by Matt Konkle
Managing Editor
If there is one thing we really got used to over the past year-plus of driving our JTe truck all over the Midwest and East Coast, it’s the interior Stealth LED 50" Light Bar.
All the light — none of the noise.
And yet, despite the original bar’s immense popularity, our design team believed they could generate even more performance out of the product.
So they went into the lab and emerged a bit later with a new model that still offers superior interior stealth performance, yet increases brightness by 35% thanks to 40 hyper-white LEDs and 40 amber LEDs that crush darkness in every direction. Plus, it still retains easy plug-n-play installation that can be accomplished in the driveway or garage without drilling or modifications.
We put this new Gen II Stealth LED Interior Mount 50" Light Bar to the test recently as we hauled out our JTe to Moab, Utah for the 58th annual Easter Jeep Safari — taking it out to Long Canyon Road where we could be alone for some night testing, as well as going on a dusk-to-night trail ride with our friends at Armorlite, Oracle and Rock Slide Engineering.
Now, our JTe does not have adaptive cruise control, so we installed the one-piece version. However, JL and JT owners with ACC can purchase a two-piece design that features 32 hyper-white and amber LEDs. Additionally, JK owners can get a one-piece bar that offers the same functionality and ease of installation.
One thing to note, just like the original bar, this does not work with the Sky One-Touch Power Top Factory Option as the front of that top utilizes the upper windshield frame and won’t allow installation of the bar.
After an intensive week of utilizing the Gen II Stealth Interior Light Bar, our first impression is the thing just oozes brightness whether you select hyper-white mode or amber. That’s because its 90-degree flood beam pattern penetrates the night with almost 10,000 lumens of light in hyper-white mode or 6,200 lumens in amber.
Our JTe is also equipped with Tactik 9-inch LED headlights, which already do a great job providing plenty of nighttime visibility, but when we hit the hyper-white switch, the whole canyon road lit up to give us excellent sightlines in all directions. Hopping over to amber mode diffused that light a bit and softly echoed off the canyons — giving us a nice idea of how it would penetrate different weather conditions.
All those lumens were definitely appreciated, but we were really looking forward to just how much our designers reduced light reflection on the hood. We were promised there would be almost no light bleed in this edition thanks to a refined windshield seal, and, yes, they definitely delivered on that promise as our JTe hood remained unaffected as we toggled back and forth from hyper-white to amber.
The light from this bar goes where you need it, not where it is useless.
We also used it quite a bit during a nighttime trail ride sponsored by Armorlite, Oracle and Rock Slide Engineering. The group was fairly large, so we let the Jeep in front of us get some distance before we activated the bar and, once again, the light quality was pretty stunning against the butte walls of Monitor and Merrimac on Backwards Bill. We also staged up with everyone else in the group once we reached the plateau between Monitor and Merrimac Bluffs and switched the bar to hyper-white, just to see how it performed versus everyone else's auxiliary lighting. Needless to say, we got a lot of comments on just how bright that light bar appeared.
Which actually makes a good segue on using the thing responsibly.
Intense auxiliary lighting, no matter the brand, is often restricted to off-road use only, so make sure to check your state and local regulations. Even if you can use the bar on the road, make sure there are no other vehicles around for safety reasons. Also, if you are closely following another driver on the trail, or have someone approaching, you can definitely blind them if the bar is activated. So ensure adequate following distance before using your Gen II Stealth LED Interior Mount 50" Light Bar, and don't use it at all when there is oncoming traffic.
So here are some details on this second generation light bar.
Like we said earlier, this interior stealth bar offers dual mode functionality thanks to those 40 hyper white and 40 amber LED lights — or 32 each on the two-piece model. The hyper-white is excellent for long-range visibility, while the amber performs best during fog or inclement weather situations.
For JL and JT models without ACC, it throws 9,794 lumens on hyper-white mode and 6,199 on amber. For JL and JT with ACC, the two-piece design has 8,795 lumens on hyper-white or 5,476 with amber. Those with JK vehicles will see 10,316 lumens on hyper-white, as well as 6,359 on amber.
The bar itself installs to the interior of the windshield frame with no drilling required, and wires up the back of your cigarette lighter. Additionally, there is no need to wire it to an aux switch as the bar’s toggle switch is embedded on the left-hand side.
Finally, because the bar sets up inside the vehicle, there is no wind noise or other aerodynamic issues that you’ll see from other exterior bars. Nor are there bulky side brackets that could get caught against tree limbs or other obstructions when you are off-road.
Nope, the Generation 2 Stealth Interior Light Bar takes everything that was great about our popular first-gen version and raises the, er, bar to a whole new standard.