“Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien
To me life is all bout finding the way of adventure and being out there with every chance that I get and more often than not the greatest adventures are during the darkest hours of night when I explore unchartered territory or need to be driving back from some or other remote area that I explored and it is during those times I really need to trust and believe in my gear or equipment.
One key aspect of my adventures is that I am most certainly not afraid to travel in the dark, in fact when I flip the switch I pretty much have my very own personal sunrise in the dark depths of night.
One afternoon some time ago, I was busy on the phone with the guys over at Hella South Africa and we were busy talking about some content that they need going forward and it so happened that they were sending me some new gear – so as soon as I hear those words I almost instantaneously want to jump through the roof – but alas I calm myself and ask about the product that they want to send my way that would replace the already epic Luminator LED lights that I was using at that time. They then go ahead and tell me its their new “budget” line of lights called the Value Fit series and they will be sending me the Value-Fit Supernova lights and the lady on the other side starts telling me they come in 3 different sizes being the 6”, 7” and 9” and all sizes are available in both a spotlight or driving light configuration. I smile wide as I answer the question at hand that I would absolutely love the 9” lights in the Spotlight configuration!
They start making the arrangements on their side and I get the confirmation that my parcel is on its way to me, again I’m super ecstatic but also not sure what to expect as the spotlights I have on my vehicle at the moment are on a level of their own…or so I thought….
After a couple of days I get a phone call from the office at the lodge where I say telling me that there is a parcel for me at reception, so I then jump in my car and off I go to get my new lights.
I reach the reception thinking I’m about to get a mid-sized box containing two lights, but oh dear was I wrong! Got there to see a HUGE box standing in the foyer all wrapped in Hella branded packaging tape – could this be…I think to myself… grabbed the box and back home it was where I couldn’t wait anymore to rip it all open and see what it holds.
Turned out they sent me a couple of T-shirts and some odds and ends and deep down in the bottom I find two separate blue boxes containing the supernova lights, Turns out the 9inch lights come in separate packaging and they are massive! And also got a nice weight to them feeling everything but budget! The build quality is insane with the lights boasting an all metal casing and a sturdy mounting bracket – by now I am smiling so big and cannot wait to get them on my vehicle. I have already bought the mountings to fit my Rangers Nudge bar and the wiring would be done locally as I do not like to fiddle with newer vehicles and electronics. As I get them mounted on the nudge bar I start to really think about what I am looking at…these spotlights have an array of 34, 3W Leds looking kind of like a rounded light bar so I start wondering how good they will actually be – the people who know me by now or that asked me about spotlights in the past know that I am not a big fan of a LED light bar on the front of a vehicle and would never recommend them as a main source of auxiliary light on any vehicle. Personally I feel a light bar is something that needs to be used as a type of “work light” where you need a load of light close to the vehicle to assist with whatever job is at hand so they are great for mounting on farm vehicles or emergency vehicles that need a lot of light close by as they do not project the light as far as a spotlight would and to me driving long hours at night, be it on the open roads or in the wilderness I prefer to see for quite a distance in front of my vehicle.
So getting back to looking at these Supernova lights prior to them being connected, wondering if they are not just going to be another form of a light bar I start wondering if I should not add them as a 2nd line of auxiliary lights along with the Luminator LED spotlights that I have and trust at the time. I carry on with the task at hand getting them mounted and I must say they are quite spectacular and make a statement on the front of the vehicle. Another day passes before I could get the vehicle to the auto electrical shop in town to connect these bad boys so that I could go and test them out for the first time – we switch them on in the workshop to test the connections and everything to make sure there are no errors or other problems and looking at them in the workshop they seem bright enough so by now I am really interested to see whet they do when its dark out!
The remainder of that day felt like eternity, its like the dark hours of night just didn’t want to come any closer. As the sun sets and the sky turns into a spectacular orange and purple hue I load up and head out! So curious to turn on the lights but I force myself to wait just a little longer, to reach a spot on the farm where I can truly test them out to their full potential.
I reach a open field that seems long and flat enough to get a good idea as to see how well these light would do in the dark and I carry on to align the Ranger in such a way that I can make use of the full length of the open piece of land ahead of me, being hopeful that these lights would do good. I sit in the car just pondering the moment that is about to happen as I reach up to flip the switch engaging the spotlights and in that moment as darkness turns to light my jaw drops and my eyes sparkle!! They have done it! Hella managed to miraculously top the light qualities from the amazing Luminator LED range and WOW! The Hella Value Fit Supernova lights are INSANE to say the least, similar to a light bar they create a wall of light but this time its not just for the first 20 or so meters these spotlights go the distance! I am awe struck and just sit there looking at the tree line at the far side of the field all in perfect view, well lit up! This is amazing!
I get out and have a closer look at the lights and just love them altogether! Great metal construction and they pack a major punch! I would most certainly recommend these lights to anyone that is in the market for auxiliary lights for their vehicles, now you no longer have to be afraid of the dark – The definition of “supernova” is : “a star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass.” And that most certainly is the case for these lights. Well done Hella for smashing it out of the park when it comes to a fantastic light at a great price!
Technical Specs
LED POWER – 34* 3W Led
LUMENS – 9180lm
CURRENT – 7.78A @12V and 4.1A @24V
WEIGHT – 3.7kg
I hope you guys enjoyed it! Till next time – Adventure on!
Cheers
i..