If you spend an appreciable amount of time on the trail, in the mud or just generally off-road, then auxiliary lighting is a must. Whether you think you need it or not, being able to see your surroundings is critical to safety. Even if you don’t make a habit of being out after dark, you need to be prepared; darkness comes whether you’re prepared for it or not and being caught out there without adequate lighting is nothing short of dangerous.
Obstacles in the road can be easily obscured or hidden by shadows that leap and jump in the night; and these aren’t the only things that leap and jump in the night, anyway. Wildlife does too, and that’s another hazard to your vehicle when you leave the asphalt.
At any rate, the question here is whether or not you should get LED off-road lights, not whether you should have off-road lights at all. If your vehicle currently has HID or halogen auxiliary lights, consider the following:
1. LED off road lights will last far, far longer.
Probably the strongest draw of LED off road lights is that they will last so much longer than any other form of lighting, by design. High-intensity discharge lamps and halogen lamps have nothing on the lifespan of LEDs. Both halogen and HID lamps will last somewhere around 2,000 hours on the upper end of the limit, which pales before the lifespans of LEDs.
Many automotive LEDs will last many, many hours longer than this – more than a factor of ten times in some cases.
2. They’re more reliable under a wider range of temperatures.
Another thing about LEDs is that they are not susceptible to unreliability in the face of extreme temperatures. Occasionally, halogen and HID bulbs will perform somewhat sluggish when it is extremely cold or they will take longer to reach their full brightness. By contrast, LEDs light up and reach their full brightness almost immediately.
3. They’re more reliable in the face of vibration, moisture intrusion and even corrosion.
Another thing to weigh in the matter is that LED lights are more reliable when they get shaken or under the stress of vibration, which is constant on the road. In addition, if you do your shopping well, you could end up with a set that is resistant to moisture intrusion and corrosion, both of which are common assaults on the trail.
4. There are many available solutions that project a brighter spread as well.
Finally, if you’re wise about your shopping and shop with the right supplier, you can find technology like TIR, or total internal reflection, which is the staple of the automotive LED lighting available at Diode Dynamics. Technology like this focuses all of the light output where you need it, wasting none to glare or scattering and resulting in a much brighter, crisper, better focused output.
If you’re looking for all of these features in LED off road lights and other auxiliary lights, don’t spend too much time deliberating. Visit DiodeDynamics.com to learn more about the LED light pods and LED light bars they produce for a wide variety of popular vehicles, many of which are plug and play solutions. If you still have questions at the end of it, give them a call at 304-205-3033 or contact them at [email protected].