3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

Hi folks,

A while back I ended up buying Tungsram H11-55NHX/BP2 Nighthawk Xenon bulbs to replace my dim stock headlights on my 2021 Tacoma. I was pretty happy with them and they were great driving around the woodsy roads at night up here.

Well, one finally burned out, and I went to repurchase a pack only to find out Tungsram seems to be out of business. I can probably find some in stock somewhere but I'd rather start with a new brand.

There are a lot of pages to go through here so I was wondering what the most comparable H11 lights were to these, even if they're slightly inferior.

If anyone has any personal recommendations for good bulbs I'd be interested.

Thanks!

 

Personally I gave up on the high efficiency H11’s and just do el cheapo Philips H9’s in the one vehicle I own with halogen projectors.

I have some +130’s w very light use and some +120’s which I think are brand new if you must have them. DM me a shipping address.

This reminds me, though, that it’s time to order up for winter.

 

Same I have the bulbs as a custom maintenance tracker on the head unit to remind me when to replace the H9's

 

During my morning drive to work, I noticed a 4Runner with aftermarket headlights coming up in my left sideview mirror.

Can you guys spot the problem?

 

Cheap assemblies with broken adjusters? And are they using fog lights in a clear, though dark morning, adding more foreground?

 

A lot of the aftermarket headlights just have bad optics in general. The Alpharex and GTR lights in this video have the hotspot well below the cutoff, which makes aiming them safely an impossibility. If the aim were adjusted up to move the hotspot out, they'd be blinding oncoming planes with their projector cutoff.

 

I need to install some better lighting on my '16 Tacoma. I'm in a rural area and when it gets dark, it is DARK! I'm curious what the more popular bulbs are. I could use something bright. Do these have the bright/dim lighting like what's in the truck now? What about the fog lights? They use the same bulb as the headlights do? I've been meaning to change the lighting, over the past 7 years, but never quite got around to it.

 

H9 class bulbs will help with headlights. But if I moved to a very dark place with dirt roads that have unidentified edges ... ditch lights. Helps illuminate the full-width of the road and beyond.

Just me $0.02. It was recently discussed: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ditch-lights.813154/

 

Best plug and play headlight upgrade is swapping Philips H9s into the low beam, inexpensive and huge performance gain. Your early 3rd gen being a 16-19 TRD is fortunate to have the high performance H11 wide angle fogs (unless you are in Canada). For the fogs, the best is Tungsram Platinum or Tungsram Xenon +120s, but Tungsram seems hard to come by at the moment. Alternatively the next best option is Osram Nightbreaker +200. Review covered here.

For the H11 fogs, the TRD units are very good. But if you want to take performance up even higher there are many performance fog assemblies available. Very few aftermarket units will have the width of the TRD wide angle units, I’d recommend checking out Diode Dynamics SS3s or Elites. With halogen headlights and for poor weather use I’d only go with selective yellow.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review.554813/

 

Cringe.

 

Shout out to @Arcticdc5 for posting this. It does apply to the OEM LEDs for anyone interested.
25% off Toyota Parts Promotion - SW Toyota Dealerships | Tacoma World

 

Wow! Toyota dealers never give that kind of discount, that is an incredible deal!

 

Best I've seen since Presidents day 2022? Maybe 21? Of course that is pre-tax, but still a smoking deal

 

The most useful mod on my truck are the Diode Dynamic SSc3 4K Pros with clear driving lens mounted as aux highbeams. They are behind the grill on a BAMF rack and I cut out windows in the grill for the lights.

 

I like my headlight beam pattern in box form.

 

I went a slightly different but similar route with mine. Twin Diode Dynamics 6 inch Stage series light bars. Like yours, in a driving pattern,hung using a BAMF mount and tied into the high beams. No cutting required and man do they light up the road. Should give me a better chance at spotting those deer getting ready to jump out in front of me.

 

I keep waffling about how to mount my lights. I really don't want to chop the grille up unless I can basically flush-mount the lamps with the front of the grille. Not a lot of good looking (or reportedly well made) aftermarket grilles. And the radar unit is another pain.

 

@crashnburn80 a great resource as always, you had previously recommend the Vosla 9012+120 (HIR2) for my 2004 4Runner as an upgrade to the 9006 bulbs low beams. Any idea how these Philips X-tremeVision Pro150 HIR2 would compare? Links for reference:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174099096628
https://www.powerbulbs.com/us/product/philips-x-tremevision-pro150-hir2-single

 

I saw those new Philips, I haven't tried them and don't have any comparison data unfortunately. I'd be curious if they have the iridescent HIR coating on them.

 

I tried to do a deep dive on it and there's not much, All I saw was the literature on the glass and gas makeup of the bulb. However, you would think a company like Philips that can throw their weight around with R&D developed a good one.

https://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/9012XVPB1/x-tremevision-pro150-car-headlight-bulb

https://images.philips.com/is/conte...Philips_Halogen_XVP_Trade_Presentation_EN.pdf