Editor's Forewords: Hey Guys! Welcome back to the Lasfit Off-Road Column.🥳 Today I would like to introduce a very special and important friend to Lasfit for you guys. There are so many tags to describe him, such as:
#A deep off-road enthusiast
#A loyal supporter of Lasfit
#A Senior Member of the 4Runner Forum
#A creative modder with hands-on solid ability
#An inventive content creator and authentic sharer

......

Yeh! Our beloved friend is none other than Isaac@mrblah79! Recently, Isaac sent a feedback email to our Lasfit Team. The content of this email is comparable to an academic paper, which made our each team member amazed. We were moved by his professionalism and dedication and also impressed by his off-road spirit. Some screenshots of the content of the email Isaac sent us are shown below👇:

In this email, he told us a lot about his off-road stories, his unique insights on off-road lighting strategy, his plans for 4Runner to build, and his story with the Lasfit brand and review of product experience. I can't wait to show all of you guys his content!

Since the content is very rich, I decided to divide it into two articles to share his story with all of you. The first article mainly introduces Isaac's off-road story, his unique insights on off-road lighting strategies, and what builds he wants to do to his 4Runner. The second article mainly introduces the story between him and the Lasfit brand and his review of the Lasfit off-road lighting products.

Now, let's concentrate and read the "academic paper" shared with us by Isaac!🤓

Hi guys! Isaac is here! First I'd like to share my story about off-road.
I always had a thing for modding vehicles, from Honda's, Nissan's, and Toyota's to go faster. As I grew older, I become more active in outdoor sports, such as rock climbing, and snowboarding. After a few close calls traveling to remote areas, I decided I needed a reliable vehicle that can get me to my destination safely, so I ended up trading my Toyota tundra for a 4runner and never looked back. Over the years, I was lucky to meet like-minded individuals, who introduced me to offroading and then overloading (before overloading was a thing).

Over time, overloading became a passion for me because it allowed me to escape from my day-to-day job as a healthcare professional, especially during COVID when we weren't allowed to escape from our duties in healthcare.

First, I tried the local trails around San Diego, California, then I started to explore Mammoth and Big Bear California. Over time, I ended up camping in remote destinations in Utah, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. As the challenges and offroad obstacles grew harder, I ended up modifying the vehicle to protect my investment, get myself and my loved ones home safely, and make camping easier and more fun.

Offroading and overloading is not only an expression of my personality, but it's a lifestyle choice and it truly embodies freedom. The freedom to get away from our day-to-day lives and responsibility and explore places that we not only enjoyed as children but now we can as adults.

*Editor's Reaction: Cool! That's probably why Isaac has always had a passion and love for off-roading!👍

The proper lighting solution is quite important for the road and the trails.
My lighting set-up suggestions for the same vehicle owners are, to be honest with yourself in regards to expectations and pricing. People tend to forget that lights are only designed to get you safely from one destination to another destination, and it is easy to overspend or focus on lighting performance that their vehicles will never be fully capable of utilizing.

Also, when choosing what kind of light to buy, it's important to take into consideration what kind of road or environmental conditions that vehicle spends most of its time in. If you spend most of your time on the road, there is no point in purchasing lights that cannot be used legally or safely on the road. I run SAE/DOT-approved fog lights while on the road.

If your vehicle spends most of its time offroad or you plan on only using the lights in an offroad setting, then look for a combination lens, or mount different lights with different lenses in different areas of the vehicle, such as the upper grill, lower grill, or on the roof. You will maximize your light coverage more efficiently but it is definitely not the most cost-effective way to do things.

Now for lens color, I tend to gravitate to amber or yellow lenses over white light. Amber and yellow tend to work better in fog or dusty conditions, such as when traveling in a convoy. Amber also causes less eye fatigue and offers more contrast in rocky terrain. Ideally, if your budget can swing it, I would mount amber lights down low, such as in the fog or bumper area, and white light up high in the A-pillars or up high on the roof. I really heart my Lasfit lighting products. 40 inch, 30 inch, and 20 inch Lasfit light bars and Lasfit ditch lights w/ lamin-x yellow film.

Lastly, look into chase lights or auxiliary reverse lights. Trying to back up at night to a campsite or in the wilderness is pretty difficult because your OEM reverse lights are not bright enough to make up for the lack of ambient lighting. I run pods in the rear, either on their own switch, or wired into my reverse lights.

*Editor's Reaction: Isaac's off-road lighting solution is really practical and meaningful! What's even more creative is that he put multiple sizes of Lasfit Light Bar on his 4Runner! (Including 22", 32", 42"). We will detail his build process in the next article and sincerely hope this will help more off-road/overland enthusiasts with better set-up choices and optimal trail experiences. Please stay tuned......⏰

Finally is my 4Runner future build plan for reference:
I need to upgrade the brake system when the OEM system wears out. Looking into either a cross drill setup or big break kit. Otherwise, my vehicle is fully built to my specs as follows:

Drivetrain:
> Twin Locked (ARB) 4.88 reduction gears.

Armor:
> Demello aluminum front bumper
> Shrockworks rear bumper w/ tire carrier and dual jerry can holder RCI full aluminum skidplates, gas tank, and shock skids.
> Rago rear shock armor and rear lower link skids
> BuiltRight spindle gussets and cam gussets.
> White knuckle offroad rock sliders.

Suspension:
> 34 inch Yokohama MT SCS F5s Kings Suspenion
> Metal tech upper and lower rear links
> Total chaos Upper and lower front control arms
> Icon panhard bar
> Icon rear hydraulic bumpstops
> Timbren bumpstops
> EIMKEITH Panhard correction kit
> KDSS spacers and electronic disconnect

Interior:
> Rago Molle panels and shelf
> Velox gullwing windows
> Rago front dash mount
> Dobinsons dual drawer setup
> ARB fridge

Lighting interior:
> Lasfit bulbs in doors, and vanity.

Lighting exterior:
> Lasfit license plate light
> Lasfit 3inch HP pods
> Lasfit 42", 32", 22" light bars

Miscellaneous:
> Safari Snorkel
> Prinsu Roof rack
> ARB awning Kickass shower tent
> Maxtrax holder/maxtrax
> Smittybuilt winch
> Factor 55 fairlead
> Factor 55 prolink
> Gobi Ladder

Many thanks to Isaac for sharing his off-roading experience and lighting strategy with us, hoping to inspire more off-road beginners. So finally leave a "homework" here🗒️: How did you get into overland & off-road build? Can you share your story with us below the comment?🤗

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Excellent photography!

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Some more pics of more recent adventures and thank you lasfit for hosting my pics and my story

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more pics of the 4runner in different configurations

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Thank you for your excellent article and beautiful photos! We will also synchronize the second article behind it.

yeah, that would be cool.

I think its pretty cool that you still remember me from a few years back. I still rock all your lighting products, and so do all of my offroading buddies.

I might buy your rock lights in the future. I went night wheeling with just my vehicle and a buddy (with just a headlamp) for a spotter, and that was a really, reaaaallllllly stupid thing to do without rock lights.

When I get around to purchasing the rock lights, I'll post up a review and let you know (although i don't have any wheeling planned until after the new year).

cheers.

Welcome back, friends!🔔 In the last article, we introduced to you Isaac's off-road story, his unique insights on off-road lighting strategies, and what builds he wants to do to his 4Runner. (Click here to review if you're interested.)

So, in this article, we will mainly introduce the story between him and the Lasfit brand and his off-road lighting build process on his 5th Gen T4R and review of the Lasfit off-road led light bars(22", 32", 42" ).

Now, I'm handing time over to Isaac for sharing his badass build! Let's give our biggest applause to welcome Isaac!👏👏👏

Hi guys! It's Isaac again! Happy to share something with you based on actual test results and my offloading experience.

The first is why I need to add light bars.
Since there is no ambient lighting out in the wilderness, and without additional auxiliary lighting, it can be pretty dangerous, especially on shale roads and off-camber ATV trails.

I have upgraded headlights, and while they are useful in the city, it is not enough lighting in an offroad environment, especially if you plan on driving faster than a snail's pace.

It's pretty awesome to be able to have adequate lighting to go wheeling at night. Wheeling at night is considered pretty risky and dangerous without proper lighting. Having adequate lighting makes wheeling at night not only possible but also safe with the right lighting. Even if you do not wheel at night, having auxiliary lighting is useful for finding campsites, and avoiding wildlife on the trail.

The Lasfit lighting solution met all my needs and expectations.
When I first bought Lasfit led light bulbs, I wasn't expecting much, and yet they outlasted every other bulb I've ever tried before and were extremely bright. Pretty much everyone I know uses Lasfit bulbs.

So I wanted to try Lasfit 3 inch pods, which they sent me for testing. I liked them so much, that I ended up replacing all my LED light bars with Lasfit products. Some of the lightbars I received for testing. I liked the lightbars so much that I replaced all my lightbars with Lasfit products (22 inch, 32 inch, and 42 inch).

At the time, I was looking to upgrade my current lighting components on the vehicle. I had issues with durability with previous lightbars made by your competitors, where either they failed, or they collected moisture, or the lenses became hazy. Also, lighting technology had advanced enough to where I felt that I can upgrade to newer lighting technology with minimal cost. Because my build had the very specific size or dimensional constraints, I needed the thinnest lightbar that put out as much light in a spot pattern that did not cost an absurd amount of money.

Luckily, the Lasfit lighting solution met all my needs and expectations. I was able to fit a 22 inch light bar behind my upper grill for a very stealthy install, that augmented the headlights very nicely. I mounted a 32 inch light bar down low in a slimline bumper and then I moved it over to a full plate bumper. Mounting a light bar down low, allows me to easily spot obstacles, such as rocks or huge holes that could easily ruin your night. Lastly, I mounted a 42 inch light bar on my roof rack, because the Lasfit lightbar was slim enough to cut down on road noise, and it does help when cresting dunes or steep inclines.

I highly recommend Lasfit to my fellow offloading enthusiasts. People are pretty surprised to see that Lasfit makes lightbars and light pods. I always tell them I buy things that work for me and through my offloading experience, and not what is being peddled by influencers on Instagram. The top reasons to recommend the Lasfit brand are the same reasons why I like Lasfit products: 1. durability 2. performance 3. price point (more on that later).

Note: I used a product called Lamin-x yellow light bar film cover, which is basically a tint. Of course, you have to get different lengths and cut them to shape. It's pretty good stuff, very easy to apply (soap and water), and it also acts like a stone projector.

🔊(Editor's Reaction: Really an ingenious idea! By the way, been rigidly tested.🔥The Lasfit Amber light bars will be coming soon with some more beast😍😍😎😎 Stay tuned!!)

The slim design makes the installation easier.
I am running a 42 inch light bar on the roof, a 22 inch light bar in the upper grille, and a 32 inch light bar in the lower front bumper. Getting the 32 inch light bar to fit was not easy. So I had to get creative. I either had to modify the bumpers to get the light bars to fit, or cut down the screws due to clearance issues, and in some cases, I had to use a dead blow hammer and ratchet straps to get the lights to sit properly in my after market bumper.

The 22 inch light bar fits easily in the upper grill of the 4runner, by just reversing the bracket. Since the lightbar dimensions are so thin, it fits as if it were OEM. The 42 inch light bar fits easily on the roof. I'm running a Prinsu roof rack and was able to get the light bar to sit flush with the fairing or wind deflector. The 32 inch light bar pretty much doesn't fit anything, but as I mentioned, it can be solved with some creativity. The picture below shows it doesn't quite fit without more extensive modifications.

The roof mounted light bar is only marginal at best in most situations, but it does become invaluable when you are playing in the dunes, or when you have to crest a hill or dune. Also, roof mounted lights are less likely to get dirty when playing in the mud. Keep in mind though, hood glare becomes an issue with roof mounted light bars. Lower mounted lightbars are much more useful on forest roads/service roads, or ATV trails. You get more usable light since it's positioned down low, with none of the drawbacks of a roof mounted light bar.

Lasfit lighting solutions are the best return for off-road enthusiasts.
As I mentioned before, 3 points made me impressed with the Lasfit light bars: 1. durability 2. performance 3. price.

1. Durability. Previous manufacturers had failed LED's, overheating issues, or water leaking/sealing issues. I also experience lenses being degraded by UV light over time. Lasfit product hasn't experienced any of those issues. I also abused their products with a hammer, they still survived repeated hammer blows. The housing, lenses, and fasteners are machined very well, and the powder coating is nice and thick.

2. Performance. I needed a lightbar that was 80 percent spotlight and 20 percent spread, for what I was using them for (desert running). They also had to be very thin to fit in the upper grille and lower bumper. Luckily, the Lasfit lighting solution met all my needs and expectations. It's a dual-functioning light bar that has both spot and flood features. And the light bars were slim enough to be flexible for a variety of installation methods and locations, especially fitting the Grille Mount. They are on par with or surpass the performance of their competitors, especially at their price point.

3. Pricing. My approach to my vehicle build was to use products that suited my needs, and not what is currently cool on social media. I did not want to end up with an Instagram build. I knew from experience, that there are diminishing returns when it came to cost versus performance. I wasn't looking for top-dollar lights that have a 2 mile light throw because I knew I would never outrun my lights. By the same token, I didn't want to go cheap and have to replace lights every few years, or lights that suffered from durability issues. It just happens that when I went shopping for lights, Lasfit lights just happen to be reasonably priced when compared to similar performing lighting solutions, especially when you look at the total package and what you are getting in return as an enthusiast.

In the end, I would like to see Lasfit succeed and become a major force in the offroad/overlanding community. My truck is pretty much fully built at this point and built to my specs, but I wouldn't mind testing new products and abusing them. I like representing the Lasfit brand because their guys make great products, and have been very generous to me. I appreciate it.

💡(Editor's Reaction: Really appreciate Isaac's trust and support for Lasfit. We will definitely keep improving and designing more better products to help more off-road&overland enthusiasts with better set-up choices and optimal trail experiences with the same love and enthusiasm! )


*Hopefully, this helps you out if you're in the market for some new off-road lights and/or are curious about the Lasfit Light Bars. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or comments.

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Continuing from the previous post, here are images showcasing the Lasfit light bar in a 2016 Toyota 4Runner.

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Lasfit has a black friday sale. It was between rock lights or 8 gang switch panel.

I ended up buying the 8 gang switch panel. I won't be installing it anytime soon though.

Impressed with the initial quality. A buddy of mine might sell his switch pro and go with a similar setup to las fits 8 gang mainly because he doesn't see a 4x difference in price between his setup (switch pro) and lasfits. This will be replacing a "trigger accessory bluetooth panel".

Other news: went back to the OEM TRD skidplate but in black and red. After trying other skid plates, Toyota actually knows what they were doing, go figure.

Cheers.

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Now that's a nice fancy build there. definitely gives me some inspiration, but also is a bad influence as you make me want to stuff 35's.

back to filler plates:

Alot of aftermarket bumpers and aftermarket skid plates leaves your AC condenser exposed, and after a year of running no filler plates my AC condenser was pretty much dented up just on forest service roads, i bought a bunch of filler plates to try out and none of them worked (RCI, RSG, or OK expedition) with my demello bumper, so I had to go back to a TRD skidplate + RSG filler plate to protect my AC condenser.

Happy to note if you are running a SSO slimline (OG version that does not fit TRD skidplate) and RCI skidplate (1st gen OG KDSS skid and maybe their gen 2 skidplate) , then OK expeditions filler plate for a 4th gen 4runner fits like its money. It looks good and fits good. Basically my buddy is running my old setup.

me and my buddies builds are different cosmetically, but both builds are very similar in philosophy (reliability, simplicity, and value).

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thanks broski!!!

I took a pic of my buddy's build who took a RiGD tire carrier and modified the crap out for car camping right above this post just so you can see what he did.

Thanks!! looks like he fit a lot of stuff on there!! My setup is actually similar as I have that dual jerry can holder along with the expedition essentials propane holder. I also have that old school rago hi-lift mount for the rig'd but I do not use it since I dont have a hi-lift and cant justify it yet.


I still really love your build though. definitely want to build up to get closer to how yours is someday!!

How do you like that snorkel and prefilter btw? Been considering getting one

love it. I would recommend only the safari version because of quality and ability to change heads.

The AOB prefilter, i had to modify it a little bit to make it more robust, but still love it.

Buddy loves his sy-clone prelceaner. I lost too much Ooomph and mpg so i went back to a ram head with AOB prefilter.

It is all about preferences.

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Some interesting products to review from lasfit.

I bought the 8 gang switch from them (which im pretty excited about since I'm not happy with my current setup from a different manufacture) but since i pretty much tend to buy all of their lighting accessory lineup, they sent me something from their other auto accessory lineup to try (auto -inflator).

I'll let ya'll know what I think about it.

It's not going to replace my ARB single that is hard mounted in my engine bay and connected to my ARB lockers thats for sure, but I do have a general idea of what this can be used for. I need to test my theory out first though.

Cheers!!!

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