Want to have your cake and eat it too? Bushranger Night Hawk Variable Series driving lights might just be the ultimate do-it-all accessory.
We’ve all heard the tale of Goldilocks and the three bears. The girl unknowingly wandering into a bears home and struggles to find just the right porridge. Some were too hot. Others too cold. Finally, finding the perfect one. Sure, in the original story she was ultimately chased off into the woods never to be seen again, but the idea of struggling to find just the right fit is something relatable to all of us, and not just the porridge stealers. It’s something you see frequently in 4X4 land. People wanting the perfect product that just doesn’t exist. One bar too heavy, while the alternative offers too little protection.
In their typical quietly innovative style, Bushranger may have solved this age old problem. While their Night Hawk Variable Series range of driving lights focus more on LED lighting and less on porridge, Bushranger has positioned themselves as possibly the perfect fit for all 4X4ers. How have Bushranger done that you ask? By letting you dial in exactly what you’re looking for with your lights. Let us explain.
Variable light intensity
Their Variable Series of driving lights are split up into three distinctly different products. The first of which, is their VLI, or Variable Light Intensity offering. These bad boys feature the same die cast alloy construction and 4mm steel mounting plates as the rest of the offerings in the range, but that’s where the similarities end. Each light is shoe-horned with 37 high output OSRAM LEDs letting each pair of 9in lights punch out up to an impressive 27,400 effective Lumens with the covers off. Keeping the optional protected covers off while reach out to 1.48km at 1Lux, while the flood covers will transform the beam pattern to a 200m wide spread.
Their real trick is their 8 position controller though. Rather than the classic on/off switch, the Bushranger controller lets you dial in 8 positions of power intensity from 0% up to 100%. At first it may seem like a gimmick, but when you consider how frequent glare issues are when confronted with street signs on dark winding mountain roads, and the ability to dial in something more powerful than your high beams, but not the power of 1000 suns sounds mighty tempting. They’re also handy when constantly dipping between driving lights and normal headlights, the smaller change less jarring on the eyes. A smaller 7in offering is also available for those with space constraints.
The specs
RRP: $749 per pair including all mounts, covers, and wiring
LED type: 37 5w OSRAM LEDs per light
Max Lumens: 27,400 effective
Max Distance: 1486m
Max Width: 200m
Warranty: 5 year
Colour Temperature: 5700K
Variable colour temperature
Fixing one of the biggest problems people don’t even know they have, the Variable Colour Temperature (VCT) offering might just be our favourite. Featuring a hefty 22,800 effective Lumens out to just shy of a kilometre, these 9in driving lights are no slouch in outright performance, but it’s not their selling point.
Just like the Variable Light Intensity offering, these lights have a unique controller to dial things in exactly how you like it. Crank the dial on the control and you’ll turn your light output all the way down to an easy on the eyes yellow 3000K. Crank it to the other way and you’ll lose those warm tones and bump up to a blue daylight like maximum of 5700K with a balance in between depending on where you leave the dial. It means that when you’re after maximum brightness you can have it. Or when you’re after a light that’s easier on the eyes, less reflective off signs and puddles, and better at punching through fog you can have that too. Clever eh?
There’s a 2nd dial on the controller too. This allows you to reign in the light intensity from the 72 CREE LEDs split between the two lights much like the VLI offering.
The specs
RRP: $999 per pair including all mounts, covers, and wiring
LED type: 36 10w CREE LEDs per light
Max Lumens: 22,800 effective
Max Distance: 974m
Max Width: 150m with flood covers
Warranty: 5 year
Colour Temperature: 3000K-6000K
Variable beam pattern
One of the biggest struggles with any single pair of spotlights is getting effective distance when you’re doing high speed driving, and usable width when things slow down some. It’s the reason most people mix and match spot lights to begin with. But what if you could choose between spot and flood patterns with the twist of the wrist? That’s the whole premise of the Bushranger Variable Beam Pattern, or VBP as they’re known.
Based on the same die-cast alloy housings at the rest of the Variable Series, the VBP lights feature a clever design with two unique beam patterns built into the one 9in driving light. By cranking the dial one way you’ll get a respectable 164m of width from the flood pattern. Dial it the other way and you’ll punch your distance out twice as far to just shy of 1 kilometre. Like the VCT offering, the VBP also features a second dial on the backlit controller allowing you to increase or decrease the total light output to suit your needs. If you find yourself constantly wanting to juggle between flood and spot patterns the VBP driving lights might just be exactly what you’re looking for.
The specs
RRP: $999 per pair including all mounts, protective covers, and wiring
LED type: 36 10w CREE LEDs per light
Max Lumens: 21,600 effective
Max Distance: 939m
Max Width: 164m
Warranty: 5 year
Colour Temperature: 5700K
