I have been through all kinds of headlight bulbs over the years. The blue and green tinted bulbs from Japan were the first thing I used back in the day. Then came the HID stuff. Hard to find quality HID kits these days, most are cheap and don’t last like they did when I first bought them. Some of my ballasts I have laying around are close to 15 years old.
Anyways I’ve moved into LED stuff for the headlights in the past 3-4 years. From when they first came out to what’s available now, it has gotten so much better. Now the light pattern is great without having a ton of upward glare. Mainly to do with the design of the led chips and their placement. I had bought some entry level leds for $40 from Hikari, found on Amazon. I’d say if I’d bought $40 bright halogen bulbs they’d only last 6 months to a year when I’ve bought them in the past. These cheap leds lasted a little over a year. I bought the more expensive ones with a warranty this time around, $103 with extended warranty, for 3 years. If I get the 3 years out of them I’ll be happy enough.
I get to see different leds in customers vehicles all the time. So I get to see what works well and what doesn’t. The ones with 3 or 4 sides leds suck. The ones with two sided large Cree style leds work ok, but usually don’t produce a wide beam. Usually it’s a narrow long beam. Not bad, but the newer ones are better.
What is current is the use of Phillips Lumiled leds placed in a row to be in the same position as a regular halogen bulb with tungsten filament. They have more spread and shine in the right spots on the reflector.
The led headlight bulbs get a bad wrap from incorrect installation or from improper adjustment. Also the cheap ones don’t have the led in the right spot so they make lots of glare and don’t shine on the road where they should.
If they are aimed correctly they are not any worse than a bright halogen bulb. At least when I have the ones in my car turned on I can go down the street to look at them and they don’t really look like some of them I see. Probably because they aren’t aimed high up. They do make driving on back roads nice when there are no street lights.
Here’s what these things look like. They work like a regular 9007. Has a decent cut off and the high beam actually works on these. Some other bulbs don’t have the leds placed in the correct spot so low and high beam performance isn’t great. These shine pretty far on high beam. Again it has to be aimed correctly.
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Anyways I’ve moved into LED stuff for the headlights in the past 3-4 years. From when they first came out to what’s available now, it has gotten so much better. Now the light pattern is great without having a ton of upward glare. Mainly to do with the design of the led chips and their placement. I had bought some entry level leds for $40 from Hikari, found on Amazon. I’d say if I’d bought $40 bright halogen bulbs they’d only last 6 months to a year when I’ve bought them in the past. These cheap leds lasted a little over a year. I bought the more expensive ones with a warranty this time around, $103 with extended warranty, for 3 years. If I get the 3 years out of them I’ll be happy enough.
I get to see different leds in customers vehicles all the time. So I get to see what works well and what doesn’t. The ones with 3 or 4 sides leds suck. The ones with two sided large Cree style leds work ok, but usually don’t produce a wide beam. Usually it’s a narrow long beam. Not bad, but the newer ones are better.
What is current is the use of Phillips Lumiled leds placed in a row to be in the same position as a regular halogen bulb with tungsten filament. They have more spread and shine in the right spots on the reflector.
The led headlight bulbs get a bad wrap from incorrect installation or from improper adjustment. Also the cheap ones don’t have the led in the right spot so they make lots of glare and don’t shine on the road where they should.
If they are aimed correctly they are not any worse than a bright halogen bulb. At least when I have the ones in my car turned on I can go down the street to look at them and they don’t really look like some of them I see. Probably because they aren’t aimed high up. They do make driving on back roads nice when there are no street lights.
Here’s what these things look like. They work like a regular 9007. Has a decent cut off and the high beam actually works on these. Some other bulbs don’t have the leds placed in the correct spot so low and high beam performance isn’t great. These shine pretty far on high beam. Again it has to be aimed correctly.
