STingray1300

Then I suggest you run a combination of both type of lights.

Why...

LEDs are really bright, but not for a very long distance. They put out a lot of lumens, but they waste a lot of them needlessly lighting up the tree tops. For fill in lighting and side-to-side lighting, the LEDs should do you well.

Halogens offer a "spot" version (PIAAs, Light Force, KC, etc.). THIS is what you need to run desert roads. You need focused DISTANCE lighting.

HIDs are also a great option, albeit expensive as well.

I too am put off by the expense of the LEDs, and after buying a set of 6" combos, I am disappointed enough to want to sell them (along with the custom mounting bracket to mount behind the grille) and get a set of Light Force 170s halogens ($300; HIDs are $550).

RES4CUE

I'm not sure I agree, I've seen pics of LEDs with great distance lighting, I think it's all about mounting location and if you mount them low or in the grill you won't get the distance that you want. Rooftop or hood mount would be better options.

http://www.wranglerforum.com/f132/au...-242713-7.html

Look at last page a few posts down and you will see a good demo, notice the round hood mounted and roof mounted LEDs.

Scarlet

For the past two years or so I've been running "6 inch" PIAA RS600 HID driving lights mounted on my front brushguard. They are fantastic. They have a very long throw, and light the road like day. And, even though they are a 20 degree driving pattern, they have a good spill over to the side. In fact when I was running them, if I turned of the headlights I could hardly tell the difference. But, the warm up time was a pain. Even late at night I would still manage to have on coming traffic. Switching them off and then on is suppose to be bad for the HID bulbs. Of course when I'm at my place in West Virginia it isn't an issue. So, I decided to try a set of the PIAA LP570 LED driving lights. I think they are 7 inch lights. I wasn't expecting them to illuminate as good as the HID's do, but I was surprised. In the pics you can see the difference in the beam patterns. The HID's have a longer throw and illuminate more on the sides, and are brighter. The LED driving lights keep the majority of the beam on the road and have a narrower pattern. In the end, I like them. I'll leave the LED driving lights on for the time being. I really haven't had a chance to give them some real use. But I do like that I can now switch them off with out fear of doing damage to the bulb when I switch it right back on. Here's a few comparison pics of the two. The Blue line in the HID picture indicates the approximate cutoff line of the Trucks High beam (I upgraded to the '13 HID headlights).
PIAA RS600 HID driving lights.

PIAA LP570 LED driving lights.

Red13

Why would anyone want to see the pavement all lite up with leds'?

You want lights to "light up the direction" not the road in front of your truck.

When your driving you should be looking up and around that corner not at the ground.

SMH

NastyFFX4

iTrader: (1)

It's nothing to do with LEDs, the lights he got are driving lights.

http://www.piaa.com/store/p/182-LP-5...Light-Kit.aspx

RES4CUE

Depends on application, bad weather where you can't see very far you want flat, spread out light low to see the road directly in front. You would also be going slower.

Offroad, night crawling would require light low directly in front of you to see obstacles directly in front. I would utilize both low and high mounted offroad.

My LEDs mounted low in the stock fog light location does a great job of lighting right in front AND down the road at distance.

STingray1300

Are we all looking at the same photos? There's a pretty massive difference in "lumens on the road" - in the distance that is. I give my nod to the halogens. Easy.

Slow off-roading, sure, LEDs are fine. I've used spot halogens for many years, and LEDs are just not "there" yet. Hope they will be someday though...

RES4CUE

They are there!

Go look at that thread I posted, the two 7" LEDs alone throw tons of light down the road.

robertthansen150

Im a huge fan of HID/LED everything, I've got a custom set of heads coming from redline lighting.

buster096

Let me put it like this, especially in your situation because your in the desert like me, look at almost every trophy truck that goes blasting thro the desert at over 100mph. They are all rocking led bars. The technology is getting very advanced and led is the way to go.