If you live in the desert as we do, you might prefer off-roading at night time. Without an LED light bar you could end up driving into terrible situations, so we strongly recommend picking one up.
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve almost driven off a cliff or slammed into a massive rock because we couldn’t see far enough at night time. Even if you don’t go off-roading at night, a powerful LED light bar can add a lot of functionality to your XJ Cherokee.
In this short guide, we will cover the best LED light bars for your XJ Cherokee, and the best brackets for your new light bar. All of this comes from personal experience and products i’ve used on my personal XJ Cherokees are listed in this guide.
| Brand | Type of LEDs | Waterproofing | Warranty | Price Check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid Industries | Cree | IP68 | Lifetime | Check Latest Price |
| Baja Designs | Cree | IP68 | Lifetime | Check Latest Price |
| KC HiLites | Cree | IP68 | 27 Years | Check Latest Price |
| Rough Country | Cree | IP67 | 3 Years | Check Latest Price |
| Rigid Horse | Cree/Philips | IP67 | 1-5 Years | Check Latest Price |
| Auxbeam | Cree/Philips | IP67 | 1+ Years | Check Latest Price |
| Nilight | Cree | IP67 | 2 Years | Check Latest Price |
Roof Mounted Light Bars for XJ Cherokee
Roof mounted light bars help eliminate shadows on the trail and they look awesome. If you use the brackets that come with your new light bar you must drill holes in your roof and those will majorly damage your roof.
We will focus on light bars you can get vehicle specific brackets for to avoid this denting problem.
#1 Rigid Industries 50” RDS Midnight Edition
In most of our articles, we almost always recommend Rigid Industries. If you know a Rigid Industries light bar is out of your price range, we recommend cheaper options further down.
The 50” RDS from Rigid outputs an insane 26,150 lumens at 375W. We know XJ Cherokee owners like to wheel their Jeeps hard, and this light bar is dust, water, and shockproof.
This means your Jeep will break before the light bar will. Plus, it’s covered by a lifetime warranty so you won’t have to worry about your hard-earned money being wasted.
We chose the midnight edition because of its awesome looks, but if you don’t like the all black look, you can opt for a standard 50” RDS. If you’re able to afford a Rigid Industries light bar, we strongly recommend doing so, but if not there are other options available.
- Warranty: Lifetime
- Power: 375W
- Output: 26,150 lumens
#2 Rough Country 50” Curved Black Edition
If a Rigid Industries light bar is out of your price range, the next best option is Rough Country. Although this light bar isn’t as durable as the Rigid Industries, it’s much cheaper and still offers great quality.
This LED light bar outputs 23,040 lumens at 288W which is around 3,000 lumens less than the Rigid Industries light bar. Just like before, we chose the Black Edition because of its awesome looks.
Besides that the Chrome on the face of the light bar doesn’t do much anyway, the chrome inside the reflector cup does all the work.
If you’re on a budget and still want a high-quality light bar, we would strongly recommend looking at the Rough Country 50” curved. If this light bar is still out of your price range, don’t worry, we have an even cheaper solution below.
- Warranty: 3 years
- Power: 288W
- Output: 23,040 lumens
#3 Auxbeam 50″ 5D Curved
If even the Rough Country light bar is out of your price range, don’t fear because we have another option. This 5D light bar from Auxbeam isn’t as durable as either of the options above, but it is much cheaper.
We’ve used the older 4D version of this exact light bar on our XJ Cherokee and loved it. It isn’t the blueish color that many light bars outputs, but instead it’s pure white. The color temperature is something that has a massive effect on how light cuts through the dust.
The 5D optics help project the light far forwards allowing you to see what’s ahead on the trail. This 50″ light bar from Auxbeam outputs an impressive 28,800 lumens.
Again, we used a very similar Auxbeam product on our old XJ Cherokee and absolutely loved how it performed. If you’re on a budget, this is the best option on the market.
- Warranty: 1 year
- Power: 288W
- Output: Approximately 28,800 lumens
#4 Nilight 52″ Triple Row
Next, up on our list, we’ve got great budget options for XJ Cherokee owners who want something insanely powerful for extremely cheap. Unlike every other LED light bar on this list, this light bar uses a true triple row design with massive floodlight ends.
More LEDs means more light output, at least in theory. Because the projectors have to be smaller per LED, this light bar doesn’t offer a true spot beam pattern like the other options on the list, but that’s okay for simple trail riding when a true spotlight isn’t needed.
Nilight claims a 783W power draw, but because the included fuse in the wiring harness is likely 30A, the claimed power draw isn’t possible. This also means the claimed light output of 78,000 lumens is probably an estimation off the false power draw, so the true lumen output is probably under 20,000 lumens.
That being said, that’s still more than enough for many XJ owners out there. The body offers an IP67 rating that keeps dust and water out.
- Warranty: 2 year
- Power: 783W (claimed)
- Output: Approximately 78,800 lumens (claimed)
#5 Eyourlife 50″ Curved Combo Beam
Last, but certainly not least, is the Eyourlife 50″ curved LED light bar. This light bar is for XJ owners who want the cheapest light bar possible. This is one of the cheapest options on the market and it’s quite a bit cheaper than any other option on this list.
Of course, the lower price tag does mean this light bar has no warranty and no fancy features. It’s a simple reflector cup projector with 3W LED chips throughout.
Although the price tag is super low, you still get a decent 18,000 lumen output from the 288W power draw, and the body offers IP68 water and dust resistance.
- Warranty: None
- Power: 288W
- Output: Approximately 18,000 lumens
Auxbeam XJ Cherokee Brackets
One of the worst things you can do when installing a light bar on your roof is to use the brackets it comes with. The brackets that are included with your new light bar are universal and required mounting directly to your roof.
Not only does this make your install hideous, but it will also cause major damage. When we installed a 50” light bar on our XJ Cherokee we used brackets from Auxbeam.
These brackets are very strong and cheap. They’re a knock-off of Rough Country XJ Cherokee brackets, but they’re slightly cheaper. We strongly recommend spending the extra money and using these brackets.
Bumper Mounted Light Bars and Headlights for XJ Cherokee
Roof-mounted light bars look awesome and eliminate shadows on the trail, however, they can create windshield glare. Windshield glare is when the light emitting from your light bar shines on the windshield.
This can make it very hard to see and sometimes harder to see then if the light bar wasn’t on at all. We want to recommend bumper-mounted options. The stock bumper on an XJ Cherokee can accommodate up to a 30” light bar.
#1 Rigid Industries 30” E-Series Midnight Edition
If you can afford a Rigid Industries light bar, we would recommend buying one. Mounting a light bar on your bumper makes it more susceptible to rocks hitting it and you’ll want a strong light bar to hold up to that kind of abuse.
The 30-inch E-Series LED light bar is shock, dust, and waterproof making it perfect for this task. As always, we prefer the midnight edition because of its awesome all-black appearance.
You could also opt for a curved light bar from Rigid, but we for bumper mounting we recommend the straight version of this light bar.
The 30” E-Series outputs an impressive 13,800 lumens at 165W. Plus, it’s covered by a lifetime warranty so even if you break it your money won’t be completely wasted.
- Warranty: Lifetime
- Power: 165W
- Output: 13,800 lumens
#2 Rough Country 30” X5
We’re not massive fans of cramming more diodes in a small space which you can read about in our Single Row vs Double Row article. In this situation, however, we think a triple row light bar like what Rough Country offers is suitable.
When mounting a light bar on your bumper you will want a flood beam pattern like what X5 offers. This light bar outputs an impressive 16,200 lumens at 180W.
Mounting an LED light bar on your bumper makes it much more susceptible to getting hit by rocks and Rough Country backs this light bar with a rather short three-year warranty.
If you’re concerned about breaking your LED light bar, a Rigid Industries LED light bar might be a better choice.
- Warranty: 3 years
- Power: 180W
- Output: 16,200 lumens
#3 Auxbeam 2×2 LED Pods
If your XJ has factory fog lights installing LED cubes like these will be a breeze. We used these exacts LED pods on our XJ Cherokee and loved them. The beam they output is tight; we used them on the street as fog lights and never had an issue.
They aren’t officially street legal so do that at your own risk. Off-road the tight beam pattern allows you to see way far out on the trails.
You can also buy little amber covers for these LED pods that will help you see through dust and fog which you can read more about in our Amber Light Bars article.
- Warranty: 1 year
- Power: 20W each
- Output: Unknown
#4 Auxbeam 5×7 Headlights
This is another product we used on our XJ Cherokee. Most of the factory-sealed beams that come in XJ Cherokee output very little light. These headlights are a direct fit and take about 10 minutes to install.
The plug to connect them is also the same as the factory XJ Cherokee headlight plug making installation even easier.
Please note that these are not at all street legal and use them at your own risk. Just because we had no problems using ours on the street doesn’t mean you will.
- Warranty: 1 year
- Power: 39W
- Output: Unknown
For more information about everything light bar related, be sure to check out our full Light Bar Buying Guide