Light Bar Buying Guide with Help from TrailFX

Looking to add a light bar to your ride? Wondering where in the world you’re supposed to start?

Yea, BEEN THERE.

Between the scientific terms and strange numbers, the varying price points and seemingly hundreds of vendors, it can get pretty overwhelming — which can lead to a purchase that leaves you feeling unhappy.

The lighting segment is growing rapidly. And when a market sector expands, everybody wants a piece of the pie. There are plenty of great brands out there to turn to (many of which you’ll find right here on this blog). Today, however, we turned to our friends at TrailFX to help us unpack the confusing terms and specs that can crop up when making an off-road lighting purchase. Specifically, we’re talking light bars.

Why TrailFX? Because it’s a brand known for its excellent value and quality. That means, if you’re new to lighting or you’re working with a budget, you’ll find something here that will look great and perform well without breaking the bank. Even if you’re looking to head a little further up market and spring for a premium option, TrailFX has you covered there too.

So, let’s walk through the main features you should focus on with when shopping for a light bar. Things like housing materials, approval ratings, color temperatures, and beam patterns. We’ll explain why they’re important, what to look for, and how our friends at TrailFX deliver on these fronts.

LED or Bust

Current aftermarket light offerings use three main types of technology—halogen, high-intensity discharge (HID), and light-emitting diode (LED). However, it’s the last one that has really taken the segment by storm.

LEDs emit less heat, making them more efficient. They also last longer than comparable halogen and HID lights, and stand up better to everyday use as well as off-road vibration and shock. Plus, LEDs are pretty tiny, so they don’t take up a ton of space—or weight. And when you flip that switch, you’re getting instant illumination; no waiting for things to warm up.

The video below features headlights, rather than light bars, but still offers a helpful visual representation of the differences in light output among the three different types of lighting technology.

TrailFX light bars, like most options on the market, utilize LEDs for the reasons listed above. But what are some LED-specific features and techno-terms you should be paying attention to?

Lumens. This is the measure of how much light you’re getting. Generally speaking, the higher the lumens, the brighter the light.

Wattage. This is the measure of how much energy your light is using.

You might notice that even when buying light bulbs for your home, most product packaging highlights lumens rather than watts these days. That’s because LED lighting efficiency can vary by brand, and it’s really hard to nail down a specific correlation between energy use and energy output.

Long story short: Let lumens be your guide when shopping for lighting.

Two other terms that can be useful when shopping for off-road lighting are “raw” lumens and “effective” lumens. Technically, a light’s “raw” lumens is a theoretical number. It is determined by multiplying the number of LEDs in a light by their maximum output rating. “Effective” lumens, by comparison, is what you can actually expect based on real world interference like ambient temperature and housing assemblies.

Durability & Resistance

Light bars come in different shapes and sizes, with the LEDs themselves stored in housings made of different materials. For example, TrailFX light bars range from 5-inch single-row solutions to 50-inch double-row configurations. Some options even feature bottom mounting brackets for additional auxiliary lighting, which operate independently of the light bar to further increase visibility. All options are encased in a die-cast aluminum housing to keep out dirt, dust, and water per industry-set ratings.

You’ve probably seen these ratings listed in product descriptions and wondered what they meant. Known as ingress protection—or “IP”—these ratings measure how much protection your light bar’s housing will offer against invading debris. They come in five scores: IP65, IP66, IP67, IP68 and IP69K.

All of these ratings prevent the ingress of dust (denoted by the first number – 6) but stand up to water differently (denoted by the second number). IP65 and IP66 can withstand water being projected at them, but won’t do too well if they’re submerged. IP67 and IP68 will handle more rugged adventures, as they can withstand 30 minutes of water immersion up to 1 meter and 1.5 meters respectively. IP69K represents the greatest waterproofing and dust-proofing rating. It protects against high-temp and high-pressure water spray, even at very close range.

All standard TrailFX LED light bars are IP67 rated for dust and water resistance. For greater protection, the company offers its IP68-rated Black Edition light bars.

Pick Your Style

So, now that you have better idea of the technical lingo, the shopping experience becomes a little more fun. As we said, light bars come in a lot of shapes and sizes. Each has its own pros and cons, but here’s a short overview to help you decide.

Beam Pattern

This refers to how wide of an angle your light produces. When it comes to light bars, there are three to concern yourself with:

• Spot beams, which are narrow but concentrated and far-reaching

• Flood beams, which offer a wider angle but shorter depth of field

• Combination beams, which provide a little of both worlds.

Ask yourself how you plan to use this light bar. Are you looking to illuminate a work site? Or are you driving off-road at night? What’s the terrain like? These things will help you determine what kind of beam pattern will serve you best.

Straight vs Curved

There’s not a whole lot of difference between these two but, generally speaking, a curved light bar will provide you with a wider angle of light, thereby illuminating a larger field of vision.

Some people find them to be a little more stylish, as they tend to accentuate the natural curves of a vehicle’s design. On that note, straight bars often complement boxier rides better, like Jeeps.

Single Row vs Double Row

Row counts simply refer to how many rows of LEDs are built into the bar. A single-row light bar will have one row of LED lights, meaning it will produce more of a concentrated spot beam. A double-row bar has two rows of LEDs and will emit a wider beam pattern.

Color Temperature

When we say “color” we’re referring to the warmth or coolness of a light beam. This “temperature” is measured in Kelvins. The lower the number, the warmer or more “amber” the light appears. The higher the number, the cooler or “bluer” it looks.

Most off-road LED lights fall in the 5000K-6000K range because the cool colored, bluish-white light beam they emit ensures better visibility. However, it’s worth noting that amber-colored lights serve a useful purpose too, as they improve visibility in foggy conditions.

You Got This

Keep an eye out for other features as well when shopping, like service life (this is measured in hours) or lens material. For example, TrailFX standard light bars are rated for 30,000 hours and use a clear polycarbonate lens over the LED lights for added protection from dirt and dust. Additionally, the company’s Black Edition light bars feature black reflectors that create a unique blacked-out appearance until they’re illuminated.

Another thing to keep an eye out for is how the unit is packaged. What are you getting for your money? TrailFX light bars include the light, a plug-and-play black sleeved wiring harness with relay, moisture-proof DEUTSCH connector with toggle switch, and stainless steel mounting hardware.

As long as you have some experience with basic wiring, you should be able to tackle light bar installation on your own. However, if you’re really not comfortable with tapping into the vehicle’s electrical system, there’s no shame in hooking up with a professional shop.

Now that you have a better idea of what to look for when shopping for light bars, you can feel more confident in your purchasing decision. And we hope you’ll check out the great product lineup that TrailFX has to offer.