3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

As a police officer for over 32 years I can tell you unless a vehicle coming at me is blinding me with some sort of auxiliary light , no one I know or knew would ever make a stop or “ investigate “ the various light setups on vehicles we see.

 

Did the H11 to H9 swap yesterday using the H9 Philips standard halogen bulb that the OP and many others recommend. Huge improvement over the OEM H11 bulb. I normally drive with my fog lights on in the night for better light but didn't have to after the swap. Highly recommend this relatively cheap upgrade.

Inserting the H9 bulb into the low beam was easy enough. No bulb tab modification needed. Just insert the larger tab on an angle first and it goes in easy enough. I also swapped out the plug's green insert for the H9 yellow insert because I had them on hand. That step probably wasn't necessary.

 

My bad. I should have given @daveeasa an honorable mention and thanks for the tips on how to insert the bulb and remove the green insert. Saw a thread somewhere on here where he explains the steps with pictures.

The amount of info in this thread is awesome. OP @crashnburn80 - you did good here. Thanks.

 

Looking to replace both my headlight AND fog lights with a simple bulb swap that will balance the light from both lights. That is, something that makes headlight and fogs appear to be the same intensity and color. Stock looking, no ultra whites/blue tint etc. Maybe something more "whiter" than stock. Plug-and-play options please?? Thanks!!

 

Running fogs in weather conditions that don't require it is going to make it seem brighter and more lit in the foreground but distance wise where the H9 has a leg up on the H11 its not going to help you. If anything it's probably going to pull your focus to right in front of your hood.

 

In my area, the police used to. I've been pulled over for using a secondary set of driving lights on dark back roads (GM headlamps weren't great). They also used to get people for turn signals not being amber, headlights being too blue (back when the "HID look" halogen bulbs were all the rage).

Now, the police don't care anymore. Blinding LED bars, high beams on well-lit city streets, no lights at all, it's all ok now.

 

I will admit; in my younger years, I thought of them as borderline harassing us poor teenagers and our cars with stupid shit added. Now that I am a little older; I wish we could go back,,, as today is complete lawlessness.

 

Phillips H9 bulb swap for your headlights

 

If you are looking for matching bulbs to use in both the low beam and the fogs, first choice would be Tungsram Platinums but those are hard to come by at the moment. Second choice would be the Osram Night Breaker +200. That said, the Philips H9 swap is best for the headlights and you should only use the fogs when needed so a perfect match shouldn't be necessary.

 

Precisely. Can't count the number of times I've seen people driving with their fog lights on in clear conditions. All that does is brighten the road near the truck and actually reduce your ability to see things further away.

 

I have to disagree , since I installed my DD elite fog lights I’ve noticed increased visibility. Now the fogs are amber, not sure that matters. I leave for work at 5 am and we have no street lights where I am. I’ve played around with fogs off and fogs on, I definitely feel visibility has improved on my Sport with the factory halogen headlights. I will eventually try the bulb upgrade but I’m very satisfied with present set up

 

You have a point. Although, normal night conditions in my area almost always includes a fog of some sort - from a light fog to a pea soup thickness. On clear nights I wouldn't run the fog lights.

 

New pair of Philips h9 German made, $12 Canadian each at Lordco

 

@crashnburn80 apologies if I glossed over the answer, but is there a clear winner in the performance/output battle between the OEM halogen headlight with H9 bulb mod vs OEM LED headlight?

TIA

edit: I feel like I recall it being stated that the true output was similar and that the main performance difference was surface heat production.

 

OEM is going to our perform the H9, a halogen can only do so much but the OEM LEDs are 90X+ the cost too so you have to think about that on ROI outside of which one looks better.

 

For sure on the ROI. And yea, I do think the LEDs ‘look’ better…just couldn’t recall if there was a clear landslide style outperformance by the LED, or more of a slightly outperform scenario.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ctor-headlights.589465/page-182#post-24546907

 

All the comparison info is here. OEM LED is the clear winner for both high and low beam, but as pointed out does cost substantially more than a simple bulb upgrade. Only area the halogen upgrade has the advantage is cold weather environments where snow is a significant concern.

 

My understanding is that Toyota is going all-LED on the new Tacos. It will be interesting to see how they perform in a Canadian winter. On my recent run through a snowstorm on the "Highway thru Hell" the radar got blocked about 5-10 minutes into the snow, but the headlights were fine throughout and were bare (albeit a bit dirty ) when we got to Vancouver. The snow was still on the radar unit right into the city and I had to scrape it off at the first fuel stop.

Anyone on the thread who has a 3rd gen with LEDs have a comment on how they perform in snow?

 

In the very specific conditions where snow adheres to the radar, it adheres to the headlights and stays there the same way.
I almost never encounter these exact conditions from falling snow, it’s always driving in traffic and the wet stuff kicked up by the vehicle in front of me that obscures radar and lights.
I would have a set of LED pods in driving light configuration if I had to take long trips without street lights regularly