Traveling off-road in the dark is a lot different than driving during the day. Rocks, cliffs and heart-pounding whoops can sneak up on you. Having extra candlepower to clear up the darkness ahead is important both for safety and enjoyment.

Lately we’ve been going on some exciting off-road adventures that extend well into the night. Sometimes it’s planned, other times we simply find really cool stuff on the trail like abandoned mining camps, desert oddities or scenic vistas that require a stop.

With our nocturnal travels becoming more regular, we knew it was time to add some serious off-road lights that would improve our lighting performance and safety on the trail. We turned to Baja Designs.

WHY BAJA DESIGNS?

 
Baja Designs engineers off-road lights that are tried and tested in the harshest of environments, including the SCORE Baja 1000. You can find their product being used by top teams like McMillin Racing, All-German Auto, KORE Off-Road and Factory Honda.  

Baja Designs has been lighting up the dirt for a long time. Founder Al Roach is an off-road enthusiast to the core; he’s been riding dirt bikes since he was a kid and has successfully raced and won the SCORE Baja 1000. In 2012, Baja Designs celebrated 20 years in business. It’s with this knowledge and fervor that Baja Designs keeps engineering cutting-edge off-road lighting.

We’ve been following Baja Designs for over a decade and are big fans of their product.

Baja Designs offers a complete line of Halogen and HID off-road lights that are tough as nails and bright as the sun. Our friend Shane has 4 Baja Designs HIDs on his Bronco and they work awesome. Knowing Baja Designs build great lights, we really wanted to try their latest line of LED light bars—the Stealth.

BAJA DESIGNS XPG STEALTH LED BAR

The Baja Designs Stealth only measures 1 inch tall and 3 inches wide. It comes in lengths from 10 LED (11 inches long) all the way up to 50 LED (52.7 inches long). The sleek design and aluminum body construction keeps the lightbars aerodynamic and light (1.5 lbs. per 10 LED section).

When it comes to high-powered LED light bars, Baja Designs incorporates the latest generation of CREE XML LEDs. Each LED can emit bright white light rated at 5,000 Kelvin, which is very close to daylight.

In addition to being bright and light, they are very efficient. When we talked to Deanne Moore, CEO at Baja Designs, she told us that their new LED bars and Squadron lights could produce more light with less energy. To put things in perspective, a 10 LED section is comparable to a 50-watt HID off-road light. The 10 LED lightbar only uses 42 Watts to produce 3500 Lumens of lighting power. That’s less than 5 watt per LED.

Durability is yet another factor that makes LEDs appealing for off-road use. The typical lifespan of an LED is 20,000 hours, ten times longer than an HID, and one hundred times longer than a halogen bulb. In a series of LEDs, you typically only lose one at a time, not all at once. Try doing that with a single bulb light. 

Now don’t get me wrong, HIDs still have a place on your rig. If you’re looking for piercing light that needs to stay in front of you at over 100 mph—they’re still your best bet. They also have great tunability and performance. Yet the Baja Designs Stealth looked to be a great fit for our off-road adventures.

Some other features of the Baja Designs Stealth XPG LED bar include:
• Front Lens: Hardcoated Polycarbonate
• Optics are user changeable
• Dimming: Accessible Medium (Dust) and Strobe Modes
• Waterproof
• Lifetime Warranty

INSTALLATION

We ordered up the Stealth, 30"/20 LED Bar with center logo for our off-road adventure rig.  The light bar is comparable to running 2 HID lights, and gives off 7000 Lumens of lighting power.  We requested that it be tuned with both Spot and Horizontal Spread Optics.

Installation of the Baja Designs Stealth XPG LED bar is straightforward.  You need to find a place to bolt the bar to that is secure.  You also want to make sure there is no obstruction for forward facing lighting.  You will need to run some wiring from inside the vehicle to the battery, and then LED bar to make it work.

Below is an overview of what it takes to install a Baja Designs Stealth XPG LED Bar.

There are two ways to go about installing the Stealth LED bar on your vehicle. You can attach it directly to a flat surface using the mounting tabs and bolts included, or you can use additional mounting hardware--such as weld-on tabs or Baja Designs billet DOM mount kit for 1.5-inch and 1.75-inch tube. The billet mount kit works great on roll cages and tube bumpers. 

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