Eric, I believe that HID lux value is not 140k, but 14k. The three dots you saw on the screen are just ellipsis, indicating that the value doesn't fit on the screen completely, but it doesn't necessarily have to be exactly three digits. You are right in saying that HIDs are definitely brighter than Halogen bulbs. 3.5 times brighter sounds reasonable, but 35 times brighter isn't really possible. Especially since at 50ft they read only twice as bright as the halogen lights.
making my last comment I didn't realize this video is from 2018. LEDs have improved so much compared to HIDs. hopefully you're doing another one of these in the future. thanks for your time
Dude. Just did 4 different led on Projector (RAM 2016) . Ranged from 40-250€. Now i am back to HID for ca 75-100€. Hid is still the way to Go at least from my perspective
RedWings-44 depends on car. For My RAM 2016 with projector headlights is the best bang for the Buck the WinPower HB3/9005 55W Auto HID Xenon Kit. Regards
You need to do your testing in a secluded area with no lights and determine the reach of each light into the darkness. That is the thing you should be concerned with is how far the light can illuminate objects down the road. Also keep in mind the brighter a light gets the shorter the spectrum of light it emits, no matter what type of light it is
I know I'm about 3 years past the original posting of this video. But I only just now searched for this kind of info. Want to say: thank you! I need to replace my housings, and had been hung up on the idea of going with LEDs. This video has helped to clear my head and make me reconsider. Also, I only recently learned the terms "projector" and "reflector", so this also gave me a very good visual reference. I feel much better informed than ever, and am more confident in my shopping for replacements. I had actually used HID bulbs years ago to replace fog/flood lamps. On that vehicle, HID was not a good choice for the headlights due to the warm-up delay--the separate beams were mutually-exclusive in operation. But my current vehicle keeps lows on during high-beam operation, so I think HID could be a much better candidate this time.
Pretty sure it’s going to be 14,000 not 140,000. I don’t think the amount of dots equals the number of 0’s. Great video though Eric. You’re right, it’s wayyy better than your last one.
I'm a flashlight maker (yes it's more scientific than it sounds) and I commonly work with high power LEDs. This is probably 1,400 lux since lux is just lumens per square meter, and it's spreading out over a very large area.
Hey Eric, depending on the type of chip technology and layout that's inside the actual LED package, it will determine the pattern/layout and brightness of the bulb. It would be unfair to categorize all LED's under one umbrella since they are all made differently, designed differently, and perform differently. Even some halogens are like this to SOME degree but, in general, you can make a generalization with halogens. I do not have enough data about HID's or hybrids (xenon) bulbs to say whether or not generalizations can be made about them. I thought I had HID's in my system but after taking to many mechanics I found out I had a hybrid system of xenon bulbs, which is most annoying. So my recommendation to you is to find some LED bulbs with different LED chip technologies and find some different manufacturers and use them as a good comparison.
EpicATrain I tried two brands of LEDs in my projector housings, both of them had great reviews and moderately high prices. The ones from 4x4 LEDs died in less than 3 months and had poor light output. The second pair I had got better light output but died in 11 months. I decided to have my local shop install some HIDs and it’s literally night and day. In projector housings the HIDs just throw the light so much further that it’s crazy. Granted there could be better LEDs out there and worse HIDs out there. But it seems like for the housing the LEDs just can’t hang from my experience.
@@jmwlife2k Two different brands in housings? Wow, that's a unique study....NOT. Again, LEDS need to be in housing DESIGNED FOR THEM, NOT SHOVED INTO HOUSING DESIGNED FOR OTHER TYPES of bulbs. Just look at how they are designed.
@@f5fstop For one both LEDs were recommended for the housing I bought. Secondly I never said what happened to me is going to me the experience for everyone or it’s some great case study. I even made clear that there might have been better LEDs or worse HIDs out there. - With that said, it doesn’t change the reality of what I experienced. Why would I buy a third pair of different recommended LEDs when two failed in less than 18 months and the light output for both of them were bad? HIDs in both experienced I had with them worked better. Stop being a weirdo product defender and learn how to read.
Just gonna say that this video clearly shows why you need to have the correct focusing elements for your bulbs. These are for HID bulbs. With the LEDs and Halogens the hotspots are in a different place, the cutoff isn't as clean, and the spread is different. All of those things make a huge difference on how much you actually see when driving down the road. Much better video
Well this test was done 6 years ago with some mediocre (2018) bulbs. LED technology has greatly improved over those past 6 years. Maybe give a New style LED bulbs another chance to redeem themselves? Newer bulbs Have crazy LED sizes, shapes and even configurations that you can actually adjust yourself. I personally think it would make a great re-review video.
Thank you Eric because I have a 2003 Toyota Sequoia I've been wanting to put either hid or LED and unfortunately can't find any manufacturers that make projector housings but this video was incredibly helpful thank you.
just wanted to add my 5ct.. Actually lux or lux-o-meter is used to measure brightness of light on the surface, for example it is mainly used for measuring how bright is the surface of the sign of the supermarket or exmpl. coca cola sign. So when you were measuring the effect from a car that mainly may have had an effect on the reading, because accuracy of the reading in luxometer depends on the angle of the light that is projected to the sensor it self. In this case it would be better to use a lumen meter, as it is the most accurate metering device for light output from the source. BUT!, just for a comparisement this was an awesome test Eric, thank you.
Thank you for the explanation in a way that I can understand! I have projector xenon HID lights in my 2010 Nissan Murano LE. I changed the HIDs two weeks ago and upgraded to 8000. I believe the previous owner used 5000. I see the difference. I’m impressed with your video and love my HID lights are awesome!
Going from 5000 to 8,000 is not an upgrade, it's just changing the color from whitish Blue (5000k) to much less white and more blue purple (8000k) . All other things being the same 5000k will be brighter than 8000k
@@caseywilson9520 Most car in the early adaptation of DRL uses 'High Beam' with lower voltage for DRL. Now most vehicle uses separate DRL and/or Switchback (switches between DRL and turn signals).
@John Doe aftermarket lights aren't bull shit. It's just with reflectors it blinds people if not set up properly. I got aliexpress headlight and it has total of 4 projector (hella +Q5) and my lights are amazing after adjustments You have not used any other cars with proper led headlights. That's why you were amazed.
One point I would like to make to your test. Although this is a very good test, the LED lights are at a great disadvantage because when you sit any aftermarket LED bulb in a projector housing, it is not in the correct position to give you the maximum output. The LED chips do not produce a full 360° light dispersion even if you have 4 large chips that cover the entire bulb. The chips project the light perpendicular, whereas the HID and the halogen project the light forward, backward, and around all sides of the reflector within the projector housing. To get the maximum output the light source needs to be at a specific focal point inside the reflector parabola. You will notice that if you take something like an H1 bulb and move it forward and backward in a reflector parabola (just the part that has the reflective surface) made for a H4 bulb the light output will fluctuate until you get it at the right focal point where the light will be able to hit the immediate surrounding surfaces of the reflector and project it forward as a concentrated beam of light.
Thanks for your input. If you watch the other video linked in the description you'll see that the results of the LED are typical. The light for LED is not as intense as HID.
Yes. Watched that just now. The LED lights are a lot tougher to maximize the light output using after market bulbs. If you were to compare Audi's matrix LEDs or those from Mercedes multibeam LEDs.....or even one from a Mazda CX-9, you'd see the output is 10 times greater than what any aftermarket LED bulb could duplicate because the factory LED set up don't use actual bulbs like H11, HB4, etc. as far as I know. The LED chip is mounted to a board and several mirrors are used to get the LED to project in a true 360° pattern (forward, backward, and around all sides). A test comparison between the 3 bulbs that would be a bit more fair where all the bulbs would equal would be to make the HID and halogen bulb similar to that of the LED by preventing some of the light from going forward, backward, and masking off 2 sides depending on how many LED chips you have. That would be a bit extreme though.
Great video. I tried switching to Led light bulbs (20,000 lumens) in my Kenworth T680 semi and was appalled that my vision was even worse than my stock bulbs which are pretty unsatisfactory to begin with. I am switching back to my halogen bulbs and ordering an HID kit for my projection headlights. Thank you for doing the legwork on my dilemma.
Brian. A good reason for the poor led performance is that there are no bulbs that will give out 20, 000 lumens. I think you could half that figure. About 6,000 lumens (per bulb) is the absolute max, contrary to what some suppliers claim.
Just proves that HID's are still king 😎 LEDs are perfect for brake and tail lights because they turn on instantly but I always prefer HID's for headlights.
Wesley Green If you have a new 2014+ Corolla then no. Proper testing will prove that an OEM HID projector system of the same time beats it in glare levels, foreground, distance, and width. Also, most OEM HID projector systems are bi-xenon.
I think LED comes out on top when it's done right. Led's dont' work the same way halogen's and hid's do, they require different housing requirements. If you want to see what LED is capable of look at either car's that come stock with them, or the sealed beam LED's. Both of these offer engineers the chance to properly heatsink the led's and crank the power up.
I bought some headlights with integrated LEDs for low/high beams. They came with a warning that they make sound while operating because there is a fan that has to cool things. The only reason they don't seem as bright as the stock bixenons is because they are ~6000k while the stocks were closer to ~4500k
I know this is an older video, and this comment may have already been made(not looking through them all) but I would like to point out that when purchasing aftermarket headlight housings from online, many companies are considered "euro style". Which basically means the housings were meant for driving on the left side of the road as compared to the right, so the lights will automatically be aimed towards the left, which is why aftermarket lights tend to blind other drivers. American housings are always aimed right. Certainly not saying the housings in this video are "euro style" but its something to look into when considering buying aftermarket lights. Don't always go cheap and always read the description, or even email the company making certain you're buying the right stuff! Nice video! I've been trying to decide which style lights to put in my wife's 08 Acadia and because of this video I'll be going HID. But I'll be using 4500k in the fogs, and 5-6000k in the headlights!
Hey Eric, just want to say i love your videos and watching and learning from you has inspired me to teach myself more about automotive maintenance. Ive just started taking a automotive class and i love it! In the process I've also discovered a new interest in it. Just wanted to say thank you and keep making videos as long as you can! Thank you!
Those projectors are commonly known as "bi-xenon" projectors, so named for the HID headlight assemblies that use them to get both low and high beam from a single HID xenon capsule, since firing the capsule on and off as with normal halogen low/high beams can drastically shorten the life of the HID capsules. This is the first time I've ever seen them in an aftermarket assembly designed for halogen bulbs. The mid-2000's Nissan Maxima used a single halogen projector with a solenoid on the cutoff shield like this, along with a similar bi-xenon HID projector housing on the HID equipped cars (same projectors as used by the mid-2000's Mercedes E55, which I used in my Integra bi-xenon retrofit back in 2004).
Not all LED bulbs are created equal, some project more light forward than others, the rated brightness is not indicative of how much light will be projected forward. Some LED lights may do better in a reflector than a projector, and vice versa.
@@matty1053 Totoally incorrect. OP has the proper statement. Most Led bulbs have their diode placement very far forward or at the end of the stall and this usually makes it bad for reflector housings but decent on projectors that uses to house HID. Some brands, like Hikari found on Amazon, are developed to match halogen bulb filament placing. This makes them suitable for reflector or halogen projector. I put some in my 2008 MX5 and the improvement was vast. The projectors shot the light perfectly with no real issue except near car blind spots that you really can't see in the car. I never had to use my brights after that and was never flashed. In addition to that my old Mx5 was better illuminated than my brand new 2019 that comes with LED from factory, in projector style headlights. Also put same brand LEDs in a 2002 Porsche boxster with reflectors. Most European cars have projector style cut offs in their reflector housings so I tried them to make an improvement. They did make somewhat an improvement with better road illumination but overall it's a marginal improvement over halogens. Not like my MX5 where I could see down the road and off to the sides and never need brights again.
One thing to consider also is where the light is going in that beam. You want it to be brighter nearest the cutoff so more light is thrown down the road. Those leds were pretty crap in that aspect.
People, PLEASE recognize what eric did in his low car. I have a low car and can't tell you how often I get blinded by people with aftermarket headlights. AIM THEM DOWN. Don't worry, we can see you, my god.
You seem to forget that headlights are to see _by_ - not just so you can see them. And just aiming them down isn't necessarily safe as, in a lower vehicle, there will always be a point where the light beam is going to be at the same height as your eyes. How about "set them correctly - both for height and horizontal aim"...?
Some people are just really dumb and point their headlights straight forward. It's actually best to aim at the road because that's what you are trying to see.
That point goes clearly over the heads of most people with lifted vehicles in particular. I drive a lot at night for my job, and live in the South, so I regularly encounter lifted trucks and SUV s. With the over abundance of cheap LED and HID retrofit kits on eBay and Amazon, these types also like to find the brightest (ie., most glaring) lights they can find. So anyone in a lower vehicle, like me in my Mazda 3, get a double whammy or poorly aimed, too bright headlights.
It's worth mentioning that some aftermarket headlight upgrades are too hot for the stock reflector housings. I've seen cheaper eBay hid kits in an early 2000's Pontiac and the bulbs we're so hot during normal usage, the stock housings melted just enough for the bulbs to fall half way out. I had to replace the whole mess and pull out the hid kits and go back to stock with new housings too. Maybe you you could run the hid kits for 6 months and report back if they melted the plastic in yours too.
they should, because of quality, if you buy a 35W its no problem, but most promise "better visibility" and "bright white light", yet a cheap ballast will never give you a nice white light like the Osram or Phillips HIDs, in order to compete they are forced to give you a 55W ballast to give a similar light...again you may get better visibility compared to the cheap 35W, but will never get the white light the 35w Osram and Phillips gives in OEM cars today. and with a cheap 55w ballast and bulb, they would melt your housing just like a 55w halogen would because they give off much more heat and don't give you twice as much output, no reason ever to go 55W because its too hot for plastic, you run the chances of messing up your cars electrical system and melting the housing, besides the lifespan is already short, why reduce it in half for a 55W? sorry its a little long
Something I would be curious about in HID vs halogen too. Some plastic housings will not tolerate a halogen upgrade over standard without melting. Also Ebay is probably not the best source of good quality. Some really rubbish stuff sold as premium product thanks China!
For my money, LEDs are the way to go. The 5K white light gives you the clarity to see perfectly well with a comparable brightness to halogens (but superior spectrum of reflected light actually gives greater perceived brightness from the driver seat). The moderate brightness also is a benefit since you won't be blinding that driver speeding towards you in the oncoming lane. Best of both worlds.
i may not know about LUX, but what i can tell you is that when i had my 2007 Acura TSX with HID's, those lights were awesome! I could see so much of a darkened road I take to work and feel really good about it. Now that i've traded up to a 2016 Acura RDX, I had to report the not-so-well-lighting of the LED's. I now have a bit of a hard time seeing this road as before with the HID's. I've actually sent messages to Acura informing them that the LED's don't do well on very dark roads---even the bright LED's don't do much better either. Sometimes it's not so bright that when I have my bright lights on I'm thinking that I have on my low beams still. I'd rather have the HID's any day!!
EmofacePS3 LASFIT H7 LED Headlight Kits-COB Flip Chips/Adjustable Beam- 60W 7600LM 6000K-Hi/Lo Beam/Fog Light Bulbs. Link is in description above. They look like the low end types with the flat cob leds. I would say try it with the 4 sided cob leds, or get some like those opt7 ones. What ya think?
Blueford86 no the more sides an headlight led has the cheaper and usually more ineffective it actually is at displaying a proper beam pattern my friend. Two sided LEDs at the most are the industry leaders blueprints for production
@@slumygoat Having upgraded honda dual-sport motorcycle headlights, I have to firmly disagree with your statement here. If you are trying to replace a halogen bulb with the most comparable coverage, you want a minimum of 2sided led unit that mimics the halogen filament location. And even stepping down in wattage, it will be a massive improvement in visibility (near doubt the long reach and more evenly out to the sides)
I think the drop-off you are seeing in this one is that those LED bulbs are meant for reflector housing retrofit. I believe there are different ones meant for projector housing. Just a guess really.
I have the same Element and headlights, I am running XKglow 76 Watt Super Bright LED Headlight Error-free Conversion Kit. Best mod I have done thus far.
Good informative video, ignore stupid comments, he is a mechanic not a scientist so stop acting like the video lacked information or that he done this and that wrong, if you don't like it don't watch it.
Excellent video, you did a FAR better job than I could have done. It's interesting that the glare that people are knee-jerk "warning" about with the HID retrofit in these projector housings is no more than with a Halogen bulb. I did a comparison of the "cheap" H3 LED bulbs on my Expedition's spyder auto projector lights today and found all of them lacking, So, HID is getting ordered. Damn, my BMW's factory xenon lights got me spoiled :D
when it comes to this topic and having done everything from stock reflectors to full custom retrofit HID projectors yeah I'd say so, also 5000k sucks unless you are running a 55 or 65 watt ballast, if you are on 35 watt ballasts you should be no higher then 4300k for the most light output.
As someone who deals with theatrical lighting on a regular basis, I'm not sure I see the connection between power dissipation and color temperature on non-tungsten lamps. It may be different for headlights, but this would be the first time I've seen it. For what it's worth, 5000k tends to wash out details with its unnaturally white hue. My eyes prefer a slightly warmer temperature, which brings out details better (such as foreign objects in the roadway at night). Again, just my $0.02 based on a loosely related field of experience.
the higher wattage ballast causes the bulb to color shift about 500k or so lower, like a 5000k bulb with a 55 watt ballast looks closer to a 4300k bulb with a 35 watt ballast then a 5000k bulb on a 35 watt ballast
Great comparison, yes it could have been done in a more controlled environment but give this guy a break. Normal bloke in a normal car in a normal environment. In my opinion this is a cracking comparison, thank you very much.
I wonder whether the low lux reading of the LED’s is due to LED’s flicking on and off so quickly. The camera may pick this up, where we don’t? Just a thought. Great video though!
For aftermarket LED this is a fair test. but a car that comes stock with LED headlights they are not in a projector housing, but in a small reflector housing again and are much brighter than HID headlights.
I changed my halogen projectors to hid projectors. The results are absolutely amazing! I have them adjusted properly. And I couldn't be happier. The light travels noticeably farther. And I know they are not blinding oncoming traffic. If you're getting blinded by someone's low beam HID projectors, that means they are not properly adjusted. People have them adjusted up past the level of the mark on the light housing. Those people are really the douchebags!
I know I should use HID projectors but my car already comes with halogen projectors so I guess I'll just settle instead of getting a projector retrofit. Hopefully it's not enough to make me regret it.
There’s a thing call keep eyes on the road and not at the other car’s headlights. That may help. Also you still have people with halogen lights that can blind drivers too because they’re aim too high or they forget to shut off their high beam. Or throw some shades on if you hate bright lights and can’t seem to stop staring directly at it.
I think a better test would be to use lights that are all the same color frequency. I am a firm believer that the lower the frequency the better it is on your eyes (Cause less strain). I have driven for years at night and have tried all the lights out there from the regular sealed beam, Halogen, HID, and LED. My find is this. if you care? Sealed beam: Very long lasting, but not as bright as I would like. Appear to have a short throw. Perhaps to low of a frequency, but very easy on the eyes. (from inside my van looking out onto the road.) HALOGEN: Very nice light, keeping with a lower frequency but also giving the appearance of greater distance of light than the sealed beam. HID: Nice lights very bright and long throwing. Not made for regular light housing though. Must have a projector for these bad boys. Again the only color frequency I could get was 5000+ and this I find hard on the eyes when driving long distances at night. I always got flashed by oncoming traffic with these lights installed. LED: These lights are still in their infancy. Some car makers like Mercedez, Audi, BMW, and so forth have spent millions to developing their LED lights to make them work pretty good but there is still a long way to go. No one should ever think that buying a LED bulb and putting it into their headlights will have lights like the above-mentioned cars. A little FYI for everyone. LEDs are best reflected out to the road rather than pointed at the road. In other words, LED lights need a lot of reflective control and can NOT use the same housing you use for your Halogen head lights. Check out J.W. Speaker head lights Now look at the difference between them and your head lights. (LED version) Love the video Eric glad to see you back and moving forward. later buddy.
The only thing I would have added to this video is a side by side by side screenshot of the 3 lights while in the driver seat to see the differences, but also from a more neutral spot. All 3 shots were from 3 different spots so you can’t really trust what you are seeing. Great video though. I might be ordering some HIDs for my projectors now.
Modded my 4Runner Projectors stock H11 Halogen bulbs to fit H9 Halogen bulbs, I get much whiter and brighter light. No need to mess with HID ballasts or junky LED bulbs.
Great video! Agree w/14k and not 140k. I can certainly buy that HID's are best because they burn at much higher temperatures therefore the light being hard and not soft like LED's. Think I'll do HID for headlights and LED for fogs.
this may be old news, and you may already know this... but seeing as how it was done THIS year, im going to post it anyway. you cannot simply lump all LED bulbs into the same category. there are some out there that are terrible for projectors... no doubt (especially the cheap ones like you just tested - lasfit are complete garbage). they werent built for projector housings. however, if you do a minor amount of research, youd see that there are a ton that ARE designed specifically to work in projector housings. HID and LED bulbs that were designed for projectors will result in typically the exact same output numbers. while it is true that HID are the safe bet as no matter what... they will give consistent performance - it is still a trade off. HIDs take several seconds to 'warm up'.... you can't flash HIDs... flipping from low to high beams results in several seconds of little light. if you know what youre doing, and what youre getting, LEDs are the better alternative, but they are not all made the same.
Awesome vid, man! LEDs are just a tad dimmer than halogens but, IMO, you cant beat that white. HIDs are great but too expensive, and maybe too bright. Few people actually need that amount of light, unless you're off-roading in the middle of a new moon night.
ComandanteJ I nightly drive Florida back roads, so I really do need that bright of a light. Deer are a serious issue here, and with my stock lights I could barely see the sides of the roads
Great vid! Normally large trucks suck to pass or be in front of but GM specifically needs to address the HID lights in their newer pickups. I drive an '06 Forester and I find it unbearable when passing one on the highway. My LED roof/offroad lights aren't nearly that retina damaging and I would get wheeled in a second if I drove around with them on.
"High beams, low beams, high beams, low beams." Colonel Jack O'Neill did a similar test on Thor's ship, the Daniel Jackson. "Light's on, light's off, light's on, lights off..." Thor, T'ealc and Daniel were understandably unimpressed. :o)
LED bulbs come in different shapes, sizes and quality. Be sure to rotate the bulb in the housing to it’s best position for those optics (makes a big difference).
There are changes in the Fstop and the "time" of the light meter app... Shouldn it be the same for every step? As a photographer there is big difference in the F stops, for example ?
Good job, I already had the feeling that HIDs are what I want in comparison to LEDs and this was a very good video to give me the info I need to make my decision. Thanks
Good update on the video, but still please remind people that not all projectors are created equal. Before HID lights projectors were made to internally reflect halogen bulbs. When you put in an HID bulb, in a halogen projector, it WILL BLIND PEOPLE. The housing is not meant to reflect the light output of an HID bulb as the light output is not the same a filament bulb. Please make sure that you mention that in your videos. I’ve had to research this myself as I have projectors but halogen H7 projectors. My car had an HID option and the internals are different.
CelicaAutocrosser Thank God you understand that HID bulbs are made for specifically designed Projectors and not Halogen Projectors or reflectors!!!! Someone with some common sense!
Combustion69 wow insightful response. Anyways I own a vehicle in which offered both and HID and halogen option before HID was standard. The way the light is reflected from an HID bulb in a halogen enclosure is different than an enclosure meant for HID. An arc bulb is a lot different than a halogen bulb and light comes out of them differently. Just do your homework and when you put an HID bulb on a non-hid housing, be careful not to blind people.
False, many cars come with hid from factory on reflector housings, they only add a plastic shroud and call it a day, ANY reflector will bli d you if misaligned, whenever you upgrade or change your bulbs, Hids, or leds, the housing needs to be realigned to avoid blinding or glaring, an step most people skip.
I feel that there are some unmentioned variables here worth mentioning. Not all brands and models of each of the 3 bulb types have the same brightness, harshness/softness or color temperature. Different color temperatures (the deep blue 8,000 kelvin or 10,000 kelvin HIDs, for example) are known to be less bright compared the 4,500 or 5,000 kelvin HIDs of the same brand and model bulb. The clarity of the headlight housing lens is also an important factor. As most vehicle owners should notice after a few years, plastic headlight housing lenses become cloudy and/or yellowed with age. No doubt this affects the lux at distance. There are other variables in this test that I may be forgetting about but for the most part I would have to say that the results here are pretty accurate (except for the 140,000 lux reading...are you sure about that, Eric?).
This was a much better comparison video, my only problem is Eric, you used a very very poor quality LED Kit. The LED themselves on them are not powerful enough to produce the amount of light you need. Also Projector housings that are aftermarket usually have defects in the reflector base with the chrome usually its all bubbled and not a perfect mirror. Not saying yours are like that though. To have any comparison with the HIDS would be to get a 100 or more LED bulb/kit. Usually the good ones with be passive cooled and not fan cooled. They usually have a bunch of flat braided cables coming out the back. But for good LED bulbs you have to spend some money. Anyways keep doing what you do Eric!
HID are brighter yes but for reliability, ease of installation and the fact no ballast is needed like the HID bulbs need led is better and in a couple years I see LED surpassing them
chrome shrouds/housing have little to do with emitting light so those defects don't matter. All you have is a type of light source, a physical piece to make the cutoff line, and the lens.
Exactly, if he’s using a halogen projector housing, then it’s not really scientific. LED light will scatter in a halogen projector and HIDs won’t put out the intended output, etc etc etc
With this video I am going to pick the led for couple reasons but my main reason is that I don’t like the warm up on the HIDs especially where I live gets negative 30 to 40 it might be a issue. Thank you sir!
Looks like LEDs aren't quite there yet. Hopefully they get there, as they have with flashlights and such. Best improvement we ever made to our '86 Grand Marquis was install HID headlights. Literal night & day difference over the halogen sealed beams! Another lighting mod I did was to my '74 Yamaha RD350 2-stroke motorcycle - took the stock 35w non-halogen bulb, and replaced it with a later model year Honda sealed beam 55w halogen (with proper mods to the electrical system of course) - again, night & day difference. Was like going from driving at night holding a candle (YELLOW!), to actually having a real headlight. :D
Nice job, Eric. Until the leds get there with the halogens, i'll keep the halogens. The hids are wayy too bright. The hids would be better suited to places where there's no lights, like out in the country, with little to no traffic. They're too bright for city driving.
Somehow 140k lux sounds like way too much. Sure this wasn't some measuring fault? Could you repeat that measurement and get that high a number each time? Sounds quite unbelievable...
WHTMAN0815 even if he was using the phone, he measured all of the lights consistently with the same device. Rather than getting super accurate numbers, I think the point was more about comparing the three different light sources to each other. For that purpose, the phone app is fine.
You are not the only person to find that LED headlights are weak in general when compared to halogen or HID headlights. I believe the IIHS has done some studies on it recently may be some info there to add to your findings.
I really enjoyed this video, good information. A lot of people install upgraded lights, whether or not they are supposed to, it happens a lot. Good to see some solid information out there. Projector housings are the way to go if you are switching to HID or LED bulbs.
Nah bro we’re good I love blinding other drivers it’s funny af when they rage then they get scared when they see how big of a penis I have and back off
Can you do an update? Lots of changes since this was made. Your procedure is more real world than most, and helpful. Only error was the 140,000 comment
Hate those turds driving their lifted trucks on the highway with aftermarket bulb installed HID FOGS, HEADLIGHTS and OFF ROAD lights all on running behind me.
Thanks for this review. It was maybe not scientific to suit pedantic types but certainly a good direct comparison between light types. I feel comfortable now upgrading to HID for my projector lights knowing I will not be spraying oncoming traffic with annoying glare. I hate glary aftermarket HID conversions in reflector housings with a passion as I encounter them far more often driving a truck. They deserve to be flashed or worse. Some are ignorant and others don't care. The authorities are asleep at the wheel on this problem too! The biggest laugh is those with "6 million K" glary blue lights that are useless to see with but glare worse than high beam. One of the problems with normal reflector lights using high k lights is that the reflector does not focus higher frequencies the same as lower frequencies so the glare is worse due to the poor cutoff (chromatic abberation same as that purple fringe you get on toy binoculars or telescopes) All car manufacturers use 4200K lights to my knowledge. They always look super white.
*I like that you included the on coming traffic's perspective in your testing. MOST people have ZERO consideration for the oncoming traffic that has to deal with being blinded by other people's bright ass lights i have ended up colliding with someone here in Tennessee who was driving down the road over the center line and was unable to see ANYTHING because their lights were so damn bright. it was an OLDER couple who's grandson had upgraded their lights in their Kia sedona so his too old to be out driving at night grandmother could see better at night, never mind that she had no business driving let alone at night nor should she have been half way in my lane but guess who's insurance had to pay out on me bumping their mirror? Wasn't theirs*
Hi Eric, excellent video. Entertaining and informative. Quick question though... What Wattage are you using for the HID kit? Eg. 35W or 55W Same question for the LEDs. Thanks
EricTheCarGuy that doesnt make sense. You are saying his point is invalid because of your last test. Well your last test you used a crappy led bulb as well. But there is a real problem. Navigating the world of led bulbs is a real crap shoot. You are more likely to find a dog then and good bulb. Hikari are a good design. The best are gtr.
A great example is the second and third generation of Acura MDX. The second gen (the one I have) has HID 4700K xenon headlights. The third gen has LEDs. When I stop alongside a third gen MDX, it clearly surpasses in light density with LEDs over my HIDs every time. So again, in order to be able to at least come close to HIDs, the LEDs will cost you more than those HIDs.
Wow...awesome testing. I had a lot of confusion over these bulbs & now I'm cleared & I'm satisfied with your test results. Thanks for giving a detailed description about the lights. Good job keep it up.....👍
There are two kinds of high beam, if the car got one singel projetor lens, like vw passat, there is a flap that opens inside to give you high beam. On my old 2006 saab 9-5, i got two sets of projector lenses, low beam with HID and high beam with halogen bulbs. Then i got LED auxeliry lights on high beam to give me day light at night. On my car and cars with similar set ups, it is a bad idea to instal HID kit on the high beam instead if halogen bulbs. HID lights wants to be turned on and stay on, if the are turned on and off, on and off rapidly, the ballast may overload and fail, LED will not.
It all depends on what LED you use.. they vary greatly.. the one you got was as shitty as you can possibly find.. also a 55w hid will always kill every other option
As mentioned, even with projector shields, there's a difference between halogen and HID! There's still the possibility of glare with a Halogen based projector beam when hids are installed. Best bet is to do a retrofit from a reputable company like retrofitsource.com
Riley these are H7 projectors which generally work quite well with D2S HID bulbs. In fact you can use standard D2S bulbs with only the addition of a small aluminum ring to adapt them to H7 projectors. Frankly the beam pattern looks a lot like Bosch H7 projectors used in Audi and other European makes, which work well with HID, far better than something like crappy 9006 projectors.
Patrick94GSR While I agree that the cut-off is decent with these particular lense/shields, they're still not nearly as sharp as a good retro. Like a morimoto h1 retrofit kit. These will definitely surfice if you want something quick.
Definitely useful info and a real world test the only wrinkle I see (although it probably wouldn’t effect the overall results) is the inconsistency in output between different brands of bulbs especially in LED’s but that’s more an argument about brand X vs Y being brighter for the same bulb type. Personally in my primary vehicle I’m using all 3, OEM HID’s in a projector housing, Halogen high beams and LED’s for the fog lights and also replaced all the marker brake lights and interior lights with LED’ I did leave the incandescent turn signal bulbs (just didn’t want to deal with the whole hyper flash/bulb error thing)
If I were you I would uprgrade my high beams to LEDs, its a worthwhile upgrade. Also, you can modify your turn signal relay to stop hyperflashing with LEDs. It's not all that hard and I could walk you through it if you'd like. I did a Projector HID retrofit on my 7th gen Honda Accord, with LED everything else, by far my favorite and most useful modification.
Thanks for the test. My first impressions with led in a projector housing were quite bad until I got a more powerful and focused led with 16000 lumen output. Excellent stuff.
Geez, I can't freaking believe people wouldn't use common sense and think that halogen housings refer to...halogen housings, as in, you should only use halogen bulbs, even if they're not named like that, we've come to a pussyfying of single damn thing, nice job Eric, I feel for you to have to clarify every single stupid thing because of idiots with a holier-than-thou complex.
Well unfortunately they make halogen projectors as well, not just reflector based, and most people just buy kits like Eric did and throw bulbs in said projectors that aren't designed for it. Eric was right to make the correction regardless.
Christian Lamey I know that, it's because its obvious that I feel like it shouldn't be clarified, and never did I say it wasn't Okay from him to clarify such, I said he shouldn't have to
9:50 is when the testing stops and he does the summary, in case you wanna skip.
Thank you
I should have read the comments before watching the full video :( Thanks anyway.
Bless
Thank you for doing that :)
You saved me a lot of time bro
Eric, I believe that HID lux value is not 140k, but 14k. The three dots you saw on the screen are just ellipsis, indicating that the value doesn't fit on the screen completely, but it doesn't necessarily have to be exactly three digits.
You are right in saying that HIDs are definitely brighter than Halogen bulbs. 3.5 times brighter sounds reasonable, but 35 times brighter isn't really possible. Especially since at 50ft they read only twice as bright as the halogen lights.
Agreed, Direct sunlight is between 30,000 and 100,000 lux. No way these tiny things are putting out more than the output of the sun.
Agreed
More like 1400
zaqway kinda blows his expertise out of the water. Rendering his video completely useless
That sounds about right 3.5 x brighter. Minor detail we can take in our stride.
making my last comment I didn't realize this video is from 2018. LEDs have improved so much compared to HIDs. hopefully you're doing another one of these in the future. thanks for your time
LEDs are still not recommended to be used in projector housing and still perform best in reflector housing.
I'd love to see a remake of this video. From my understanding, LED technology has come a long way in 2 years.
Dude. Just did 4 different led on Projector (RAM 2016) . Ranged from 40-250€. Now i am back to HID for ca 75-100€. Hid is still the way to Go at least from my perspective
55 W ballast and 6000K bulb. Perfect light Color.
@@lordodd452 which bulbs?
RedWings-44 depends on car. For My RAM 2016 with projector headlights is the best bang for the Buck the WinPower HB3/9005 55W Auto HID Xenon Kit. Regards
@@lordodd452 correct. Sorry, I forgot to specify. What LED bulbs and reflector or projector housings?
I bet even engineering explained would be proud of such scientific test
You need to do your testing in a secluded area with no lights and determine the reach of each light into the darkness. That is the thing you should be concerned with is how far the light can illuminate objects down the road. Also keep in mind the brighter a light gets the shorter the spectrum of light it emits, no matter what type of light it is
I know I'm about 3 years past the original posting of this video. But I only just now searched for this kind of info. Want to say: thank you! I need to replace my housings, and had been hung up on the idea of going with LEDs. This video has helped to clear my head and make me reconsider. Also, I only recently learned the terms "projector" and "reflector", so this also gave me a very good visual reference. I feel much better informed than ever, and am more confident in my shopping for replacements.
I had actually used HID bulbs years ago to replace fog/flood lamps. On that vehicle, HID was not a good choice for the headlights due to the warm-up delay--the separate beams were mutually-exclusive in operation. But my current vehicle keeps lows on during high-beam operation, so I think HID could be a much better candidate this time.
Pretty sure it’s going to be 14,000 not 140,000. I don’t think the amount of dots equals the number of 0’s. Great video though Eric. You’re right, it’s wayyy better than your last one.
I'm a flashlight maker (yes it's more scientific than it sounds) and I commonly work with high power LEDs. This is probably 1,400 lux since lux is just lumens per square meter, and it's spreading out over a very large area.
Hey Eric, depending on the type of chip technology and layout that's inside the actual LED package, it will determine the pattern/layout and brightness of the bulb. It would be unfair to categorize all LED's under one umbrella since they are all made differently, designed differently, and perform differently. Even some halogens are like this to SOME degree but, in general, you can make a generalization with halogens. I do not have enough data about HID's or hybrids (xenon) bulbs to say whether or not generalizations can be made about them. I thought I had HID's in my system but after taking to many mechanics I found out I had a hybrid system of xenon bulbs, which is most annoying.
So my recommendation to you is to find some LED bulbs with different LED chip technologies and find some different manufacturers and use them as a good comparison.
EpicATrain I tried two brands of LEDs in my projector housings, both of them had great reviews and moderately high prices. The ones from 4x4 LEDs died in less than 3 months and had poor light output. The second pair I had got better light output but died in 11 months. I decided to have my local shop install some HIDs and it’s literally night and day. In projector housings the HIDs just throw the light so much further that it’s crazy.
Granted there could be better LEDs out there and worse HIDs out there. But it seems like for the housing the LEDs just can’t hang from my experience.
@@jmwlife2k Two different brands in housings? Wow, that's a unique study....NOT. Again, LEDS need to be in housing DESIGNED FOR THEM, NOT SHOVED INTO HOUSING DESIGNED FOR OTHER TYPES of bulbs. Just look at how they are designed.
@@f5fstop For one both LEDs were recommended for the housing I bought. Secondly I never said what happened to me is going to me the experience for everyone or it’s some great case study. I even made clear that there might have been better LEDs or worse HIDs out there. - With that said, it doesn’t change the reality of what I experienced. Why would I buy a third pair of different recommended LEDs when two failed in less than 18 months and the light output for both of them were bad?
HIDs in both experienced I had with them worked better. Stop being a weirdo product defender and learn how to read.
I appreciate all the time and effort you put into this video. Im going with LED in my 2015 RDX
Just gonna say that this video clearly shows why you need to have the correct focusing elements for your bulbs. These are for HID bulbs. With the LEDs and Halogens the hotspots are in a different place, the cutoff isn't as clean, and the spread is different. All of those things make a huge difference on how much you actually see when driving down the road.
Much better video
Well this test was done 6 years ago with some mediocre (2018) bulbs. LED technology has greatly improved over those past 6 years. Maybe give a New style LED bulbs another chance to redeem themselves? Newer bulbs Have crazy LED sizes, shapes and even configurations that you can actually adjust yourself. I personally think it would make a great re-review video.
140000 seems like a huge difference. It's probably 14000. Appreciate the video Eric!
Thank you Eric because I have a 2003 Toyota Sequoia I've been wanting to put either hid or LED and unfortunately can't find any manufacturers that make projector housings but this video was incredibly helpful thank you.
just wanted to add my 5ct.. Actually lux or lux-o-meter is used to measure brightness of light on the surface, for example it is mainly used for measuring how bright is the surface of the sign of the supermarket or exmpl. coca cola sign. So when you were measuring the effect from a car that mainly may have had an effect on the reading, because accuracy of the reading in luxometer depends on the angle of the light that is projected to the sensor it self. In this case it would be better to use a lumen meter, as it is the most accurate metering device for light output from the source. BUT!, just for a comparisement this was an awesome test Eric, thank you.
Thank you for the explanation in a way that I can understand! I have projector xenon HID lights in my 2010 Nissan Murano LE. I changed the HIDs two weeks ago and upgraded to 8000. I believe the previous owner used 5000. I see the difference. I’m impressed with your video and love my HID lights are awesome!
Going from 5000 to 8,000 is not an upgrade, it's just changing the color from whitish Blue (5000k) to much less white and more blue purple (8000k) . All other things being the same 5000k will be brighter than 8000k
Great job Sir. I drive a new semi and need brights lights. Thank you for clearing up my questions.
I know its a 4 year old video but thanks for taking the time to really show every aspect of the light
HID’s for LOW beams
LED for DRL/High beams
LED’s look brighter but don’t go as far.
Daytime running lights on most cars ARE low beams.
@@caseywilson9520 Most car in the early adaptation of DRL uses 'High Beam' with lower voltage for DRL. Now most vehicle uses separate DRL and/or Switchback (switches between DRL and turn signals).
early 2010, this would be the answer. 2020 ? not so much
My car has one bulb for High and Low beams.
@John Doe aftermarket lights aren't bull shit. It's just with reflectors it blinds people if not set up properly.
I got aliexpress headlight and it has total of 4 projector (hella +Q5) and my lights are amazing after adjustments
You have not used any other cars with proper led headlights. That's why you were amazed.
Damn....1 million subs....bet Eric didn't see this happening 20 years ago
One point I would like to make to your test. Although this is a very good test, the LED lights are at a great disadvantage because when you sit any aftermarket LED bulb in a projector housing, it is not in the correct position to give you the maximum output. The LED chips do not produce a full 360° light dispersion even if you have 4 large chips that cover the entire bulb. The chips project the light perpendicular, whereas the HID and the halogen project the light forward, backward, and around all sides of the reflector within the projector housing. To get the maximum output the light source needs to be at a specific focal point inside the reflector parabola. You will notice that if you take something like an H1 bulb and move it forward and backward in a reflector parabola (just the part that has the reflective surface) made for a H4 bulb the light output will fluctuate until you get it at the right focal point where the light will be able to hit the immediate surrounding surfaces of the reflector and project it forward as a concentrated beam of light.
Thanks for your input. If you watch the other video linked in the description you'll see that the results of the LED are typical. The light for LED is not as intense as HID.
Yes. Watched that just now. The LED lights are a lot tougher to maximize the light output using after market bulbs. If you were to compare Audi's matrix LEDs or those from Mercedes multibeam LEDs.....or even one from a Mazda CX-9, you'd see the output is 10 times greater than what any aftermarket LED bulb could duplicate because the factory LED set up don't use actual bulbs like H11, HB4, etc. as far as I know. The LED chip is mounted to a board and several mirrors are used to get the LED to project in a true 360° pattern (forward, backward, and around all sides). A test comparison between the 3 bulbs that would be a bit more fair where all the bulbs would equal would be to make the HID and halogen bulb similar to that of the LED by preventing some of the light from going forward, backward, and masking off 2 sides depending on how many LED chips you have. That would be a bit extreme though.
ua-cam.com/video/2FwdoXpNBSI/v-deo.html
Great video. I tried switching to Led light bulbs (20,000 lumens) in my Kenworth T680 semi and was appalled that my vision was even worse than my stock bulbs which are pretty unsatisfactory to begin with. I am switching back to my halogen bulbs and ordering an HID kit for my projection headlights. Thank you for doing the legwork on my dilemma.
Brian. A good reason for the poor led performance is that there are no bulbs that will give out 20, 000 lumens. I think you could half that figure. About 6,000 lumens (per bulb) is the absolute max, contrary to what some suppliers claim.
Just proves that HID's are still king 😎 LEDs are perfect for brake and tail lights because they turn on instantly but I always prefer HID's for headlights.
my Corolla's stock LED bulbs are just as bright as HID, he's using shitty aftermarket bulbs.
Wesley Green If you have a new 2014+ Corolla then no. Proper testing will prove that an OEM HID projector system of the same time beats it in glare levels, foreground, distance, and width. Also, most OEM HID projector systems are bi-xenon.
I think LED comes out on top when it's done right. Led's dont' work the same way halogen's and hid's do, they require different housing requirements. If you want to see what LED is capable of look at either car's that come stock with them, or the sealed beam LED's. Both of these offer engineers the chance to properly heatsink the led's and crank the power up.
I bought some headlights with integrated LEDs for low/high beams. They came with a warning that they make sound while operating because there is a fan that has to cool things. The only reason they don't seem as bright as the stock bixenons is because they are ~6000k while the stocks were closer to ~4500k
So YOU'RE the guy who is always blinding me on the road! >:(
I know this is an older video, and this comment may have already been made(not looking through them all) but I would like to point out that when purchasing aftermarket headlight housings from online, many companies are considered "euro style". Which basically means the housings were meant for driving on the left side of the road as compared to the right, so the lights will automatically be aimed towards the left, which is why aftermarket lights tend to blind other drivers. American housings are always aimed right. Certainly not saying the housings in this video are "euro style" but its something to look into when considering buying aftermarket lights. Don't always go cheap and always read the description, or even email the company making certain you're buying the right stuff! Nice video! I've been trying to decide which style lights to put in my wife's 08 Acadia and because of this video I'll be going HID. But I'll be using 4500k in the fogs, and 5-6000k in the headlights!
Hey Eric, just want to say i love your videos and watching and learning from you has inspired me to teach myself more about automotive maintenance. Ive just started taking a automotive class and i love it! In the process I've also discovered a new interest in it. Just wanted to say thank you and keep making videos as long as you can! Thank you!
Those projectors are commonly known as "bi-xenon" projectors, so named for the HID headlight assemblies that use them to get both low and high beam from a single HID xenon capsule, since firing the capsule on and off as with normal halogen low/high beams can drastically shorten the life of the HID capsules. This is the first time I've ever seen them in an aftermarket assembly designed for halogen bulbs.
The mid-2000's Nissan Maxima used a single halogen projector with a solenoid on the cutoff shield like this, along with a similar bi-xenon HID projector housing on the HID equipped cars (same projectors as used by the mid-2000's Mercedes E55, which I used in my Integra bi-xenon retrofit back in 2004).
Not all LED bulbs are created equal, some project more light forward than others, the rated brightness is not indicative of how much light will be projected forward.
Some LED lights may do better in a reflector than a projector, and vice versa.
LEDs are overall brighter in reflector housing. Projector? Not so much. But you have to spend the money to get the better output.
@@matty1053 Totoally incorrect. OP has the proper statement. Most Led bulbs have their diode placement very far forward or at the end of the stall and this usually makes it bad for reflector housings but decent on projectors that uses to house HID.
Some brands, like Hikari found on Amazon, are developed to match halogen bulb filament placing. This makes them suitable for reflector or halogen projector. I put some in my 2008 MX5 and the improvement was vast. The projectors shot the light perfectly with no real issue except near car blind spots that you really can't see in the car. I never had to use my brights after that and was never flashed.
In addition to that my old Mx5 was better illuminated than my brand new 2019 that comes with LED from factory, in projector style headlights.
Also put same brand LEDs in a 2002 Porsche boxster with reflectors. Most European cars have projector style cut offs in their reflector housings so I tried them to make an improvement. They did make somewhat an improvement with better road illumination but overall it's a marginal improvement over halogens. Not like my MX5 where I could see down the road and off to the sides and never need brights again.
One thing to consider also is where the light is going in that beam. You want it to be brighter nearest the cutoff so more light is thrown down the road. Those leds were pretty crap in that aspect.
People, PLEASE recognize what eric did in his low car. I have a low car and can't tell you how often I get blinded by people with aftermarket headlights. AIM THEM DOWN. Don't worry, we can see you, my god.
You seem to forget that headlights are to see _by_ - not just so you can see them. And just aiming them down isn't necessarily safe as, in a lower vehicle, there will always be a point where the light beam is going to be at the same height as your eyes. How about "set them correctly - both for height and horizontal aim"...?
Some people are just really dumb and point their headlights straight forward. It's actually best to aim at the road because that's what you are trying to see.
Lift your car
That point goes clearly over the heads of most people with lifted vehicles in particular. I drive a lot at night for my job, and live in the South, so I regularly encounter lifted trucks and SUV s. With the over abundance of cheap LED and HID retrofit kits on eBay and Amazon, these types also like to find the brightest (ie., most glaring) lights they can find. So anyone in a lower vehicle, like me in my Mazda 3, get a double whammy or poorly aimed, too bright headlights.
Jeff Reeves Yes the road. Not the obstructions or the pedestrians ahead, nor the oncoming traffic.
Great info my 2017 Nissan Sentra SR came factory with LED Projector headlights and it’s a noticeable difference over standard halogens
It's worth mentioning that some aftermarket headlight upgrades are too hot for the stock reflector housings. I've seen cheaper eBay hid kits in an early 2000's Pontiac and the bulbs we're so hot during normal usage, the stock housings melted just enough for the bulbs to fall half way out. I had to replace the whole mess and pull out the hid kits and go back to stock with new housings too. Maybe you you could run the hid kits for 6 months and report back if they melted the plastic in yours too.
Peshewa diy I'm confused HID lights by fact run more cooler than a halogen, think you got some nice fakes haha
they should, because of quality, if you buy a 35W its no problem, but most promise "better visibility" and "bright white light", yet a cheap ballast will never give you a nice white light like the Osram or Phillips HIDs, in order to compete they are forced to give you a 55W ballast to give a similar light...again you may get better visibility compared to the cheap 35W, but will never get the white light the 35w Osram and Phillips gives in OEM cars today. and with a cheap 55w ballast and bulb, they would melt your housing just like a 55w halogen would because they give off much more heat and don't give you twice as much output, no reason ever to go 55W because its too hot for plastic, you run the chances of messing up your cars electrical system and melting the housing, besides the lifespan is already short, why reduce it in half for a 55W? sorry its a little long
logan thompson
My customers may have, yes. However, I've seen it several times.
Something I would be curious about in HID vs halogen too. Some plastic housings will not tolerate a halogen upgrade over standard without melting. Also Ebay is probably not the best source of good quality. Some really rubbish stuff sold as premium product thanks China!
For my money, LEDs are the way to go. The 5K white light gives you the clarity to see perfectly well with a comparable brightness to halogens (but superior spectrum of reflected light actually gives greater perceived brightness from the driver seat). The moderate brightness also is a benefit since you won't be blinding that driver speeding towards you in the oncoming lane. Best of both worlds.
This was an awesome test. I'll be getting HIDs for my lights. Thank's bro.
i may not know about LUX, but what i can tell you is that when i had my 2007 Acura TSX with HID's, those lights were awesome! I could see so much of a darkened road I take to work and feel really good about it. Now that i've traded up to a 2016 Acura RDX, I had to report the not-so-well-lighting of the LED's. I now have a bit of a hard time seeing this road as before with the HID's. I've actually sent messages to Acura informing them that the LED's don't do well on very dark roads---even the bright LED's don't do much better either. Sometimes it's not so bright that when I have my bright lights on I'm thinking that I have on my low beams still. I'd rather have the HID's any day!!
was there a lumen rating on the led bulbs because i do know that not all leds are created equal
also were the HID bulbs 35 or 55 watt
EmofacePS3 LASFIT H7 LED Headlight Kits-COB Flip Chips/Adjustable Beam- 60W 7600LM 6000K-Hi/Lo Beam/Fog Light Bulbs. Link is in description above. They look like the low end types with the flat cob leds. I would say try it with the 4 sided cob leds, or get some like those opt7 ones. What ya think?
Blueford86 no the more sides an headlight led has the cheaper and usually more ineffective it actually is at displaying a proper beam pattern my friend. Two sided LEDs at the most are the industry leaders blueprints for production
@@slumygoat Having upgraded honda dual-sport motorcycle headlights, I have to firmly disagree with your statement here.
If you are trying to replace a halogen bulb with the most comparable coverage, you want a minimum of 2sided led unit that mimics the halogen filament location.
And even stepping down in wattage, it will be a massive improvement in visibility (near doubt the long reach and more evenly out to the sides)
@@SportBikeAnthony Actually, the link is for 50W version LED's, vs 55w halogens, vs (link broken)
I think the drop-off you are seeing in this one is that those LED bulbs are meant for reflector housing retrofit. I believe there are different ones meant for projector housing. Just a guess really.
Thank you for this useful information eric! I can see that a lot of effort went in to making this video.
I have the same Element and headlights, I am running XKglow 76 Watt Super Bright LED Headlight Error-free Conversion Kit. Best mod I have done thus far.
XSeVeNX7 I
Good informative video, ignore stupid comments, he is a mechanic not a scientist so stop acting like the video lacked information or that he done this and that wrong, if you don't like it don't watch it.
Excellent video, you did a FAR better job than I could have done. It's interesting that the glare that people are knee-jerk "warning" about with the HID retrofit in these projector housings is no more than with a Halogen bulb. I did a comparison of the "cheap" H3 LED bulbs on my Expedition's spyder auto projector lights today and found all of them lacking, So, HID is getting ordered. Damn, my BMW's factory xenon lights got me spoiled :D
Everyone is an expert in the comments apparently
when it comes to this topic and having done everything from stock reflectors to full custom retrofit HID projectors yeah I'd say so, also 5000k sucks unless you are running a 55 or 65 watt ballast, if you are on 35 watt ballasts you should be no higher then 4300k for the most light output.
As someone who deals with theatrical lighting on a regular basis, I'm not sure I see the connection between power dissipation and color temperature on non-tungsten lamps. It may be different for headlights, but this would be the first time I've seen it.
For what it's worth, 5000k tends to wash out details with its unnaturally white hue. My eyes prefer a slightly warmer temperature, which brings out details better (such as foreign objects in the roadway at night).
Again, just my $0.02 based on a loosely related field of experience.
the higher wattage ballast causes the bulb to color shift about 500k or so lower, like a 5000k bulb with a 55 watt ballast looks closer to a 4300k bulb with a 35 watt ballast then a 5000k bulb on a 35 watt ballast
AkiraTheGodEater it's Allright I'm a "UA-cam master mechanic"
You sound like an expert on experts.
Great comparison, yes it could have been done in a more controlled environment but give this guy a break. Normal bloke in a normal car in a normal environment. In my opinion this is a cracking comparison, thank you very much.
I wonder whether the low lux reading of the LED’s is due to LED’s flicking on and off so quickly. The camera may pick this up, where we don’t? Just a thought. Great video though!
For aftermarket LED this is a fair test. but a car that comes stock with LED headlights they are not in a projector housing, but in a small reflector housing again and are much brighter than HID headlights.
I changed my halogen projectors to hid projectors. The results are absolutely amazing! I have them adjusted properly. And I couldn't be happier. The light travels noticeably farther. And I know they are not blinding oncoming traffic. If you're getting blinded by someone's low beam HID projectors, that means they are not properly adjusted. People have them adjusted up past the level of the mark on the light housing. Those people are really the douchebags!
I know I should use HID projectors but my car already comes with halogen projectors so I guess I'll just settle instead of getting a projector retrofit. Hopefully it's not enough to make me regret it.
There’s a thing call keep eyes on the road and not at the other car’s headlights. That may help. Also you still have people with halogen lights that can blind drivers too because they’re aim too high or they forget to shut off their high beam. Or throw some shades on if you hate bright lights and can’t seem to stop staring directly at it.
It's really good to see you back and posting on ETCG. Thanks man.
I think a better test would be to use lights that are all the same color frequency. I am a firm believer that the lower the frequency the better it is on your eyes (Cause less strain). I have driven for years at night and have tried all the lights out there from the regular sealed beam, Halogen, HID, and LED. My find is this. if you care?
Sealed beam: Very long lasting, but not as bright as I would like. Appear to have a short throw. Perhaps to low of a frequency, but very easy on the eyes. (from inside my van looking out onto the road.)
HALOGEN: Very nice light, keeping with a lower frequency but also giving the appearance of greater distance of light than the sealed beam.
HID: Nice lights very bright and long throwing. Not made for regular light housing though. Must have a projector for these bad boys. Again the only color frequency I could get was 5000+ and this I find hard on the eyes when driving long distances at night. I always got flashed by oncoming traffic with these lights installed.
LED: These lights are still in their infancy. Some car makers like Mercedez, Audi, BMW, and so forth have spent millions to developing their LED lights to make them work pretty good but there is still a long way to go. No one should ever think that buying a LED bulb and putting it into their headlights will have lights like the above-mentioned cars. A little FYI for everyone. LEDs are best reflected out to the road rather than pointed at the road.
In other words, LED lights need a lot of reflective control and can NOT use the same housing you use for your Halogen head lights. Check out J.W. Speaker head lights Now look at the difference between them and your head lights. (LED version)
Love the video Eric glad to see you back and moving forward. later buddy.
Oly problem I can see with this otherwise excellent review is that not ALL Halogen/HID/LEDs are created equal.
The only thing I would have added to this video is a side by side by side screenshot of the 3 lights while in the driver seat to see the differences, but also from a more neutral spot. All 3 shots were from 3 different spots so you can’t really trust what you are seeing. Great video though. I might be ordering some HIDs for my projectors now.
l was debating what to possibly upgrade to, this video just helped me make my decision.
Modded my 4Runner Projectors stock H11 Halogen bulbs to fit H9 Halogen bulbs, I get much whiter and brighter light. No need to mess with HID ballasts or junky LED bulbs.
Just to note for UK readers, and motorists. Your car will fail an MOT if fitted with HID lights as fitting them is an offence, and illegal.
only if not fitted with projector headlights, lense washers and automatic leveling
Those cost 500$ plus labour. It's more convenient to run projectors and halogens inside .
very true, hence why there is a bad reputation in regards to HID's, so many people use them without the proper equipment..
Chris P Bacon charming ✌️
legal in my motorcycle headlight. different rules :-) aimed properly and i don't get any harassment. passed MOT.
Great video! Agree w/14k and not 140k. I can certainly buy that HID's are best because they burn at much higher temperatures therefore the light being hard and not soft like LED's. Think I'll do HID for headlights and LED for fogs.
this may be old news, and you may already know this... but seeing as how it was done THIS year, im going to post it anyway. you cannot simply lump all LED bulbs into the same category. there are some out there that are terrible for projectors... no doubt (especially the cheap ones like you just tested - lasfit are complete garbage). they werent built for projector housings. however, if you do a minor amount of research, youd see that there are a ton that ARE designed specifically to work in projector housings. HID and LED bulbs that were designed for projectors will result in typically the exact same output numbers. while it is true that HID are the safe bet as no matter what... they will give consistent performance - it is still a trade off. HIDs take several seconds to 'warm up'.... you can't flash HIDs... flipping from low to high beams results in several seconds of little light. if you know what youre doing, and what youre getting, LEDs are the better alternative, but they are not all made the same.
Pretty decent video. Answered quite a few questions that were coming to my mind. Thank you for your footwork.
Awesome vid, man! LEDs are just a tad dimmer than halogens but, IMO, you cant beat that white. HIDs are great but too expensive, and maybe too bright. Few people actually need that amount of light, unless you're off-roading in the middle of a new moon night.
ComandanteJ I nightly drive Florida back roads, so I really do need that bright of a light. Deer are a serious issue here, and with my stock lights I could barely see the sides of the roads
Well, that's definetely a justified use-case, then. Bambies are a dangerous lot.
Great vid!
Normally large trucks suck to pass or be in front of but GM specifically needs to address the HID lights in their newer pickups. I drive an '06 Forester and I find it unbearable when passing one on the highway. My LED roof/offroad lights aren't nearly that retina damaging and I would get wheeled in a second if I drove around with them on.
"High beams, low beams, high beams, low beams."
Colonel Jack O'Neill did a similar test on Thor's ship, the Daniel Jackson. "Light's on, light's off, light's on, lights off..." Thor, T'ealc and Daniel were understandably unimpressed. :o)
....What?
LED bulbs come in different shapes, sizes and quality. Be sure to rotate the bulb in the housing to it’s best position for those optics (makes a big difference).
There are changes in the Fstop and the "time" of the light meter app... Shouldn it be the same for every step? As a photographer there is big difference in the F stops, for example ?
That's the recommended aperture (and shutter speed next to it) for the light conditions measured
Good job, I already had the feeling that HIDs are what I want in comparison to LEDs and this was a very good video to give me the info I need to make my decision. Thanks
Good update on the video, but still please remind people that not all projectors are created equal. Before HID lights projectors were made to internally reflect halogen bulbs. When you put in an HID bulb, in a halogen projector, it WILL BLIND PEOPLE. The housing is not meant to reflect the light output of an HID bulb as the light output is not the same a filament bulb.
Please make sure that you mention that in your videos. I’ve had to research this myself as I have projectors but halogen H7 projectors. My car had an HID option and the internals are different.
CelicaAutocrosser Thank God you understand that HID bulbs are made for specifically designed Projectors and not Halogen Projectors or reflectors!!!! Someone with some common sense!
not true
Combustion69 wow insightful response. Anyways I own a vehicle in which offered both and HID and halogen option before HID was standard. The way the light is reflected from an HID bulb in a halogen enclosure is different than an enclosure meant for HID. An arc bulb is a lot different than a halogen bulb and light comes out of them differently. Just do your homework and when you put an HID bulb on a non-hid housing, be careful not to blind people.
False, many cars come with hid from factory on reflector housings, they only add a plastic shroud and call it a day, ANY reflector will bli d you if misaligned, whenever you upgrade or change your bulbs, Hids, or leds, the housing needs to be realigned to avoid blinding or glaring, an step most people skip.
I feel that there are some unmentioned variables here worth mentioning. Not all brands and models of each of the 3 bulb types have the same brightness, harshness/softness or color temperature. Different color temperatures (the deep blue 8,000 kelvin or 10,000 kelvin HIDs, for example) are known to be less bright compared the 4,500 or 5,000 kelvin HIDs of the same brand and model bulb. The clarity of the headlight housing lens is also an important factor. As most vehicle owners should notice after a few years, plastic headlight housing lenses become cloudy and/or yellowed with age. No doubt this affects the lux at distance. There are other variables in this test that I may be forgetting about but for the most part I would have to say that the results here are pretty accurate (except for the 140,000 lux reading...are you sure about that, Eric?).
This was a much better comparison video, my only problem is Eric, you used a very very poor quality LED Kit. The LED themselves on them are not powerful enough to produce the amount of light you need. Also Projector housings that are aftermarket usually have defects in the reflector base with the chrome usually its all bubbled and not a perfect mirror. Not saying yours are like that though. To have any comparison with the HIDS would be to get a 100 or more LED bulb/kit. Usually the good ones with be passive cooled and not fan cooled. They usually have a bunch of flat braided cables coming out the back. But for good LED bulbs you have to spend some money. Anyways keep doing what you do Eric!
If you watch the other video you'll see the results are typical. HIDs are brighter than LEDs.
HID are brighter yes but for reliability, ease of installation and the fact no ballast is needed like the HID bulbs need led is better and in a couple years I see LED surpassing them
Andrew Muller and that being said in colder climates HID are superior to LED due to the LED bulbs not emitting enough heat to melt ice off the lens
chrome shrouds/housing have little to do with emitting light so those defects don't matter. All you have is a type of light source, a physical piece to make the cutoff line, and the lens.
Plus he made sure the output of both led and hid were both 5000k
This confirms my eye was right and leds are generally pretty dim. (I’ve never had much luck with them on my personal car with my uses.)
Aren't projectors also have many different type? Like projector for halogen is different than projector for HID and also LED.
Andri Herawan Yes. Different light sources have different projectors.
Ted R. Okay, now which type of projector does he use in this video?
an Ebay halogen projector, the worst one you can get
To be fair, it's not the worst. Some of those eBay projectors have that crazy ring of darkness through them. These are at least not TERRIBLE.
Exactly, if he’s using a halogen projector housing, then it’s not really scientific. LED light will scatter in a halogen projector and HIDs won’t put out the intended output, etc etc etc
With this video I am going to pick the led for couple reasons but my main reason is that I don’t like the warm up on the HIDs especially where I live gets negative 30 to 40 it might be a issue. Thank you sir!
Warm up means max light out put ready. 10 seconds max.
Great video mate, can tell from making videos myself the time and effort which has gone into this video👌🏻 top class job💪🏻
Looks like LEDs aren't quite there yet. Hopefully they get there, as they have with flashlights and such.
Best improvement we ever made to our '86 Grand Marquis was install HID headlights. Literal night & day difference over the halogen sealed beams!
Another lighting mod I did was to my '74 Yamaha RD350 2-stroke motorcycle - took the stock 35w non-halogen bulb, and replaced it with a later model year Honda sealed beam 55w halogen (with proper mods to the electrical system of course) - again, night & day difference. Was like going from driving at night holding a candle (YELLOW!), to actually having a real headlight. :D
Hi Eric.....
Thanks for shedding some light on that for us 💡💡
Great content & very informative as usual.
Nice job, Eric. Until the leds get there with the halogens, i'll keep the halogens. The hids are wayy too bright. The hids would be better suited to places where there's no lights, like out in the country, with little to no traffic. They're too bright for city driving.
Somehow 140k lux sounds like way too much. Sure this wasn't some measuring fault? Could you repeat that measurement and get that high a number each time? Sounds quite unbelievable...
I'm guessing it was 14K, which still is a bit hard to believe.
Needs to get a better app, it was probably 14k.
WHTMAN0815 he has a light reading attachment he's not using the physical phone to read the light
WHTMAN0815 even if he was using the phone, he measured all of the lights consistently with the same device. Rather than getting super accurate numbers, I think the point was more about comparing the three different light sources to each other. For that purpose, the phone app is fine.
The Ranch Mechanic yes but his numbers for the hid light are definitely not right haha but great video
You are not the only person to find that LED headlights are weak in general when compared to halogen or HID headlights. I believe the IIHS has done some studies on it recently may be some info there to add to your findings.
Try driving somthing really low.. Like a c5 vette, and here come the God of light truck with full hids and light bars on...
Try a Toyota MR2 even smaller, and the lights output only goes 6 -8 feet away.
U finna meet Jesus lol
Great test Eric!! This is definitely good data in choosing what "bulbs" to use when deciding to modify the lights.
Eric💖 welcome back
I really enjoyed this video, good information. A lot of people install upgraded lights, whether or not they are supposed to, it happens a lot. Good to see some solid information out there. Projector housings are the way to go if you are switching to HID or LED bulbs.
Please do not use hid or led in reflector housing.. The glare is terrible. Also people with hazy headlights+led/hid are even worse.
Preach it!!
Nah bro we’re good I love blinding other drivers it’s funny af when they rage then they get scared when they see how big of a penis I have and back off
Hence my Navigator. I did not see any projectors in the reflector housings and they seemed stock to me.
hmm I did not know that. I assumed it was LED since the interior had LEDS all in it.
Nah people are gonna do whatever they want to sorry pal
Can you do an update? Lots of changes since this was made.
Your procedure is more real world than most, and helpful. Only error was the 140,000 comment
Hate those turds driving their lifted trucks on the highway with aftermarket bulb installed HID FOGS, HEADLIGHTS and OFF ROAD lights all on running behind me.
Sky1 drive a 4miles below the speed limit and they will get frustrated and pass you up petal to the metal. easy stuff
@@Idleplayer17 Thanks, I'll do this next time. Not to annoy them of course, but to drive more safely ;)
Thanks for this review. It was maybe not scientific to suit pedantic types but certainly a good direct comparison between light types. I feel comfortable now upgrading to HID for my projector lights knowing I will not be spraying oncoming traffic with annoying glare. I hate glary aftermarket HID conversions in reflector housings with a passion as I encounter them far more often driving a truck. They deserve to be flashed or worse. Some are ignorant and others don't care. The authorities are asleep at the wheel on this problem too! The biggest laugh is those with "6 million K" glary blue lights that are useless to see with but glare worse than high beam. One of the problems with normal reflector lights using high k lights is that the reflector does not focus higher frequencies the same as lower frequencies so the glare is worse due to the poor cutoff (chromatic abberation same as that purple fringe you get on toy binoculars or telescopes) All car manufacturers use 4200K lights to my knowledge. They always look super white.
HID"S all ways work better in projector headlight. LED's don't work well .
Eric you can get HID in reflector housings from factory.
The Honda Civic Type R(FN2)
he mentioned that he was using the wrong term in the video itself ><
hid reflector headlights exist, they aren't the same as halogen reflectors though
He did say "When ever you hear me say Halogen housings please substitute that for reflector housings" @ 1:05.
Unless that was another mix up.
LED for sure. Best light while being kind to other drivers
WashingTone incorrect, all depends on the housing and if you level it correctly.
SuperDuty Zack 9
*I like that you included the on coming traffic's perspective in your testing. MOST people have ZERO consideration for the oncoming traffic that has to deal with being blinded by other people's bright ass lights i have ended up colliding with someone here in Tennessee who was driving down the road over the center line and was unable to see ANYTHING because their lights were so damn bright. it was an OLDER couple who's grandson had upgraded their lights in their Kia sedona so his too old to be out driving at night grandmother could see better at night, never mind that she had no business driving let alone at night nor should she have been half way in my lane but guess who's insurance had to pay out on me bumping their mirror? Wasn't theirs*
Hi Eric, excellent video. Entertaining and informative. Quick question though... What Wattage are you using for the HID kit? Eg. 35W or 55W
Same question for the LEDs.
Thanks
All bulbs used are linked in the description.
Great comparison. I guess LED lights are not that much better. I also greatly appreciate the disclaimer in the beginning and end
That's because those LEDs are cheap ones. Quality LEDs that are comparable or surpassing HIDs will cost more than HIDs.
Not really. If you look at the other video the results were similar. LEDs have a softer, less intense light output over HIDs.
EricTheCarGuy that doesnt make sense. You are saying his point is invalid because of your last test. Well your last test you used a crappy led bulb as well.
But there is a real problem. Navigating the world of led bulbs is a real crap shoot. You are more likely to find a dog then and good bulb. Hikari are a good design. The best are gtr.
my Corolla's stock LED bulbs are just as bright as HID
Nope, I bought two set of quality LED I wasn't impressed. The LED still didn't pass my 55w HID set up in brightness or distance.
A great example is the second and third generation of Acura MDX. The second gen (the one I have) has HID 4700K xenon headlights. The third gen has LEDs. When I stop alongside a third gen MDX, it clearly surpasses in light density with LEDs over my HIDs every time. So again, in order to be able to at least come close to HIDs, the LEDs will cost you more than those HIDs.
Wow...awesome testing. I had a lot of confusion over these bulbs & now I'm cleared & I'm satisfied with your test results. Thanks for giving a detailed description about the lights. Good job keep it up.....👍
Oh shit! He marked it with a board! Damn, that is precision baby! 😂
I'm j/k
There are two kinds of high beam, if the car got one singel projetor lens, like vw passat, there is a flap that opens inside to give you high beam. On my old 2006 saab 9-5, i got two sets of projector lenses, low beam with HID and high beam with halogen bulbs. Then i got LED auxeliry lights on high beam to give me day light at night. On my car and cars with similar set ups, it is a bad idea to instal HID kit on the high beam instead if halogen bulbs. HID lights wants to be turned on and stay on, if the are turned on and off, on and off rapidly, the ballast may overload and fail, LED will not.
It all depends on what LED you use.. they vary greatly.. the one you got was as shitty as you can possibly find.. also a 55w hid will always kill every other option
Nice to see Brian's name back in the camera credit.
As mentioned, even with projector shields, there's a difference between halogen and HID! There's still the possibility of glare with a Halogen based projector beam when hids are installed. Best bet is to do a retrofit from a reputable company like retrofitsource.com
Riley these are H7 projectors which generally work quite well with D2S HID bulbs. In fact you can use standard D2S bulbs with only the addition of a small aluminum ring to adapt them to H7 projectors. Frankly the beam pattern looks a lot like Bosch H7 projectors used in Audi and other European makes, which work well with HID, far better than something like crappy 9006 projectors.
Patrick94GSR While I agree that the cut-off is decent with these particular lense/shields, they're still not nearly as sharp as a good retro. Like a morimoto h1 retrofit kit. These will definitely surfice if you want something quick.
Riley TRS even sells H7 projectors for lower cost to use for budget retrofits.
Riley there are plenty of “HID designed” projectors that have poor cutoffs. That’s cannot be a comparison.
spam
Definitely useful info and a real world test the only wrinkle I see (although it probably wouldn’t effect the overall results) is the inconsistency in output between different brands of bulbs especially in LED’s but that’s more an argument about brand X vs Y being brighter for the same bulb type.
Personally in my primary vehicle I’m using all 3, OEM HID’s in a projector housing, Halogen high beams and LED’s for the fog lights and also replaced all the marker brake lights and interior lights with LED’ I did leave the incandescent turn signal bulbs (just didn’t want to deal with the whole hyper flash/bulb error thing)
If I were you I would uprgrade my high beams to LEDs, its a worthwhile upgrade. Also, you can modify your turn signal relay to stop hyperflashing with LEDs. It's not all that hard and I could walk you through it if you'd like. I did a Projector HID retrofit on my 7th gen Honda Accord, with LED everything else, by far my favorite and most useful modification.
Unfortunately there is still a flaw with this experiment. The issue is the projectors are not HID projectors.
Thanks for the test. My first impressions with led in a projector housing were quite bad until I got a more powerful and focused led with 16000 lumen output. Excellent stuff.
Would you please tell me what kind of LEDs did you use? Do you have a link please
Geez, I can't freaking believe people wouldn't use common sense and think that halogen housings refer to...halogen housings, as in, you should only use halogen bulbs, even if they're not named like that, we've come to a pussyfying of single damn thing, nice job Eric, I feel for you to have to clarify every single stupid thing because of idiots with a holier-than-thou complex.
Well unfortunately they make halogen projectors as well, not just reflector based, and most people just buy kits like Eric did and throw bulbs in said projectors that aren't designed for it. Eric was right to make the correction regardless.
Christian Lamey I know that, it's because its obvious that I feel like it shouldn't be clarified, and never did I say it wasn't Okay from him to clarify such, I said he shouldn't have to
Good to see you again wish you the best