I would like to add LED headlights to my 21' pontoon bow and stern for fishing at night and docking. Want something really bright. Looking for advice on watts/lumens. Any advice would be appreciated.
Big spotlights are often used for navigation/picking up channel markers. Pretty sure they are legal, or at least in some cases they are. As a lakefront homeowner, it doesn't mean I like them though. They can be pretty distracting. I generally don't care if somebody is having a drink or 2 while fishing late at night, but hand those same people a spot light and they can be a PIA....
I put aa pair of 72 watt spot/flood combo lights on the front of my toon this summer and they are bright as hell. $72 for the pair shipped. I also put 4 48 watt floods on each side and 2 off the back that I wired to my trailer to double as reverse lights when on the trailer the 48 w lights were $110 shipped for the set. Thet are also bright as hell., probably looks like a ufo when all turned on at once.
Just to see the power of these LED lights I have a 6" long 3/4" diameter flashlight with a single rice grain size bulb.Uses 2 AA batteries.
At about 12 ft it lights a spot about 4 or 5' in diameter very very bright.Lights a 12 X 20' room sufficient to see without moving the light.
Not what you need but gives an idea what these can do.
Also have a 1 1/4" X 1/4" light on my multi tool that produces a faint 4' diameter spot at 12 ft.
Not sure how much like you're looking for, but I highly recommend checking into LED light bars. No need to pay thousands for a RIGID... I bought a 20 inch for about $35 and its unreal how much light those put out. If I'm not mistaken mine is 126 watt and somewhere around 12000 lumen. Most of them are IP67 waterproof rated as well. The best part is the low wattage. No need to worry about draining the battery as you do with halogen or similar lights. We use them around here for fish gigging and bowfishing. No loud generator and battery lasts for hours. There are also smaller lights around 4" square available in either spot or flood beams. Depends on your use. If you're not convinced on the LED light bar/squares do a youtube search. Lots of videos with them on vehicles showing a parking lot with regular headlights and then turning on the light bars. Night and day difference. You wont be disappointed. IMO with the LED technology today there is no other option.
