Brighter Headlights?!

Yeah we should get those headlights and just trade in the truck and find this one all together. This will give us the best lighting and look the best while doing it.

 

I am way too old to go into one of these trucks, they really do beat the heck out of you on the road... In comparison the new one rides like a cadillac.. Only it works..

 

You can see post #916 here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...e-not-led-or-hid.398066/page-46#post-16838570

It is a comparison of Philips vs Volsas. If you scroll a few posts up there is Volsa vs the stock bulbs but the assemblies were trashed on the truck so it isn’t a good comparison for improvement from stock.

I run Philips Xtreme +130 H13s on the GFs Mariner. They were a notable improvement over stock. However, many people don’t realize halogens dim over time, so if you are comparing to bulbs where one has recently burned out and the remaining bulb is effectively end of life it isn’t a great comparison.

I run high wattage halogens in my truck, which drastically out perform stock wattage bulbs, but they won’t outperform HIDs. Here is the H11 version I run in my fogs, which also works for 3rd gen headlights:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-h11-foglight-upgrade-not-led-or-hid.435419/

 

are the high wattage halogens DOT approved?

 

No, but it maintains the exact same SAE/DOT pattern and cut off so it appears like stock unless you are driving, when it appears far brighter. HID and LED retrofit bulbs are also not SAE/DOT compliant.

 

Understood. I believe that some LED bulbs are DOT approved...

Like these.

Philips 12834UNIX2 X-tremeVision LED Fog Light, Fits Fog H8, H11, H16, 2 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U2NHLTI/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_sDMyAbHP1TFRN

 

Obviously different angles and different light conditions as your was dusk and mine was a moonless night going uphill but you can see how much yours is washed out after that 10 yards or so. And if that hotspot being thrown on the ground is all because the headlight is adjust incorrectly you must have not been able to see a thing before hand. I'm just running a 35watt HID kit, not a 55watt which would be much brighter.

A lot of people seem impressed right away with LEDs but in real world conditions your stock halogens will let you see further out than low-beam LEDs. Read up on threads, a lot of people returned their LED lowbeams because they can't see well when it rains (since the throw is a lot shorter) or in inclimate conditions.

 

I can see what you mean somewhat. I just adjusted my headlights up and I’m going to snap another pic sometime this weekend.

Tell you what.. take a pic of yours from the bed of the truck over looking the cab on a flat road (no hill). I’ll do the exact same thing again and at around 11pm. I’ll PM you mine or visece verse and post them side by side on one post.

I’m very curious now and I feel doing this will answer any further question on this thread regarding LED or HID.

Thanks in advance!

@RobP62 if you haven’t made the purchase yet. Maybe wait till you see this. I’m curious.

 

I live in a pretty hilly area unfortunately but I'll see what I can do. I initially wanted the LED bulbs as they were plug n play but ultimately ended up with HIDs as people have mentioned that LEDs don't cut through the rainy weather and perpetual darkness (not as bad as alaska of course) we have here during the winter in the Northwest. Will try to get more pics.

 

Awesome!!

 

Negative Ghost Rider. The only SAE compliant light source will be the light source the housing was originally designed for, in the power it was originally specified at.

 

I believe that's DOT. SAE is society of automotive engineers. Even if something says it's DOT, you can still be ticketed by a cop.

 

Sorry not flat or straight but no street lights and you can see how well lit up the street is at the end even though the hot spot is much closer. I'm running amber/yellow halogen fogs as well. I believe LEDS will make the initial area brighter than halogen but won't have that throw in the distance like Hids or a stronger halogen bulbs. Part of it is the 6k color. I ran 6k hid bulbs before in my previous vehicle and had much better visibility at 4600k, which is the most natural color for our eyes.

 

Same problem with the morimoto HID. Back to stock for now...

 

Check out the hylux thread, most of us have no issues at all.

 

Awesome!! I hope to take some pictures this evening or Sunday night. It was raining last night. Looks good though. As soon as I get mine I’ll post it

 

I had upgraded my bulbs to the Phillips extreme h11. I thought I needed a brighter setup so I bought a set of Xenon Depot 35w Phillips 4.3k setup.

I liked the initial brightness and distance, however I just went back to the h11 last night after running the HIDs for just 1 month. I live in a urban area with alot of road signs and stop lights. It felt like I was getting eyestrain from the HID's. The amount of reflected light off of road signs and off of the trunks of vehicles ahead of me was significant. The Hid's did have a sharp blue transition only at the cutoff. I read about incoming lights causes eye strain and blue light being worse but not much about reflected light. I didn't seem to have any issues in rural areas. Yes, I did adjust my light down significantly when I installed the HIDs.

I had factory HIDs in Audi's and BMW's (over a decade with HID's) but they were cars and maybe the lower stance limited the amount of light reflected back.

 

What color were the bulbs? Sounds like you were running a colder blue color which will cause that. Try 4600k, which is the standard for OEM HIDs.

 

How far down did you adjust them? Just to give me an idea of the range of turn(s) on the adjuster.

The one drawback I see with my XD Extreme 4300k HID’s is about 5-10% of oncoming cars are flicking high beams at me. Lower oncoming vehicles and being behind someone in a Miata I have to stay far back.

 

I had adjusted the factory bulbs up from stock so I don't have a good reference point. The hid, I probably ended up alot lower then the initial. They were adjusted so they didn't poke above the trunk of a small sedan that I was behind at a stoplight. Even at this level, I would catch the side view mirrors of the car ahead of me and the one in the next lane and I knew I was blinding them. It seems like the cutoff lines bend up at the sides.

I never had anyone flash me but I would see people switch lanes that I was directly behind on a two lane highway. I might have been super sensitive about other drivers because I read alot about glare to oncoming traffic. I would linger further behind someone than i normally drive because I was concerned about glare. If I had to say, about 150ft is where the cutoff hit the ground.

On really bad city roads with alot of bumps, I felt I was blinding people still even with them aimed down. I know on my factory hids, they would auto lower the cutoff during angle changes of the vehicle. I got tired of worrying if I was blinding people and just decided to pull them out. 90% of my driving is city and typically there is plenty of light pollution so I just decided it's not worth it.