Do I _really_ need aux light pods or just better headlights?

[XyloSesame]

I sent an email to a vendor hoping for personalized guidance, but three weeks later and there has been no reply. I've been reading a gazillion posts and reviews on lights, but I'm still slightly confused.

I have a '21 Sport S. It has the tow package with aux switches, but with OEM halogens (I wish now that I had ponied up for factory LED). I replaced my bumper with a Rock Hard mid-width and the recessed fog pockets seem to cut the stock halogen fog lights to almost nothing -- I get roughly 12' of throw from them, barely visible from the driver's seat. In the OEM plastic Sport bumper, I could use the fogs to add to near field when needed, now the cutoff makes them pretty useless for that. Of course, I'm new to all of this, so maybe that's where they should be shining...

I mainly drive on road, but hope to drive some forest roads with maybe light (easy) off road while on vacations. Some of the middle America highways are lonely stretches of dark nothingness and added illumination would help.

If I'm looking at almost $1k at the top of the aux lighting pod pile, would I be better off spending that cash on LED headlights first?
Or should I keep the halogens for now and go straight to LED combo/wide amber pods and light up the night?

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[Jeepn’]

I would consider upgrading the headlight bulb first (LED/HID) then better fogs (I like diode dynamics) and if you're still not happy then the entire Headlight. I'd leave any exterior off-road light pods last because they aren't really street legal and your head/fog lights will still suck on a daily basis.

 

[dragoneggs]

For off road (or on road when nobody is around)... you would really appreciate some amber driving/combo lights such as the LP4s from Baja Designs. I added some BD Squadron Sports (clear) on the cowls...

I wired both sets to the Aux switches. I did go with the OEM LED light package and can tell you these are way brighter but not DOT approved.

Edit… did reinstall the factory LED fogs in the aftermarket Rockhard aluminum bumper.

 

[TX_Ovrlnd]

The first thing I did was replace my halogens with the Oracle bi-leds. They made a huge improvement! If DD had released their new headlight back then I would’ve gone that route even at its price point. That Offroad mode looks nice. Don’t add more lights before you address your current light’s inefficiencies in my opinion.

 

[cornercanyon]

Great question: better headlights—

 

[Aonar]

I do have the factory LED but I also added @Diode Dynamics fogs on the front! This vid compares. I will never be w/o at least 1 set of additional amber fogs again!

 

[Jtclayton612]

Better headlights, try a cheap LED bulb first, the factory halogen reflectors handle them well.

I have some auxiliary lighting but it’s only ditch lighting for dark country roads that no one else is on. Because deer. The regular brights are fine and changing to LED fog bulbs and not having them drop out when turning high beams on really helps.

 

[58Willys]

Did you re-aim your fog lights after putting them in a new bumper?

 

[XyloSesame]

For off road (or on road when nobody is around)... you would really appreciate some amber driving/combo lights such as the LP4s from Baja Designs. I added some BD Squadron Sports (clear) on the cowls...

LP4 or LP6 were on the top of my list. If they had a better BF sale, I might have purchased a set, but the $75 cash back (8.8% on the total) wasn't enough of a discount for me to impule buy. If/when I add pods, I'll revisit BD.

Did you re-aim your fog lights after putting them in a new bumper?

I did .... every adjustment slightly changed the hot spot, but the cutoff remained the same. I saw only one other post about this, but couldn't find any other complaints. I'm wondering if most people swap for aftermarket when installing bumpers.

I would consider upgrading the headlight bulb first (LED/HID) then better fogs (I like diode dynamics) and if you're still not happy then the entire Headlight. I'd leave any exterior off-road light pods last because they aren't really street legal and your head/fog lights will still suck on a daily basis.

The first thing I did was replace my halogens with the Oracle bi-leds. They made a huge improvement! If DD had released their new headlight back then I would’ve gone that route even at its price point. That Offroad mode looks nice. Don’t add more lights before you address your current light’s inefficiencies in my opinion.

Great question: better headlights—

Better headlights, try a cheap LED bulb first, the factory halogen reflectors handle them well.
I have some auxiliary lighting but it’s only ditch lighting for dark country roads that no one else is on. Because deer. The regular brights are fine and changing to LED fog bulbs and not having them drop out when turning high beams on really helps.

I've never had anything other than halogen in cars, but maaaan they suck in a Jeep. Seriously. Wish I would have known that going in - at least now I know to test drive at night.

So better headlights it is. I've read more positive comments on LED bulbs than negative, most people seem to have good results, but I don't want to drop $200 on a good set of bulbs to stick in a technically wrong reflector -- it's a personal hangup. I know there has been extensive research and user testing on this, but I'm only a year in to this whole Jeep owner thing and I've already found out what happens when I FAAFO and go the less expensive route.

Since I was already looking at a large purchase, I got in just in time with the @Diode Dynamics BF sale on their new Elites. Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[Jeepn’]

LP4 or LP6 were on the top of my list. If they had a better BF sale, I might have purchased a set, but the $75 cash back (8.8% on the total) wasn't enough of a discount for me to impule buy. If/when I add pods, I'll revisit BD.


I did .... every adjustment slightly changed the hot spot, but the cutoff remained the same. I saw only one other post about this, but couldn't find any other complaints. I'm wondering if most people swap for aftermarket when installing bumpers.





I've never had anything other than halogen in cars, but maaaan they suck in a Jeep. Seriously. Wish I would have known that going in - at least now I know to test drive at night.

So better headlights it is. I've read more positive comments on LED bulbs than negative, most people seem to have good results, but I don't want to drop $200 on a good set of bulbs to stick in a technically wrong reflector -- it's a personal hangup. I know there has been extensive research and user testing on this, but I'm only a year in to this whole Jeep owner thing and I've already found out what happens when I FAAFO and go the less expensive route.

Since I was already looking at a large purchase, I got in just in time with the @Diode Dynamics BF sale on their new Elites. Thanks everyone for the replies.

I’d say that was a good purchase! Post up some pics when you get them! I’m personally interested in them as well! lol.

 

[Jtclayton612]

LP4 or LP6 were on the top of my list. If they had a better BF sale, I might have purchased a set, but the $75 cash back (8.8% on the total) wasn't enough of a discount for me to impule buy. If/when I add pods, I'll revisit BD.


I did .... every adjustment slightly changed the hot spot, but the cutoff remained the same. I saw only one other post about this, but couldn't find any other complaints. I'm wondering if most people swap for aftermarket when installing bumpers.





I've never had anything other than halogen in cars, but maaaan they suck in a Jeep. Seriously. Wish I would have known that going in - at least now I know to test drive at night.

So better headlights it is. I've read more positive comments on LED bulbs than negative, most people seem to have good results, but I don't want to drop $200 on a good set of bulbs to stick in a technically wrong reflector -- it's a personal hangup. I know there has been extensive research and user testing on this, but I'm only a year in to this whole Jeep owner thing and I've already found out what happens when I FAAFO and go the less expensive route.

Since I was already looking at a large purchase, I got in just in time with the @Diode Dynamics BF sale on their new Elites. Thanks everyone for the replies.

The elites look great I’m sure you’ll be happy with them. They’d be on my shortlist if they were heated for when I do eventually replace my whole headlight.

Small correction though, new bulbs cost like $80 total for both the headlamps and fogs together, not $200 lol.

 

[tshaw2009]

The elites look great I’m sure you’ll be happy with them. They’d be on my shortlist if they were heated for when I do eventually replace my whole headlight.

Small correction though, new bulbs cost like $80 total for both the headlamps and fogs together, not $200 lol.

Quick question from a first time Wrangler owner with stock halogens. I've never had an issue just switching to LED bulbs with any other vehicle but I've heard that you will get warning messages if you switch to LEDs on the Wranglers. Is that true or can you just swap some cheap Torchbeams in like I've done with all my other vehicles?

 

[Jtclayton612]

Quick question from a first time Wrangler owner with stock halogens. I've never had an issue just switching to LED bulbs with any other vehicle but I've heard that you will get warning messages if you switch to LEDs on the Wranglers. Is that true or can you just swap some cheap Torchbeams in like I've done with all my other vehicles?

If you’re not switching in ones that are plug and play with the CANBUS, get a tazer to change the settings to LED, or put resistors inline, you can get some weird hyper flashing and warnings.

I got plug and play ones but not all are.

 

[Jeepn’]

Small correction though, new bulbs cost like $80 total for both the headlamps and fogs together, not $200 lol.

I suppose they can cost $200+ but prices are all over the place for those things. Quality seems to be hit or miss as well (amazon).

 

[BajaDesigns]

I sent an email to a vendor hoping for personalized guidance, but three weeks later and there has been no reply. I've been reading a gazillion posts and reviews on lights, but I'm still slightly confused.

I have a '21 Sport S. It has the tow package with aux switches, but with OEM halogens (I wish now that I had ponied up for factory LED). I replaced my bumper with a Rock Hard mid-width and the recessed fog pockets seem to cut the stock halogen fog lights to almost nothing -- I get roughly 12' of throw from them, barely visible from the driver's seat. In the OEM plastic Sport bumper, I could use the fogs to add to near field when needed, now the cutoff makes them pretty useless for that. Of course, I'm new to all of this, so maybe that's where they should be shining...

I mainly drive on road, but hope to drive some forest roads with maybe light (easy) off road while on vacations. Some of the middle America highways are lonely stretches of dark nothingness and added illumination would help.

If I'm looking at almost $1k at the top of the aux lighting pod pile, would I be better off spending that cash on LED headlights first?
Or should I keep the halogens for now and go straight to LED combo/wide amber pods and light up the night?

Hey @XyloSesame,

As upgrading the lights on your vehicle can be a headache as to which should be upgraded first I just wanted to reach out on behalf of Baja Designs and introduce some of the lighting options we sell. Our most common AUX lighting packages are the OEM Fog light replacement kits as well as the LP series bumper lights. With the Fog light option, we have options from an SAE road legal option all the way to a fully off-road aim lighting package. We will also be introducing our new Squadron SAE on the first of January which will be a huge improvement from the current SAE we sell. For the details of those options see the link below and for any questions, you can reach me directly at [email protected].
Baja Designs JL Lighting Kits:Link
Baja Designs SAE Fog Lights:Link

Best,
Brandon

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