Halogen, HIDs and LEDs

To start, know that lights fall into three basic categories: halogen, high-intensity discharge (HID), and light-emitting diodes (LED).

Halogen is the most common and least expensive option, using a traditional bulb that has a tungsten filament within halogen gas. The filament heats up and creates light. You can pick up a pair of quality halogen lights for under $100 at nearly any town in America.

HID lights use a reflector similar to halogen lights but take a lot of voltage (on the order of tens of thousands of volts) to arc across the electrodes. HIDs send an arc across a pair of tungsten electrodes to create light. This design is far more efficient than halogen lights and draws less amperage, producing approximately four times as many lumens per watt as traditional lights and lasting five times as many hours. If there is a downside to HIDs it is the expense and size.

LED lights draw even less amperage than HIDs, using a semiconductor diode that emits light when voltage is applied. LEDs also resist vibration and impact, since their construction uses no glass or filament. The biggest downside to LEDs is that they are expensive. The light is also hard to direct and focus, and the market is becoming flooded with overseas LED light bars of questionable quality.

Once you have decided on a type of light, what else should you look for? When choosing beam pattern, consider the speeds that your vehicle travels off-road. Faster speeds require long-distance lights with a spot pattern, while slower wheelers and crawlers can appreciate the wide beam of light from flood- and foglights.

Size and fitment are critical, as all HID lights used to use external ballasts, but as technology has advanced these ballasts have gotten much smaller and are now often integrated into the housing. This makes for a cleaner, more compact installation. The same concerns hold with LEDs, which can be had in various shapes and sizes. Also check to see whether the lights come with all the necessary wiring, switches, and relays or you must purchase them separately.

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