Is there any manufacturers that make good (and affordable) off-road ...

Having had way to much experience with cheap light bar/light pods, it looks like there are only three types of off-road lighting products:

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1: Terrible quality, terribly executed, dim k+ lights from the Garbage Manufacturers which claim to be an order of magnitude brighter than in reality. (my flashlight is brighter than the typical 12 inch light bar)

2: auto parts store re-branded junk (see 1)

3: Incredibly overpriced ($500-$) name brand stuff. (I assume the name brand stuff is good quality, I’m not spending 500 dollars on a light bar)

There a huge opportunity for the likes of Sofirn or Convoy to make good quality off road lights for a reasonable price.

What seem like “expensive” quality LED light bars are not overpriced, once you’ve done the analysis and tried to create your own. In fact, they are a bargain that I have yet to see anyone DYI and beat.

Over time, a few friends and I evaluated around 40 cheap Chinese off road LED light bars and housings, with the idea of converting and reselling them in large quantity. After testing and discovering horrendous stock results, we disassembled the housings to consider using them as mod hosts. We found them ALL to be of extremely poor quality and design, with a complete lack of craftsmanship, quality and QC. Many of the LED MCPCB’s didn’t even make contact with the fake flimsy heat sinks, or made limited contact. They all had trashy baked-in drivers delivering >60% rated power, while struggling to illuminate dingy blue Chinese emitters someone probably recovered during a dumpster dive. Even after extensive modification, they still lacked sufficient mass, surface area and contact area to provide sufficient heat sinking. Just as bad were the ultra low quality reflector grids that were practically useless in directing any sort of discernible beam pattern. They all scattered light with odd mixed beam patterns, heavy artifacts & useless hot spots going in every direction. There was utterly nothing that could be used or salvaged in a “proposed production mid-quality high-powered build”. A few tear down’s that seemed like great mod host candidates required a large precision band saw to carefully dissect them. More abysmal design failures… and into the recycle bin they went! SUCH A WASTE OF TIME AND ALL HUGE DISAPPOINTMENTS! It later dawned on me that most of the extremely shabby assembly work must have been completed by child forced slave labor, which is when I gave up.

I had started my own LED light bar build as a test platform but took a different direction, instead converting three large Hella Rallye competition housings to 100 watt HID’s. It was a quick and clean mod to an existing high quality installation. They provide a very wide even beam with great range, free from beam artifacts, with excellent cut-off and more illumination than I can reasonably use (24K lumens). Total cost: around $600. I had already gained years of trouble-free service in their stock 100 watt halogen form, which was before the advent of high lumen LED and HID. And they provide the right vintage look for my old Toyota 4 x 4. They are still in production and selling well.

I’ll get back to the LED light bar build some day and I have made some recent progress (swapped to elliptical beam TIR’s with beam cut-off and started machining the enormous heat sink). Here’s my old build thread if you’d like to take a look:
DIY Light Bar - 40 x XM-L2 on copper

In researching what it will cost to complete my light bar (all-in) verses buying one of similar performance and beam characteristics, I will be in the hole at least $150, if not more. That still doesn’t consider my time, nor will it be as water resistant, fog free or attractive as a quality factory light bar. You really do get what you pay for, and the investment is justified IF you play off road OFTEN FOR LONG HOURS after dark. If not, you are wasting your money.

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If you’re patient, you can find deals on Rigid, Baja Designs, Rough Country, etc. And believe me, most of those are thoroughly engineered to last and perform at a great price… compared to the alternate. Of course, do your own research and read plenty of reviews for each particular model before purchasing. Many good deals are old stock with old generation emitters (ie: XM-L vs XM-L2, etc.) and low power drivers, compared to the same upgraded models with modern emitters and high powered drivers, so be very careful what you buy.

Sorry for the long post…

I just came back from Tractor Supply Co. with a 30” Traveller X ‘Blackout’ light bar, and have to say its the best offroad light/ cube/ bar I’ve tried so far (theres been a few lol). It was on sale for about $156.

I’ve been eyeing it for a while because of its design that uses downward firing LEDs and reflectors that bounce nearly all of the light forward. Meaning no spill. It was on sale today so i finally pulled the trigger.

It isnt perfect though.

The tint isn’t very good mind you- has a cool white center spot with a yellowy corona- but the beam profile is just about right for those of us that travel on long empty stretches with lots and lots of wildlife. This light comes with amber LEDs that are supposed to point a little lower than the white beam (for a fog light i suppose) , but it points so far down as to be unusable. But thats not why I bought it. I bought it because all other light bars light up road signs, the ground right in front of you, and trees, fences etc so bright it kills your night vision, while not throwing far enough ahead to make it worth having it on.

This thing has a nice smallish spot and not a whole lot of spill. But what I noticed, is if you run it upside down, what spill ther is gets cutoff very nicely right at the center of the hotspot which makes it perfect for lighting up way down road, but not lighting up signs/ trees and blinding you.

Takes 110 wats of power. Claimed output just over 5k lumens. Their clamed distance is yards- that’s highly doubtful. I compared it to a flashlight that I know is 250kcd and it outthrows my flashlight by a small margin. Maybe 300kcd at the most. I’ll measure it in a few days.

The lumen rating seems close though. My flashlight is about lumens right after turn on and the light bar visibly beats it…hot spot is just a smidge bigger amd a smidge brighter. Im impressed, as its way better than anything else I’ve tried. (I have not sprung for the ultra expensive stuff because they dont give you ANSI specs like candela and I expect that for what they charge). Im sure baja designs is good but I’m too cheap to try it. I have tried Rigid lighting, and am not impressed at all for the price.

As a disclaimer, I am not one of those a**holes that drive on the roads with a lightbar on with oncoming traffic. I live in a VERY rural area that sees little to no traffic.
It’s rare that I ever see anyone else on my nightly rounds, and if I do, its instantly off.

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hey guys. Im looking into lighting for my tacoma. i just want to see further when on the highway and clearer on night trails. which is more suitable for me? ive heard good things about LightForce 240's. but i like how led light bars dont take up much room, and are sleek. i understand that led light bars do not have the same distance of incandescent lights such as 240's. what would be better overall for great distance, and width as well? i would definitely consider an LED light bar for the rear, as i do not need to see far in reverse, just need to light it up more.

Pros of LED light bar:
Uses low voltage(correct?)
Good output
Nice white light

Cons of LED light bar:
Lack of distance

Pros of LightForce 240:
Good distance

Cons of Lightforce 240:
Uses more power than LED's
less concentrated, intense light

any input? maybe get both?

In a few words
LED's are best for low power draw
HID's will throw more light.

That is what Alan Roach, owner and engineer of Baja Designs, told me.

How you set up your lights depend on what you will be using them for.

I ran 7 HIDs when I used to chase in Baja. Since my truck was not a Trophy truck and I was not concerned with driving beyond my lights, I only ran 2 spots. Floods and driving were more usefull.

I used LED's for surround lighting.

i do a lot of night driving as well. i just looked at rigid industries lights. god damn they cost a lot but they seem to actually have really good distance, if you pay enough. i like to light up the road, AND the ditches. lots of animals where im driving.

i want the LED light bar because from what i've seen they do have a great light out put with little power and are small.

but my only problem is that they are just so expensive, you can get several Hid lights for prob cheaper

I wouldn't get HID if you have to keep turning them on/off because of traffic.

I've got 4 PIAA lights up front and they make my high beams obsolete (Lightforce is supposed to have even better light output than the PIAA's also). If electrical load isn't a concern, I'd go with the Lightforces and decide on HID vs. halogen based on useage. The stock electrical system will handle the lightforce lights just fine, not sure what else you'll be running when you have them turned on though.

From the race truck prep people: LED is bad in dusty conditions (like racing or on runs with others) as the light reflects back off the dust particles. HIDs or Halogen will penetrate better with less reflection back into your eyes.

LEDs are very expensive still.

Here is my 'cheap' Baja lighting set up (Baja Designs is a great company... I recommend them if you are in the market for new lights).



Two Hella Pencil Beams converted to HID 35 watt, ºK. Two Kragen HID 'Euro' (Driving) Beams. The Kragen HIDs were bought in because the were crazy cheap.. the plastic bodies broke on the first long Baja trip. The Hella metal lamps were a gift and I had them converted to HID later. The Kragens were repaired with fiberglass and my light bar was modified to hold all 4.

Pencil beams for distance and Driving beams to illuminate more in front of the truck, like headlights... but much whiter light.