Safe aftermarket LED headlight bulb info, finds and discussion

[bustervic]

Thanks Dan, I chose these for a number of reasons.
a) cost, 66 Canadian Pesos was a great deal and balance between the expensive and cheapest kitsch
b) k rating. I honestly settled here, I would have preferred a high 4000k rating as that light does well in most conditions. Anything from 5700 to 6700 looks pretty damn close IMO in colour.
c) 20% is lots of light, I don't need to blind every other road user and that with the fogs is plenty without being obnoxious. I think 100+% more light is going to be dangerous and distracting to other drivers especially in inclement conditions .

That site is an ok resource but some of the ratings don't make sense.

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[cxwrench]

Thanks Dan, I chose these for a number of reasons.
a) cost, 66 Canadian Pesos was a great deal and balance between the expensive and cheapest kitsch
b) k rating. I honestly settled here, I would have preferred a high 4000k rating as that light does well in most conditions. Anything from 5700 to 6700 looks pretty damn close IMO in colour.
c) 20% is lots of light, I don't need to blind every other road user and that with the fogs is plenty without being obnoxious. I think 100+% more light is going to be dangerous and distracting to other drivers especially in inclement conditions .

That site is an ok resource but some of the ratings don't make sense.

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Those look pretty good!

 

[danbfree]

Thanks Dan, I chose these for a number of reasons.
a) cost, 66 Canadian Pesos was a great deal and balance between the expensive and cheapest kitsch
b) k rating. I honestly settled here, I would have preferred a high 4000k rating as that light does well in most conditions. Anything from 5700 to 6700 looks pretty damn close IMO in colour.
c) 20% is lots of light, I don't need to blind every other road user and that with the fogs is plenty without being obnoxious. I think 100+% more light is going to be dangerous and distracting to other drivers especially in inclement conditions .

That site is an ok resource but some of the ratings don't make sense.

Yeah, it's unfortunate that LED's aren't sold more in the 4500k-5000k, and I totally can tell the difference between 5500k and 6500k though, I'm looking at some special HID's for reflector housing's now... Anyway, I'm just saying there are plenty of other ones even cheaper, and *if accurate*, 19% more light than an *average basic halogen* is far from OK to me... But yours DO look just fine, and love the yellow fogs! I'm thinking we are seeing some manufacturer variances too, BulbFacts may have a got a crap set as yours clearly look brighter than they claim.

 

[bustervic]

Everyone wants those white whites, instead of realizing the warmer 4000k series is easier on others with glare, and better penetration in poor conditions. The makers are just catering to the lowest common want. Also, local cops here have a fir for yellow, or yellowish bulbs
Everytime I see someone on the road with ultrabright LED's in halogen housings I want to take a tire iron to the headlights, but I guess that's my old man shaking fist moment.

I'll do a vid pic compared to my wifes Mazda 5 with factory projectors on our street just to see the difference. I am pleasantly surprised at these bulbs so far.

And stop being so nice, I want to argue with you more.

 

[danbfree]

Everyone wants those white whites, instead of realizing the warmer 4000k series is easier on others with glare, and better penetration in poor conditions. The makers are just catering to the lowest common want. Also, local cops here have a fir for yellow, or yellowish bulbs
Everytime I see someone on the road with ultrabright LED's in halogen housings I want to take a tire iron to the headlights, but I guess that's my old man shaking fist moment.

I'll do a vid pic compared to my wifes Mazda 5 with factory projectors on our street just to see the difference. I am pleasantly surprised at these bulbs so far.

And stop being so nice, I want to argue with you more.

Hey, this is how the way it should be: open to discuss our opinions and thoughts while being open minded and considerate at the same time. Not enough people these days remember that with the anonymity of the internet, to me it's the 21st century version of polite social skills that should be emphasized, but I digress... But ultimately indeed what matters MOST is safety and that means proper, clean cutoffs that don't glare other drivers and also proper throw distance, which we have been able to find no problem with just a little research on some inexpensive and more expensive units, but the high Kelvin is what is keeping me from wanting to even try the Hikari's. I'm not interested in a full 6500k set, but also it looks like each set can vary too, among most brands even but still... And indeed, a lot of cheap LED's just use the cheap binned chips that are high Kelvin without regard to what is best for visibility and only what the young crowd wants with their blue tinted stuff that's "cool", meh...

So that said, I'm looking at more premium units now too, I'd like to see reviews of the passive pigtail braid cooled units, and others, with CREE XHP-70 and Philips Luxeon (and their sub-models), also interested in the premium ones like Morimoto 2Stroke 2.0 at $120 that aren't excessively bright like the DeAuto LED's and only 5250k, but too big it looks like, and also interested in those unique reflector designed HID's from DeAuto that are 5000k... I think next budget ones to try are the Katana at only $43 US, so probably about what you paid for yours...

 

[Clint Beastwood]

Yeah I'm pretty tired of being blinded by blue/purple lights that are all glare. If you're stuck facing one you can use the hole in the middle of a cd to aim their headlights back at them and let them see how cool they look first-hand. Cops around here really need to tighten up on enforcing DOT legal lighting. I think the worst I've seen is bigass brotato trucks with foggy headlights and cheap HID kits that flicker. They're basically a rolling "worst case" for spewing wasted photons.

A good quality projector swap that isn't necessarily dot legal, yeah ok, but the blinding glare of, say, 8k hid's is absurd and shouldn't be on the road.

I'm really not looking forward to cheap/knockoff laser modules becoming a thing, you *know* modules are going to hit state-side from China without IR filters and the like.


This wasn't a knock against customized lighting, it was frustration with a general lack of consideration for others that is all too common now.


Does anyone know why white/blue became the desired target? Just wondering if it all traces back to a TV show or something. Cultural trend origins are always interesting to me.

 

[bustervic]

I appreciate you. And your civil disagreement with me.

I should mention I follow a WRX owner on Instagram that has had the Auxbeam for over a year and been quite happy with them, that's what else pushed me over to them. I'm also looking at other options for brighter fogs without going to the full fog light kit to try out.

I'll post the comparison up and the cutoff tonight if I have the chance.

 

[danbfree]

Yeah I'm pretty tired of being blinded by blue/purple lights that are all glare. If you're stuck facing one you can use the hole in the middle of a cd to aim their headlights back at them and let them see how cool they look first-hand. Cops around here really need to tighten up on enforcing DOT legal lighting. I think the worst I've seen is bigass brotato trucks with foggy headlights and cheap HID kits that flicker. They're basically a rolling "worst case" for spewing wasted photons.

A good quality projector swap that isn't necessarily dot legal, yeah ok, but the blinding glare of, say, 8k hid's is absurd and shouldn't be on the road.

I'm really not looking forward to cheap/knockoff laser modules becoming a thing, you *know* modules are going to hit state-side from China without IR filters and the like.


This wasn't a knock against customized lighting, it was frustration with a general lack of consideration for others that is all too common now.


Does anyone know why white/blue became the desired target? Just wondering if it all traces back to a TV show or something. Cultural trend origins are always interesting to me.

First, just to cover the basics again, up until the last year or so just about all LED's pretty much sucked: Either horrible glare, scattered light, shitty projection distance or all 3... but now we are seeing ones with perfectly clean cutoffs, little light scatter and proper throw distance as cheap as $28 when ordered straight from Asia, LOL... So we definitely are trying to promote using the right ones instead of perpetuating a stereotype that has some people still insisting that ALL LED's are horrible and unsafe, which is 100% untrue... That said, LED's naturally put out a higher Kelvin light, so the early ones had a blue tint, period, there were no 4300k LED then, only 6500k+, so I think some kids ran off with "See? Mine are MORE blue/purple than yours, so I'm cooler!" by purchasing 8000k-10000k, which are horribly dimmer of course too...

So general side note to the thread, I've found a new premium one that even The Retrofit Source carries now, the Morimoto 2Stroke 2.0... Finally was able to confirm only 27mm wide so WILL fit the housing opening but stick out the back. Again with LED you need airflow/cooling, they WILL dim with heat, unlike halogen, so if you insist on using a rear cover then LED may not be for you. But anyway, same best price most places at $120 even, The Retrofit Source actually has good details on their write-up on why they decided this model to be the first H11 LED's to carry. Updating first page with these as #1 recommendation, the DeAutoLED's are a little too bright to recommend, and these Morimoto are an actual 5250K tested, very clean white light!

 

[THE COOP]

This is a great thread and I've started swapping some of my lights over to LED, first was my reverse lights which are now really bright and that helps for tinted windows, I also just ordered the MAXGTRS from AliExpress to try out as my first LED headlights. Im 55 years old and my old eyes don't see as good at night like they used to so I'm anxious to try theses out. Is there another thread about changing out the break and turn signal bulbs to LED's for those of us who don't want to buy the Spec D's and just want to replace the bulbs? COOP

 

[danbfree]

This is a great thread and I've started swapping some of my lights over to LED, first was my reverse lights which are now really bright and that helps for tinted windows, I also just ordered the MAXGTRS from AliExpress to try out as my first LED headlights. Im 55 years old and my old eyes don't see as good at night like they used to so I'm anxious to try theses out. Is there another thread about changing out the break and turn signal bulbs to LED's for those of us who don't want to buy the Spec D's and just want to replace the bulbs? COOP

Glad you like this thread, I found where you can create your own LED bundle through The Retrofit Source HERE and no mention of Spec D...

 

[bustervic]

Just looking at the photos and I'm not exactly happy. I think I'll try putting my Osrams back in for comparison.

Makes me realize how poor our housing are compared to some other designs and projectors.

1st photo is Auxbeam outside driver side door.
2nd photo is the same with Mazda 5 projectors (not accurate as light is far more yellow and dim) also her fogs were on
3rd photo is Auxbeam in car ( i did lower and even them out in this photo as it was taken before photo #1)
4th photo is Mazda 5 projectors in car
5th photo driving in car with Auxbeam (brightness of the headlights created more contrast and you can tell via surroundings being darker)
6th photo is in Mazda 5

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[ROCKYFiestta]

i have had mine in for almost half a year and 0 flashes from any cars regarding glare and blinding other cars. i do understand where you guys are coming from but so far i havn't had that experience with the hikari set installed on my car. i tried the osrams was not impressed either. i live out in the country and my lights dont bother anybody and i definitely see better even more so with the diode led fogs.

 

[danbfree]

Just looking at the photos and I'm not exactly happy. I think I'll try putting my Osrams back in for comparison.

Makes me realize how poor our housing are compared to some other designs and projectors.

(Redacted pics for thread space purposes)

Whoa, these new pics actually look great! I wouldn't change back, these pics prove that BulbFacts got a bad set or something, I'm actually impressed... although with smartphones these days they can make the pics look better than IRL unless you turn off all the extra processing, so there's that...

 

[danbfree]

i have had mine in for almost half a year and 0 flashes from any cars regarding glare and blinding other cars. i do understand where you guys are coming from but so far i havn't had that experience with the hikari set installed on my car. i tried the osrams was not impressed either. i live out in the country and my lights dont bother anybody and i definitely see better even more so with the diode led fogs.

Wait, we never claimed the Hikari's weren't any good, they are the #1 rated set under $100 with a PERFECT beam pattern rating. These look great, you're good man!

 

[bustervic]

Dan Im just clarifying in my post, some of the pics are a comparison on my wifes car, and I also noticed that in the LED in car moving photo, the brightness of the headlights created a more contrasting pic (look at the sky)

 

[danbfree]

Dan Im just clarifying in my post, some of the pics are a comparison on my wifes car, and I also noticed that in the LED in car moving photo, the brightness of the headlights created a more contrasting pic (look at the sky)

Interesting, what bulbs are on the Mazda with projectors? Looks like they actually create quite a bit of glare...

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[bustervic]

yeah, I was shocked at how much glare they have, Bulbs are Sylvania Silverstar Halogens. The cuttoff if nice, but the spread of light and glare is not nice at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrbr56WnxQ8

Don't know why the video hiccuped on the Fiesta at the end, but it gives a bumper height view.

 

[danbfree]

yeah, I was shocked at how much glare they have, Bulbs are Sylvania Silverstar Halogens. The cuttoff if nice, but the spread of light and glare is not nice at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrbr56WnxQ8

Don't know why the video hiccuped on the Fiesta at the end, but it gives a bumper height view.

Very cool demo! I'd like to see this video done at maybe a full meter and a half high, like the average driver eye height... Also a *little* glare is good with LED's, they help light up signs ahead with a nice little glow, you just want to make sure it's JUST a little bit for that... And I like your 3 of each examples pics too, but gotta do them with fogs off on both to compare just the headlight performance... otherwise looks like you could actually raise the LED's back up a tiny bit and not blind anyone despite looking higher at the garage door line... thanks for all the great posts man, good stuff!

 

[Peter H]

...I've found a new premium one that even The Retrofit Source carries now, the Morimoto 2Stroke 2.0...

Just ordered a pair of these and the Morimoto X.DRL 5.

I'll post my impressions once they've arrived.

Peter

 

[danbfree]

Just ordered a pair of these and the Morimoto X.DRL 5.

I'll post my impressions once they've arrived.

Peter

Nice! For $15 more you can get the ones from DeAutoLED that may be TOO bright, I think these new Morimoto are the best overall... I'll have to look up those other ones you're referring to, but looking forward to your impressions and pics.

Edit: how and where are you going to install those? Like a retrofit into the headlight housings?

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