Tomar Strobes anyone have them?

[MCrossley]

I was given a set of 2 whelen hide-a-way storbes but they are clear and I need amber so I have the 2 on E-bay and found a company selling strobes on there selling Tomar amber strobes for $20 with a 1 year waranty Anyone know if they are as capable as the Whelens or is there soemthing I should know... PS. has anyone actually ever been herassed with ambers in emergency type situation by the cops? I had a CHP office tell me I shoudl have them the time I peeled a new 5th wheel trailer off of a squished F-350 the guys hitch failed. But if you look in the CA handbook they are technically not necessarly legal nor illegal

 

[mongoose]

from my understanding the tomar brand of strobes are top of the line. I have a whelen set in my truck and if i remeber correctly the manual that came with them said that any other brand of strobe tube would void the warranty.



In Arkansas if i remember correctly, amber lights are legal for any vehicle, while RED, WHITE, and BLUE are reserved for firefighters and Police. GREEN is reserved for Emergency managment and he Such. Hope this helps.

 

[Ncostello]

We paid the extra $2000 above the Whelen standard package to get the Tomars on our fire truck. We also bought the Tomar traffic director strobe package for the rear. Nothing else compares to Tomar IMHO.



Tomar is THE best strobe company period. There are 50 City cop cars, 4 ambulances, and 10 fire trucks around here with them and they are the brightest, most brilliant, and most durable strobes hands down.



The Neobe strobe lights are their best light. Power packs are also very durable. We've burnt up Whelens and Code-3's but never trashed a Tomar yet.

 

[MCrossley]

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess it is one of those things where you here a brand name like Whelen and you think they are top quality just due to the shear quanity you see around but I am going to go ahead get those tomars since they seem to have high ranking.

 

[WDaniels]

Up here you may use the ambers for the volunteer rigs but only on the back. Blues are used for the front and the side. The law up here states that the blue light must be able to be seen from 300 feet to the side as well as the front. I saw some small strobes in a catalog that will fit into 1 inch holes and was thinking about getting some ambers to put in my unused backup portion of tail lights. Am still thinking about something inconspicuous for the front. Any Ideas?

WD

 

[MCrossley]

WDaniels, The Hide-A-Way strobes that I was referring to are the ones that go into the 1" hole in you light reflector. You can also install them into the turn signal lenses up front or the headlights as well. Also they make a mini grill light that you mount behind the grille that works well also. I like the hide-a-way system as it is out of the way and is not as likely to get damaged.

 

[WDaniels]

Those are the ones that I saw. I found them in one of the magazines but cannot find the book anymore. If you know where I can find them at, and let me know I would appreciated it very much. As of next Saturday I'll start needing them for real.

WD

 

[MCrossley]

Ebay is by far the cheapest place to buy them and most of them are new. Strobes-4-Less is where they had the Tomar's for $20 a piece, I have a set of clear if you want .

 

[WDaniels]

MCrossley,

You said that you could put them in your headlights. What do you do, drill another hole in the back of the headlight refelecter and glue them in?

WD

 

[MCrossley]

yes you drill a 1" hole in the reflector and they snap into the hole. They are made of a rubber material that seals around the edging.

 

[WDaniels]

That sounds good. Any particular place? Close to the bulb or off to the side? I was thinking about a bar behind my grill but the other day I was traveling down the road at 65 when a Spruce Hen flew out in front and took out my stock grill inserts and feathers everywhere. I thought that the bird fell off. I stopped at Subway later in the day and there in the grill is this dead bird. I had been traveling all around town with it stuck in the grill. Surprised some environmentalist did accost me and accuse me of driving the spruce hens to extinction.

WD

 

[tntway]

NO DOUBT........

Tomars are #1. if money were no object, and IF i were still a vollie... . Tomars would be on my rig. MUCH brighter than Whelens. however Whelen IS a good light. i had blue mini grills and blue hide aways in my '96 1500. the hide aways showed up as almost clear and weren't that effective. i would have rather had 4 mini grills.



BTW, my local PD has gone to the Whelen LED lightbars... all i can say is... ... .







NEVER seen anything that bright

 

[WDaniels]

My problem is that I only have about 3 1/2 to 4 inches of clearance between the top of my garage door and the top of my truck, and that procludes me from having any type of light on top.



tntway,

You say that the blues look almost white? And the mini grills you are talking about, is it the Tomar or another?

WD

 

[MCrossley]

I think anywhere in the reflector housing that is flat would work fine, I would try to keep it in a flat area to have a good seal and mechanical grip on the strobe you do not want moisture to get into the housing or its all over. I know many have said the halogen grill lights are very bright and visible even suring daylight they are made by tomar, whelen and code 3 to name a few.

 

[tntway]

clarification.....

my whelen hide aways showed up as almost white and not very bright. my mini grills were a VERY effective BLUE. as for halogens... . i had two blue, a red and an amber flasher in my back window. prolly the best lights on the truck.

 

[WDaniels]

Thanks for the information guys. I'll get some catalogs and look at the mini grills and tomars.

WD

 

[Amianthus]

Here's what I have and how I like them.



I have a Nova RPM 6-head power supply (love it).

I have one clear strobe in each rear taillight (works great).

I have one linear strobe in each Quad-cab window (work pretty good).

I have one red strobe tube in each front turnsignal bucket (they fire pink and don't work very well).

I have an arrow stick in the rear window (seems to work pretty good, if people would pay attention to them ).

I have wig-wags in the headlights (work pretty well).

My latest addition is a set of LED's in the grille (these things seem to be the hottest thing since the hydrant was invented, they work great!).

I also have a Galls Street Thunder siren with the speaker mounted just behind the grille.



With all those lights and the hazards going, I can clear traffic pretty good. Still have to drive with common sense (obviously), but I do get traffic to clear. Even some of them with cell phones glued to the ear.



All of these lights are "incognito" so as not to draw too much attention just cruising around. Not to mention it avoids the awkward questions by the local LEO's when travelling to other states. Although, I haven't had any of them object when I have been the first on a car wreck.

 

[Cooker]

I wish I could run 100% incognito. We have to have a minimum of a single rotator on the roof that is visible from 360 degrees. So if we have to have one, we might as well have plenty

 

[WDaniels]

Amianthus,

Sound like quite the set up. Like I said previously, I want to put the amber tomar strobes in the useless back up portion of the tail light. I haven't seen the led's yet but I've heard that they are bright. Am trying to get a catalog to look at the stuff. I was even thinking of using my Lightforce driving lights as blue flashing lights on a wig wag because they have a blue filter for them but figured that several million candle power was overkill. Keeping things conspicuous is the key. As far a people not paying attention to your lighted arrow, I've found that they ignore flairs also. It seems like the only thing that they pay attention to is the large traffic cones placed in their lane.

There was at one time a thread about vollies light setups but I have been unable to find it. There was a lot of good information there also.





Cooker,

Can you use the lights that are inside your cab next to the front window? I think they are called lazers. It's just I hate to have all that crap hanging off of my rig. Kinda makes ya a target for all the low life scumbags and snot nose kids who want to break other peoples stuff.

WD

 

[Cooker]

Unfortunately the rotator needs to be roof mounted. A few guys are going to 4 corner strobes and a small, easy to put on an take off, magnetic mount roof rotator.



I don't think I will be lighting up the Ram anymore. I am shopping for a new "beater" second vehicle that I can use and my response vehicle.