VisionX Xmitter Lightbar Review
Nothing beats a good lightbar when you’re finding your way across rough ground in a 4wd or trying to get some work done in front of your Ute. There’s a huge range available, with LED technology quickly moving to dominate the market, and that means there’s no shortage of designs that offer something a bit different. We’ve already looked at the Reflex series of bars by VisionX, which we really liked, but among the other lights VisionX offer are the Xmitter range and we decided they were interesting too.
There’s a pretty large choice of Xmitter models to choose from. The standard Xmitter is a fairly conventional bar, using a double row of 3W LEDs. If you’re really determined to squeeze every last lumen from the width of your vehicle you can also opt for the double stack series, which have four rows of the same LEDs. Both are available in lengths from 4 to 52 inches. Now there’s also the Xmitter Elite range, featuring a modernised and improved housing with better water resistance. We took a look at an Xmitter Elite.
Like most LED lightbars the Xmitter is built around an extruded aluminium casing with die-cast ends, finished in a choice of black, white or chrome. The front lens is high-impact acrylic, which is fairly tough but not quite up to the polycarbonate ones used on many other modern lights. The Xmitter Elite bar we tested has an IP68 rating, meaning it’s totally dustproof and can survive being completely submerged in water indefinitely. This is a step up from the IP67 standard of the original Xmitter, which was rated for half an hour at a depth of one meter. Of course IP67 is adequate for a lightbar anyway, but some extra security is never a bad thing.
One feature of the Xmitter casing that we really liked is the mounting system. The mounts run in a channel on the base of the extruded section, and can be positioned anywhere along it. This makes it easy to use mounting holes that already exist. The mounts also let you adjust the bar both horizontally and vertically. VisionX say this is a unique feature and as far as we know they’re right. It’s certainly a very easy bar to mount and seems extremely secure once fitted.
All the Xmitter units are based around 3W LEDs producing 180 lumens each at a bright white 7000K, and with a predicted life of around 50,000 hours. The bars are available in “Euro” configuration, giving a narrow 10° spot beam, or a 35° flood. Like the Reflex models there’s no combo option, which is a shame, but they’re still very capable. As for power the standard Xmitters need a 12V supply, while the Elite will run on anything from 9V to 32V.
The Xmitter series are nicely put together bars with a very attractive and flexible mounting system. We also like the double stack models, which are about as bright as you’re going to get. These are definitely an option worth looking at.
