Maybe this is a "generational" thing, but -

[Ron4RNevada]

I can sorta understand people blacking out Toyota logos, chrome strips, coloring their wheels, etc. But what is the thing with adding all of the LEDs all over the place?

LED light bars in grills, under bumpers, on rooftops, even swapping and adding more of them in interiors. To me it just doesn't make any sense.

Educate me please - - -

I come from the days when cars and trucks had two sealed beam headlights, two parking lights, one or two rear tail/stop lights and one interior dome light.

 

[mcarey86]

I find it kind of funny that you understand blacking out chrome, but don't understand the benefits of additional/enchanced lighting.

To put it simply, additional lighting makes seeing things in the dark a lot easier.

I put LEDs in all my interior lights, and they are remarkably brighter. Also, I like the white light over the yellow light quite a bit more, but that's aesthetic over function. The LEDs in the rear hatch are probably the only ones that I truly use though, but they prove the point perfectly. When I go fishing in the early mornings, I open the hatch, and the LEDs light up the whole area around me incredibly well. It's great.

The LED bars outside, are for the same purpose.

You ever drive on a road where even your highbeams aren't quite adequate?

 

[ST1FLER]

mall parking lots are being built much darker these days

 

[1engineer]

I find it kind of funny that you understand blacking out chrome, but don't understand the benefits of additional/enchanced lighting.

To put it simply, additional lighting makes seeing things in the dark a lot easier.

I put LEDs in all my interior lights, and they are remarkably brighter. Also, I like the white light over the yellow light quite a bit more, but that's aesthetic over function. The LEDs in the rear hatch are probably the only ones that I truly use though, but they prove the point perfectly. When I go fishing in the early mornings, I open the hatch, and the LEDs light up the whole area around me incredibly well. It's great.

The LED bars outside, are for the same purpose.

You ever drive on a road where even your highbeams aren't quite adequate?

No, I have not ever driven on a road where high beams are not completely adequate. I have driven in snow storms though where ANY light was useless and driven in fog where any light mounted above two feet was useless as well. When fog or snow is that bad you are never going over a few mph so any light needs to be close to the truck.

Bright lights in the interior kill night vision and for that reason I have all my interior lights dim. If they had red it would be even better. I do understand cargo lights being bright though for reasons you outlined above.

Ron, IMO near as I can tell all those permanent lights people mount on their trucks are for looks instead of practicality. If they wanted practicality they would simply mount a movable spotlight somewhere.

 

[Ron4RNevada]

I find it kind of funny that you understand blacking out chrome, but don't understand the benefits of additional/enchanced lighting.

To put it simply, additional lighting makes seeing things in the dark a lot easier.

I put LEDs in all my interior lights, and they are remarkably brighter. Also, I like the white light over the yellow light quite a bit more, but that's aesthetic over function. The LEDs in the rear hatch are probably the only ones that I truly use though, but they prove the point perfectly. When I go fishing in the early mornings, I open the hatch, and the LEDs light up the whole area around me incredibly well. It's great.

The LED bars outside, are for the same purpose.

You ever drive on a road where even your highbeams aren't quite adequate?

Nope - Rarely even use the high beams - and the roads around here are really dark. But keep on with the reasoning.

 

[05Rrunner]

mall parking lots are being built much darker these days

This is true , you notice the landcruiser and all the other parking lot off road vehicles like Lexus have LED lighting also.

 

[noisebeam]

To put it simply, additional lighting makes seeing things in the dark a lot easier.

Not always. When camping I prefer dimmer interior lighting as I don't want my eyes blasted everytime I need something in the truck - which lets me see better in the dark/dim. Same when passengers turn on interior when driving at night.

 

[mcarey86]

You two must have better eyes than I do.

But I've spent plenty of time in the desert out here where the more light the better. With that said, I have no external LEDs on my vehicle. I just recognize the times where I've thought some extra light would be nice right now.

As for the interior lights being too bright, I understand that. As I said in my OP, I like the lighting for aesthetics over function, excluding the rear hatch lights.

But for exterior lighting, I find it hard to believe you've all never thought "a little more light right now would be nice".

 

[LawnDart]

Desert driving especially offroad, even a 40" light bar still feels weak, or rear work lights for when I'm trying to pack up a camera in the middle of nowhere.

To me all the lights are dumb if you live in an urban area and never leave that urban area. My lights only go on when I'm out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Donovan1]

LEDs are the most energy efficient and longest lasting light source currently commercially available for this application. So that's the reason for the LED lighting.
Additional lighting is always helpful if you're driving on a dark area where you do not have street lights and other lighting around you. On a trail for instance or on a highway coming out of the mountains where there are no other cars. Fog lights are supposed to anyway, be of a light color that doesn't just reflect back at you and white everything out like a high beam headlight. They are also mounted lower to cut under the fog and light the road as well as not blind oncoming drivers.

Headlamps also like to point the direction the nose is headed obviously, and they usually have somewhat of a narrow beam. Additional lighting helps light up the left and right side a bit better and they can be aimed down or up slightly or just be a massive flood light to throw light everywhere. Even on mild off road trails like a fire road, at times I've come up over a hill where the nose was pointed up and I couldn't really see very well what was on the other side. If I was running a light up high or something on the front that was a flood type, I'd feel better about seeing what was over the hill.

In some cases it's just the case of having more or brighter lights too. Trying to set up a camp after dark? Slap those bight ass floods on and it's like daylight. Can't see where you're going backing up against a hill? Turn your backup auxiliary lights on. There are all kinds of situations where having more light is an advantage.

For interior lighting. I think for the most part when the lights are used, the yellow dim light from an old incandessant light is fine. However... When your daughter drops her binky for the 157th time and is somehow rolls into the black hole of cell phones and children's toys... In those situations it's nice to have the light of the sun to find where these things went. I think in the loading area in the back and the main dome are good places to have a bunch of light. For me there rest are probably OK.

Your headlamps are usually adequate for normal driving and will get you by in any situation. "Need" vs "good to have" is the question. The other side of that is that LEDs are fairly expensive still, and it's like a redneck loading up his quad in the back of the Ford and bringing his Yeti cooler to a party with 200,000,000 Lume woth of expensive LED lighting on his truck with chrome suspension... It's just for show.

 

[Inferno1]

I'm building mine for the Colorado mountain roads where if you've ever driven on at 2 am with snow coming down is pitch black and the lights definitely come in handy. Also note it's my money and if I want LEDs coveting the entirety of the vehicle I shall. Have a blessed weekend

I am just getting fogs, overhead 40, 10 inch in grille and rear duallys though

 

[KidVermicious]

The desert on a moonless night is dark, and if I'm driving in the desert at night I'm generally in a hurry to get somewhere. Even with perfectly functional highbeams I'm forced to slow down way more than I like. So I like a little auxiliary lighting.

I don't mind the posers. I've decided that if 10 million Jeep and SUV owners wanna drop $1000 on LED lights they don't use so they can pretend they're me, great. Call me an economic stimulant.

 

[LawnDart]

We were out this weekend in the Oregon desert, full moon, and on BLM backcountry it's still dark as ever loving hell. High beams don't cut it.

To be honest I think there's a VERY fine line between useful lights and overkill. Some of the builds I've seen with lights behind the grills, plus roof lights, plus ditch lights, plus LED fog lights, just start becoming too riced for my taste, especially when it looks like it's a pavement princess. It's not my money, but I got my light bar installed and then IMMEDIATELY took mine into the desert.

Worth the money. And people can spend their money as they wish. I'm just a big fan of building to your needs.

 

[ST1FLER]

ditch light rigids and a D2 out back is all I need to go fishing!

 

[Ducmonsta]

I am, admittedly, on both sides of that fence. I love technology and any advancements I can afford. I could never afford "off-road" lighting in my younger years so when the time and money came, so did my affection for an unusual amount of forward facing led lighting.

However, I also spend most of my camping off of forest service roads and the unlit state roads to get to them. I have set up camp in the dark and it's not fun especially when it begins to get dark at 4pm. My family and I like to leave for camp on Friday afternoons/early evening and by the time we reach our destination, it's pitch black. We like to wake up at our campsite for a full day of exploring instead of leaving early on a Saturday and only have 1 night out.

There are plenty of things people do in the aftermarket world that serve no purpose. Go to SEMA. Visit Hawaii. Check out the southern market for "donks". It's not a generational thing, it's about individuality.

 

[Lugboot]

Darker'n a black steer's tookus on a moonless prairie night.

 

[manofsteele2003]

Love LEDs, super bright, last almost forever and take very little voltage to power. Useful driving lights I'm all for but these decorative led's in the grill and around the headlights, etc. you can keep those. I even upgraded all the lights in my house to LED.

 

[Donovan1]

I'd like to do red in the vanity lights on the roof behind the visors and do some really bright LED in the dome light. We could use the red lights of reading or something while driving and not kill night vision,p then have the light of the sun when I needed it.

 

[Donovan1]

Love LEDs, super bright, last almost forever and take very little voltage to power. Useful driving lights I'm all for but these decorative led's in the grill and around the headlights, etc. you can keep those. I even upgraded all the lights in my house to LED.

All my home lighting is LED as well. I have noticed power bills being a bit lower, but I'm also not replacing them all the damn time. I have some 35 foot ceilings in my home with lights mounted in them... Good luck changing those. I've had LEDs in there for several years now without changing. I did have to change out a few switches too though to LED compatible ones. The portch lights for instance would flicker sometimes or be on very dimly all the time prior to changing the switch. Mainly on the automatic timer ones.

 

[Lugboot]

I did the interior LED swap due to the lower current draw, not necessarily brightness, as I installed warm white LEDs instead of the bluer ones. The doors got red LEDs because those are the only ones I can't turn off and if I'm out with my dad doing astronomy stuff, white lights are a no-no. Amateur astronomers will kill someone over white lights!