Off-road lights for recreational vehicles may be considered as a nicety by some, but experienced trail riders and rock crawlers know that they are really more of a necessity. Going off the pavement during the day is hazardous enough; at night, wildlife can seem to come out of nowhere, dips and holes in the road can be effectively invisible until you are on top of them, and the long, dark shadows can hide logs, rocks and other dangerous impediments.
In short, off -road lights are a highly valuable safety feature that will help illuminate the space in front of and around your vehicle. They can also make getting out in the outdoors more enjoyable because you can proceed with more confidence. The following are some general options at your disposal for accessorizing and enhancing your favorite off-road ride.
Off-Road Light Bars
Off-road light bars are some of the most common auxiliary off-road lighting solutions; they might even be the most prevalent. They’re also immediately recognizable, although there is not one standard configuration. Many vehicle owners get very creative with how they mount their light bars to their vehicles.
Light bars designed for off-roading can often be mounted to a vehicle’s bumper, on the vehicle’s hood just under the windshield, or even mounted to custom brackets that right over the top of the vehicle in order to provide additional illumination. A custom job can also allow for other orientation and mounting options.
Off-Road Light Pods
Another highly versatile option for adding auxiliary lights to your vehicle comes in the form of LED pods, which, like light bars, can be mounted in a variety of different fashions. LED pods, which can also be used as fog lights and supplements to your high beams (in some situations) can be mounted almost anywhere on your vehicle to provide additional lighting. Some producers even provide flush mount brackets for light pods.
Ditch Lights
Another form of auxiliary lighting that can be considered effective for off-roading is ditch lighting. Ditch lights are typically mounting at the sides of the vehicle’s hood near the windshield, shining down and away from the vehicle at about 45 degrees or so; in this manner, they would illuminate the ditch that ran alongside the road, if there was one. These are also highly useful on trails and off-road because they help to illuminate the space around a vehicle.
There are manufacturers that produce vehicle specific mounts and hardware for all three of these options. One of them is Diode Dynamics, that produces not only vehicle specific mounts that require no modification, but the lights themselves.
Diode Dynamics also produces high quality LED off-road lights for many different types of popular vehicles, including but not limited to ditch lights, light bars and pods which can be mounted in a variety of manners and configurations.
Their lights are extensively tested for performance and have been developed using a special optical technology (total internal reflection, or TIR) that directs all of the light output where it is needed, drastically cutting back on scattering and glare.
To learn more about the LED off-road lighting solutions available at DiodeDynamics.com, visit their website or get in touch with their customer service team. They can be reached at 314-205-3033 or by email at [email protected].
