I made a post some time back saying that I had some lights coming from Polo Creations. Well, after some waiting and healing for 2 weeks from a back injury at work, I finally got around to installing the light kit(mostly). So for this review, I'll break it down so it's easier to read as best as I can.
Polo Creations is Florida based with a team of 7 people. Their products are 3D printed with what looks like PLA. I'm not savvy on 3D Printing but that's what it looks like. I spoke to the owner about doing a review for the forum so we have another option on the market for customizing our trucks, to which he offered to send me everything they have for the Vorteks. Keep in mind, the headlights and taillights were paid for by me. I am not in any way being asked or paid to write this review. I am doing it solely out of my love for the hobby.
In the kit I revieved the following items:
1 x Roof Light/Skid Plate(it's a 2 in 1)
1 x Front Bumper Mounted Headlight
1 x Rear Bumper Mounted Taillight
1 x Led Underglow Light(2 strips wired together)
1 x Bluetooth Module(for underglow control)
1 x Light Control with Remote
2 x Optional Wire Harness/Extensions
The roof mounted light and skid plate was pretty simple to install, however it requires some slight modification. For starters, a hole will need to be drilled in the top of the body, just where you see the light housing bubble out in the center. This is for the wiring to come through and obviously keep it clean. This light also requires that you remove the pre-existing roof skids. The stock screws that are used sadly are not long enough, so I used 4 x m3x20 screws with m3 locking nuts to hold them on the inside of the body. I do mostly street bashing and don't flip much so this is not an issue for me. This light also has built in effects for strobing, fading, and other sorts of flashing. It is pretty neat, but not something I'm particularly interested in. The lights are very bright and while they won't light your way in the same way a car would, if you're a night basher like me, these will most certainly come in handy for orientation, even without the aid of street lights.
The taillights were pretty well designed, especially with how aggresive they are cut. They are equally as bright as the roof LED's and I honestly love them. They're my favorite set of lights! As far as installation, they have to bend ever so slightly to fit around the rear bumper mounts(over the top and push down). The plastic has some flex to it, just enough to fit over the mounting point and sit nice and snug.
Get ready for a poop load of wires though! You'll see in my open chassis photo that a lot branches off from them and then slowly gets smaller. My solution was to feed the wires through the middle of the shock absorber on the rear bumper, come up over the shock tower and wrap the wires around the under side of the body posts. I secured them with zip ties which helped keep the chassis clean.
For the underglow and front lights, I cannot comment too much on. I was having issues getting the bluetooth module to work and they wouldn't come on. I have it wired correctly but I'll have to do some more tinkering to figure this out. As for the headlights, they will not work with my setup. As you can see, I am using the TBone Racing bumper and these lights were originally designed for a stock Vorteks. It would have been nice if the headlights were wired together but two separate pieces or possibly having a slightly wider mount to accommodate potential modifications. I will be coming back to this soon to see what I can do to get them mounted as they are. I will say that they are just as good as the other two lights.
Now the wiring part! The most boring but critical part of this whole kit. Before I start rambling, do not plug this thing in to Aux 3. This is controlled by the A/B buttons in the side of the remote where your thumb would rest. I have to hit this in order to turn the lights on and some times it doesn't respond or changes the roof lights to some sort of seizure inducing rave mode. I will update this when I play with the wiring and get everything 100%.
Wiring goes as follows:
Main adapter wire goes into any AUX port(not #3).
Bluetooth module and Remote Module go into the end of the main wite.
Under glow lights go into BT module. I used electrical tape to secure the connection from the elements and potential disconnection from bashing. This will be the same for all connection points.
Roof light and Taillight plug into the RF Remote adapter. Secure connections with electrical tape.
Bulk of wires from roof light are taped to roof with electrical tape. Leave enough slack for pulling off the body but not so much as too droop down and potentially get sucked in by the center drive shaft.
Taillight wires are wrapped and zip tied around lower rear body posts.
Underglow lights are taped on the sides of the chassis, above the side guards. Wires are brought in between the front chassis guards and taped to my center chassis brace.
The bulk of the wires, specifically the BT and RF Controller module had their connections taped off and then zip tied together with 2 zip ties which are included in the kit. I have them tucked in between my ESC and Motor and it sits perfectly. See images below for my final wiring set up. Very clean for the little room we have in there.
Final thoughts...
Overall, I'd say that I am very pleased with what I received. The build quality is very well done and designed, even given a few minor draw backs with the roof light and headlight mounting. Their attention to detail was still very good, they even have holes drilled for the taillights to access the bumper screws! That made me smile.
Do keep in mind, they are a team of 7. Their website clearly states that products ship within 10 days. I am not sure if this is because they have a backlog of orders or if these kits are made to order. Regardless, there is a small wait, just like with anything else. That part was a bummer, but not something I could knock them for.
The only constructive criticizm I have is mostly with the roof lights. It would be awesome if they could some how integrate the lower part of the roof skids for added support and also alter the housing to flow with the body lines. It is a very flat piece but the light bar presses on the roof which made me a little nervous at first. Also, the sides of the housing that double as skids don't quite flow within the indentations of the roof to sit flush with the body. I still got it to work but it's something I feel could be improved upon. Lastly, the screw holes. They need to sink into the skids a bit more. Find a way to utilize the stock screws. They are m4x16 I believe but they have a hex on the under side too. So if they get stripped or ground up top, they can be removed by unscrewing from the inside of the body. This would allow us to keep that functionality and not having dead skids on our roof without the possibility of installing new ones.
Thanks to Polo Creations for sending me the extra stuff and sorry I couldn't review it all just yet. But the big selling points were covered at least and I really enjoyed this light set up. If I had the chance to buy it again, I definitely would. Totally give my thumbs up on this one and can't wait to see what else they have for my Arrma Arrmy!
Love,
Enferius
Polo Creations is Florida based with a team of 7 people. Their products are 3D printed with what looks like PLA. I'm not savvy on 3D Printing but that's what it looks like. I spoke to the owner about doing a review for the forum so we have another option on the market for customizing our trucks, to which he offered to send me everything they have for the Vorteks. Keep in mind, the headlights and taillights were paid for by me. I am not in any way being asked or paid to write this review. I am doing it solely out of my love for the hobby.
In the kit I revieved the following items:
1 x Roof Light/Skid Plate(it's a 2 in 1)
1 x Front Bumper Mounted Headlight
1 x Rear Bumper Mounted Taillight
1 x Led Underglow Light(2 strips wired together)
1 x Bluetooth Module(for underglow control)
1 x Light Control with Remote
2 x Optional Wire Harness/Extensions
The roof mounted light and skid plate was pretty simple to install, however it requires some slight modification. For starters, a hole will need to be drilled in the top of the body, just where you see the light housing bubble out in the center. This is for the wiring to come through and obviously keep it clean. This light also requires that you remove the pre-existing roof skids. The stock screws that are used sadly are not long enough, so I used 4 x m3x20 screws with m3 locking nuts to hold them on the inside of the body. I do mostly street bashing and don't flip much so this is not an issue for me. This light also has built in effects for strobing, fading, and other sorts of flashing. It is pretty neat, but not something I'm particularly interested in. The lights are very bright and while they won't light your way in the same way a car would, if you're a night basher like me, these will most certainly come in handy for orientation, even without the aid of street lights.
The taillights were pretty well designed, especially with how aggresive they are cut. They are equally as bright as the roof LED's and I honestly love them. They're my favorite set of lights! As far as installation, they have to bend ever so slightly to fit around the rear bumper mounts(over the top and push down). The plastic has some flex to it, just enough to fit over the mounting point and sit nice and snug.
Get ready for a poop load of wires though! You'll see in my open chassis photo that a lot branches off from them and then slowly gets smaller. My solution was to feed the wires through the middle of the shock absorber on the rear bumper, come up over the shock tower and wrap the wires around the under side of the body posts. I secured them with zip ties which helped keep the chassis clean.
For the underglow and front lights, I cannot comment too much on. I was having issues getting the bluetooth module to work and they wouldn't come on. I have it wired correctly but I'll have to do some more tinkering to figure this out. As for the headlights, they will not work with my setup. As you can see, I am using the TBone Racing bumper and these lights were originally designed for a stock Vorteks. It would have been nice if the headlights were wired together but two separate pieces or possibly having a slightly wider mount to accommodate potential modifications. I will be coming back to this soon to see what I can do to get them mounted as they are. I will say that they are just as good as the other two lights.
Now the wiring part! The most boring but critical part of this whole kit. Before I start rambling, do not plug this thing in to Aux 3. This is controlled by the A/B buttons in the side of the remote where your thumb would rest. I have to hit this in order to turn the lights on and some times it doesn't respond or changes the roof lights to some sort of seizure inducing rave mode. I will update this when I play with the wiring and get everything 100%.
Wiring goes as follows:
Main adapter wire goes into any AUX port(not #3).
Bluetooth module and Remote Module go into the end of the main wite.
Under glow lights go into BT module. I used electrical tape to secure the connection from the elements and potential disconnection from bashing. This will be the same for all connection points.
Roof light and Taillight plug into the RF Remote adapter. Secure connections with electrical tape.
Bulk of wires from roof light are taped to roof with electrical tape. Leave enough slack for pulling off the body but not so much as too droop down and potentially get sucked in by the center drive shaft.
Taillight wires are wrapped and zip tied around lower rear body posts.
Underglow lights are taped on the sides of the chassis, above the side guards. Wires are brought in between the front chassis guards and taped to my center chassis brace.
The bulk of the wires, specifically the BT and RF Controller module had their connections taped off and then zip tied together with 2 zip ties which are included in the kit. I have them tucked in between my ESC and Motor and it sits perfectly. See images below for my final wiring set up. Very clean for the little room we have in there.
Final thoughts...
Overall, I'd say that I am very pleased with what I received. The build quality is very well done and designed, even given a few minor draw backs with the roof light and headlight mounting. Their attention to detail was still very good, they even have holes drilled for the taillights to access the bumper screws! That made me smile.
Do keep in mind, they are a team of 7. Their website clearly states that products ship within 10 days. I am not sure if this is because they have a backlog of orders or if these kits are made to order. Regardless, there is a small wait, just like with anything else. That part was a bummer, but not something I could knock them for.
The only constructive criticizm I have is mostly with the roof lights. It would be awesome if they could some how integrate the lower part of the roof skids for added support and also alter the housing to flow with the body lines. It is a very flat piece but the light bar presses on the roof which made me a little nervous at first. Also, the sides of the housing that double as skids don't quite flow within the indentations of the roof to sit flush with the body. I still got it to work but it's something I feel could be improved upon. Lastly, the screw holes. They need to sink into the skids a bit more. Find a way to utilize the stock screws. They are m4x16 I believe but they have a hex on the under side too. So if they get stripped or ground up top, they can be removed by unscrewing from the inside of the body. This would allow us to keep that functionality and not having dead skids on our roof without the possibility of installing new ones.
Thanks to Polo Creations for sending me the extra stuff and sorry I couldn't review it all just yet. But the big selling points were covered at least and I really enjoyed this light set up. If I had the chance to buy it again, I definitely would. Totally give my thumbs up on this one and can't wait to see what else they have for my Arrma Arrmy!
Love,
Enferius
