If you don’t have a light bar on your truck, it may be something to think about. Today’s light bars use incredibly bright LEDs that can turn night into daylight. Flood/spotlight combos are perfect for off-road driving, night time fishing, or even driving your vehicle in heavy fog or dangerous back roads at night. LED light bars come in many sizes to fit your vehicle, whether you’ve got a dirt bike, big 4WD truck, or need light for a job site or work vehicle. Of course, you also want quality for your money.
Here are three of the best manufacturers out there.
Rigid Industries
Rigid makes a variety of modern lighting products, including some of the most innovative LED light bars to be found. They’re a U.S. company based in Arizona. Since their start in 2006, they’ve earned a lot of respect in the industry with precision manufacturing and top-quality components that many brands can’t match.
The popular E-Series Rigid light bars set an industry standard for vehicle illumination. They feature 5-watt LEDs producing some of the strongest per-watt outputs of any brand with their custom Hybrid optics that direct 94 percent of the total light to where you need it. They also come with well-designed aluminum heat sinks allowing up to 50,000 hours of use. The light bars are also modularized so that if a few LEDs are damaged by debris or branches, the rest keep working.
This evolved into the E2 series with 304 stainless steel housing and the improved Spectrum optics system. There are also D series, SR2, RDS, and other product lines to meet different uses. Rigid also makes a Radiant line of light bar products featuring bright white or blue or red backlights.
Rigid light bars come in 10″,12″,20″,30″, and 50″ sizes to fit any vehicle. They attach easily to bumpers, roll bars, windshields, tail gates, or wherever you like. Each light bar features a 100 percent clear, unbreakable Lexan lens. Many Rigid products can illuminate even the deepest shadows from a 1,500-foot distance through an unbreakable polycarbonate lens.
The Rigid spot/flood combination is 10/20 degrees, so they are ideal for boat, trail, or backroad driving where you absolutely must know what’s coming up in front of you.
While there are many manufacturers breaking into the LED light bar market, Rigid Industries has few peers when it comes to performance, quality, and reliability.
Black Oak
This company sprang from advanced LED research being done by scientists in Bradenton, Florida. They’ve earned a growing following for their high-quality optics that incorporate the latest LED improvements. High efficiency also means lower power draw on your vehicle battery yet more light. Black Oak LED technology is usually well ahead of low-priced competitors.
Black Oak LED light bars are sold all over the world. They’re designed for durability, incorporating rugged designs into lighting products meant to last 50,000 hours even in the worst weather conditions or harsh terrain. They also have highly-regarded customer service and are willing to work with customers to provide custom solutions for your vehicle or after-dark work environment.
Black Oak makes a range of light bars in 6″, 10″, 20″, 30″, 40″, and 50″. These come in both straight and curved designs, and black or powder-coated metallic surfaces. Their products come in both single-row (S-series) and double-row (D-series) light bars. A Black Oak LED light bar can be found to fit any vehicle. Some are specifically designed with popular automotive industry models in mind, such as Ford, Chevy, GM, Jeep, and many more. Black Oak light bars are also suitable for most watercraft.
Their light bars feature high-quality 3-watt, 5-watt, and even super-bright 10-watt CREE and Osram LEDs you won’t find in cheaper brands. You also get different outputs between spot/flood LEDs for maximum focus and illumination. You’ll get sharp illumination from up to 100 yards away even on their smaller light bars. This makes for some of the highest-performing products out there.
Black Oak light bars also come with an industry-leading IP69K rating, which means a perfect seal against water and dust even under pressure and at high temperature. Black Oak LED has such confidence in their products that they are able to offer life-time warranties.
Black Oak LED is an industry leader because they are able to offer extreme quality at a price that’s still very competitive for super value.
Rough Country
Rough Country has been making quality off-road products since the early 1970s, and was an early entry into the LED light bar market. They provide everything you need to equip your vehicle with the latest light bar designs. Rough Country makes one of the widest ranges of LED products with 8″, 10″, 12″, 20″, 30″, 40″, 50, 52″, and 54″ lengths in both straight and curved designs. It should be no problem to find the right size for your vehicle, no matter where you choose to install it.
Each product includes a durable housing of die-cast aluminum, solid steel mounting hardware, powerful CREE LED chips of 3 watts and higher, and a 3-year warranty. You also get an easy-to-use wiring harness with the switch already installed.
Rough Country’s light bars are designed to minimize noise and vibration for more enjoyable use and longer life. They’re patented Noise Silencers can be slipped right over the cooling fins to reduce vibration without increasing temperatures. They use a military-style “moisture breather” technology to keep humidity from building up within the lens, ensuring you always get a clear light source. Rugged designs are typically available in either handsome black or chrome finishes.
The light bars are engineered to provide a combo pattern of 8-degree spot and 90-degree flood patterns so you get a tight spotlight on what’s directly ahead, but a wide field of illumination to see what on either side.
Rough Country has been in the light bar business for many years, and they know what customers want. Their products are some of the easiest to install, even for those with limited experience. They can also be counted on to provide consistently high performance and quality, while at a very fair and affordable price.