Off Road Light Question

Im looking to get some offroad lights for my taco and wanted to get some opinions on what to get. First off I want a white light, so that narrows it down to HID offroad lights or an LED bar. I want to maximize as much light output as possible. Like I was looking at getting an LED bar in my lower grille, or HID offroad lights on a light bar and an LED bar on my roof rack or HID offroad lights on my roof rack. Which do you guys think would be the best route? thanks in advance.

 

What kind of off roading do you do? That will make some difference on what kind of lights will best work for your application.

 

Just trails really.

 

General rule of thumb, leds are good for short to mid range lighting. They fill ruts nicely. Hids typically throw light farther and are excellent for speed.

 

Well it seems in general that the LED setups are very good at flooding large areas with light, and the HID setups have the edge when it comes to throw. For lower speed offroading like trails, I would think that a LED setup would be better. One thing to keep in mind, the LED bars when mounted low, seem to waste a bunch of their output on the ground very close to the truck, and not be very useful to you. I'm currently putting a 30" LED bar on a BAMF mount behind the grill. It's higher up than the lower grill which will help, and it's a combo bar 20* spot and 40* flood. It really seems to put out a ton of light when I tested it a few nights back.

 

i've been INCREDIBLY happy with my lightforce 170s. i have *just* the halogen version, but holy crap they put out a ton of light. i can't even imagine what the HID versions look like. the beautiful thing about lightforce (aside from their general invincibility) is the ability to change the color and beam pattern with filters. spot, combo, diffuse patterns available as well as about 5 different colors.

 

Pics when you stuff a 30 behind your grill. Didn't know that'd fit on a Bamf bar. Sure wouldn't on mine.

 

some useful info on HID'S:

4300k produces the max amount of lumens so

You could go 2 routes depending on how much you want to spend:
(1) buy a generic brand or either a led light bar or HIDS
I run (2) kragen 7" and im pushing 6200 lumens for under $200
or buy a generic led bar from blitzpro/undead offroad / etc

(2) buy a name-brand brand or either a led light bar or HIDS
lightforce 170 regular or hid versions/ vision x light cannons / arb intense lights
or rigid industires / kc lights / baja designs / etc.

For trails and optimum light coverage, a Led bar with flood or a spot/flood combo sounds like it would suit you well. anyways hope this helps

 

Thanks for all the help guys!!!

 

I agree with everyone...LED Bar for short to mid range - filling in. HID/Spots for long range.
Both LED & HID/Spots are the perfect combo:

Hella 700FF 55W HID conversion
32" Totron 180W LED all Spot



35W HID headlights only


LED light bar only


LED & HID spots

 

If you want long range and minimal draw you just need to find the right LED light made specifically for long range.

Here are a couple examples of single Long Throw Style LED Lights. Light Placement make a huge difference as well. A Low Mounted LED Light will not throw as far as a roof mounted LED Light.








These are LED's with optics designed for long range to compete with HID Lights.