driving lights

[Davo]

I may seal the deal on a new Fit Sport by this weekend, and possibly tomorrow night.

I like the look of the driving lights on the Fit Sport. Do the Honda Driving Lights (or are they Fog Lights) work very well? Are any aftermarket lights superior to the factory lights while being cheaper than factory prices?

Davo

[macbuddy]

The GD3 fog lights work well in that they illuminate the peripheral areas of the road more so than without them on.. They do not seem to "throw" much more light forward than the OEM low beams do by themselves. With fog lights on, I still cannot see much further into the fog than with them off.
If you want driving lights, I am sure that dedicated after market driving lights would work well in place of the fog lights to project more light forward, in non foggy conditions.
I am not sure if the GE8 fog lights are any better in the fog.

[claymore]

In a best conditions test using yellow fog lights the best way to use them is alone without any white lights turned on. If the white lights are on the light still bounces off the fog and scatters in your vision making it hard to see.

Using just yellow lighting, the spectrum of lights being what it is, the yellow light scatters less off the dense water vapor (fog) than white light hence you should see better because the light is not being bounced back into your vision.

It's a weird feeling go to a shooting range and borrow a shooters yellow shooting glasses and you can flip them off and on your face and really see the effect of yellow. It's even more pronounced on a cloudy day.

[manxman]

Davo,
The GE8 Fog Lights are better than nothing for fog, and help quite a bit in lighting the edges of the road on dark, narrow mountain roads. But after-market lighting from quality manufacturers, such as PIAA and others, is much better. The problem is, after-market lights are almost always higher in electrical demand than the stock fog lights. You can easily overpower your weak little battery with really effective add-on lights. The design aspect that makes after-market lights much better than stock fog lights is that the after-market ones have much better quality lenses, with much better optical quality for precise focus. Fog light beams have much sharper vertical cut-off, and driving lights (for distance) have a much sharper pencil beam that has less of a blinding effect on other oncoming drivers. By all means, AVOID bargain-priced add-on lights.

Lights that are worth the investment because of quality start in the $100-150.00 per pair range.

EDIT-

I almost forgot, your stock fog lights will be much more effective if you change out the stock halogen bulbs and replace them with higher power bulbs. PIAA makes higher power bulbs both in clear (white) and in yellow (there are other brands of higher power light bulbs too. PIAA is my favorite). Shop for replacement bulbs on Ebay for the best prices.

And, cheapest, easiest, and most necessary of all- you will need to re-aim both the headlights and the fog lights somewhat higher than they are when you drive the car home.