Just what the specific difference between the Rigid Industries E-Series and E2 families of off-road LED light bars is probably one of the most-asked questions that we here at Stage 3 Motorsports get when it comes to Rigid's LED light bar lineup. We got the question often enough that we decided to grab a 40" E-Series Combo LED Light Bar and a 40" E2 Series LED Light Bar and put them side-by-side and go over the subtle, yet very important differences in their designs to see which one would work best for you and and your off-road vehicle of choice.
First, the stats, where we'll find some fairly mild differences between the two bars:
From the stats, the E2 comes out as more powerful, mostly due to the fact that squeezes in 8 more LEDs into into that 40" than the standard E-Series. Overall Lumen output doesn't change all that much, given the extra LEDs, but the numbers for beam intensity and beam distance are fairly drastic differences since we're talking about two bars with the same lengths. The secret is really in the designs of their optics, which the real differences between these two bars lie.
Both of these bars have "combo" beam patterns, which means they have LED optics tuned for both width and distance. The standard E-Series uses "Flood" style optics on its outer edges, while the E2 Series using "Driving" style optics. The E-Series "Flood" pattern generates a wide beam pattern that goes over a fairly large area at the expense of some intensity. The E2's "Driving" lights are more intense than the standard E-Series, but sacrifice some range to squeeze out some extra beam width and brightness.
The central lights are also slightly different between the two bars. The E-Series light bar features a core set of LEDs with "Spot" beam optics that project a narrow, yet very intense beam of light over an extremely long distance with some amount of width. The E2 has "Hyperspot" optics for its central LEDs, which also take up a larger percentage of the bar than the "Spot" style optics on the E-Series. The "Hyperspot" optics go for all-out distance, and produce an extremely intense beam of light that gets cast out to nearly two kilometers. The hypersots may have range, but they sacrifice beam width and breadth for raw distance.
The end result is that you have two large LED light bars that have noticeably different beam patterns. While there is a slight difference in their stats, you should definitely make your light bar decision on which beam pattern makes the most sense to your off-road vehicle or application.
