No worries mate, to each their own.
Mine is a non-airbag version and I have been told that is stronger then the airbag version, heaven help anyone I hit with it, I almost hit a idiot trying to cross the expressway on foot heading home from work tonight, visions of blood and guts covering my truck were running though my head.
I do not know what gauge the steel is, I really dont care, but the thing is STOUT!!
I got stuck last fall, had a friend pull me out attaching the recovery strap to my ARB winch bumper, he took several good runs pulling only on one recovery point because the other was to close to a tree and we could not get a good pull from that one, the bumper never moved but it did knock my truck out of alignment.
If thats nots strong then I do not know what is.



Axle deep mud, it even sucked the shoes off of my feet trying to walk across it.



He was following me, the ground looked dry, once I drove on it I sank, then he got stuck behind me.
Us breaking all of the top layer loose brought all of the liquid to the surface.
Got him out, used the Hi-Lift to put sticks.logs under the tires, then he came from the front and pulled me out, then he got stuck again, got him out and then we high tailed it out of there and called it a day.

 

Do I need a brush guard?
Probably not, but I like the looks of them and I use limb risers.

OffRoading Sep 10th video #1.MPG - YouTube

 

I like the external roll cage that the Defender 110 has.

I also like some of the massive bumoer that the early American Cars had like some of the 50's Caddy and Mercury and some of those era had.

Studebaker had some interesting ones as well.

My dad and my brothers and I built a hunting buggy from a 36 horsepower VW running gear and a bent pipe frame covered with some diamond plate.
Slow, but went almost anywhere with a gun rack and a hualing platform over the motor.

Skinny front tires and huge mud grips on the rear.

You can attach limb risers in a variety of ways, not just to a brush guard.
You can mount eyelets thru the front and run then thru that as far as that goes. And some sand ladders or other similar items to cross bad areaes could be mounted on the top or inside. Hinged ones could even mount on the sides for serious off-roading /expedition type use.

 

I've picked up an arb bumper by myself. No way it weighs 300 lbs, not even 200. They are stout though. The one I looked at had survived a head on impact with a snow covered pile of rocks. Only damage was a small dent in the face and it collapsed the air bag frame mounts. The bumper itself was in good shape. I just prefer a little less bumper than the arb.