4 Wheel Drive Zone

The sport utility market continues to expand despite higher than normal gas prices. The reason? Because, these do-almost-everything-vehicles provide just what consumers want. Sure, sales are down right now, but they will recover as more economical vehicles enter the mix. SUVs carry people, haul stuff, pull stuff, can go off-roading [okay, maybe not the Equinox], provide superior handling than many cars, etc. Fortunately, not all are gas guzzlers either. Chevrolet’s Equinox and the Land Rover Freelander are two that come to mind. Let’s take a look at these two compact SUVs.

Chevrolet Equinox – I like the looks of the Equinox, Chevy’s car-based SUV that is only slightly smaller than the mid-size TrailBlazer. By car-based I mean a vehicle that handles and drives more like a car and is actually built on a car platform [like the Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4, for example]. This means that the Equinox is built chiefly for the road, so if you want an off road experience you would need to opt for the TrailBlazer or get the Freelander. Okay, I digress.

The Equinox is available as either a front wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicle. Seating five passengers, the Equinox comes equipped with a 3.4L V6 that produces 185hp. The engine is paired with a five-speed automatic transmission; no manual transmission is available. A traction control system is standard with the front wheel drive Equinox while all models come equipped with ABS and electric steering. Standard equipment for the Equinox includes power windows, power mirrors, and power locks with Remote Keyless Entry; AM/FM stereo and CD player with six speakers; and air conditioning. The Equinox has received a 5 star rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for frontal crash and side-impact crash tests. Starting prices for the Equinox are very competitive with comparable models in its class. Base MSRP for the FWD is just over 22K; 24K for the AWD.

Land Rover Freelander – The smallest of all Land Rovers is the Freelander, a compact full time all wheel drive vehicle available as either a 3 or 5 door SUV. Unlike the Equinox, the Freelander has full off road capabilities as do every Land Rover model. The Freelander comes equipped with a Four-wheel Electronic Traction Control system; ABS; a 2.5L Quad Cam V6 engine paired with a 5 speed automatic transmission; an AM/FM stereo/CD system with RDS radio; air conditioning; fog lamps; a perimeter security system; and much more. The Freelander, a five passenger vehicle, sells for a price starting at just over 27K.

The Freelander is produced in England while the Equinox is built in Canada, In all, both the Equinox and Freelander represent well built compact SUVs with two different purposes: the Equinox is built primarily for the highway and around town and has the stronger engine, while the Freelander is built for both highway and trail.

Aftermarket lighting has greatly evolved over the last few years. With companies offering many different options for off road riding the choices can become cloudy to say the least. This article will focus on helmet mounted lights for dirt bikes, atvs and snowmobiles. First, what use does a helmet mounted light have? Helmet lights provide light wherever the rider looks, this is very useful to spot landings, see around corners, view side trails or terrain, climb and descend steep hills, etc. Over all they make night riding much more safe and fun. For racers they can mean the difference between winning and being the first loser. Many racers actually see their lap times improve at night. Although that appears to be focus and concentration related.

Helmet lights are also incredibly stable, as your bike mounted lights bounce up and down, your helmet lights remain very stable, your knees and body are taking up most of the shock from the woops or rough terrain. A stable light source will allow you to ride with more confidence, therefore you will be riding faster and safer. A helmet mounted light should also be adjustable on the fly. It is amazing how much you look down while riding, the faster you go the more you look down. Not that your moving your light all around while riding the same track, but that you do adjust for different riding conditions. In tight trails it will be farther forward than on more open areas.

A helmet mounted light system should also not be hard mounted to the helmet .The lights need to come off during a crash or hitting a obstacle. A impact with a hard mounted light could cause serious injury or worse. That’s why some helmet lighting manufactures use hook and loop type fasteners, they hold very good and separate without the rider or the light being damaged. Some helmet light manufactures offer a chin mount system while others believe that top mount is best. A few manufactures allow provisions for top or side mount.

Helmet light technology

There are 3 basic types of technology used in helmet lights on the market.

LED - light emitting diode

HID - high intensity discharge

HALOGEN - halogen gas

There are pros and cons to each of these technologies

LED

In the future this technology looks promising. LEDs are very bright but offer little forward illumination. This is improving however is some time off for an affordable option. There are plenty available for the bicycle industry, But for off road motorsports they simply don’t cut it.

HID

Hid lights put out a very bright beam and use less power than Halogen lighting. The color temp of the available commercial HID helmet lights are from 5600k to more than 6500k. That’s the bluish light that you see when looking at the light. Although Hid lighting is brighter to look at than halogen it offers little in secondary illumination, that’s the light that spills over away from the main beam. The hid helmetlights will also have a tendency to create shadows from rocks, roots and jump faces. Hid lighting requires dc power You can run them from battery packs. Most machines require stator modifications to run HID lights. HID bulbs / ballast are very expensive to replace. Hid helmet lights are great for higher speeds where you already have a hid headlight.

Halogen

Halogen helmet lights require more power than HID lights. They can run off ac or dc power. They can run from a stock machine, provided that there is enough power to run them. The quality of a halogen light(any light for that matter) is largely due to the reflector. Good halogen helmetlights generally have a very strong secondary beam, that provides a strong glow around the primary beam. That makes halogen powered helmetlights much more useful in trails or for use as your only lighting source. Halogen bulbs are inexpensive. There are claims that HID lighting is 3 to 5 times more powerful than halogen. That may be true if your looking into the light. That’s due to the higher kelvin rating of the bulb. It absolutely is false when comparing beam usefulness. Its not about what light is brighter. Its about what light offers better overall illumination, and beam pattern.

Remember, we’re not talking about the difference in your automobile or larger lights here, only helmet mounted lights. Take a serious look at what type off night riding you really do and look at what products are available. If you ride fast desert with 8 inch HID head light go with a HID helmetlight. If you ride trails or need a backup/single light source go with a high powered halogen system.