LED light bars

That would be illegal. Check the regs for navigation and deck lights. Boats do not use headlights. We slow down, post a forward watch, and use our instruments when vision is limited. The proper way to use spot lights is to turn them on just long enough to find a buoy or get your bearing, and then turn it off. The exception being work lights such as on a fishing boat. Boats in your path must be able to see your navigation lights in order to tell which way you're going, and those light would obscure what they see of you. They wouldn't be able to tell your direction, nor be able to judge your distance from them. Think about any time you've approached another boat coming your way with his spotlight on. Plus, on a boat in motion you really want to see more than 100 yards ahead. You're looking for silloettes of shorelines, hills, buildings and buoys, etc., and those lights would limit that view. They would also limit your vision outside that cone of light. You probably wouldn't see a boat coming at you until he enters your cone of light, and at 100 yards that'd probably be too late for you to react.

FLIR is sweet!

If you need to run at night, you need to see, especially what is floating around. I had one of the original starlight prototypes for the recreational market back in the late 90s. Was living in Annapolis at the time and you could run out the Severn and be to the striper fishing at bloody point by dawn and see every crab pot along the way at 25knots. Very scary when you take your eyes away from that green image but looking thru it was amazing at the time. So much further along now with FLIR.

I second the positives of FLIR.

The main downside to FLIR is the cost. It's a lot of money for what for most would be a seldom used item. Many will be tempted to go the OP's route for that reason, and that's not allowed. Even FLIR has its limitations though. It won't protect you from the guy coming in from your side at 40 knots, and you could miss seeing him with your eyes fixed on the FLIR to see what's in ahead.

All very true, Nycap. Like most of our tools, it's a very useful tool, if used properly. We try to minimize night travel and except at home we never go in an inlet or to a marina at night. Just plan so that isn't necessary.

Unless you are running in an area with no traffic and massive amounts of pots, this is a lousy idea. First, you are going to blind every boat coming in the other direction but also the reflected light off your bow will make you blind as a bat killing your night vision.

We do run at night quite a bit and alsmot every time I run into some inconsiderate jerk who uses his spotlight as if it was headlight on his car

If pots are a big issue where you are, Maybe a better option would be to install it under the anchor pulpit aimed in such a way that the light is aimed at a down angle with a shield so that it can't affect oncoming boaters.

I would hope anyone traveling at night is also using their radar.