for their high quality lightbars, including the E Series we looked at recently. The E Series are great lights, and a lot of people are very happy to have one on their 4wd or ute. LED lighting is a rapidly advancing technology, though, and Rigid aren’t taking any chances on being left behind. We’ve just been looking at a new range from them, the SR Series.
SR stands for “Single Row,” and that’s just what you get. Most LED bars have two rows of lights, stacked vertically. Not these ones. There’s a single row of large 3W LEDs, all using an updated version of Rigid’s hybrid optics – the reflector and front lens combine to produce and shape the beam.
So what’s in the box? Well, you get the light bar, a complete wiring harness and two sets of mounting brackets. The brackets are neat looking steel and work well with these compact lights. The single row design means the height of the casing is only 1.5 inch, which gives a very neat, low profile installation. It also minimises the more vulnerable front cover, so you’re a lot less likely to get any damage there from overhanging branches or flying rocks. Of course like the E Series the front cover is pretty tough anyway; we’ve never seen any serious scratches on Rigid lights, let alone any worse damage. The main casing is an A360 aluminium extrusion, finished to a very high standard and with a deep black powder coat. Like the E Series the casing is extremely well sealed, to an IP68 rating. That means it’s completely dustproof and can be totally submerged in water without leaking. There’s no way even the worst weather is going to affect this.
As far as light goes everything looks pretty good. The smaller 6 and 10 inch bars are available in a choice of flood, spot or combo (“driving” beams. The larger ones – it’s also available in 20, 30, 40 or 50 inch – come with the combo setup as standard. The spot mode gives an amazingly long beam of cool white light, so it’s very easy to see what’s out front. The flood beams lose range but gain coverage. With the combo option you get the best of both – a spot section in the centre of the bar flanked by floods. For travelling over rough ground this is a great setup and one we’re really pleased to see. The SR lights are also available with a choice of clear or amber filters, so if you prefer amber light you can have that.
These new lights are slightly cheaper than the E Series, but we honestly don’t think they lose anything in performance; if anything they’re slightly superior. The low profile is great, too, and the quality is all you’d expect from Rigid. If you’re looking for a good new lightbar with plenty of options to choose from we’d happily recommend an SR, especially in combo specification.
