My Honest Review: Phillips H4 LED headlights

I decided that I'm also in that camp... Ordered my direct wire harness and the Osram 80/85w H4s. Seems like the easy route to way more light. Downside is bulb life but at $40 for a set of 2 bulbs I'm good with 12-18mo bulb life. And at less than $150 total to be into it I think I'll take a chance.

 

I still have a 100/80 I bought close to 10 years ago in my 2011 one went toes up this summer the other one is still burning it's pretty easy to tell the 100 watt over the stock one.

 

http://m.ebay.com/itm/331232250425?_mwBanner=1
looks like another company is onto the idea of aiming lows up and highs to the side... looks interesting. So want something better but cant justify a full HID retrofitting

 

Coming out of good old Canton China... One has to wonder if that "Phillips" bulb is an actual Phillips. I'm too lazy to google search it. I'm guessing it's closer to "PHIRRIPS" Hahaha.

 

You can see that in my post toward the end of my pics. I've had mine in for a couple of weeks now and am still quite happy with them.


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/philips-12953bwx2-led-headlight-bulb-install.402154/



My only question is why are people saying there is such a long wait for these? I had mine two days after placing my order. I know a few weeks before I ordered they were not in stock, but I think they are readily available now.

 

Installing an H4 no matter what the wattage is where an H4 was should make no difference in the head light pattern. An HID or LED yes.

 

From personal experience, these things are bright. Anyone will have a hard time capturing an actual representation of the light output of these with a camera (unless they are a pro). The high beams are significantly brighter and penetrate much further than the stock halogens.

 

No doubt LED's have come a long way part of the perception of greater light is the color temperature it is a good bit higher than a standard bulb that makes a big difference.

 

Camera pictures attempting to capture the true light output of the headlights themselves make no true justification how spectacular these perform in a stock headlight assembly as I mentioned earlier.

I very much agree with your statement.

Agreed as well. Halogen tends to be dingy yellow where as the color temperature of these appear to be very very rival of the same color projected by stock HID colors which are in manufacturer's vehicles. Honda, GM, Porsche, BMW etc.

 

Higher color temp bulbs doesn't make the bulbs brighter. The K rating is for the color spectrum it's in. If you want the brightest bulbs, you'll aim for around 4300k. The lumens begin to drop after about 5000k. Almost all OEM are 4300K. Here's a good article if you want to know more. http://headlightretrofits.com/bulbs-info/hid-kelvin-color/

 

Skimmed all 3 pages and didn't read whether or not you get flashed by oncoming cars with these?

 

I have been running them for a few weeks and haven't been flashed once.

 

For the record, I have not been flashed at all. Nor was there any need to make any adjust on the headlights. When I am at an incline and the car I am approaching towards is below the headlights line of sight, however, I do notice people tend to squint their eyes. This is purely due to the fact that the truck as a whole is pointing upwards vs. It just being level. Trucks in general tend to blind sedan and coupe passenger cars simply due to the fact that they are almost always sitting higher off the ground than a car. So to some people, what appears to be a trucks high beams are actually just the lows and people don't really realize that. Recovery rate of LED light blinding is much less time than that of a high intensity discharge application however (especially to the elderly who still drive at night, whose eyesight has a much slower recovery rate than the younger middle aged and young adult populace) and since the beam has a proper cutoff instead of scatter in the stock bowls rather than that of HID's and the made in China LED's vision should be right about at the same recovery time or just a little more than that of being blinded in the same situation as a halogen.

I don't have or know the specific's as far as data on this information is concerned, but since the light usage isn't as focused centrally as a bulb without the integrated cutoff's are concerned. The problem should be much lessened.

 

I converted my FJ80 to LED. Compared to the old high beam. Makes me wonder how I made it without them.

 

Looks good, but quite pricey for headlight bulbs. You can HID retrofit for a fraction of the cost. If the last the life of the truck they'll be for it.

 

Last time I looked, a true quality retrofit from TRS (w projectors and not a glare producing hid kit in the halogen reflectors) was almost a $100 more than these bulbs, even with the coupon codes available for each due to on going group buys.

 

A fraction of the cost? Yeah I'm definitely calling BS on that one for sure. These will last much longer and are way more offroad friendly and ready than an HID system will be also.

 

Not if you source your parts differently. TRS has the name but it doesn't mean that they have the best parts. In fact most of the same parts can be sourced elsewhere for much less. For instance, most people don't know is that the bulbs are produced by CN Light in China. They are the only company that has the patent on the ball type HID bulb. They can be had on ebay for $14 a pair, any type or color you want. I have two different sources I get my ballasts from. I use the old Hella style 50W or 35W ballasts and can get these for 40 a pair, the real deal ones, not the knockoffs commonly seen. In my last vehicle these ballasts lasted seven years and were still working when I took them out of the vehicle when I traded it. Even if I purchased Morimoto Mini H1's and the motocontrol at full price it would still only be $209 for everything. But then I understand the time it would take to retrofit so I see where one wouldn't mind spending the cash on the LED Bulbs. Id like to see their performance in person, they do look pretty cool.

Hey Bro, its your money, buy what you want. My only thought was about the $269.00 for a pair of light bulbs. I know you got them 2nd hand so you got a better deal but that is pricey for "bulbs." And as far as longevity is concerned on those bulbs, only time will tell on that statement. Id like to see them in person, they do look pretty cool.

 

Interesting. I do believe the whole made in China deal and it honestly doesn't surprise me. I know these Phillips bulbs are Japan made, and their longevity are supposed to be 12 years or 200,000 hours if I recall correctly. The ballasts supplied are actually drivers for the bulbs. The warranty if I remember right is either 3 years or 12 years (I may be VERY wrong with the 12 years) but they are definitely quality. Pictures do them no justice and while I would have a problem with buying them at $275, I didn't at a cheaper price, so I very much lucked out. After all, that is the price we paid for HID at one point for our cars and the stuff we would buy was second rate non quality stuff, where as this stuff is quality rate stuff. Just the way I see things. I offroad a lot and don't want to worry about killing my ballasts or bulbs due to heavy vibration.

 

Just bought a set of headlight and fog light bulb for about $350 at XD, cheaper than a retrofit, cleaner than HID kits, so much better than halogens. Easy to find without any wait. Haven't been flashed on the street running these and white light without blue tint.





Low and fogs








High and fogs