3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

Someone shall buy them and send to Crash for testing

 

As I was driving to work today in a nice mid winter Alaskan snow storm (-10F and snowing sideways), the ongoing conversation about glare in inclement weather came to mind.

Bottom line: The color of the light source doesn’t matter nearly as much as how well that source controls glare.

My wife’s Ford Edge with factory LED headlights is just fine in a snowstorm. I don’t care for the blue-white color but there is no real glare on the regular low beams.

On my Tacoma, I’ve tried several different bulbs in each light location. In weather like today High beams are useless, especially with the hella driving lights.

The regular low beams are fine with halogen bulbs. When I had drop in 4300k HID’s, I had a similar “jump to light speed” effect as I do now with the high beams and driving lights. Why? Because of the “squirrel spotters” up light on the stock halogen projector. The HID’s overwhelm the glare control and cause worse visibility in rain/snow.

The OEM TRD OR fogs are similarly bad with glare, regardless of bulb type. With h9 bulbs installed, glare was awful and almost couldn’t be seen through in bad weather. Don’t do this. With the high wattage h11’s I have in now, it’s still pretty bad, to the point where I don’t like using my fog lights in... fog, mist, and haze. I’m seeing a set of Diode Dynamics SS3 sports in my truck’s future.

 

They're usually out of stock after a sale (which they recently ran). I got 2 sets for high/low beams for $85 delivered (then bought another 2 pairs for my Highlander). I love them in both vehicles. I'm sure replacement lenses are better but $85 vs $1,500?...not enough difference for me.

Here are low and high beam pics.
Low

High

 

And in proximity to the "Taco Loco" no less...

 

Hmm...this might be a good enough stopgap for me until I can get some money together for a retrofit lol.

 

I'll be honest, its been about 2 years since ive checked into upgrading my LED low beams on my 2017 TRD sport.
I currently have the Auxbeam H11 F-16 series, and arent as bright as id like.

What are the current best options now that there are years in tested products?

 

if you are referring to LED drop in, see post below for comparison LED

3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

 

Thank you!!

 

Hikari Ultra or Morimoto 2stoke 3.0. The 3.0s are a better focus design, but the output from the Hikaris is slightly higher.

 

I'm sorry if I missed this in the 216 pages but it seems the Phillips HID blows away the H9 in lux. In a car like the GX470 with projectors, wouldn't the Phillips HID be a better choice than H9s?

 

Yes it would be, but it comes at a very steep cost! For not much more if you're interested in DIY you would be better off with retrofitting a new projector that uses a D2S bulb so you have more choices for bulb manufacture, color etc. Plus far better lighting performance.

 

Yes, the XD rebased Philips HIDs are brighter than the H9s. However the projectors are designed for uplight to illuminate above the cut off horizon, and the allowance is based on halogen output levels. The halogen projectors do not have a complete solid cut off. So using a very bright HID bulb in there still causes blinding glare. There is also something to be said for the cost and simplicity of the halogen upgrade vs using aftermarket HID components. If interested in HID using an appropriate HID projector and bulb (like D2S mentioned above) would be the way to go. Then you can run genuine high quality bulbs with greater output in a housing designed correctly for the light source, without the blinding glare.

 

Been wanting to upgrade my fogs for a while now but never got around to it. Finally pulled the trigger on a set of OEM black LED fogs. Love the cleaner look and output. I snapped a quick pic because I wanted to see if the brains here could let me know how my alignment looks. The OEM fogs have an alignment knob that allows for up/down movements

 

Question regarding installing hikari ultra. I thought I read somewhere either here or Amazon reviews to try to install the lights "vertically" in the housing. Meaning that the leds are on the left and right side but I can't seem to get the driver side to line up accordingly. Any tips? Or am I over thinking it

 

Hard to say from a close wall shot. The cut off should have a 4" drop at 25', or alternatively if a flat location of the length isn't available, a 2" drop at 12.5'. For aiming longer is better though.

Correct, the emitters should be at 3 and 9 o'clock. I believe the LED power wire comes out of the 6 o'clock position on the back of the LED, so gif you have that aimed directly down you should have the alignment correct. Double check by pulling the LED to confirm the power wire position.

 

Thanks! My passenger side is placed correctly but the drivers side power cable is at about 9/10 o'clock position. I'll have to mess with it a bit tomorrow to see if I can get it to shift. It only seemed like it wanted to fit snugly in that position

 

Well, I'm back here after a long time of having upgraded H11 and H9 bulbs on the shelf, but not getting around to the install. The thread has really grown since I ordered the GE +130 bulbs from the UK! I had forgotten a bunch of details, it was nice to be able to come back and puzzle things out.

I was finally motivated to upgrade because the Hikaris I installed before this thread existed had started to act up - one side of the driver's side emitter went intermittent. Most unpleasant.

Thanks to crashnburn80 and all who have contributed. I have gone with the upgraded H11 for low beams and the higher output Hella H9s in the high beams and fogs (after tab modification and with an adapter harness). I was going to install Morimotos (have them on the shelf) but didn't get around to it and this swap is good enough so far ... anyone want to take them off my hands?

 

Gen 1s or 2s? $?

 

I wouldn't run the H9's in the fogs.
No glare cap = no bueno

 

Huh, really? I thought that was the consensus ... much earlier in the thread (when there was discussion of trimming the tabs to make them fit). The cutoff seems sharp when I aim them.

Though I must say ... that's not what I was remembering when I started doing the install. I had notes that said that the +130 H11s were for the fogs. So maybe I've got it all confused - and I meant to put upgraded H9s in the lows and highs.

They say the memory is the second thing to go ...

Ah, I may have found the source of my confusion in the thread about trimming tabs. OK, I have some swapping and trimming to do.

Thanks for catching my error!