One Of The Most Popular Fog Light Upgrades
A sore point for many owners are the underpowered halogen fog lights from the factory. So like me, you may be looking to upgrade them. One of the most popular options is the Squadron Sport, and for good reason.
Baja Designs has been an industry leader in the off-road auxiliary lighting market since its founding in the early 90s. They are renowned for light output, quality, and durability. These are just a few reasons I chose their lights for my diy plate bumper from True North Fab.
Specs & Features
Specs:
- 3,162 lumens (30 watts)
- 2.200 amperage rating
- 49,930 hour lifespan
- IP69 waterproof
- IK10 impact resistant
- Exceeds mil-spec testing
Features:
- Available in multiple colors and beam patterns
- Powder coated billet aluminum light housings
- Replaceable lenses and optics
- Waterproof and submersible
- Built-in overvoltage protection
- Limited lifetime warranty
Fitment
This kit features universal fitment, perfect for applications such as aftermarket bumpers or ditch lights. Baja Designs also makes a plug-and-play fog light replacement kit for stock bumpers.
I installed this set into an aftermarket bumper by mounting them to the integrated brackets and connected them to my OEM fog light harness with a separate adapter. A wiring harness is also included with the set if you wish to wire the kit up to a switch.
Color Options
This kit comes in two color variations: clear and amber. The clear lights emit 5000k light, designed to resemble natural daylight, while the amber variant emits 3000k.
Why would you want amber lights? On the light spectrum, cooler lights have a shorter wavelength while warmer lights have a longer wavelength. Wavelength determines how lights refract through different mediums. This means that amber lights don’t reflect off particles in the air as much as white lights do.
As a result, amber lighting penetrates through fog, snow, and dust much better. However, since amber lighting is often achieved with white light through an amber cover, lumen output is slightly reduced (about 15%).
Neither color is necessarily better than the other, but since I was replacing my fog lights, amber best suited my needs. Since Baja Designs’ lights are self-serviceable, you can also order a replacement clear or amber lens if needed.
Beam Patterns
They sells this kit in four unique beam patterns for different use cases:
Spot: Typically mounted higher on the vehicle, spotlights provide long-range lighting that allows you to gauge terrain and spot obstacles from afar. Spot lights are typically the brightest on the vehicles, but have a narrow beam pattern. This makes them great for distance, but not peripheral light.
Driving/Combo: Consisting of two wide-range and two short-range lenses, this pattern sacrifices some of the intense, focused light of the spot pattern and disperses it to the sides to better support general road driving (pictured above).
Wide Cornering: Provides a wide area of light in a shorter field of view, illuminating your peripheral vision and blind spots. These are commonly used on A-pillars as ditch lights.
Work/Scene: This pattern illuminates the largest area isn’t as bright. This is great for working or setting up camp in the dark. The lenses of the work/scene lights have a honeycomb reflector that disperses light 360° degrees.
Effective Light Score
The effective light score (ELS) is a rating system designed by Baja Designs to describe their performance. While most lights typically list lumens (brightness) or lighting distance, there are many more factors to consider.
This score is based on four factors: blend angle, blend-ability, distance, and output. Each factor is judged greater than 10 lux, which Baja Designs has designated as the minimum amount of light necessary for safe driving. For example, the maximum light distance may be 100 feet, but only 50 feet is usable for driving.
- Blend Angle: The horizontal angle of light output.
- Blend-Ability: How well the light is distributed horizontally, with 1 being very focused and 10 evenly distributed.
- Distance: How far the light projects to a minimum of 10 lux.
- Output: The effective lumens of the lights, compared to raw lumens which measure the LEDs without a lens.
The ELS score for my amber driving/combo lights is 112°/7.1/183’/2441, respectively. It’s the ideal balance of light output and coverage area.
Built For Harsh Enviroments
When off-roading, conditions are hardly favorable. Thus, it’s important to have a durable set of lights. Every Baja Designs product is rated IP69, the highest ingress protection (IP) rating a product can receive. The first number displays dust protection and is graded on a scale of 1-6. The second number grades water resistance, and is graded 0-9.
IP69 means that these lights are fully dust-tight and waterproof against high temperatures, high-pressure jets, and from being fully submersed for extended periods.
Furthermore, these lights are rated IK10 impact-resistant. Again, the highest rating on the IK scale. This means these lights can withstand an impact of 20 joules or more multiple times, making them able to withstand the harsh impacts of off-roading.
Final Thoughts
Not only do they provide ample lighting, but they’re also built to withstand anything you throw at them. Even after heavy rains, water crossings, and direct impacts, they work as well as they did new.
The different available beam patterns and color options ensure you’ll get the best light for your needs. However, they may not be street-legal in all states! Mine happened to be right below the threshold for my state, but check your local laws and regulations before purchasing. Baja Designs also produces SAE-compliant fog lights if that’s a major concern.
Baja Designs has lighting down to a science and produces some of the best off-road auxiliary lights on the market. These extremely bright lights provide ample lighting out front and to the sides. I won’t hesitate to add more of their lighting down the road!
