Recommendations for aux lighting for Desert/Camping

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tpe187

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Hello all,

I've recently moved to southern CA, just north of Barstow. I'm looking at lighting options to cover venturing out into some of the more remote locations and taking the road less traveled. I will also be upgrading stand alone nav and communications.

Top end of budget for lighting is $2k, but $1k would be better. I'm thinking the light bar above the cab is the most versatile setup. Not wedded to a bar vs individual lights. Other option would be a light bar in front of the grill. Eventually I want to get a winch, but not bumper so I will go with a winch plates.

Currently no other mods besides stereo setup from Noah, and some Goodyear Duratracs on methods.

Just curious what the collective thoughts are on currently available lighting options. Anything I"m not considering? Thanks for your time. Tom
 

Hopscotch

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Baja Designs XL80s are really good on hood mounts. They put out plenty of light, even have good distance for when you're hauling the mail.
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If I didn't get a rigid basically for old garage junk I would be ordering this thing. Awesome performance and aggressive look, not a standard led light bar look either
 

marilynsride

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4x4TruckLEDs.com

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That's a tough one. See you could install all sorts of lights on your truck but really WHAT do you need it for exactly. If you go with what Hop recommended, they are fantastic BUT they are more designed for SPOT applications. What it sounds like you need is something to light up an ENTIRE area.

So I'd recommend an actual light bar. Baja Designs is my go to brand for my own personal truck and what we sell mainly. The OnX6 bars come in many flavors/many sizes.

I'd actually recommend going with the yellow (amber) lights from them, because it won't give you fatique and wash out your scene. It'll provide light and allow your eyes to actually WORK with the light so you can see around you.

A work/scene lense in the OnX6 would be best, especially in sandy conditions.

Next is where to mount it? I'd recommend actually the BACK of the truck. You usually have your tailgate down right? So why not have the light coming out the back. You'd have to get some mounting brackets and what not which may be more work then you are looking for.

If you wanted it in the front there are all sorts of mounts I can talk to you about. Just let us know where you envision mountingt his bar/pod lights.

Another option are the Squadrons or XL80s (XL80 are REALLY bright but pricey) as mentioned above, but go with a whole bunch of them. I'm doing a roof rack on my truck so I'll have 6 squadrons (3 on each side) in a work/scene scenario. I went with WHITE instead of yellow because it's more for SHOW for me... but a roof rack with yellows might work great if you'll be using it a lot in the desert/dust and want to light up your surroundings/camp site.

Anyway hopefully that gave you some ideas. When you are ready to pull the trigger shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do for you.
 

stevelp99

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I put in a 30in single row and a 20in double row behind the grill. two 6in diode dynamics amber led lights in the lower grille. A set of rigid DOT D2, and a set of D2 fogs in the fog light corners. planning on putting rigid lights in the back for additional aux lighting. Maybe some kind of setup that can be flipped out from under the bed rails.
 
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