Amazon Headlight Bulbs are Getting Out of Hand
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- čas přidán 30. 05. 2024
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Do the popular LED headlight bulb replacements you see on Amazon really make, 10, 12, 36,000 lumens? Are they at least brighter than halogen? We find out by testing the most popular and most outlandishly lumen rated examples vs Sylvania halogen options commonly found at auto parts stores.
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I think a lot of you haven't caught on yet that we always mispronounce Amazon brand names, because it's fun :D We tested these because of their silly lumen claims you guys wanted to see those, but whether they are actually useful and not totally annoying in most headlamps is debatable - *WE FEEL IN MOST CASES NOT WORTH IT*
Amazon horns: czcams.com/video/zAe9qvC49qY/video.html
Amazon lasers: czcams.com/video/ZH3yMeA7HxQ/video.html
Amazon flashlights: czcams.com/video/6q_0wxzClkg/video.html
I'd like to see estimated bulb lifetime listed/talked about on halogen bulbs. xtravision is 850 hours, and the silverstar ultra is only 200 hours, which makes the cost per hour alot more. For some folks who commute during nighttime they could be replacing headlights yearly.
If you can't raise the voltage more, you've hit the current limit. Maybe it can supply more power at a higher voltage if you stay within the current limit, but in this case if the readout is accurate you're tapped out on current (but maybe not power). Confirm with a multimeter
I think it is just tapped out and is current limited.
I believe headlight bulbs are rated at 12v anyways (some modern cars even run PWM power to the headlight to keep it at an effective 12v.
If you have an ammeter and put it across those bulbs I have a feeling you will get to a point where current will no longer increase. It's probably only able to deliver 5A, some of those bulbs probably would have liked 6 or 6.5A
When you got 75w out of it charging the DeWalt batteries they were accepting that current at a higher voltage.
My 300W desktop power supply doesn't have the drive to power a halogen fully. It's only 5A.
I hate to even say it. But I've had 2 sets of Hikari. "Eye of Megatron" and then some unknown model. And I was extremely happy with them. After your review. I am well aware they are lying about specs, but white n bright is hard to hate over yellow n mellow. I also had a set of auxbeam f16 I believe. And they required to be adjusted with a screw till perfect, after your video I agree with your findings. I thought they were better then stock. But meh. Would really like to see Hikari models tested, they make 3-4 models with different specs. The customer service is also easy peasy. One set wasn't good for me n they sent another. Turned out my connection was bad, so I had 2 sets for price of one.
Hid kits are insane too.... They are worse then leds. They claim the world n almost always fail or change colors. My friend had 2 light blue lights, one turned light purple n one turned more white and would shut off sometimes unless high beam for a second. He spent $80 some dollars for them too.
36,000 lumens is what it fells like to oncoming drivers as the cheap LED bulbs blind them....😂
Hey man I'm just trying to see where I'm going.
I hate those lights so much
@@feelthepayne88 word. 😂
Tryna catch a 2 piece.
Just drift into incoming traffic like a moth.
Fuck those misaligned shining everywhere LED bulbs
Even small amounts of extra light above the cutoff = glare. For that last LED brand, the amount of stray light was massive and they would blind EVERYONE in the oncoming lane.
I would like TTC try to come up with a "Dick on the Road" rating for these lights. Something to try and test just how obnoxiously blinding some of these are lol
Does it also have to due with what type of housing there is? My cars with reflector style housing usually have a huge amount of extra light, where my two cars with the projector style have a perfect line,
@@justchillin7274 it definitely does depend on reflector versus projector, however the hotspot location changes dramatically if you use the incorrect light source in a projector. So in general you lose a lot of reach if you put an incorrect type of bulb in a projector.
@@jseen9568 if they projected the light on a wall thirty feet away and measured with a lux meter about an inch and a half above the cutoff line on the left hand side they'd be able to tell if oncoming traffic were getting blinded or not. If my memory is correct about three lux is too much. I can do the math later if they wanted to know the exact lux limit.
@@justchillin7274 nope, all that matters is the bulb is in the correct orientation and the headlight housing is adjusted accordingly. You can rotate most led bulbs to adjust it to your fixture. That way you aren't binding oncoming traffic.
Pro tip: if you see incoming headlights that are blinding you, don’t look at the road, but instead look at the shoulder of the road where the line is 👍🏼
bro is dropping good life advice
MANY times there’s NO line on the outside of the lanes around MY area!
@@ToddAdams1234 well he cant just make lines appear on the road
Pro tip. Don't install led headlights meant for fog lights. 😅😅
They discuss this in Defensive Driving/Drivers Education in most states.
That isn't a pro tip.
Shopping car LED bulbs has been the most challenging and bewildering process of my life
I’m saying!!! Omg this is my first time and Amazon is quoting some crazy numbers. I came here to
I think part of the reason the lights with the external ballast were drawing more power is because that "ballast" contained a resistor that just draws extra power. Some cars will throw errors or cause the lights to flicker if they don't draw enough power, so sometimes people with aftermarket LED or HID kits have to add resistors to trick the car into thinking the bulbs are halogen. It would be interesting to have someone open up that little "ballast" and see what's inside. 🙂
alot of blinkers will not blink at the correct speed if the resistor is different. Usually too fast. The ballast makes it a true plug and play oem replacement without having to add a resistor or any other part
Had to do that on my 93 cbr
@@Theaverageazn247plus, you get that annoying little message saying you've got a light out. If your car has that feature.
Put LED tail lights in my 2012 subaru. Radio would light up halfway, stay on even with key removed. All sorts of weird electrical gremlins started popping up.
Resistance matters
Tried to replace my 4th-gen Ram's HMSL with an LED bulb, and it would still give me the "Taillight Out" message until I used a "CANBus" LED model.
You and Project Farm are hero’s for the average DIY folk! Keep up the great work 👍🏻
Nothing worse then driving down the road after some grandpa installed some super bright LEDs into the driving lights or low beams of his Subaru. Who regulates these, some are literally blinding.
Trucker here. We try all kinds of stuff on our trucks, and headlight bulbs are no exception. I always ran the Sylvania Ultra bulbs; readily available everywhere (including BigBoxMart). I run with headlights on whenever moving, and I had to replace a low beam (H11) bulb every 3-4 months. Two bulbs, 50 hours/week, so 1200-1500 hours for a bulb.
I tried a few of the LED replacements, but never found one I liked, or lasted very long. In fact, I had a couple sets where one died within the Amazon return window...
DDM tuning makes quality LED lights.
Try priming the halogens with a 9v battery before installing they should last longer
Lasfit leds is the way to go to be honest. They're a 1.1 design of halogens but with LEDs
Aliexpress has better products than amazon!
@@juanarroyo465 Do they have actual high and low beams?
Thank you for making this! Noteworthy criticism: You should also test bulbs after theyve had about half an hour to heat-soak themselves, a lot of the cheaper ones can lose almost half their brightness in that time. Also, like some other people have pointed out, any light at all above the cutoff line is really, really bad for oncoming drivers. Overall, fantastic comparison nontheless! Maybe next time, some GTR Ultras, or perhaps Morimoto?
It's not just the cutoff line though, because almost no road is made of flat level lanes. Also a disproportionate amount of these seem to be installed in brodozers with lift kits that will blind everyone regardless.
I am also voting on the bulbs from TRS
My Mercedes GL450 has projector headlights but with halogen bulbs the stupid Mercedes kept on selling these with Halogen until pretty recently but at least they all came with projectors so once I plugged in an Amazon LED kit it is focused really nicely regardless of the bulb I think the projects really do the trick at least on my car anyway
@@randomvideosn0where Cutoff line is very important. Yes, roads are rarely perfectly flat. But generally they are overall flat. The problem with brodozers is that nobody can seem to figure out that headlights need to be aimed, and the cheapest "super cool aftermarket" housings on the internet probably don't make a very good beam pattern.
@@randomvideosn0where Your silly bias against certain types of vehicles is irrelevant. Put the wrong bulb in the lowest riding vehicle on earth and it will still cause excessive glare. Think about the angle of approach, a lift kit means very little difference except within a couple dozen feet. Being blinded outside of that range is just as unacceptable.
Just sayin', let's stay on topic instead of trying to pretend there's some other factor. There are plenty of lifted vehicles that don't blind other drivers because they responsibly use stock incan headlamps.
I know it's tough, but I would love to see if there's any way you or another company could do objective "blindness" tests - IE setting up the headlight at a standardized fixed position somewhere with little light (like inside a warehouse or long hallway) and seeing how the light behaves... and more importantly, what those lumens translate into for oncoming traffic. I have grown to hate "cool" looking headlights because they are always so bright and look like someone has their high-beams on all the time. Heck, I didn't even know you could rotate LED bulbs to help align them better -- and I doubt many others do either!
This could be done quite easily although not cheaply - set up a target barrier and install 20 or more light meters on the board and measure thrown light in the target area *and* scattered light beyond. I wish someone would do this.
The biggest issue is projector vs reflector housings for headlights. And people not actually adjusting their levels.
the LED beams light pattern compared to the halogen factory bulb will tell you a lot, (you can easily see this pattern on a wall) most won't have sharply defined cutoff that the factory bulb has and that light spill is responsible for blinding oncoming drivers (it's also partially why they look like they throw more light, because they are putting light where the factory bulbs don't) , this is because an LED, or HID bulb has a totally different light source shape than what the headlamps reflector was designed for
there is a channel already doing that
its good to see TTC test these everyday claims, but this test is not sophisticated and shouldnt be taken an decisive info
Headlights that look like they have high beams all the time are either in SUVs where they are higher up and therefore shine more into the oncoming driver, or are just not adjusted. I replaced my halogen OEM lights with some cool white lights, they worked well, but with a 125 hour rated lifespan I worked out it would last me like 2 months, and at almost $100 a pair, yeh I'm not spending $50 a month on my car.
So I went LED and they were way too high and needed to be lowered, and headlights do have adjusting screws, or for some cars an in car adjusting option, either way when you install ANY new headlight, OEM, aftermarket, LED, you need to look at your countries laws, find a flat wall and ground and adjust them as needed. As you seen in the video, finding the right headlight that is crisp helps so they don't stray or as you pointed out adjusting them before placing them inside your car.
But the headlight fixture is also an important factor, there are projector and reflector headlights, where reflector ones like you see in the video simply take whatever globe you place and reflect it out, so if they LEDs are not sideways and off angle they will not shine correctly, or if you get a fog light style headlight that has more LED's or ones not side by side, or even some older reflector headlights, things won't shine flat and can be a problem. Projector headlights are a little different, the ones with the fisheye lens at the front, they take whatever light and project it better.
People need to do their own research, find the right light that fits their car, the laws in their country (height, colour, lumens) and adjust as needed, very few times you will ever find any after martket or LED lights that just plug in and work, and few times you will find OEM lights that also need adjusting.
Vote for round two, focusing on low color temperature (3K to 3500k), which has dramatically better contrast on the road (useful) vs apparent brightness (high color temp).
I'd love to see some actual tests of color temperature (and light position) versus real world target recognition. I've had a bazillion people tell me, for example, that low beams are better in fog. But I can actually see things further away with brights, for the same reason they work without fog.
Similarly, a lot of people say yellow light allows us to see better, but I don't know that it's true. It is somewhat true in fog, since the red, yellow and green light doesn't bend around and "reflect" back into our eyes like cyan and blue light, though actual reflection still happens and reduces vision regardless of light color. But what makes sense in fog doesn't automatically make sense everywhere else.
Anyhow, seeing actual people try to notice and identify things at different ranges with different light colors at the same wattage would be cool. Changing the position would also be good to test. Fog lights are supposed to work better because they're farther from the driver's line of sight, meaning less of the reflected light hits the driver, but I don't know how much actual impact it has in practice.
@@GeekOfAllness Many years ago the French did "some actual tests of color temperature". This resulted in them requiring a particular shade of yellow. It wasn't that long ago that they got rid of the requirement as part of the EU. It was years ago I read about it, but I'm sure the French tests are out there in Google-lad. : )
Also testing with projectors...
@@nicolasdiniz9343 that and fahren leds
@@GeekOfAllness I don't remember who did the testing because it was a long time ago but yellow fog light did not cut down on glare anymore than white fog lights, that's why you don't see yellow fog lights anymore. They taught us in driver's training over half a century ago that you always use your low beams in fog because high beams direct the light upward causing the reflected light to obscure your vision, that's why fog lights are always mounted lower than headlights.
It would be interesting to see the Osram Nightbreaker and the Phillips Equivalent in this comparison.
These are the 2 only LED replacement bulbs that are legal to use here in Germany and we are quite strict with these
Apparently Americans will only buy LED replacement bulbs if the package clearly states "for off-road use only." I hate driving here at night now.
@@joez.2794 Yo same here in NEPA... Being that I have sensitive eyes to light (from T1D and being Blue eyed, I know my luck lol), its tough driving at night. Then you have some a-holes to drive with bright LEDs in the daytime. Like, "Damn I cant even see the road in the day now!" lmao - so my mom taught me this trick: Look at the white line on the road and match it with the center of your car's nose and youll be straight on the road.
@@joez.2794 Honestly, it's not usually the aftermarket LED bulbs that are the problem. Most of them as seen in this video are underpowered, and while annoying, they don't compare to how horrible factory OEM LEDs on new vehicles are now, because none of them are aimed at the factory or dealership. People will buy a brand new acura or hyundai, and assume it's fine, and then drive with ultra high candela (yes, candela, not lumen necessarily) lights blinding oncoming drivers. At least when these junk china LEDs aren't aimed, they glare EVERYWHERE, so they have less candela.
@@MiniDevilDF tl;dr If your LEDs said "off road use only" you're the problem.
@@joez.2794 Which "for offroad use only" bulbs are you referring to, because I've never seen china bulbs say it. Any actual offroad equipment is more expensive than the good on-road bulbs, and most tend to be lightbar style
I work 2 seats down from the senior lighting engineer at a major OEM and spend alot of time talking with him. There are alot of factors that go into beam projection and whether or not they cause "glare" with oncoming traffic. I can go over testing procedures for how we benchmark glare with you in a non-public forum if you'd like.
I really hope @torque test channel takes the opportunity to talk with you. There are a lot of misnomers in this video that will mislead many viewers. PNP LEDs work .15% of the time and it has to be a certain product used in certain housing, nothing universal like a quality halogen. I’m not on the same level as working for a lighting manufacture, but I’ve been a harbored lighting enthusiast for many years.
@@MrMickaloden Project Farm is only interested in stealing ideas and test rigs from smaller channels then not crediting them.
My procedure is that I turn into the lane of the offending drop in LED bulb 😂😂😂
@@cup_and_cone You can find anything on the internet. Project Farm tests fairly and "scientifically". There are 60 videos on repairing a Dyson vacuum out there... Who copied who? Only 4 might be the "most correct" way. Some creators skip over things that are important, while others I watch solely to learn from their mistakes. People test impacts and obviously favor one manufacturer by being in mode 2 while the other is in mode 3. TTC and Project Farm are both fair from everything I've ever seen. Both channels compare apples to apples fairly no matter what they are testing. As a consumer, I value the work that both channels put towards their tests. That's only my opinion... if you don't like PF, that's your opinion.
@@cup_and_cone LOL quit whining fanboy.
I'd like to see some more Halogen brands compared. HELLA makes a high wattage bulb that looks interesting, and Phillips has the Xtreme vision and the Night guide bulbs that both could be pretty bright.
Halogen is going the way of the Dodo bird, LED will be all you can buy in a few years.
@@seymoarsalvage Truly I would be okay putting LEDs in my cars if it weren't for the fact that most bulbs aren't available in the warmer color that halogens naturally are. The slight yellow color is easy on my eyes and I do not like the pure white color personally. All LEDs I've seen are either extreme yellow (3000k) or 6000k+ where I would love to see a 4300k LED bulb of decent quality!
I have some of the Hella bulbs and the issues with them are: 1. They're rated for offroad use only (I know...), 2. They're 80w, which is double the factory bulbs so melting your housings it not only a risk, but a likely one, 3. They have short lifespans. Likely due to the heat, people report _frequent_ failures. 4. Piles of the reviews you'll see for Hellas compare them directly against these cheap LEDs and the people end up preferring the LEDs.
I haven't installed my Hellas for all of the reasons above... Since I've waited so long, the LED prices have come down so low that it's almost not worth messing with anything else. FWIW, I've had Silverstars in a few vehicles in the past and never really liked them either. I don't think spending money on better halogens is a winning strategy.
ETA: 4. The increased power draw of the Hellas makes rewiring the circuit with a relay circuit highly advisable too.
@@TheBrokenLife I've read about the disadvantages of high wattage halogens, but I've run a custom dual relay harness for my truck's headlights to avoid voltage drop to the lamps, and I intentionally made the wires 12awg so they could safely supply enough current to 80/100w bulbs. However I understand I'm in the small minority that have beefed up electrical capacity to handle high wattage AND still prefer halogen lamps. I'm just curious to see a brightness comparison between those high wattage halogens and a normal halogen, or a cheap LED.
@@seymoarsalvage in new cars maybe, otherwise you couldn't be more wrong, all the millions of vehicles on the road with headlights engineered for halogens? They aren't going anywhere anytime soon
The unfortunate effect of using LED bulbs like that in your halogen housing is that you get quite a bit more scattering of the light since they have different light scatter patterns. The real kicker is that scatter light means light that blinds oncoming traffic and mirrors ahead of you. It's cheaper and you do get to see better, I get it, but the right way to upgrade your light without using the same type of bulbs is to update the whole housing.
Sadly its impractical, but a video comparing aftermarket housings would be nice.
What would be the correct way to update your housings? I'm newer to the headlight stuff but i've recently installed some projector/hids in my factory reflective housing but i've painted over the chrome so the light output is more direct. Is this the correct way to go about it if you want to still use the factory headlight?
The fact is these garbage LED bulbs are not at the focal point of the reflector so the light scatters. These should be banned!
@@kadence322 No... reflector headlight --> use halogen bulbs. Even if your car was fitted with reflective housings, in most cases you can order a complete headlight that uses a projector. For my car (ford fiesta) these cost about €120 per side. Then you have to buy the correct bulbs on top of that.
@@dnserror89 But what i'm saying is I painted over the reflective part and installed projectors. How would this be incorrect.
Love the light bull test. Testing things we all need is appreciated.
The ballast is actually a parallel resistor to draw more current, It keeps the headlight warning light in your dash from coming on.
@@concinnus Read the comment again, they literally stated a parallel resistor to draw more current.
Resistors do not draw power, they limit it.
That why they are called Resistors.
@@stoney2732 Resistors do draw power, don't be silly.
@TeslaNick2 resistors limit current flow.
Things than transform energy draw current.
Examples would be, motors, bulbs, transistors, transformers, even capacitors.
Resistors themselves do not draw current.
@@stoney2732 So what's happening when I use a dummy load (which is just a resistor on a heatsink) ? Why does the resistor heat up ?
If I stick a resistor across a battery does the battery discharge ?
Maybe consume is the wrong term, perhaps dissipate is a better term.
Would love to see these vs some cheap 35w or 55w HID kits as i think even the 35w HID's would be putting out more light with better color rendition.
Thanks for testing these i have been wondering what they really put out.
Yeah - I've been using DDM Tuning stuff forever and I'd be curious how their 55w 6k stuff hashes out. Looks fantastic in my projectors.
I second this so much!
Hopefully these are in proper projectors, and not some trash drop in bulbs in stock reflector headlights......
@@D3thM3talx2 on the DDM Tuning HID kit in 55w spec. I’ve been using them for over 10 years in various cars. AMAZING light output vs stock halogen (projector headlight)
@@elesjuan even in projectors I wouldn't do it; throw your ludicrously bright stuff into high-only sockets so you don't blind folks. Keep the lows stock.
Sylvania now makes an LED bulb of very similar make to those Amazon ones. Didn't look too closely as they cost about 100 bucks for a pair, but I'd be curious how they stack up against various bulbs.
I had a pair in my 03 tundra and I was pleased.
$99.99 for a pair
Each...
@@faly-rock6087 They are 99.99 for a pair. I literally just left the auto parts store and got home to lookup an install video to see if I need a resistor pack to prevent flicker (some LED bulbs do). And naturally TTC popped up because I absolutely love this channel.
$100 for a pair I run them and I'm very happy with them. They Sylvania LED taillights and break lights are trash.
I would LOVE to see you guys test the dimming rate of these Amazon LED'S. In my experience, they're great when brand new. But after a couple weeks, if that, they seem to become very dim very quickly. So before you know it, they aren't performing well at all. That's why they're so ingenious. Because people see how bright they are initially, but they become shit fast. Also, PLEASE test how far they actually shine! Because compared to halogen it seems as if they disperse avd just don't cut through the dark nearly as well. Also, you coukd compared tgem to high wattage halogens. I recently upgraded my headlight wiring harness, which cost like $20 abd took about 15 mins to install, and installed 90/130 watt high wattage halogens and the difference is night and day, no pun intended. Thank you!
Would love to see the difference of the bulbs in a projector style housing over the reflector style
This! And for fun lets see what they look like in a HID setup (like a D2r or D2s setup). While not as common, HID -> LED kits do exist.
I have the D1S/R AUX beam in my Camaro. Factory HID lights and they are significantly brighter. I've seen AUX beam in a Corolla before and their light output is phenomenal. Both distance, clarity, and minimal scatter.
Exactly. Popping an aftermarket LEDs into your reflector housing (and frequently angling them incorrectly) just makes for a horrible experience for oncoming traffic, despite people thinking it looks cool.
I got some LED ones with projector style. It does not seem to blind other drivers at all. I read online that they're meant for projector housings only.
Morimoto 2Stroke 3.0 are about as top tier as you can get with OTS led automotive bulbs, would enjoy seeing a comparison.
Yup. Morimoto sells quite a few different LED bulb models and they claim that their beam patterns and brightness are the best. I'd love to see them tested.
I got the Supernova SV4 from Headlight Revolution, they perform similar the the 2stroke 2.0
@@NatesHomeTours Headlight Revolution, The Retrofit Source, Morimoto and one other I'm forgetting are all the same company, so when cross shopping between those sites, just be aware you're getting everything from the same source.
that collar is meant to be tightened and is used to position the LED diodes SIDEWAYS after installation. If they are not positioned exactly east and west in the housing, they do not perform as well as expected. Also, LED headlight bulbs work best when used in diffuser headlamps. Regular headlamps allow the LED light to spray too wide, blinding oncoming traffic and uselessly illuminating the trees.
Lasfit auto solved that issue. You can use their LEDs in old-school headlamps
The reflector and housing of the headlight are designed for a specific bulb/beam type. If the focus the the light coming from the bulb is different from the reflector/housing design it will effect the light output at the focal point.
So glad you’re testing headlights!! Just keep in mind any light over the top line is blinding other drivers
Also doesn’t matter how bright they are when they burn out in a year because they’re cheaply built
Also also would love to see the morimoto headlights along with the salvinia led headlights
Yeah this would be a fun test is to run them until failure... LED will advertise huge hour ratings because the actual LED can potentially last that long... What often fails is the supporting electronics (usually due to heat)
I've seen customer cars with LED headlights that are having some level of failure (my favorite is flickering, not only blind oncoming drivers with the stray light but why not also cause seizures)
At least with halogen a failure is only the bulb works or it doesn't, not kinda works but flickers, or only half the bulb lights up
@@SgtPnkks With how hot they're running these, there's a good chance they're going to degrade the phosphor coating, too. The ones with a separate ballast will probably see failures in the LEDs (or just dimming over time due to degrading) before the electronics fail.
That said, I bet some of these don't make it to the lifespan of a halogen...
@@oasntet It depends on the Halogen. My Sylvania H2 bulbs are rated for 2k hours, where my sister's car uses a different bulb (H1?) rated only for 1k hours. My bulbs are also $9 and hers were $22. As for the "Ultra" 150 hours is insane! in the winter I drive my entire 4 hour commute with the headlights on, what a nuisance to change the bulbs almost monthly!
That's why you don't buy some aftermarket headlights, find a reputable brand. But even so, an LED at the price they are vs any aftermarket halogen light of the same or similar lumen and colour rating, the LED will last longer all the time so even if a reputable brand dies within a year, it's still cheaper than a halogen.
If you want cheap and guaranteed to a degree, the yellow OEM headlights are your best beat, but if you want colour, brightness and at least some decent lifespan, a good LED would be your best bet once you find one that fits correctly and is adjusted to the correct height.
@@akaraven66 I don't buy that any LED bulb is going to outlast a halogen. Not without test data. LED bulb producers, even those with big names, over-drive the chips to get more light instead adding more LEDs, all in the name of saving money. And that shortens their lifespan. It even burns more electricity, because the light-per-watt curve is not linear - you get way more light per watt under-driving an LED than you do over-driving it.
I replaced my motorcycle's halogen bulb with a LED from Amazon. At first, it seemed brighter and perhaps I could see the road a bit better at night, but the color matched daylight and the safety factor of having your light on during the day was canceled by the headlight blending in with the sky and scenery. The more yellow halogen light is seen much better by cars that might pull out on you. I had the LED on the bike for about a year and since I almost never ride at night, I hadn't noticed how it had degraded over time. I went on a long trip to a very remote and very rugged part of a National Forest and stayed there much longer than I had originally intended. By the time I started back, the sun was going down and it was soon dark, very, very dark and to my alarm, I couldn't see the windy and treacherously steep road in my now dim headlight. I road my bike really slowly, but nearly went off the edge of the road and into steep canyons several times. When I finally made it to the highway (about an hour later), I kept up with traffic and used other car headlights to see my way home. I will never use LEDs in a headlight not specifically designed for them ever again.
Great comparison. I see a lot of shoddy review videos for these types of lights so I appreciate y'all applying the TTC touch here.
Got the Lawtoolight halogen replacement after watching this. Lined up great, crisp, white, but has ALOT of throw, so I had to lower the beam center for safety reasons. Overall I love them!
As an aside, it wasn't that long ago when blinding oncoming traffic was illegal.
Now it's just The Way.
They're good for highbeams and fog but nothing else
@@andrewk8636 No guarantees but if you have a projector housing and a decently designed LED, you can get a good cutoff pattern.
@@kunka592 nah hid is far superior. Led is garbage unless it's an actual led projector but those aren't as bright as hid anyway
This is the way, chest thump
As an automotive lighting engineer I enjoyed this video. The big issue with cheaper LED replacement bulbs is the position of the LED center compared to where the headlight reflector was designed for, you are seeing that with the “random” light pattern. Typical Halogen bulbs will only have two light centers for HB and LB where the cheap led bulbs have many.
What about trying out these in a projector headlight as opposed to reflector ones used, that should give a better light output.
@@akaraven66 projector housings are designed for a 360° light output, such as what you get from a halogen or xenon HID bulb. LED chips are typically 180° max, or a bit less, and even when mounted on 2 sides of a board, there are still shadow lines directly opposite each other. In general, LED in a projector not designed for LED is usually worse than a proper HID projector, and sometimes even worse than a halogen bulb projector.
I hate seeing people putting led or hid in a reflector housing. They blind all drivers. People are so stupid
Ask yourself why millions are replacing your bulbs. Not our fault your industry isn’t keeping up with the times. Consumers are obviously willing to pay for led bulbs. SOOOO USEEEE THEMMMMMM 😂
I even have a pretty serious problem with factory headlights these days as well. Color temperature isn't taken into consideration, it needs to be.
You should definitely check these out. They are the LED bulbs I got for my truck. And they have worked for the 2 years since I installed them in the new headlight assemblies that I also installed at that time, on my truck! Anyhow great video guys! (And gals, if there's any ladies working with you!) take care!
Also I paid around or close to $80 for these.
Fahren 9006/hb4 low beam and 9005/hb3 high Beam LED Headlight bulbs combo, 28000 lumens super bright led headlights conversion kits 6500k cool white, pack of 4
Boslla makes really really good LED conversion kits. They also have different colour options which you can change on the fly by turning your headlights on and off in a specific manner(cool white, warm white, yellow, etc)
LED quality doesn’t change the fact that halogen headlights are not to be used with LEDs. You WILL blind people.
@@jonibravo9004cry more lmao
Showing the actual light pattern achieved vs the stock pattern is very useful. I see lots of videos where the reviewer talks about how much more light they get from the new bulbs. They don't have a clue of how badly it is affecting on coming drivers, or shining in the rear view mirrors of cars ahead of them.
We know and don't care
@@williamfisher9292 That's OK until you cross paths with a police officer who does care and writes you a $125 equipment violation. Then, unless you can correct the violation on the side of the road, deems it too unsafe to allow you to continue to drive, so he tows and impounds your car.
@@BryanTorok highbeams genius, just flip the low beam switch
I've been happy with Sealight and Torchbeam over the years. I'd be curious how they stack up.
I first found them when I was confronted with the cost of replacing a xenon headlight and ballast. This was a budget alternative for me at the time and now, it's often a go to upgrade for me. I spent countless hours watching CZcams videos from "reviewers" trying to discern which brands were semi honest in their claims. You putting forth actual, unbiased, quality information on the subject will be an amazing resource for others in the market. Thanks for the content and the time you put into this.
We put the Sealight bulbs in all of our rental fleet Kubota RTVs, 880 bulb, and they put out a ton more usable light and last way longer. It's too bad nobody makes a decent H3 replacement, we've just been replacing whole work light assemblies with Ecco LED assemblies.
Headlight Revolution' videos were the most thorough, honest and were also the most entertaining - they tested a hug amount of LED bulbs, most of them were really bad and should not be allowed to be sold.
Yup, i only use sealight in my 4 vehicle..mever disappointing
I love my sea light too. They’re bright but not obnoxious and don’t scatter much.
The lights with CSP chips that are made to put the chip in a 1:1 exact position as halogen bulbs are the best to buy.
I bought the Cougar Motor Led headlamps out of several websites recommending them, and so far, they have been amazing. The beam is perfectly straight at the top and the spread is very wide. They are pure white and extremely bright, but I have never been honked or flashed at by other drivers. Infact, I can even look at them directly myself. Would like to see how close the lumen claims are. I also heard that while LED's have higher lumes, their lux or throwout is much lower than halogen. Can you test this?
Yes! Thank you!! Been waiting for a test like this! There's nuances to bulbs people overlook or reviews don't emphasize like whether it's going in a reflective housing or a projector.. Making whatever you buy either blinding oncoming cars, or be a legitimate downgrade from what you had stock/OEM.
I've really liked the Sealight brant in my cars. I have them in both my 07 Honda Odyssey and 2013 Lexus RX350 and they have been very reliable for the past few years (both lowbeam and high beam). The main reason I chose them over others is because they're fanless, since in my experience the LEDs that use a fan often come with a cheap one and when it dies it causes the LED to overheat and burn itself. If you could test the Sealight brand and see if they're really making the claims they are, that'll be great
i was hoping to see them on this list!!! sealights are a great brand have had them in my 07 honda accord and 03!
What no way! I have a 2009 rx350 and I’m using the sea light LEDs as well. Fog light and high beams. Stock has the Xenon HID but I’m afraid if I retro fit the LEDs into the low beam it would just be worst. I’m very disappointed in how dim the stock low beam is right now because I live on dark roads and really need to use high beams all the time. How are yours doing??
Definitely I'd like to see another that includes Sealight too!
@@floofyboii6034 Buy a house, living on dark roads is a no-no.
Sealight switched to fan when I bought some for my fathers truck, got the last of the fanless, not sure if it was their whole line though.
I'd personally like to see a comparison using dual filament bulbs, as it would be much harder for the LEDs to have two proper beam pattern.
My car uses 9007, and my wife's uses 9004, both very crap output haha.
I’d love to see what the Osram Night Breaker Laser headlight bulbs do compared to stock/generic aftermarket, I think they’ll blow away the competition in terms of brightness but the lifespan is probably not great.
One suggestion. Most cars run at 13.8 to 14.1 volts when the engine is running. That might be your lumen difference on the halogen bulbs. Also the Sylvania Ultra does not last long. Mine didn't make it a year.
Yeah just had to replace sylvania ultra I bought a little under a year ago
Nominal voltage is 14.42 volts when the alternator works correctly. At 74F/20C.
Good point, it’s around 14.2dc with a good alternator
Try LASFIT LEDS They fit perfect in my 2019 F150…. Way better than any halogen.
@@Dirtyharry70585 We run LASFIT turn signal bulbs in my wife's Mazda CX5, since that car has no discreet flasher unit that can be swapped out for an electronic unit to prevent hyper flashing. The LASFIT bulbs have a built-in resistor that makes them work perfectly. Super bright, normal flash rate. However, they apparently get too hot after flashing only about 1-2 minutes (like at a long traffic light), and will revert back to quick flashing in that time. But otherwise they're great.
Would love to see a VLEDS vs a Morimoto headlight as I went through immense research to find a “high quality” LED headlight replacement in a 5K color. It’s so hard to find a close to OEM color for LEDs. I never could stand the blue tint the Amazon or other “top brand” lights gave with their 6K+ color.
Yes! VLEDS is what I swap into everything I have, except I do not run LED's in regular headlight housings. I've not had any of them fail and the oldest ones I have are probably 7 years old now.
Thanks, might need one of these for my headlight upgrade!
love this video. These are very important information! thank you a lot
As an automotive lighting engineer I beg you, if your headlamp was designed for a halogen bulb please please do not switch it with an LED light source. The radiation pattern from the halogen helical filament is dramatically different from a flat LED light source. If you swap one with the other you will blind oncoming drivers, and more importantly you'll see less of the road farther away from your vehicle. So please don't do it.
Yes i totally agree, the housing refacton/reflector was designed to work with OEM Halogen then they shold only use Halogen otherwise you will be having fines from cops or a defect notice.
@@RolandElliottFirstG I wish, I have never once seen or even heard of anyone around my region getting into any trouble for blinding others with trashy LED replacement bulbs.
You should be able to get pretty close to a halogen pattern with HID bulbs, yes?
So what your saying is I should just mount a LED bar on my civic instead. Seems only logical
Not only oncoming drivers, also drivers in front of you via the mirrors. This crap should be illegal everywhere.
I detest people who use ultra-cool bright LED bulbs. Makes it impossible to see anything when facing incoming traffic. Sure you get to see ~10% better but you're blinding everyone else by ~1000%. I bet if there was a serious study put to it a large number of traffic accidents could be attributed to people being unable to see when the accident occurred because they were facing incoming drivers with blue LEDs.
Doubtful.
Or you could align them properly so others can see
It's been like this on Amazon and ebay forever. A big part of the problem is that 95% of the people buying them don't really understand LEDs beyond their greater efficiency, potential longer lifespan and a very basic understanding that more lumens=better. So the sellers have to keep raising their advertised lumen ratings to keep people buying their product. Personally I try to find bulbs with LEDs that I can find specifications for. A good general rule of thumb with current led technology is that 10w = ~1000lumens. But that number changes quickly depending on the emitter and how well it is cooled.
it should just be illegal to have lumens high unless it was a lightbar or other auxiliary
I’ve always wanted a video like this going over each headlamp claim and taking note of the spread of the light!!! I had auxbeams and they spread WAY too much light on the road. Cars hated me, so I opted for the Sylvania Ultra to have a more focused beam. It’s dimmer, yes, but I’ll check out these other headlights. TY!!!!
I'm a firm believer that if you actually need something brighter than manufacturer tuned halogens, your eyesight is the problem and you shouldnt drive at night. Don't put permanent high beams on your car and blind everyone else so you can see 10 percent more.
I've used the premium Sylvania halogens in the past; good bright light, but dims over time. Had to replace yearly. Could easily see the brightness difference between a newly installed one and a year old one. Treated them as yearly Christmas presents for my ride. Current vehicle has proper LED lights - far better!
Love this test. Using the housing to show the garbage scatter pattern with led in halogen housings really is what drove me away from LED in my car and switch over to HID for my oem housings. You should also do the same test but with HID conversion lights
If you’ve got HIDs in your halogen OEM housings, please upgrade to projectors. You’re a safety risk to everyone around you.
@@willdorsett6220 no I'm not. Led have a saw tooth edge from them not illuminating from the exact center but hid have the same projection spot as a halogen so they are less likely to blind people without adjustment. That's also not even regarding the fact that I've adjusted my headlights every time I get a new bulb type to prevent unnecessary blindness, even when I went through a couple different led brands.
Speak for yourself next time ☕🐸
@@1zinn unless your vehicle housing is equipped with a scatter shield specifically meant for HIDs (which you don’t because you stated you switched over), no matter how much “adjustment” you do, you are either blinding people with your reflectors, or not giving yourself enough light ahead of you on the road. Feel free to do any research, instead of your source of “trust me bro”.
@@willdorsett6220 yeah, you're right. I've been blinding people for the past 3 years even though I've never been flashed back once. You know that me lowering my beam to a better height doesn't mean anything. Your opinion is more valid than my actual experience. Now save the world with someone else's headlights 👍
I recently swapped to LEDs and keep getting flashed with just my running lights on. The random spots of messy light above and below the beam was something I hadn't considered, looks like I've gotta go bulb shopping!
Did you “clock” them so the chips are facing sideways? The body of the bulb should turn within the collar to achieve this.
We need this channel. You guys are the best.
I bought a set made by Auxito with the external ballast and they work great in projector headlights. No extra light above the sharp cutoff line (I measured before and after). I was really worried about the beam pattern because I've been blinded by aftermarket lights before and definitely didn't want to be "that guy". Old fashioned reflector lights might be a different story but for what it's worth, the lights I bought made a big deal about how their ultra-thin light emitter board and spacing wouldn't effect beam-pattern. Seemed true in my case.
The external ballast probably helps with heat, my bulbs didn't fry are go dark after 3+ hours on the highway at night.
I bought the same brand for my sport bike with side by side housings. Used a halogen to aim the auxito, then matched second auxito to the first.
Had almost identical light spread to the halogen. Stupid bright tho, so I aimed the low beams even lower so I didn't shine oncoming traffic
I’d definitely like to see the Philips Ultinon pro9000’s stacking up; I’ve had them in my basket about 5 times but haven’t taken the plunge due to how previous led bulbs have performed as halogen replacements.
Edit: nighteye/novsight are a commonly recommended brand for older VAG cars in owners groups. Some hard figured and comparison of those would also be great.
cant go wrong with pro9000. they're that good on reflectors despite of their premium price. for projectors, better stay with xenon
Gtr csp minis are the only LEDs that I've found that perfectly mimic the spread of a normal halogen
Would definitely like to see the head-end performance bulbs for sure.
This is great stuff! However automotive DOT head lamps can differ from off-road lamps like on snowmobiles, utvs, etc where the light output is geared towards throwing light out with less regulation holding them back.
I’ve used the Sylvanias before. They were decent for brightness without everyone flipping their brights on at me. The downside was they only lasted about 8 months.
Quickly becoming my favorite test channel of any type. Definitely hitting things that are relative to all us tech nerds.
Also you must only use the brights on the Impala headlight because EVERYONE with that generation Impala rolls around with the brights on 100% of the time for no reason.
They do until I unleash the lightbar...
Usually because it is an old person. Nobody wants an Impala anymore.
@@randomvideosn0where In my area it's a very common car in the inner-city. Dirt cheap!
Awesome review and details - thanks for sharing this.
I had a job where I drove a LOT before and after the sun went up/down (40,000 miles a year) and I used the sylvania ultras as this was the late 2000’s and led’s weren’t really a thing yet and hid’s had just come out and had to be retrofitted for hundreds of dollars. They were the brightest headlights I’d found, but I can definitely vouch for their very short life. They had a warranty which sylvania was fairly dutiful about honoring, but after 4 pairs of lights in 12 months they became reluctant to continue.
My experience with LED headlamps is that the off brands tend to rather quickly self destruct from heat. Hikari, Firehawk, and Cougar Motors are the ones people are saying seem to last? My Hikaris are doing fine after several years, and the Cougars I just installed seem to be holding up fine, but it's still early.
Also, HIR bulbs use an infrared reflective coating to bounce heat back into the filament for extra brightness, I'd love to see you test some if you can find them.
Kind of surprised out of all the equipment you have, that you don't own a CC/CV bench top power supply. They're pretty handy as some of them even give you the wattage out of the device you're testing, and not the wattage in that also factors your current power supplies efficiency (and how that efficiency changes depending on the load on the device)
It's a good point, just bought one.
I couldn't live without a bench power supply I build circuits and yes a month back the psu died..
Then came a frantic scramble to find a +12vdc power source, luckily I had an old laptop charger which I wired up to an lm2576t adj regulator just to power a 3v audio circuit as I didn't have a 3v power supply
Bench labs are worth their weight in gold
@@cjdelphi 100%. Although I don't usually deal with a great deal of board repairs (or building them), it's extremely handy charging invervidual Li-Po's, powering circuits that require testing with a very specific current setting and powering odd bits of hardware that have very weird voltage requirements.
For myself personally; I would really like to get another lab bench top supply rated at 24v Max and perhaps 10-15A. Though my current 32v 5A is very handy!
@@Miles7955 czcams.com/users/shortsbqStwdVElzw?feature=share
Just building that little circuit would have been a nightmare to do without lab bench, only a multimeter ranks slightly more important lol
@@cjdelphi jeez, I would completely believe that. Even if you had a CV source, I'd personally be very concerned with the circuit taking amperage that I didn't want it to, usually resulting in the magic smoke being released.
Neat video, and as a owner of a chevy impala it made it even better. While I think I'll stay away from the LED conversions. I'd be interested to see how those SilverStar Ultra bulbs perform in actual night-to-night use.
I bought a pair of Aux beam HID replacement LED bulbs. They looked much nicer than the ones you tested but they were around 100 dollars since they plugged directly into an HID ballast rather than running on 12 volts. They were much brighter than my factory HID bulbs.
When someone shoots out your headlights you will know why.
I would love to see the Sylvania ZXE Gold bulbs, I have had a few sets and they were pretty damn bright. Also Sylvania makes H11 "Fog Light" bulbs so it would be cool to see how those compare to the Amazon options.
Edit: Part of me almost wonders if some of those crazy Lumen numbers are from them actually measuring Candela. Coming from the world of weapon mounted lights where Candela are getting to be the big spec everyone looks at now and comparing to my REIN that is around 50k Candela, 36k Candela from a headlight would be pretty reasonable when you compare the 2.
Candela is how spot focused a complete light is, a bulb itself would I think have terrible candela and widely vary based on what headlamp you put it into
I know they don't fit in an H11 housing but it would be great to see how well the 9012/9011 HIR actually perform against LED and standard 9006/9005 bulbs, they claim like 15-20% more output than regular 9006/9005 and drop right into those housings with a set of side snips.
I heard that can sometimes fry housings because HIR are hotter than regular 9006/9005. careful
Been doing this for years. They’re great. Long life bulbs are brighter than silver stars. I haven’t had anything melt. You can’t use it in low beam housing that doesn’t cover the bulb tip or you’ll blind oncoming drivers though
@@ingram0774 Yep same wattage as a standard bulb, doesn't get significantly hotter. I've had the same set of HIR bulbs in my highs for years and I'm sure they've been left on for hours on end on long night drives.
The LEDs you want to test are the ones with one chip facing out and a mirror cone in front of it. That makes the light distribute evenly as a halogen would instead of only coveri g around 270° like most Amazon ones
can you link one?
Can you post a link. I can't find these.
Great video. I have been struggling with night time driving with my 2011 Honda Accord lx 4cyl 4 door Sedan. My headlamps are designed for halogen bulbs, however I cannot find any that are bright enough for the dark roads. I tried Led bulbs and they turned out to be a bit brighter but not bright enough. May you continue in testing halogen bulbs and their alternative Led variants. I can't wait to see which bulb ranks top dog, so I can finally make a sound purchasing decision in an important safety matter.
Beam pattern is most important. Not only for the driver but oncoming traffic. Those with poor beam patterns will have massive glare for on coming traffic
The lumen ratings are for both bulbs together. Just like the 60k termitor bulb you showed the two pairs were rated at 60k but if you buy just the h11 they are rated at 30k
I bought some Fahren LEDs for my Subaru (which are infamous for having very poor headlights). Yes, the lumens claimed on Amazon were ridiculous and I knew it up front. I went with a medium "warmth" at 6500K. The price point is a bit less than the more expensive Sylvania halogens.
My mechanic installed them for me, but one is oriented slightly wrong which only affects the DRL setting. HOWEVER, he did aim them well. I can see so much better out here in the VERY dark, deer filled nights of western S. Dakota and I have NEVER been flashed because he aimed them well enough that they don't hit oncoming drivers in the eyes.
With the LEDs, the aiming is absolutely critical. Read the reviews, don't go for the cheapest thing out there, research the brand and have somebody who has some experience install them if you can't do it yourself. I'm very happy with my choice.
DDM Tuning Sabre X. Supposed to be one the best on the market. I've been happy with them. Very bright and great throw. The Hikari Ultras are really popular too, had those for a while.
Thanks for another informative, level- headed test and review. Including the headlight assembly in your testing was brilliant(!). Btw, wondering if the LED's lower current draw could have an effect on how the control computer operates.
Last thing - With the level of trust you've gained, creating a dedicated TTLumen Channel (or whatever) could be an instant winner. Yes, others exist, but I already have trust in the quality of your testing.
Yes, it has an effect on the computer. On some cars there could be a warning on the dash, on some cars the cornering lights may not work any more, and usually in europe you fail your inspection. There are some legal variants available from Philips and Osram here.
Enjoyed the video!!! Great job!
Thanks for the test. 👍
Aftermarket LED bulbs are not road-legal in the UK - using them in reflector (as opposed to projector) headlamps causes beam-scattering, and headlamp pattern is an MOT test component.
Usually not a fan of excess government oversight, but that's one I'd love to see here in the US. Or at least more ticket enforcement by police patrol. When I can't see a damn thing for a good 10 seconds after they pass in the middle of the woods where there's lots of deer around here is aggravating. I usually close/squint my eyes for a second as they pass. That 1-2 seconds of total blindness is shorter than not closing my eyes.
And idiots driving around with their 50" lightbars on 24/7 is still a thing I encounter here in rural US. I hope they know they look like dumbasses, but I'm sure they don't care.
@@andrewt9204They're not legal in the US either. You'll notice at least a couple of the LED bulbs had the words "fog light" in the title. That's because if you read the fine print on the package you'll learn that's because they are for off road use only (or possibly as fog lights that are turned off when there's oncoming traffic).
Another UK over government L
Beam pattern is defiantly brand specific with these led upgrades. Some are as good or even better then the halogens they replace, some spray light all over the place. You have to find a good one or you will blind everyone on the road.
Also, aftermarket headlights affect the pattern of the beam. Cheap replacements won’t have as crisp of a beam as oem.
Bought 3 sets of led bulbs for my girlfriends 2018 elantra, first kit was blue, like cop light blue, totally illegal and dim as heck at night, next 2 kits were right color, but did not fir the car even though it was for the right make and model. So I then bought another set and only the high beam bulbs fit. So be careful when buying cheap lights because they might not fit your car even though they advertise as such. Loved the in depth content of this video.
1 thing you must do after getting led's setup is to adjust the headlights because the aftermarket led lamps will have a different pattern so you might affect drivers infront of you or oncoming traffic that's why many of us hate driving behind a pickup trucks because they upgrade and the halogen to led change completely changes the pattern and burns others eyes even during daytime when traffic is bumper to bumper I usually use Luyed for interior lighting from amazon and Sealight for exterior both brands are installed on all of my 5 vehicles for about 5 years on the oldest purchase which I hadn't noticed any dimming the headlights as some claim they have after while I live in an area where street lamps are non existent so having bright lights is essential for driving at night. Just wanted to put my two cents
I would like to see sealights and auxitos compared. Also I think a good size to compare is a 9005, as a lot of older cars use this size for high beams.
I'm not sure if those brands are any better, because these funky off brand names look eerily similar to the sealight and auxito brands.
Sealight is alright. Customer service is good though. Lasfit has better led lights
Really need a larger current PSU. It's limited in voltage because it can't supply the current for the incandescent lamps. Running them at different voltages will cause dramatically different lumen ratings for any sort of incandescant.
Edit: Bought a 480W stanup PSU with 10A out and more voltage range. Appreciate the feedback guys.
The PSU has no problem sending 75W to other 12V projects, and sent more watts to other bulbs. The OEM bulb just takes that much, that's what it is. Well really like 55W according to specs sheets, with loss efficiency from the PSU accounting for the difference - but that's the same with each bulb tested.
Your car is only putting out 12v , the wattage is what counts no?
@@TorqueTestChannel That'd be because the current limit was reached at a higher voltage, allowing more watts to pass. The current limit is huge for incandescents, my halogens basically double in brightness when I start my car, 11-12ish volts to 14.7ish
@@happytrails5342 Cars output anywhere from 11 to 15 volts, depending on the electrical load and if the engine is running or not
Also I should add that the watts won't change much. As the tungsten heats up the current won't increase proportionally like it would through a resistive load. But a hotter tungsten of course means more lumens, partially because the black body radiation enters the visible spectrum more. This also increases efficiency.
Lots more halogens to compare from Philips and Osram,would love to see output vs voltage to account for alternator output (say 11.5v to 14.5v). For LEDs, it would be interesting to see warm white vs cool white output, probably also for halogens. It's hard to find H4 warm white LEDs for classic cars for example.
If you're looking for a reliable brand, I have used X-Seven in my H7 high beams, adaptive turning lights and H11 fogs. I've just ordered the new D1S LED from them too. The output is awesome and the cutoff on dipped beam (projectors) is identical to Osram Nightbreaker Lasers but MUCH brighter. I drive a lot late at night on country lanes with no traffic.
I would suggest the lower color temperature of the halogen allows us to see more detail in the typical concrete landscape. The higher color temperatures are just creating more glare since they create too high a dynamic range for your eyes to simultaneously see both the detail of concrete and the detail of other items in view. Being able to see where potholes and curbs are is pretty important.
In the rural areas somewhere between the ultra blue of most LEDs (glare in the rain) and the really soft light of halogen (lose contrast) is ideal. More color definitely helps spot deer popping out of the woods!
the sun is around 5500-6000k, so thats the best place for headlights to be
@@bradhaines3142 Sunlight intensity doesn't diminish with distance like a headlamp does. Inverse square law doesn't really apply to the sun as it's so far away the brightness is the same at the top of a tree as it is at the bottom. You can't use the sun as your metric because of that.
@@wally7856 that's brightness, K is color temperature, which is irrelevant to distance
@@bradhaines3142 Color temperature is relevant when your intensity of light decreases with distance as our eyes lose sensitivity to bluer light as brightness decreases. In dim conditions we are much more sensitive to yellow and greens. The optimum color temperature to see during the day (sunlight) is not the optimal color temperature to see at night.
I would recommend using an OEM headlight housing on your next test to see if it makes any difference. I've never had much luck using aftermarket headlamp housing's.
...or any luck using apostrophes correctly.
I get your point, but all bulbs were tested in the same housing. If the aftermarket housing made the stock bulbs look 20% trashier, then all the others were also 20% trashier.
Thanks so much. Awesome information and great, real testing.
H7 Bulbs. Yesterday I tested The AUTODONE H7 LED and the SYLVANIA H7 Xtravision Halogen. I mounted them in my GL450 projector style headlights. I photographed the pattern on the wall and measured each using a Techtronic digital photometer. The patterns and light output was very nearly identical. I hoping for brighter but for only $30 these will work great and last way more than the 150 hours rated for the Sylvania. So I have no worry that they will cause any trouble for on coming traffic. AUTOONE H7 LED Bulb, Super Bright 1:1 Mini Size LED H7 Light Bulbs, No Adapter Required Plug and Play, Non-Polarity Fanless Halogen Replacement Bulb 6500K White. The only downside of the AUTODONE was that the diameter of the mating surface was just a fraction of a mm to large to push in and then turn to lock. So I sanded the finish off that part and put a little grease on it. All good.
Many years a go here in the UK, I had a Civic Coupe, and just wasn't happy with the headlights at all, even after replacing them with standard but new set. So, I looked around, and our Halford did (back then) sell 100w/80w H4s. MAN!!! What a difference!
YES, I occasionally checked the wires feeding the power to the bulbs, and no issues were found. BUT WHAT A DIFFERENCE! they had the familiar blue band around the bulb that made them ultra white - THAT helped too..
No, according to our MOT (our Govt Vehicle annual safety checks), these weren't for 'Road Use', but, she passed many an MOT!.
Since though, I've occasionally looked around for LED H4 bulbs, but.. Have heard some horror stories on wrong beam patterns, rapid failures etc. And seeing that the better made/working LED bulbs are at, what? £100+ a pair? And as Halfords have long since stopped selling those 100/80s, I've had to resort to a pack I bought on Amazon Philips 'Racing Vision' GT200 "Up to 200% more brightness".. And, yeah, over 'Standard' bulbs, there IS a big Difference... And they turned out to be pretty reaonably priced too for a PAIR pack - Around £20...
IF, you too are a little hesitent at venturing into the world or LED replacement bulbs... Philips 'Racing Vision' GT200s.. They're a GOOD bulbs if you want clear, white, BRIGHT bulbs at a GOOD price, and there are multiple formats Philips do them in too.. 👍 😎🇬🇧
I'd love to see a comparison of some of the LED portable work lights, especially the small ones with built-in rechargeable batteries. I've had bad luck finding ones that meet their specs claims... Brightness, light pattern evenness, and battery life of the ones on Amazon have all been worse than the CAT branded ones I got at Costco a few years ago and can't find anymore.
Costco does their homework! The Ryobi ones are a better deal than the Amazon ones, they're not amazing but they tend to last longer than Amazon at similar price.
Yes do this, I've got a Milwaukee rover light for finishing and a home depot husky 7000 lumin led stand light for general lighting, it would be great to see a comparison, the rover is quite good and I have 2 batteries for it even though they both need to charge in the tool, 3 settings and lasts like 3 hours on max per battery, longer on low or medium and it's still quite good. I got a crappy 50 dollar worklight that was advertised as bright as the rover and it was awful, lots of consumer information needed in this area I think now that LED lights are the norm and not those hot as sun halogen worklights that will set fire or burn cords.
Found a Rayovac brand rechargeable flashlight at Walmart hold a good charge about four hours constant on brightest setting about 6 on the low settings which isn't bad cause both settings are nice and bright
Thanks for what u do.. much appreciated..
What I really like with this video is it shows the difference in beam pattern and cutoff between a proper OEM spec halogen and an LED trying to replace that halogen. With the LED's not having the exact same light propagation (and location) as a halogen filament, they wind up with those "artifacts" and cold spots in the beam pattern. This poorly focused light is exactly why drop-in LED bulbs often bother other drivers on the road. One thing I want to experiment with is ramming a filament style LED into a headlight housing designed for halogens, and see if the overall beam pattern can be replicated, resulting in much better use of all the extra light LED's can create over halogens of similar size/application.
That sounds like a plan
I've used and been really happy with Sealight brand LED headlights. I'd love to see how they stack up against the competition!
I drive 8 hours a night,I bought two sealight 9005 for my high beams. leds failed in a month. I’m done with the crap.
@@NoName-tz5jiI have sealights in both of my vehicles, zero problems for years
Guess ur not seeing light anymore eh
@@NoName-tz5ji interesting. I've used them on probably 10 cars now, and never had one go out.
Thank you for this video!
Great video. Thanks!
I think it'd be good to test the LED bulbs in a projector headlight.
But then you’d want to compare to HIDs too
it looked like he was testing them in a projector headlight 12:05
@@hypnotoad4087 nope, google 'projector vs reflector headlights', projectors look like they have a glass "orb" in the housing and the bulb sits inside that glass orb.
I want to see you test some led bulbs that have a lower color temperature. I'm surprised at how close the beams matched the halogen bulbs, I was expecting a lot more excess spill especially vertically. Since that seems to be the problems that makes them so annoying to other drivers. maybe the conversions aren't as bad as I thought. some additional testing of beam shots might be good to include.
90% of auto manufacturers these days have built in LED's into their factory reflector housings. So yeah... there's that. Ford is one that's notoriously bad for it with their fusions. Install them in whatever reflector housings you've got. Just make sure you adjust your aim and you won't blind people. The blinding comes from the aim, not the overspill of random swatches of light people are claiming.
@@HeiseyMotors that's odd. Fusions switched from reflector beams to projector beams as standard equipment back in 2010.
@@engineer_alv My mother in law has a 2018 Fusion with reflector housings and factory LED's, there's no normal projector. Its a weird design that is super blinding
@@HeiseyMotors my bad that's true. Looks like the loaded 2017+ Fusions have adaptive lightning with those LED reflectors while the base ones sticked to projectors
Nice experiment. Cheers!
Thank you for this informative Video!!!
I work at an Auto parts store and the only LEDs we sell are $100 Sylvania set. I’d love to see you compare those to the cheap Amazon ones so I can finally tell my customers if the price is worth it
They are dim compared to the brand I use from amazon
They're not
My friend has the store brand and I have nilight from amazon mine are about 3 times brighter
Would be interesting to see a comparison with some of the 360 LED bulbs (although don't know if they make those in the H11 socket you were testing). I have the 360 ones in my vehicles and the light performance is much better than the 2 sided style.
How is it for oncoming? Have you tried standing in front of your vehicle at night with these on? They could be good, but they could be also very blinding to others.
I'm 100% sure the focus is bad