RIGID’s Off-Road Illumination A Practical Guide

Rigid’s On Another Level!

During the dark times of longer nights and shorter days, people often don’t get out on the trail enough. That lack of trail time is a serious shame, as multiple studies have shown it is a leading cause of seasonal depression. Okay, we made that last part up, as we have yet to find any legitimate studies showing that link. However, from personal experience, we know that a lack of time behind the wheel exploring the great outdoors thoroughly bums us out.

There is also absolutely no need for less wheeling activity now (or ever really). Yes, the nights are way longer, but modern LED off-road lighting technology is truly a wonder. Long gone are the days of struggling down a trail after dark with a couple of incandescent lights that produce fewer lumens than a bargain bin flashlight. However, properly illuminating the trail at night takes more thought than just strapping as many lights as you can onto your rig. There are multiple considerations to make your next night run more enjoyable. Let’s look at how you can own the night with the proper lighting setup.

Your Truck Is Not A Trophy Truck

Bump-gobbling and horsepower-happy trophy trucks are amazing examples of American awesomeness. Nobody could ever truthfully claim to never have lusted for a trophy truck of their own. Sadly, most of our vehicles are nowhere near capable of generating the immense speeds that trophy trucks can in almost any terrain. We aren’t saying this to cause overuse of sad-face Emojis, but we all have to be realistic about what speeds we are actually traveling at night. That speed combined with the type of terrain we are traveling over will heavily influence the type of lights we need. Not being realistic about our needs leads to mismatched lighting that is unsuitable for the application.

Seeing Patterns

Being realistic about speeds and terrain is crucial because it dictates what beam patterns will work best. Beam patterns can sometimes be confusing because the same style of light is usually offered in multiple beam patterns. However, we will break it down so you can easily select the right pattern. We will stick with beam pattern terms from RIGID Industries here due to its highly innovative Adapt Series lights (more on that below). For the most part, the terms crossover to other brands of lights. Here are the patterns you need to know.

I have worked with OLT4X4 folks a few times in the past and a lot of them, including Kurt Williams and Scott Smith, are Land Cruiser connoisseurs and actually run the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum in Salt Lake City\. If there were going to be some people to help guide me on not bending the metal of the Land Cruisers or any other vehicle on the trail, I’d want it to be them.

Scene: Scene is RIGID’s term for a flood beam pattern. With a focus on creating a wide arc of light rather than distance, flood lights are great for work sites or anywhere up-close illumination is needed. While flood lights are often overlooked for vehicle applications, their broad beam patterns are ideal for slow-speed work. If you spend a lot of time in low range at night, “scene” or flood beam lights are ideal.

Driving: Driving lights are also known as combination or combo beam pattern lights. They use a mixture of lenses to throw light further in the center of the beam pattern for higher-speed driving while still producing a wide arc of light. While they don’t throw light as far as a spot beam or as wide as a scene light, they hit the sweet spot between the two, making them perfect for most applications.

Spot: Spot beams have one mission in life: to project light as far as possible. This focus on distance produces a much narrower but longer beam pattern. They are best reserved for those moving seriously fast in the desert who need to see far ahead.

SAE: RIGID has an impressive array of SAE beam pattern lights that are legal for highway use. While road-legal lights often get overlooked, they are actually pretty awesome. SAE legal lights can be used as auxiliary high beams, making them ideal for anyone on backroads or in deer country. They are also well-suited as fog lights for anyone encountering inclement weather.

Adapt. Unique to RIGID is its Adapt Series of lights. Using a built-in GPS module, Adapt lights can determine the speed of the vehicle they are mounted to. The lights then “adapt” to your driving speed by switching between a flood, driving or spot pattern for the ideal beam pattern. RIGID’s Adapt lights also offer manual control of the beam pattern as well for a very functional light.

Mounting Locations

Where you mount lights also makes a difference. Like everything in life, each mounting location has gives and takes. Where you can mount lights and their size also varies depending on the vehicle. However, here are the most common locations and what to consider for each one.

Roof / Roof Rack: There is almost always plenty of room for larger lights here. Lights mounted higher up can also throw light a further distance because of science, making it a good location for spot beams. The drawbacks are that wind noise and routing wiring cleanly can be challenging. Hood glare is also a real consideration depending on the color of your vehicle.

Front Bumper: The OG mounting location for lights is a great spot. Many mounts now exist for popular models to tuck lights cleanly into factory front bumpers, and aftermarket front bumpers almost always come with built-in light mounts. Narrower options like some Jeep bumpers can limit light size, and you need to ensure there is still ample airflow to the radiator. Other than those two considerations, the front bumper is a solid option.

Ditch Lights: Ditch lights aren’t just for overlanders. These are perfect for creating a broader field of light. The key is to aim ditch lights to the side of a vehicle instead of straight ahead. We suggest smaller lights, like RIGID D-Series lights in a flood beam pattern, for ditch light applications.

Factory Locations: Remember to upgrade the factory lights on your vehicle. RIGID makes an assortment of lights and mounts to replace weak factory fog lights with ones that produce significantly more lumens. Some factory non-LED headlights, like those on Jeeps, are notoriously bad, making them ideal candidates for an upgrade.

Mix and Match for Best Results

Proper nighttime off-road illumination requires creating a very broad beam pattern (ideally 180 degrees or more) with enough depth to match your vehicle’s speed. Typically, this is a lot to ask of one light, so it usually requires a mixture of them (RIGID’s Adapt lights are the exception to this). Here is the “recipe” we follow to get the best results for general-purpose wheeling regardless of the vehicle.

The Center Light: This is the biggest light and provides the bulk of your lumens. It might be mounted on the top of your windshield, a roof rack or the front bumper. We always go for the largest light we can fit without going completely overkill for the application (there is no need to double-stack 50-inch light bars). A combo/driving beam is the best bet for your center light.

Fog or Dust Lights: Two fog or dust lights, either in the factory locations or mounted to a shiny new bumper, support your center light. These lights should be in a flood, fog or SAE beam pattern to fill the area directly in front of your vehicle with light. We always use amber or yellow lights here for better visibility in dust or inclement weather.

Side Lights: Now that our beam pattern has depth with our center light and fogs filling the area directly in front of us, it is time to broaden it as much as possible. Ditch lights mounted in their typical location on the sides of the hood are perfect for this. People are sometimes shocked when we run our ditch lights at a 45-degree angle from the hood, but this is how you create a wide arc of light. Flood beams work best here.

Rock On

The recipe above works great for creating a beam pattern that is broad and deep enough for most off-road situations. However, tire placement is critical for low-speed technical trail work. Without lights shining directly downward, determining exactly where your tires are can be difficult at night. This is where rock lights, like RIGID’s Six-Light Rock Light Kit, come in clutch. Mounted in wheel wheels, on sliders or even bumpers, they can provide light right where you need it.

Rock lights can be handy even if you are not into crawling. Sticking them in wheel wells is excellent for providing illumination for changing a flat or other repair on the trail. Other options include under the hood, on the sides of racks, and the inside of camper shells—we have even seen them used as interior lights. Their small dimensions let them be mounted almost anywhere you can think of.

Over the Bar Scene?

Most people think of LED light bars when it comes to off-road illumination, however, circular lights are making a comeback. If you are over the “bar scene,” there are newer round options like RIGID’s 360-Series that come in either 4- or 6-inch diameters, and offer multiple beam pattern options. Just remember to mix and match beam patterns for that perfect field of light.

It Has Been Illuminating

Hopefully, this article has been illuminating (horrible pun intended), and you have learned something. Remember, our “formula” for lighting isn’t set in stone, and you can always add more lights if desired. However, it has worked for us over the years, and we think it will work for you.