Truck, Jeep and SUV Lighting Options to Illuminate the Trail

Jul 12, 2023

Off-road fun shouldn't have to end just because the sun goes down. In fact, some of the best off-road adventures can be found after dark. But to get the most enjoyment from hitting the trail at night, and the most safety, means having additional lighting on your rig. Stock headlights just don't cut it when it comes time to hit the trail. You simply cannot see enough to travel over rough terrain with much confidence. There are many different options for additional lights for your truck, SUV or other vehicle, any of which can increase your fun factor. Selecting the best lighting options to illuminate the trail all depend upon what you want to do, what fits your rig the best and, of course, how much you want to spend.

Regardless of whatever you’re looking for to light up the night, we’ve compiled a great list of options, so be sure to check them out. As an added bonus, we’ve partnered with 4 Wheel Parts to offer you 10% savings on your purchase at 4WheelParts.com by entering our exclusive code OFFROAD104WP at checkout. This option allows you to have some of the best off-road products shipped directly to your home, OR if you want you can pick up from your local 4 Wheel Parts location. Happy Shopping!

Light bars really exploded in popularity a few years ago. These lights are basically rectangular bars with rows of high-intensity LEDs. They range in size from 6-inches up to 50 inches, or more, and can be single or double rows, effectively doubling the brightness factor. Higher-end LED light bars are made up from two kinds of lights, with focused spotlights in the middle for forward projection, and wider flood lighting on the ends for increased vision to the sides.

Light bars have an advantage of being pretty versatile with where you mount them. You will often see them mounted to bumpers, and grills, and the bigger bars usually ride on the roof, just over the windshield. There are curved light bars that are designed specifically for this roof mount location, too. They help create a wider field of view.

If you want the best of the best when it comes to light bars, this one from Rigid is hard to beat. The E-Series is one of RIGID's most versatile, all-around lighting solutions. It pumps out up to 111% more raw lumens than ever before with the E-Series PRO, making it one of the most popular and best-looking options. These lights have a wide range of beam options, including Spot, Flood, Driving, Hyperspot, Diffused, and new Driving/Spot and Spot/Hyperspot combinations. These and other innovations make it one of the brightest and most efficient LED light bars on the market. The E-Series is a versatile, well-made and extremely durable option that will give you more light on the trail than you can imagine.

A 30-inch light bar gives you some additional flexibility in mounting locations, while still giving you outstanding brightness. Pro Comp's Motorsports Series high intensity LED light bars are an outstanding value. They feature a 50,000+ hour lifespan, ultra-high lumens/watt, in a patented-design, one-piece heatsink, no-screw design IP68 housing. In layman's terms, they give you a tough, reliable and long-lasting light that can take a severe beating on a rugged terrain-eating machine and still come out fully functional. The design provides increased visibility in even the darkest of driving conditions. Installation is easy with the wiring harness, switch, relay, mounting brackets and hardware all included. You cannot beat the quality for this price, either.

There is likely no other light brand that is associated with off-roading as much as KC HiLites. The company is widely known for quality and for doing things their own way. Their Gravity Pro6 light bar is definitely a different take on the LED light bar, and one that looks pretty cool if you ask me. Instead of a rectangular box with LED set in, KC uses a pre-wired bar with their gravity light pods built in, giving you extremely bright light and a classic look in one package.Each light produces 20W with an amp draw of 1.63A. These use CREE XPL HD LEDs producing 2,300 lumens in a custom configuration. If you really want to brighten up the trail, nad want a tough, light that has a classic look, this is the way to go.

Driving lights are single lights that you can mount just about anywhere. Popular locations include bumpers, brush guards, pillars and roll bars. These types of lights can be halogen, LED or other types of lighting, and you can go from a pretty economical option, up to some variants that are pretty intense and pricey. It all depends on what you want to spend, where you want the lights to mount, and what you want out of them. Most driving lights are available as spot lights for further projection, or flood lights for the widest dispersion.

Pro Comp started off making suspension components, and made their brand by making things affordable, yet rugged and dependable. Part of this comes from designing things and testing in real-world scenarios with real off-road enthusiasts. These driving lights were definitely designed with the off-roader in mind, starting off with waterproof, aluminum LED housings for safe and reliable performance in all weather conditions. Each Pro Comp LED Motorsports Light circuit is fitted with 3W CREE LEDs and a combination reflector pattern allows for use in a variety of applications. These lights include the mounting bracket, hardware and wiring instructions. They are bright, tough and of definite value.

Another quality product from KC HiLites, these 5-inch round halogen lights come ready to mount with rock guards in place. They have an extremely tough, USA-made black Polymax housing with a sleek, flat profile. The Apollo lights have an optical-quality glass lens, replaceable 55w Halogen bulb and polished reflectors that combine to generate a bright, specially-focused beam of light that you can select from several patterns. These lights have a two-axis mount for easy aiming. They’re available in 6-inch or 5-inch round sizes, with a choice of Long Range, Driving, Fog or Flood beam patterns. The best part is the price, which is outstanding for two lights of this quality from a company with this much tradition in the off-road world.

Let's be frank – Hella lights are hella good! The Rallye 4000 Series represents a wide range of what you want in lights, with different beam options, including a standard, wide range and pencil beam for different driving conditions, and a xenon-bulb option for amazing brightness and clarity. Each light is made for off-road use and comes with a rock shield, mounting hardware and a ton of legendary Hella quality and tradition. You’ve undoubtedly seen a lot of rally-racing cars set up with Hella lights and with good reason, these competition-proven lights are tough, dependable and ready to rock wherever you want to drive.

There are other lighting options for your ride that you can pick from. It's all a matter of what you want, where you want to put it and what you want it to do.

Many trucks and SUVs come equipped with fog lights right from the factory. Fog lights, as the name implies, shine directly in front of your vehicle and make it easier to drive at night in foggy conditions when your regular headlights are mostly illuminating the vapor in front of you instead of the road. Fog lights are a popular add on for any vehicle and the aftermarket is awash with options that will outperform the stockers. On a plus side, they also come in very handy for technical off-road use when you need to see exactly where you want to place your tires on a tight trail or course.

Pod lighting is popular, especially for those of us who want to add a light in a non-traditional location. A lot of outdoor enthusiasts add them to the rear of their trucks for doing things like loading up after dark during a hunting trip, or loading the dirt bikes into the truck after a ride. Light pods are smaller, but most pack a serious punch when it comes to being bright. They can be mounted on the sides of a vehicle to extend the lighting on the trail, or to simply illuminate the area around the vehicle for things like working or camping. If you are looking for the most versatile lighting option, a pod is the way to go.

There are a lot of lights that fall into this category, but the most common is the rock lights. These are the bright lights that mount in the wheel-well of your vehicle and cast a beam of light right onto your tires and the ground directly around them. This is good for rock crawling, where precise tire placement is key,especially after dark. I’m not going to lie, these also come in pretty handy for making your truck just look cool hanging out and cruising around town. Most of these lights are pretty easy to mount up, draw very little from the electrical system of your ride and are just plain cool.

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