TESTED: Octane UTV aluminum mirrors with LED lights

TESTED: Octane UTV aluminum mirrors with LED lights

July 31, 2019 0 By Marc A Quessy

Mirrors have come a long way in the UTV game in the last decade. We’ve seen the cheapest junk to the highest end stuff along the way. All of those are still around the cheap stuff only gets cheaper and the high end stuff is just … like.. Way off the chart on price.

Yeah, we get it, some of you out there in UTV land have the money to buy a set of $600 UTV mirrors. They’re almost works of art in that price range!

Jason and Marc got rained out installing new mirrors!

But how about something with decent quality at a price “Joe Average” can actually afford without taking out a second mortgage on the house? Oh yeah, he already did that when he bought his UTV in some cases.

I’m a big fan of affordable accessories that don’t look like they came out of a dollar store. Unfortunately, great deals and good quality don’t often work hand in hand.  Too many players are trying for a price point first and decent quality second.  Just ask jason who owns the Shogun UTV project how he feels about bad advice and cheap parts.  You and him will have a fine conversation over a case of your favorite suds.  The beer will run out first, trust me on this.

I always like to test something new and that’s when my buddy Phil from ATV Tires Canada comes into this story. I got an email one morning and this is what it said:

  • Marc, you’re going to receive a package and I want you to tell me what you think.

Why, sure bud! The package shows up a day later and low and behold, these really great-looking mirrors are right there for me to play with! Now that’s what I like. They look the part with all these angles and they seem sturdy. They aren’t flimsy empty cans, they’re a full block of aluminum goodness and heavier than they look. Usually that’s where thing start to go downhill.

Well, not so bad actually, the mounting hardware is of decent quality. No plastic garbage to be seen. All aluminum with stainless steel screws. It gets even better.

This is what’s in the box. Complete and ready to install without a fuss. The only thing you need is a fused 10 amp switched circuit if you don’t want unintentional operation when you’re not around.

I installed them on my 2019 RZR RS-1 and if you look at the pictures they look very good. The glass is flat and has a blue tint to it. It’s anti glare coating between the glass and mirror. Does it work? Well, yes and no. It does reduce glare but when you buddy is following you with his led bars on, you still can’t see much. But it sure does look cool. So ok on this part.

As you can see, they have a led light pod inserted on the outside and that’s where I thought: “this is going to be their weak point for sure”.

Let’s plug these in and see.

First thing, these are pre-wired from the cabling, relay, fuse holder and a little lighted switch that’s on the cheap side. All that wiring is wrapped with a plastic tube braid thats held in place with heat shrink tubing. OK I’m impressed at the quality. There’s enough wiring to hook these up to just about any UTV on the market and that level of workmanship for this price level is something I’ve rarely seen. Yeah, I know I’m getting all happy about a wiring harness. But it’s there nonetheless and it’s above what I would expect.  Sorry, my mechanic just takes over sometimes.

20 minutes later is the moment of truth. Just how much lighting am I going to get out of these?

Drum roll please!

What the heck? I’m not going to bore you out of your brain and talk about technicalities of led lighting with mumbo-jumbo CREE and SMT, lumens and what not ok? The fact is, they are bright, no I mean really bright. Not too blueish either. Judging by the size of the insert, the 6 forward facing led and the three side mounted units they are quality leds (see pictures)

OFF

ON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here’s the kicker!

These look a lot like high end and expensive piece of kit don’t they? Well, feast your eyes in the price!

$189.95! cdn

Conclusion:

Like in the infomercials: ACT NOW! BUY NOW… LOL!

Seriously though here’s our take on them

The GOOD

  • Price!

  • The look

  • Pre-wired with attention to detail

  • Great led lighting

  • Ball socket mount is sturdy and mirrors stay where you adjusted them.

  • Blue anti glare coating on glass (looks cool)

We don’t like:

  • The light switch

  • The sealant smears around the LED pod (supposed to be fixed now)

  • Limited mounting options (cannot mount a full windshield without modifications)

  • Round cage mounts only ( D shaped and other cage profiles coming soon as per manufacturer)

  • Ball socket mount, no flip in in case of impact or roll over. Hope the mounts are available separately.

 

We’ve had these mirrors on the RS1 for a month now and we been riding it hard. It’s got close to 600 km on the clock now and they look like we installed them yesterday. High speed whoops, potholes, jumps, small branches, nothing’s got them to move except our hands.

The led lighting is powerful enough and brighter than the stock headlights on the RS1. I like the spread too, it’s not like one spot in front and the leds on the side light up a little of what’s going on the sides.

For the asking price, the overall quality and there in trail performance the Octane UTV mirrors gets our KICKASS! Seal of approval.

Retail price: $189.95

Available from: atvtirescanada.com and their authorized dealers.

 

 

 

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