zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Trucks
/
KC's New Off-Road Lights Are (Gasp!) Triangular
KC's New Off-Road Lights Are (Gasp!) Triangular-April 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:13:06

Image for article titled KC's New Off-Road Lights Are (Gasp!) Triangular

KC’s one of the best-established truck light brands; you’d probably recognize the smiley-face/sunglasses stone shield if you saw one on a classic 4x4. It’s still one of the better light purveyors and dropped a new one today: The Flex Era 3, which is triangular in shape, which is odd and fun.

I am a big fan of to cars and trucks, though less so lately as it conflicts with my appreciation for aerodynamics. Still, I always get intrigued when I see a new style of light in a funky shape.

Obviously your classic off-road truck light, especially ones with that iconic smiley face cover I mentioned, would be round. A square lens or light housing is also pretty common, especially in the advent of LEDs. But a triangle! Whoa, doggy.

The triangular shape is the Flex Era 3’s gimmick but its actual value proposition is high-performance from a device that’s a small physical size. “...the FLEX ERA 3 is a runway for versatility and customization without sacrificing light output,” reads the ad copy. Some specs to ponder:

Aluminum housing that “features an extremely thoughtful and unique tooling and die cast process allowing for a shape that is multifaceted in its approach to heatsink fin design and visual appeal.” It’s also supposed to be more durable than its predecessors.Three “high-powered” LEDs.An IP68 rating which effectively means the lights are dust proof and waterproof. More specifically, as you can see from , means a six-out-of-six rating for protection against solids. “Dust Tight. No ingress of dust; complete protection against contact.” And an eight-out-of-eight rating against liquids. “Immersion beyond 1 meter. The equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water under conditions which shall be specified by the manufacturer. Normally, this will mean that the equipment is hermetically sealed. However, with certain types of equipment, it can mean that water can enter but only in such a manner that it produces no harmful effects.”Beam patters will be spot (long-throw, tight beam) and combination (broader coverage), with an SAE fog (coming soon in amber or clear lens. There’s also an amber “backlight” that kind of turns them into decorative daytime running lights which is fun.Bezel colors in red, blue, black, and gold with snap-on covers in a variety of designs.“Multiple optics” between spot and spread patterns.

Mounting is supposed to be easy with a “re-positionable mounting bracket that can orient the light 180 degrees from center.” I do think it’d be cool to see where these look cool... if that makes sense. I’m actually kind of tempted to cop some for the lower grille area of my Montero as long as that doesn’t screw up airflow to the radiator in any significant way.

KC is listing these for $219.99 each or $399.99 for a pair, and that price creeps up a little if you add some vehicle-specific mounting stuff.

We’ll have to wait a little longer for unbiased independent reviews on how good these actually are, but in the meantime, KC itself put out a pretty comprehensive video tour of what they look like and how they work:

You can peek through yourself if you want to dig into it more, but I’ll copy some of the factory-claimed performance specs here too in case you’re curious:

RAW Lumens: 3,672 lm @5000KLUX @ 10 meters: 300 lx (combo beam); 800 lx (spot beam)Candela: 29,553 cd (combo beam); 80,000 cd (spot beam)Beam Distance: 385 meters (combo beam); 607 meters (spot beam)Wattage: 40WAmp Draw: 3.4A @ 12VVoltage: 9V-16V

Device Dimensions: 3.6 inches wide, 3.5 inches high, 2.6 inches deep

Lastly, for the love of god, don’t use lights like this on the road or the highway when other cars are coming toward you. Unless, maybe, you’ve got them mounted below your stock headlights and you know for sure that they’re aimed properly. Do you know if your headlights are aimed properly? You should check! Come to think of it, so will I.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Trucks
The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger Is The Hybrid Truck America Probably Needs
The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger Is The Hybrid Truck America Probably Needs
In addition to the all-electric , the truck brand announced this week that it will also release a engine gasoline-powered hybrid version of its electric pickup, called Ramcharger. The goal here is to use the V6 engine as a generator for the electric powertrain when the 92 kWh battery...
Apr 28, 2025
The Nissan Navara Was The Overdue Frontier We Deserved A Decade Ago
The Nissan Navara Was The Overdue Frontier We Deserved A Decade Ago
gets dunked on for letting models like the languish for years. But, the truck saw a model update well before the release of the , which is mechanically much like an with a design. Outside of the U.S., the successor to the second-generation Frontier came in 2014 with the...
Apr 28, 2025
There Was Once A Glorious Compact Chevy ZR2 Truck
There Was Once A Glorious Compact Chevy ZR2 Truck
Those who saw the meteoric rise of through the 2010s and onward probably associate the badge with the . The was Chevy’s halo midsize truck when it was released in 2016, but the ZR2 badging goes all the way to the when Chevy made the S-10 ZR2. It’s gnarly....
Apr 28, 2025
Ford Robbed Us Of The Old Four-Door Ranger To Give Us The Explorer Sport Trac
Ford Robbed Us Of The Old Four-Door Ranger To Give Us The Explorer Sport Trac
By definition, a big truck like a or struggles to be small. Even in its smallest, most trucky configuration — a two-door single cab — a full-size truck is relatively large and comes with a sizable bed for hauling cargo. But a small truck like the third-generation can do...
Apr 28, 2025
Porsche Built A 911 With Portal Axles To Go Where Unimogs Can't Reach
Porsche Built A 911 With Portal Axles To Go Where Unimogs Can't Reach
No car has ever driven at higher altitude than this 992-generation Porsche 911 Carrera 4S with portal axles. On Saturday the Porsche crew, led by racing driver Romain Dumas, reached the highest peak of the west ridge of the Ojos del Salado volcano in Chile, . That’s the tallest...
Apr 28, 2025
Deer Flies Directly Into Pickup As Its Prospective Buyer Arrives
Deer Flies Directly Into Pickup As Its Prospective Buyer Arrives
No square inch of the Northeast is safe from deer, as video out of New Jersey shows. A deer, tearing through the suburbs, managed to leap over a Pontiac Vibe and Honda CR-V before landing on the bedside of a 2007 Chevy Silverado — just as a prospective buyer arrived...
Apr 28, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved