Heretic Studios
Heretic Studios Lights: LED Light Bars, Fog Light Kits, Pod Lights & Behind-the-Grille Bars
Heretic Studios (commonly searched as Heretic Lights) is one of the premium American LED lighting brands we carry at Off Road Tents, and if you're building a rig where the lighting actually has to work at night in real off-road conditions, they should be on your shortlist. The Heretic Lights catalog splits between LED light bars in multiple sizes (from 6-inch pods up to 40-inch curved bars, both clear and amber lens configurations), vehicle-specific LED fog light kits engineered for Ford Bronco 2021+, Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra, Jeep JL/JT, and Subaru Crosstrek, the Quattro and BA-2 LED pod lights that show up on ditch light setups everywhere, and the distinctive Behind-the-Grille light bar lineup that hides serious auxiliary lighting behind the factory grille without visible bar exposure. Give us a call at 844-200-3979 and we'll help you spec the right Heretic Studios lighting for your build.
Who Is Heretic Studios?
Heretic Studios is an American premium LED lighting manufacturer that competes at the top tier of the aftermarket off-road lighting market. If you've spent time researching serious LED lighting, you know there's a huge gap between the cheap $60 Amazon light bars that fail in one season and the premium brands (Heretic, Baja Designs, Rigid Industries, KC HiLiTES) that cost 5-10x more but actually work. Heretic sits firmly in that premium tier. Real LED chip quality, proper driver electronics, weather-sealed housings, and the engineering behind them that makes the difference between "adds light" and "actually usable off-road at 40 mph on a rough trail."
The catalog organizes around a few core product families. The LED Light Bar lineup covers 6-inch, 20-inch, 30-inch, 40-inch, and 40-inch curved configurations, in both clear and amber lens options. The LED Fog Light Kits are vehicle-specific, engineered specifically for Ford Bronco 2021+, Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra, Jeep JL/JT (Sport, Non-Sport, and plastic bumper configurations), and Subaru Crosstrek/Impreza factory fog light housings. The Quattro and BA-2 LED Pod Lights are the compact high-output cubes that get used for ditch light setups, ancillary bumper lighting, and rock lighting. The Behind-the-Grille Light Bar lineup is Heretic's unique category. 30-inch light bars engineered specifically to mount behind the factory grille of Toyota Tacoma (and expanding to other platforms), so you get serious auxiliary lighting without visible bar exposure that changes the truck's stock look. Everything ships ready for direct installation with vehicle-specific mounting hardware included where applicable.
Featured Heretic Studios Products
Heretic Studios 40" LED Light Bar
Price: From $949.99
Type: Heretic LED Light Bar / 40 inch led light bar / led light bar | Size: 40 inches | Mount: Universal roof or bumper mount
Build: Premium LED chip array, weather-sealed housing, integrated cooling, universal vehicle mounting
The 40" is Heretic's flagship light bar and the size that most serious off-road roof mounts end up running. Long enough to give you real usable spread across the trail at speed, engineered with the premium LED chips and driver electronics that separate Heretic from budget alternatives, and priced at the top tier of the market for a reason. This is the light bar that competes head-to-head with Baja Designs S8 and Rigid Industries E-Series at the same price point.
Heretic Studios Quattro LED Pod Light (2 Pack)
Price: From $269.99
Type: Heretic Quattro / led pod lights / amber pod lights / ditch light kit | Quantity: 2-pack (pair)
Build: Compact pod design, four-LED chip array, weather-sealed housing, universal mounting
The Quattro is Heretic's signature LED pod light and the most affordable Heretic product on this page. Sold as a 2-pack because pods almost always get run in pairs. Ditch lights on a hood-mount, aux bumper lights, rock lights, or spare-tire-mounted rear lighting. The four-LED chip array gives you real usable light output despite the compact form factor. Available in clear or amber lens configuration depending on your primary use case.
Heretic Studios Behind-the-Grille 30" Light Bar (Amber Lens, Tacoma)
Price: $874.99
Type: Heretic Behind-the-Grille / amber led light bar / amber light bar | Fits: Toyota Tacoma | Size: 30 inches
Build: Vehicle-specific behind-grille mounting, amber lens for dust/fog penetration, weather-sealed housing
The Behind-the-Grille lineup is what makes Heretic distinctive in the aftermarket LED market. Instead of bolting a light bar to your bumper or roof (which changes the truck's stock look and screams "aftermarket"), this mounts a full 30-inch light bar behind the Tacoma's factory grille so the light shines through the grille openings. You get serious auxiliary lighting output. Your truck still looks stock. The amber lens variant is engineered specifically for dust and fog penetration in the conditions where you actually need auxiliary lighting most. Dust storms, fog, snow, and low-visibility weather.
Heretic Studios LED Fog Light Kit for Ford Bronco (2021+)
Price: $939.99
Type: Heretic LED Fog Light Kit / ford bronco fog lights / led fog light kit | Fits: Ford Bronco 2021+
Build: Vehicle-specific mounting, plug-and-play OEM-style integration, weather-sealed housing
This is the LED fog light kit engineered specifically for the Ford Bronco 2021+ platform, not a universal fog light adapted with brackets. Bronco-specific mounting means the fogs sit in the factory fog light housings with OEM-style integration, plug-and-play electrical connections, and no drilling or bumper modifications required. The output and beam pattern are engineered around real fog and dust conditions. The actual conditions where fog lights need to work, rather than just being repurposed pod lights in a fog light shape.
Heretic Studios Lineup at a Glance
| Product | Category | Fits | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40" LED Light Bar | Full-size LED light bar | Universal roof/bumper mount | From $949.99 |
| Quattro LED Pod Light (2 Pack) | LED pod light (pair) | Universal aux mounting | From $269.99 |
| Behind-the-Grille 30" Bar (Tacoma Amber) | Stealth behind-grille light bar | Toyota Tacoma | $874.99 |
| LED Fog Light Kit (Bronco 2021+) | Vehicle-specific fog light kit | Ford Bronco 2021+ | $939.99 |
Heretic Studios Product Lines Explained
The Heretic catalog can look overwhelming at first because there's real variety across product categories. Here's how the lineup breaks down and what each product family is actually engineered to do.
LED Light Bars (6" to 40" and 40" Curved)
Heretic's straight LED light bars cover most of the useful size range for off-road applications. The 6" is for auxiliary mounting where space is limited (grille inserts, small bumper mounts). The 20" is the go-to for behind-bumper mounting or grille integration. The 30" is the sweet spot for roof or upper bumper mounting on most SUVs and trucks. The 40" is the full-size bar for maximum spread coverage, and the 40" Curved matches the curve of many vehicle rooflines for cleaner aesthetic integration. All the light bars are available in clear lens (maximum output for clear-air conditions) or amber lens (better penetration in dust, fog, and precipitation). Prices range from $219.99 for the 6" up to $949.99 for the 40".
LED Fog Light Kits (Vehicle-Specific)
This is where Heretic's engineering focus really shows. Instead of building universal fog lights and providing brackets to adapt them, Heretic engineers vehicle-specific fog light kits that fit factory fog light housings with OEM-style integration. The current lineup covers Toyota Tacoma (multiple year ranges), Toyota Tundra, Ford Bronco 2021+, Jeep JL and JT (in both Sport and Non-Sport bumper configurations, plus separate variants for plastic bumpers), and Subaru Crosstrek/Impreza. Available in amber lens (for real fog/dust penetration performance) and clear lens (for maximum brightness in clear conditions). Priced at $339.99 for most kits, up to $939.99 for the more complex Bronco kit.
Quattro & BA-2 LED Pod Lights
Pod lights are the compact high-output cubes that solve the "I need lights here but a full bar won't fit" problem. The Quattro is Heretic's four-LED-per-pod design with strong output-per-inch. The BA-2 is the two-LED variant, smaller and lighter, best for auxiliary applications like rock lights, ancillary bumper lights, or rear-facing spare tire lighting. Both are sold in 2-packs because pods almost always get mounted in pairs, and both are available in clear and amber lens options. Priced at $219.99 for the BA-2 2-pack and $269.99 for the Quattro 2-pack.
Behind-the-Grille Light Bars
This is Heretic's unique product line. Behind-the-Grille light bars mount a full 30-inch light bar behind the vehicle's factory grille, so the light shines out through the existing grille openings instead of being visible on the bumper or roof. The benefit is stealth. The truck looks stock at a glance, no aftermarket-mount changes to the front-end aesthetic, but you get real auxiliary lighting output when you turn them on. Currently offered for Toyota Tacoma in clear and amber lens configurations at $874.99. It's a favorite among buyers who want serious lighting without changing the truck's stock look.
Ditch Light & Bumper Light Kits
Vehicle-specific kits that bundle pod lights with mounting brackets engineered for specific vehicles. The Ford Bronco 2021+ Ditch Light Kit and the Bronco 20" LED Bumper Light Bar Kit are the current headliners in this category, both engineered around Bronco-specific mounting locations for plug-and-play installation.
Fog Light Kit Brackets (Accessories)
For buyers who bought the fog light kit before and need replacement mounting hardware, or for buyers who want to run a different LED in a Heretic-style mounting position, the Brackets Only options for Toyota Tacoma and Tundra are available at $49.99-$59.99. These are the mounting hardware components without the LEDs themselves.
Amber Lens vs Clear Lens: Which Do You Actually Need?
Almost every Heretic product comes in both clear and amber lens configurations, and the choice matters more than it looks like it should. Here's how to actually decide.
Clear (white) lens gives you the brightest raw output. If you camp and drive in clear-air conditions (dry climate, no fog, no heavy dust, no snow) clear lens is the higher-performing choice for maximum visibility distance. The white light shows terrain features and object detail with the highest clarity in ideal conditions.
Amber (selective yellow) lens penetrates airborne particles better than white light because the longer amber wavelength scatters less on dust, fog, precipitation, and blowing snow. If you drive dusty desert trails, mountain fog, snowy roads, or coastal fog conditions (the conditions where you actually need auxiliary lighting the most) amber outperforms clear despite the technically lower raw output. It's also easier on the eyes on long night drives, which matters when you're 6 hours into a rally-style trail run.
Many serious off-road builds run both. The typical pro setup: clear bar on the roof for maximum distance in clear air, amber lights lower on the vehicle (bumper, ditch lights, fog kit) for dust and fog penetration when conditions get bad. You switch between them based on conditions, and you never have the wrong lens type when you need it.
The simple decision rule: If you can only afford one, buy amber for anything low-mounted (fog lights, ditch lights, bumper lights) since those are where dust and fog conditions hit worst. Buy clear for anything high-mounted (roof bars) where you want maximum distance in clear conditions. If you can run both, that's the ideal setup.
Heretic Studios Vehicle Coverage
Vehicle-specific Heretic products currently cover the following platforms in our catalog. If your vehicle isn't listed, universal-mount light bars and pod lights will still work with aftermarket mounting.
Ford Bronco 2021+. LED Fog Light Kit (featured above at $939.99), LED Ditch Light Kit ($309.98), and 20" LED Bumper Light Bar Kit ($659.99). Complete lighting coverage for the 2021+ Bronco with vehicle-specific mounting on all three products.
Toyota Tacoma. Behind-the-Grille 30" Light Bar in both amber and clear lens ($874.99), LED Fog Light Kit with amber lens ($339.99), and Fog Light Kit Brackets Only accessories ($49.99-$59.99). One of the deepest vehicle coverage lineups in the Heretic catalog.
Toyota Tundra. Fog Light Kit Brackets Only ($49.99), mounting hardware for adapting Heretic fog lights to the Tundra. Additional Tundra-specific products may be added to the catalog over time.
Jeep JL & JT. LED Fog Light Kits in both amber lens and clear lens for Sport configuration ($339.99). Also LED Fog Light Kits for Non-Sport plastic bumper configuration in both amber and clear ($339.99). Full coverage for the Jeep JL Wrangler and JT Gladiator platforms across the different bumper configurations.
Subaru Crosstrek & Impreza. LED Fog Light Kit with amber lens for the Crosstrek and Impreza factory fog light housings ($339.99). Uncommon coverage in the aftermarket LED market, since most premium lighting brands skip Subaru entirely.
Heretic Studios vs Other Premium LED Lighting Brands
Buyers researching Heretic Studios usually cross-shop the other premium LED lighting brands. Here's the honest comparison from our experience selling multiple premium lighting brands at Off Road Tents.
Heretic Studios vs Baja Designs: The two brands compete head-to-head at similar price points. Baja Designs wins on the depth of the product catalog (they build more product lines and cover more vehicle platforms), the OEM partnerships (Baja Designs is factory-fitted on some Ford Raptor and other trims), and the massive brand recognition in the off-road racing world. Heretic wins on the Behind-the-Grille lineup (Baja doesn't offer this product category), on the amber lens availability across nearly every product (some Baja product lines are clear-only), and on the specific vehicle-fit engineering on niche platforms like Subaru Crosstrek. For a Bronco or Tacoma build, both brands work. The choice usually comes down to specific product availability and aesthetic preference.
Heretic Studios vs Rigid Industries: Rigid is the other premium tier competitor at similar price points. Rigid wins on the industrial market presence (Rigid dominates the commercial/utility LED lighting space beyond just off-road), the E-Series and Adapt lineup depth, and the specific hybrid combo beam patterns. Heretic wins on the vehicle-specific fog light kit ecosystem (Rigid focuses more on universal-mount solutions), the Behind-the-Grille product line, and the Quattro/BA-2 pod light pricing.
Heretic Studios vs KC HiLiTES: KC has been in the off-road lighting space longer than most competitors and has strong heritage with the desert racing crowd. KC wins on brand history and the traditional off-road aesthetic (some builds specifically want the KC look). Heretic wins on the more modern LED technology (KC's older product lines used halogen and HID which are being phased out), on the amber lens availability, and on vehicle-specific fog light kits for newer platforms like the 2021+ Bronco. For a modern build, Heretic is typically the more contemporary choice.
Heretic Studios vs Cali Raised LED: Different tiers. Cali Raised LED sits at a more affordable price point with strong Tacoma-specific coverage and value pricing. Heretic sits at the premium tier with higher-end LED chips, driver electronics, and the vehicle-specific engineering that comes with premium pricing. If you're building a Tacoma on a budget and want solid mid-tier lighting, Cali Raised LED is the reasonable choice. If you're building at the premium tier and want lighting that matches the rest of the premium build, Heretic is worth the price differential.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I buy amber lens or clear lens Heretic lights?
It depends on your primary driving conditions. Clear (white) lens gives you the brightest raw output in clear-air conditions, so it's the higher-performing choice for dry-climate, clear-weather driving. Amber (yellow) lens penetrates dust, fog, precipitation, and blowing snow better because the longer wavelength scatters less on airborne particles, so it's the better choice for dusty desert trails, mountain fog, snowy roads, or coastal fog. Serious off-road builds often run both: clear on the roof for distance in clear air, amber lower on the vehicle (fog lights, ditch lights) for dust and fog penetration. If you can only afford one, buy amber for low-mounted applications and clear for high-mounted roof bars.
Do Heretic fog light kits require modifications to the vehicle?
No. Heretic engineers vehicle-specific LED fog light kits to fit factory fog light housings with OEM-style integration. For the Ford Bronco 2021+, Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra, Jeep JL/JT (in both Sport and Non-Sport plastic bumper configurations), and Subaru Crosstrek/Impreza, the fog light kits ship with plug-and-play electrical connections and vehicle-specific mounting hardware. No drilling, no bumper modifications, no aftermarket wiring harness surgery. Install times are typically 30 minutes to an hour depending on the vehicle.
What's a Behind-the-Grille light bar and why would I want one?
A Behind-the-Grille light bar mounts a full-size light bar behind the vehicle's factory grille, so the light shines through the existing grille openings instead of being visible on the bumper or roof. The benefit is stealth. Your truck looks stock at a glance because there's no visible aftermarket bar changing the front-end aesthetic. But when you turn the light bar on, you get real auxiliary lighting output. It's the choice for buyers who want serious lighting capability without changing the truck's stock look, or for buyers who want to avoid the security concern of visible aftermarket lighting when parked in public. Heretic currently offers Behind-the-Grille bars for the Toyota Tacoma in both amber and clear lens.
Why do Heretic pod lights come in 2-packs?
Because pod lights almost always get installed in pairs. Ditch lights (hood-mounted aux lights) run in matched pairs on either side of the hood. Bumper aux lights typically run in pairs for balanced beam coverage. Rear-facing pods run in pairs for backup and reverse lighting. Selling the Quattro and BA-2 pod lights as 2-packs means you're not paying for a second complete kit's worth of packaging, wiring hardware, and shipping. You're getting the matched pair at a lower per-pod price. If you specifically need a single pod for a one-off application, call us at 844-200-3979 and we can check whether individual pods are available separately.
Are Heretic Studios lights worth the premium price over cheaper LED brands?
For serious off-road use, yes. The difference between a $60 Amazon LED light bar and a $500-$950 Heretic isn't just marketing markup. It's real differences in LED chip quality (brand-name Osram or Cree chips vs no-name chips), driver electronics (proper current regulation vs cheap PWM that flickers), heat management (aluminum housings with real cooling vs plastic housings that fail), weather sealing (IP68/IP69K rated vs "waterproof" claims that don't hold up), and beam pattern engineering (actual optics designed for specific distances vs generic reflectors). Cheap LED lights fail in one season of real off-road use. Premium brands like Heretic last for years of daily driving plus regular trail use. For light-duty backyard camping, cheap lights are fine. For serious off-road, the premium tier is worth the differential.
Related
All Off-Road Lighting
The full off-road lighting catalog including Heretic Studios, Baja Designs, Rigid Industries, KC HiLiTES, Cali Raised LED, and other premium and value-tier LED lighting brands.
Ford Bronco Accessories
The full Ford Bronco 2021+ accessory catalog for buyers building out a Bronco with Heretic fog lights, ditch lights, and bumper light bars.
Need Help Picking the Right Heretic Setup?
Tell us your vehicle, your typical driving conditions (dusty desert vs mountain fog vs clear-air trails), and whether you want stealth (behind-grille) or visible-mount lighting. We'll help you pick between amber and clear lens, spec the right light bar size or pod count, and make sure the electrical draw works with your alternator and battery setup.
