So I bought this beast a year and a half ago and it had the gay chrome "altezza" style euro taillights on it that you would find on somebody's lowrider Civic. Not my personal taste, but I loved the truck (even more now, oil weeps and all), bought it and took it home. Most of the lamp is chrome with bullet looking red pieces for the stop lamp. Not a lot of light comes out of these pieces and getting some new lamps back there to increase the visibility (safety first, right?) and get rid of the ricer look has been on the list ever since I bought it (although something always popped up to better spend my money, see signature).

Fast forward to this morning. As I'm backing into my parking space at work (small parking lot, so I back in to put the bed overhang in the front of the parking space instead of sticking out in the lane where it could get hit) I notice the light intensity from my back-up bulb changing. Thinking maybe my lamp is loose or I have a broken bulb mount I get out and look. Low and behold my backup lamp section is 1/2 full of water! I don't know if these lamps were an option when the previous owner bought it (I'm the second owner, the original guys was a rancher) or whether he bought them after and put them on. I've seen this plenty of times before (lamps having condensation on the inside, head and tail), but not filling with water. This is going to be my best excuse to spend the money and just replace these hideous lamp housings instead of draining it out.

Now that I've bored you with my life's story, here's my question: What is a good brand of lamp to buy? I see a lot of brands that tout everything from "OEM quality" to "exceeds industry standards". I want to get some LED lamps so that I can plug them in and forget about it (never need to replace a bulb, low heat, low amperage, high visibility). Who makes a good LED lamp (I have come across several brands through my initial Google-ing)? I have heard Recon referred to before, but they are definitely more expensive than the rest. Are they worth it? Does anybody have LED taillights now and do you like the brand that you bought? I'd like to get something that has a good chance of being sealed well so I can avoid the interior condensation.

Any help/recommedations/thoughts/general comments would be greatly appreciated. I would like to be confident before I drop $200 (or more) on a good set of lamps instead of $50 for some knock-off OEM lamp housings, or if it's even worth it.

 

I would just go with an OEM light myself. They could be found pretty cheap at a junkyard I would say, or i'm sure they are not that much new from Ed.