Stage Series LED Off-Road Lights at Overland Expo West 2023

Overland Expo West 2023 was a record-breaking overlanding event that drew adventurers from all over the globe. Many of those overlanding enthusiasts brought their rigs with them to showcase their impressive builds. Diode Dynamics was there to educate attendees about Stage Series LED Off-Road Lights which are specifically designed to meet the needs of those who take their adventures off of the road.

While there, we noticed that several of the builds already used the Stage Series LED Off-Road Lights.  Overlanders are extremely resourceful and seeing how they adapted Stage Series LED Off-Road Lights to enhance their overlanding capabilities is exciting. Below are some of our favorite builds that we discovered during Overland Expo West 2023 sorted by the type of Stage Series Lights that they used. 

Stage Series LED Light Bars

Stage Series LED Light Bars were inspired by the needs of professional rally drivers, and designed to deliver maximum functionality in a highly durable package. This focused design makes these powerful LED off-road lights popular among the overlanding community.

Here is an aggressive-looking Toyota Tacoma with Stage Series LED Light Bars mounted within the bumper and on the roof rack for maximum front-facing illumination.

Stage Series LED Light Bars also come in smaller, more compact 6-inch sizes. This allows for them to be utilized to add cargo lighting as you can see on this Mercedes Sprinter build. These will no doubt be useful when returning from a bike ride at night and getting the gear stowed away properly. 

SSC1 LED Pods

Stage Series C1 LED Pods feature custom-engineered TIR optics combined with a single high-power LED chip. These pods have been designed for maximum light output from our most compact package. 

With four standard backlight options and their ability to be mounted virtually anywhere on an overlanding vehicle, it's fun to see how enthusiasts have utilized them. 

This overlander mounted 5 of the SSC1 LED Off-Road Lights on the back of their bed rack to essentially function as a high-powered light bar. 

There were also examples of the SSC1 LED Off-Road Lights being utilized in a popular ditch light application to supplement the forward-facing SS3 LED Lights on the cowl mount of this Jeep Gladiator.

The same Jeep Gladiator build utilized SSC1 LED Off-Road Lights around the bed rack. This provides powerful cargo lights that double as excellent ambient light sources for the campsite. 

HitchMount

We also spotted a HitchMount LED Trailer Hitch Light at Overland Expo West. Based on the SSC1 LED Off-Road Lights, the HitchMount really makes the most of its compact size, fitting into a standard two-inch trailer hitch receiver. Overlanders everywhere appreciate effective space utilization, as it's paramount to overlanding efficiently. 

Here the HitchMount is showing off its distinctive red backlight feature. The HitchMount also adds a powerful white reverse light and optional 4th brake light with the C1R option. 

SSC2 LED Pods

Stage Series SSC2 LED Pods are the most powerful 2-inch LED off-road Lights on the market and can be used in a variety of overlapping applications. Their compact size, standard backlight functions, and high output make them perfect for adding extra light to the campsite or tackling rough terrain at night. 

In this photo, SSC2 LED Off-Road Lights are utilized as roof rack lights. These add useful ambient light to illuminate a campsite when you finally make it to your remote overlanding destination. 

SSC2 LED Off-Road Lights also offer a flush mount option, as seen on the Toyota Tacoma build below. Here they are used to add LED reverse lights to the build, which provides significantly more light output without overly changing the appearance of the bumper.

Even when installed with a flush mount, the SSC2 LED Off-Road Lights are extremely versatile and can be used in a number of applications. On this Jeep Gladiator build they are used to add front-facing LED fog lights in addition to the SS3 LED Pods. 

SS3 LED Pods

Stage Series SS3 LED Pods are some of our most popular off-road lights. Enthusiasts have really utilized the various mounting applications that are offered for the SS3s.

One of the most popular uses of SS3 LED Off-Road Lights is as fog lights. We saw quite a few SS3 LED Fog Lights, but we really noticed the way the SS3 LED pod lights were mounted as custom lighting solutions on after-market overlanding bumpers. Below, we see a Toyota Tacoma using SS3 LED pods as forward-facing lights, with an SSC2 LED pod aimed to the side for maximum visibility.

We also noticed this Land Rover Defender, using the white SS3 LED Fog Lights to add increased lighting to the rugged overlanding bumper. 

SS3 LED Pods are extremely versatile and can be used in a range of applications on your vehicle. They are commonly used as ditch lights, or A-Pillar mounted lights to illuminate the sides of the trails giving overlanders a better view of the terrain that isn't directly in front of their vehicle. The yellow SS3 color option really popped on this Ford Super Duty overlanding rig.

Of all the impressive overlanding builds with SS3 LED Off-Road Lights that we saw at Overland Expo West 2023, this ambitious Toyota Tacoma build utilized 14 SS3s mounted to the roof rack to create an impressive, powerful light bar. 

SS5 LED Pods

SS5 LED Pods feature the highest output intensity of any five-inch LED pod lights on the market. They feature nine powerful LED emitters and have the same TIR optics and durability as the rest of the Stage Series LED Off-Road Lights. This means overlanders can achieve lots of light output with only two front-facing bull bar mounted LED pods as seen on this adventurous Mercedes Sprinter overlanding rig.

For those looking to really light up the trails they are blazing, SS5 CrossLink LED Light Bars allow you to connect up to eight SS5 LED Off-Road Lights to achieve maximum light output. The same Mercedes Sprinter build used a seven-pod CrossLink LED Light Bar with two additional Yellow SS5 LED Pods to complete this powerful lighting build. 

We couldn't miss this overlander who utilized the SS5 Windshield CrossLink Light Bar Kit for the Jeep JT Gladiator in their overlanding rig. The bolt-on kit features custom-engineered brackets that support the CrossLink LED Light Bar above the windshield, leaving the roof open for stowing other gear, or topless adventures. 

This Toyota Tacoma build also utilized a seven-pod SS5 CrossLink LED Light Bar kit, cleanly mounted to the roof rack. The unique placement of the SS5 LED Pod Light Covers created an eye-catching checker-like pattern with the Diode Dynamics logo. 

Conclusion

Overland Expo West 2023 was a fantastic opportunity to see how overlanding enthusiasts adapt our Stage Series LED Off-Road Lights to meet their unique and specific needs. We're proud to be able to support the growing overlanding community and provide useful, durable off-road lights that help them to see further and go faster. 

Ready to Buy Stage Series LED Off-Road Lights?

If you’re ready to add Stage Series LED Off-Road Lights to your overlanding vehicle, you can upgrade by clicking here or using our dealer locator to find a dealer near you. 

Want to know more about Diode Dynamics products? Visit DiodeDynamics.com and subscribe to our newsletter for new product releases and more!