Why?

At least until you crest over into Cle Elum, Yakima, etc.

 

Exactly, that’s why I said depends on where you’re taking about when you say “West”

On the outskirts in western Washington there’s no streetlights, no houses, no other headlights. It’s dark as hell and you only have half a second to react.

I’ve even had animals already standing in the road and I haven’t seen them until the last second with just headlights because when it rains on newly paved road it seems to just absorb the light

 

Yeah, the middle half of Utah is basically the same as that area. The lower part is red rock like AZ, and the top half is all alpine, basically like the areas north of Everett/Marysville.

I've gotten caught slippin by animals a few times, but thankfully never hit one, Had an Elk jump over my hood as I was doing bout 65 through a narrow strech of the highway. Was looking down at the map and looked up to see back hooves disappear into the darkness about 6 feet in front of my face. 4runner behind me almost poo'd his pants and told me what went down over the radio.

 

If you go off-road at night, you'll find out exactly why as the headlights are not enough as they are no good going around turns when they are pointed straight and you need to see the sides.

 

Headlights are pretty much crap off-road.

 

I work in Seattle but never really ventured north. I live Down towards mt rainier

Also never been down through Utah but I have a trip planned for fall and I can’t wait

 

I've actually used a flashlight when I didn't have my ditch lights.

 

Whatever works

 

Just sold my light bar a couple weeks ago

 

@Ferball Lots of highways cross open range on the high plains and mountain west. It's never too big of a surprise to find black angus walking down the road, even on blacktop. They are essentially invisible at night. Not to mention Elk and Moose. If you hit a cow in a midsize truck at highway speed and you walk away buy yourself a lottery ticket. A lot of these areas have very low population density, virtually no cell signal once you're 10 miles out of town, part time volunteer ambulance service and not much other traffic to assist you. Virtually none of the amenities that are common in the eastern U.S. It never hurts to tip the odds in you favor.

 

With older cars, it seemed like the diffuse light from the OEM headlights would light up the desert fine. With my new and "improved" Tacoma headlights, the regular low beam headlight has such bright light AND such a hard/sharp cutoff that I can ONLY see what the headlights light up. Everything 1/2" above the cutoff might as well be an inky black hole. Hitting my brights seems to fix everything. I HAVE to hit the brights in the middle of nowhere at night to see anything. Very Odd.

I can see adding 2020 Tacoma LED fogs to address this so I can leave my brights off. I see the automatic brights "feature" as a shaky and easily fooled bandaid for this problem.

 

Depends on what you are trying to do.

Sometimes the EXTRA light helps.

Situation: Making a turn at night when you do NOT have a spotter. Who will illuminate your line when in a sticky situation? Are you going to get out and take a flashlight? Maybe but if you are already struggling to keep forward momentum wouldn't you like to simply see it????

Are Accessory lights needed...HELL NO...but if you are wheeling at night then there are TONS of times you would want them. Necessary, NO. Useful, YES!

 

@Ferball

Nice...it’s not an issue of speed, I go the speed limt and drive for conditions. I think the biggest issue for me is in terms of perfomance the stock headlights on a 1st gen tacoma leave a lot to be desired. The headlights on newer vehicals offer much more usable light. I installed aux lights to supplement my stock lights. Eventually I will do a project retrofit mod for my headlights. Between ditchlights, a low mounted led light bar and spot lights mounted on the bumper it gives me a much better view of the road. All my lights are switched and wired to my high beams, to minimize time on when there is traffic.

 

I've used mine as work lights so I could shove my driveway when I had a 18' loaded car hauler behind my truck. The berm that the plow truck left would have surely gotten me stuck with my trailer so having the extra lights to shove helped. I also live about a mile down a road that is frequently crossed by deer, elk, moose, Mountan lions, dogs.

 

I need to do something about that too. Like the forward lights I'm going to switch them separately so I can use them as work lights if necessary.

 

Living in Montana, I have found that adding a lightbar was one of the most beneficial things I have done. I frequent the mountains and the lightbar has been crucial for winding mountain trails where headlights just don't cut it. Seeing the sides of the roads helps with being able to keep speed up while navigating those windy back roads as well as seeing those critters that get thrills in smashing grilles. If you never leave the pavement, then don't bother (with many aftermarket accessories for that matter; Winch, off-road tires, lift, sliders, and skid plates are only useful if you use them, and you won't find much use during that daily commute to work), but if you find yourself out in the sticks, you'll be happy you have them.