23
Sep 2026
When you look at the XL series, it can be overwhelming; there are a lot of options. Which is the best? What is the brightest? And will it fit on my truck? We are going to dive into the XL series and figure out which is best for you, not find out what the best light is, because we would argue that what is best for you might not be best for everyone else. It all depends on the application you are putting the light on and what you need it to do.
 

We would argue the brightest light might be the wrong choice for most people, and one of the dimmest lights in the XL catalog on paper is the one that’ll let you drive the fastest with. Most people are chasing lumen figures off a spec sheet. Lumens and power numbers are only part of the story; what actually decides how a light performs is the depth of the reflector behind the LED, the size of the die inside it, the lens pattern sitting in front of it, and where the thing ends up mounted on your vehicle.

The XL comes in five different options: XL Sport, XL Pro, XL40, XL80®, and XL Racer Edition, all in the same housing doing five completely different jobs. It’s the oldest light still in production at Baja Designs, and it’s also the one people order wrong the most, because from 5 feet away they look like the same light with a different logo on the front.

The XL was designed from the original Squadron with the need to have more distance from a single light, and the solution wasn’t to throw more power at the Squadron but to scale up the housing and reflector size. The XL has two different two housing styles:  standard housing and moto. The standard light is the one you’ve seen most, with extended fins across the back for maximum heat dissipation for peak efficiency. The moto housing is a slimmed down version of the XL designed for moto specific applications.
That same thin XL housing also gave us something we weren’t planning on. We took the moto-specific Sport and Pro, built links for them, and ended up with the XL Linkable that allowed us to connect multiple lights into a single light bar and build exactly as much light as the application calls for, with complete adjustability and modularity to create a 3XL to 9XL linkable light bar.
Like every Baja Designs off-road light, the XL is built with uService. Damage a lens or want a different beam pattern? Unscrew the lens, swap in a replacement, and reseal it with the O-ring. The waterproof, dustproof housing stays intact, and you’re back on the trail in minutes.

XL SPORT

The Baja Designs XL Sport is where most people start. Putting out 3,150 lumens on 26 watts and 2.2 amps. It’s the entry price into the XL family, but that doesn’t mean the light is compromised or bad at all. You still get 5000K, ClearView optics, and serious off-road performance. 

XL PRO 

 
The Baja Designs XL Pro is the original XL of the series and the workhorse that mostly gets overshadowed by the XL80 constantly. At 4,900 lumens and 40 watts, it’s the middle of the range on paper, but the XL Pro will be perfect with any of Baja Designs ClearView lens patterns, which means the same light can be a cornering light on an A-pillar, a driving light in a grille, or a high-speed spot, depending on what you put in front of it. If you’re only buying one XL and you want it to do it all, this is it. 

 XL 80®

The Baja Designs XL 80® is the powerhouse, and it is exactly what it says it is: 80 watts, 9,022 lumens, about 5.9 amps. It is the most powerful light in the lineup, and the beam pattern wasn’t designed to throw the light the furthest. The light was engineered to be intense in the near-to-midfield, and we only sell it with a combo lens on purpose. In fact, the XL Pro throws light further than the XL 80 despite being less power, and that is because of the combination of different LEDS are used on the corcuit board. 

XL 40

The XL 40 is our first light designed exclusively for moto use. Born from the powerhouse of the XL 80, the XL 40 was engineered to bring that same trail-proven performance to a wider range of motos. The design ethos was simple: build a light that’s still bright enough for the trail, but compatible with the majority of motorcycles running lower-output OEM stators. At 43.5W, the XL 40 draws significantly less power than the XL 80’s 75.9W platform making it the right light for riders who’ve been left without a high output lighting option for their motorcycle until now

XL Racer Edition

The Baja Designs XL Racer Edition is the light built for anyone running north of 100 mph. You’d expect the light made for the fastest drivers to be the brightest of the bunch, but it isn’t; however, it does throw light the furthest. It makes fewer lumens than both the XL80 and the XL Pro, and it throws light roughly 45% farther than the XL Pro, because every watt in it goes toward distance instead of intensity due to the size of the LED die. It makes 2800 lumens at 45.5 watts, and the beam pattern is thin and narrow. We only sell it with a spot lens, and it shouldn’t be run by itself because it is a piece of a package to compliment a lighting package for racing.

XL Linkable 

The Baja Designs XL Linkable LED light bar kit is available in Sport or Pro, was engineered utilizing our moto housing. The XL Linkable can be built with 3 up to 9 XL Sport or XL Pro forward projecting lights that provide a smooth blend due to the use of multiple lenses illuminating various lighting zones. The system provides 45 degrees of vertical pitch adjustment within each light or the entire unit. Completely independent horizontal adjustment per light allows for straight or arc configurations to perfectly match the lines of your vehicle’s bumper or roofline. 

So which one do you buy?

If you’re getting into the XL series or building to a budget, buy the Sport. If you want one light you can retune with lenses as the build changes, buy the Pro. If you need serious near-field intensity and you’ve got the electrical system to feed it, buy the 80. If you’re on a bike or working with a lower-output stator, buy the 40 and run the trail lens. And if you’re seeing 80 or 90 in the open desert and what you actually need is reaction time, buy the Racer — then build a package around it.
Fifteen years in the housing hasn’t changed much because it never needed to. Everything behind the lens has changed constantly, and there’s now a version of it for nearly every job.
Still not sure which one that is?
Call us. Our lighting experts would rather talk through your build with you than have you guess at it.