3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

People here drive with high beams on constantly. There's several cars per night driving with them on, despite appearing to have low-beams working just fine.

Can people not see the blue high-beam icon lit up on their dash? Do they even know what it means?

 

Wow thank you for summarizing the data! Much appreciated

 

@Toy_Runner summed it up well. I'll add the + rated H11 bulbs like the GE and Tungsram increase the distance projection by providing increased focus to create a higher intensity (brighter) hot spot in the beam.

Also be sure to see post #2 for the additional halogen comparisons and post #3 if interested in LEDs. Halogens outperform replacement LEDs. I still need to pull together the OEM LED headlight testing into a single post, but those are the highest performing units for both low and high beam not yet added to post #3.

 

Yeah, I was thinking that summary was excellent but left out OEM LED as a potentially best-in-class cost-no-object option. But since I'm not the expert I didn't want to influence the judge(s). That and I've never actually seen them so what do I know

 

The LED package is 500 as an option.

The aftermarket options are about a grand five or take a hundred.

yeah a set of H9s is closer to 20 than 500 but 500 for the LED upgrade isn’t half bad at all from the factory.

 

I plan on going with the OEM LED headlights for exactly the reasons you said, the simplicity and reliability. I was just curious if you had checked one out with the tuned RX350 projectors. I wouldn’t be the least bit worried about a NY State safety inspection though. I’ve never even heard of someone failing inspection for having a retrofit and I was an inspector for almost 10 years.

 

Just get brighter headlights and auxiliary lighting to blind them back!

 

It’s a complete no brainer to me when buying new.

It’s more complicated as a replacement for halogen.

 

I just picked up a pair of H9's for my wife's JGC since they use H11s stock per the recommendations on this thread and @Toy_Runner 's summation of the bulbs. Her stock bulbs are pretty crummy (and 4 years old), so the H9 bulbs should be a great compromise between life / output. I disabled her DRLs as they'd definitely kill the bulbs quite fast. I couldn't see spending double the H9 cost for the absolute last drop of output. I also grabbed a set of Hella H11 XYs per an earlier yellow fog bulb recommendation. I run those in the winter in my stock OR fog lamps and liked them a lot. Her fog lamps are not nearly as good as the Toyotas as far as distance projection, but I've had yellow fog lamps on every vehicle I've owned, so it only makes sense to extend the trend.

To add the OEM HID to that vehicle post-factory is in excess of $2,000 all said and done. It makes the $1,600 for the Tacoma lamps easy to swallow. For anyone buying one of these trucks new, $500 is a no-brainer. I only had the Xtravision +100 but the upgrade from those to the OEM LED is shocking.

 

You also have to take in to account that people who retrofit sometimes aren’t just doing it for better light output. Headlights are like wheels, suspension, and engine. Some people save the money buying from the manufacturer knowing they’re going to retrofit. Personally I did the RX350 retrofit and BHLM for better lighting than the stock halogen. But I also did it for the looks adding quad projectors with quad halos and moving the turn signals to the halos. The OEM LEDs provide the best light output OEM, but they still have a lot of chrome due to reflector. I wish they did projector LEDs. I’m also not personally a fan of the “C” LED DRLs.
With the retrofit, it allows you to add better lighting, but also tailor the lights to your style.

 

Got my Phillips Pro150's today, and was kinda underwhelmed by lack of improvement. Definitely going with the H9's next time around, to try and squeeze every bit of light out of the stock projectors...

 

Yeah, underwhelming compared to what I had hoped. You could swap them to the fogs if you still have the stock fogs.

 

I’ll never understand the halos, it’s like Tokyo drift meets the off-road scene

 

Yeah cause BMW, who began using halos in the early 2000s marketed as angel eyes is sooo Tokyo drift along with all those Dodge challengers. I actually can’t think of a single Japanese car manufacturer that uses halos as OEM lighting.
I actually don’t associate trucks necessarily with off-road either.

 

I love halos.
Pics just for you.

 

Nice, this is the setup I just got done with.

 

Gorgeous!

 

Does anybody experience the same issue using the philips h9 bulb in low beam? The socket/connector of my low beam got burned.

 

I've run the Philips H9s in other vehicle low beams without issue, I don't have a 3rd Gen to specifically comment on the Tacoma though but this would be the first I've heard of such a problem. This seems very odd as the Philips H9 is the stock high beam bulb and used in a nearly identical type of OEM connector on the high beam.

Edit: I know we've chatted via PM, adding my comments for others.

 

Was he using an adapter harness or did he modify the bulb socket?