Clearwater or Soltek

[Mcgyver74]

I am in the market for some additional flamethrowers for night riding, right now I've narrowed down to 2 choices, the Soltek HID and the Clearwater LED.

My question is, if you could only afford one, which would you get? Im kinda torn, on one hand the Solteks are liking having miniature suns mounted to your fairing, but the clearwater's are dimmable

Decisions decisions....

 

[Fred W]

I'd say that it depends a lot on what you will be doing with them.

If you're gonna be burning the desert highways at night, go with the Solteks.

If you're going to be riding around in Joisey, get the LEDs.

 

[RaYzerman19]

I have experience with neither, but if you want more light down the road I would think the HID's are the way to go. The LED's are more like wide angle fog lights by the sounds of it.

 

[LDRydr]

At only $108.67 each, and free shipping, you may want to check out the Hella HID's that somebody else posted about today. They even include clear rock-guards. Amazon Linky or Hella Linky

 

[SacramentoMike]

Nobody's really seen the new Clearwater lights--the big ones. He calls that model the "Krista." Well, nobody but me, anyway. So far, I've got the only pair on an FJR. Lucky me. I haven't posted up much about them except for a little teaser

in the thread about the smaller Clearwater lights.

Um, wait'll you see the NEW product from Clearwater. I'll be posting on them soon. And I'll be showing them off at WFO, among other places.
Glenn and his crew are taking their lights and some photo equipment out to some dark location this weekend and doing some careful comparison photography to show the brightness. I had mine mounted last week, and tried to take some pictures down in Death Valley but it's hard to get a real good sense of how different levels of lighting compare--at least it was for me and my little Canon snap-shooter. I'll just say these things LIT UP THE NIGHT when I switched them on after dark in unlit, moonless Death Valley. Like the smaller ones, you can turn them down enough to use all the time, in all traffic conditions for amazing visibility. Here's just a little teaser of the new lights, shown next to the small, fender-mounted running light I've been talking about up to now:

When they're mounted nice and pretty (what I have now was done to get them on before that D.V. trip and the mounting wasn't really optimum) I'll post much more about them, including comparison pics shot in the dark. And I'll have them up at WFO in July. One of the guys--CAJW--wanted to see them alongside his Solteks--I believe he has the brighter HID ones, not the halogen kind--and went by Clearwater a week or so ago. He said the Solteks are definitely brighter. OTOH, I still say the LEDs are amazingly bright with a flood of very white light well down the road. Some of the guys who stayed in Stovepipe Wells got a chance to see them in the dark, too, and I think they'd agree. It just depends on how far out you want your light pattern to extend, maybe. I do love the low voltage draw, the long, dependable life, and the dimmable feature that allows you to use the LEDs in any kind of traffic. They do click onto full brightness with the high beams, btw.

 

[Mcgyver74]

interesting points everyone,

Depending on the price, the new Kristas may be what I want...Do you know when Clearwater will be releasing them to the public?

 

[SacramentoMike]

interesting points everyone,
Depending on the price, the new Kristas may be what I want...Do you know when Clearwater will be releasing them to the public?

Give them a call. I'm thinking now.

 

[CAJW]

Mac,

I have experience with both and did get a chance to compare the new "Krista" lights to to my Solteks at the Clearwater shop. The Solteks are hands down brighter, which works well for my application as I do a fair amount of two lane mountain roads with minimal traffic. OTOH, the "Kristas" would probably be my choice if I drove much in town and needed a running light for cages to see me. I feel I have the best of both worlds as I have the Clearwater "Glenda" LED's that are mounted low on the front fender bolt mounts that I use for running/recognition lights. I like the dim-able feature which helps fine tune how much light they throw, but I don't count on them for road illumination. Check this out for pics Clicky of what I mean as they throw the light wide and low, but not out very far. Not a big deal as I have the Solteks for that, but the "Kristas" albeit dimmer than the Solteks, do offer more versatility. HTH.

 

[Mcgyver74]

thanks CAJW, that was very helpful,

At this point I think I'm going to lean towards the Kristas if I can get them yet Just need to see where they mount to...they look a bit big for the fender

 

[Mcgyver74]

Just spoke with the guys at Clearwater, they are hoping to begin shipping the Krista's by end of Aprll. they said the price point should be about $649, he said that the Glenda's are more of a daytime running light to help you get noticed by oncoming traffic while the Krista is more of a driving light, the Glenda's mount to the fender, but the Krista's will mount like a Soltek does

 

[Diego]

Just spoke with the guys at Clearwater, they are hoping to begin shipping the Krista's by end of Aprll. they said the price point should be about $649, he said that the Glenda's are more of a daytime running light to help you get noticed by oncoming traffic while the Krista is more of a driving light, the Glenda's mount to the fender, but the Krista's will mount like a Soltek does

Hi Mcgyver74 let me give you a little insight about the Soltek Flame Throwers. We offer several pattern in HID and in the Halogen to be able suit your needs. The LED's are good for up close fill in lighting but if you want a light that is going to project down the road for you you're going to want HID's or a good 100watt Halogen light. You want to make sure your system can support 2 100watt Halogen lights if you plan on going that route. The HID lights are the way to go since they only draw 35watt and the light output is equivalent 250watts !

Diego Land

Baja Designs / Soltek Lighting

 

[Fred W]

Hi Mcgyver74 let me give you a little insight about the Soltek Flame Throwers. We offer several pattern in HID and in the Halogen to be able suit your needs. The LED's are good for up close fill in lighting but if you want a light that is going to project down the road for you you're going to want HID's or a good 100watt Halogen light. You want to make sure your system can support 2 100watt Halogen lights if you plan on going that route. The HID lights are the way to go since they only draw 35watt and the light output is equivalent 250watts !
Diego Land

Baja Designs / Soltek Lighting

Not to be argumentative, as I agree with you that a good HID light is definitely the way to go, but I just feel the need to point out that, through empirical data collection, some folks on here have been able to establish that a 35W HID headlamp actually draws just about the same power from the bike as a 50W halogen bulb (around 50 watts).

This added wattage appears to be due to whatever losses occur in the ballast and ignitor circuitry. You still get way more light output for the 50W investment, but you don't save a lot of alternator output.

I'd have to see a head to head comparison with the new fangled LEDs before I will believe that they have anywhere near the light output of a 35W HID.