Forward lighting; what are you running?

What is everyone running for lighting up front on the bumper (not fogs)?
I am looking to add some lights on the bumper that throw light better than what my headlights can do.

I'm not sure if I want to add a 30" Light Bar or 5-7" Round lights to the bumper... or a 40-50" Light bar on the roof.

I'm in a '01 Taco... I plan on doing a HID retrofit this summer, but in the mean time, I want to add more brightness. (I've done HID retrofits before and LOVE the low beam coverage, but never cared for the high beam width).

 

I have a set of IPF 968 driving lights that I find helpful on the highway without drawing too much attention from Johnny Law and they don't seem to blind oncoming drivers on divided highways, at least with the 55W bulbs I don't get anyone flicking their high beams so I usually only turn them off on curves.

 

I don't plan on running the Aux lights on with oncoming traffic.

 

Yeah, it occurred to me where you are. I'm talking about Colorado and Utah rural divided Interstate, meaning there's a huge field of grass between the opposing lanes that I bet the State of Maryland could fit within.

 

I'm down its Southern MD it's pretty rural and is much different than Central MD.

Our main road is 4 lanes and is almost like a divided highway but with stop lights. Then our back roads are 2 lane with some curves and hills.

 

And Route 2/4 gets SERIOUSLY dark at night... Plus it has a lot of LEO presence and wooded areas filled with critters that like to play in traffic. Good lighting down there is a must.

 

The following thread may help you somewhat in your search for better lighting:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/automotive-lighting-101.534393/

Since you're for more long distance lighting, beam pattern should be your major consideration. A driving, spot or maybe even a pencil beam would probably be best. That said, aiming will be critical to optimum performance because the longer the "throw", the more critical aim becomes. And you really don't want to run this type of beam pattern when anybody is approaching you - just like your high beams.

As for what type of light might give you this kind of performance, a decent 30" driving beam LED bar such as one from Diode Dynamics or Baja Designs will run you around $300 and give you an astounding level of performance. Better yet, they're pretty easy to install. Beware of the cheap eBay and Amazon LED bars though. They have almost no beam discipline and just splatter light all over the place. I would recommend staying away from a roof mounted bar though. You'll find a very distracting amount of reflection on your hood which will really hurt your vision.

 

That's why I like these lights, they are slightly more focused and bright than a good set of high beams but not quite pencil beams. I used to run E-code Hella housings in my old truck (a 1991) and the high beam in those was excellent. These are similar. Best way I can describe them is slight narrower than your low beams with a hotter spot in the middle. With my low beams on it's a pretty uniform triangle of illumination from the bumper out to about 300 feet. So at 75 or 80 MPH (the posted limits most of the time here) that gives me about 3 seconds of time to react. On open Interstate or remote/rural places without traffic I use them instead of the stock high beams.

 

I'm more looking for photos... I'm trying to figure out what looks the best.