what exactly are the ditch lights for?

Fad...

 

I use mine to spot sleeping deer on the side of the road……then I can hang my shotgun out the window and blast em!

 

I say mostly a fad, like a lot of things. Let’s be honest, raptor lights are even more pointless and thats a hill the Ford haters will die on. But to each their own. Off to my garage to weld up an obnoxiously huge stinger for my truck…

 

You really cant compare raptor lights to a functional light.

I will agree atlesst 70% of trucks with aux lighting do it simply for looks

 

Personally they seem to be in the wrong place. They dont let you see next to your wheels for negotiating tight spaces and create a lot of glare and spill where you dont want it.

My LED fog lights illuminate to almost 180 degrees in front of my truck so I am thinking of installing some lights behind my cab pointed to the side and slightly forward to fill in the sides. For next to my wheels I am going to try some puddle pods and maybe some rock lights.

 

I use ditch lights to help see the trail is it curves left and right. Here on the east coast a lot of forest roads, gravel back roads and trails are very curvy and constantly go up and down. Headlights (any lights that only point straight forward) do not work well on those kind of roads/trails. Does everyone need them, no. Do they help for some folks in some areas, very much so.

 

Plus, you only got one eye.

 

There is that...

 

They look cool...

 

In all seriousness, they're campsite locators. Most of us dont wheel at night. A lot of us need to find the campsite at night.

When one is returning from a rather expensive and drink laden dinner in town, they are clutch for finding the cut in the trees that indicates the dirt path that will eventually lead to the trailer.


Also, they're great for pissing off the wildlife.

 

Anyone have dimmable ditch lights? That would make them the ultimate campsite locators. I often switch to parking lights or parking+fog around campsites, etc in order to allow the existing light to work better for me and to be polite.

 

I use them most when driving on back country roads or in the middle of desert at night. I have used them briefly when bombing across the 10 freeway from CA to AZ in the middle of the night. Other time's they're left on a strobe pattern and turned on when vehicles pull out in front of me causing me to slam on the brakes.

They also work great for convincing wildlife to get out of the road.

 

I have diode dynamics ss3 pros for ditch lights. I'd like to switch to Baja Designs just so I can use these...

 

not a dimmer but I put a foot switch in mine so I can kill them quick. I’ve got Squadron Pros with spot lenses facing forward and out- helps with deer/elk detection while driving at night.

The foot switch means I can turn them off as soon as I see a vehicle, then go to low beams once they get closer.

 

The fact that there isn't a WW2 blackout mask in that entire collection is a serious fail.

 

I was driving to work this morning and saw an old Honda CRV with ditch lights, it made me think of Tacoma World…