Need help choosing new headlights

Im looking for options to upgrade my headlights but I dont want something that is inferior to the OEM units, they have the typical cracking of the lens common to some years, they look pretty bad, Ive seen some aftermarket ones have moisture problems etc.. I just want something that looks decent and is of good quality, can the stock ones be repaired, or maybe I should just replace them with new OEM units? My main concern is reliability

 

OEM

 

OEM

 

I'll take OEM for $800 Alex

 

See the thread below. Anything other than OEM will be a downgrade. There are smoked TRD OEM units for your truck that look even better than the basic bright chrome. Check out the assemblies section in the thread, complete with part numbers and purchase links:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

 

I have a nearly brand new set of oem TRD pro housings with TL projectors retrofitted in them. 100% improvement over stock, but you'd need to do the face-lift to make em work. Spent nearly $1700 on them with parts, labor and shipping. I want $1K and that includes the HID kit with philips XV bulbs ($150/pair.)

 

In my eyes you have 2 options.

1.OEM and upgrade the bulbs/wiring per @crashnburn80 recommendation above.
Pros - simple, great output if bulbs are upgraded, OEM quality, will keep lenses clear of snow and ice and easy resale.
Cons - appearance is kinda plain jane (subjective) and expensive.
OR
2.Buy an aftermarket headlight, retrofit them and clear coat the lenses. More work, could be cheaper if you can DIY it, more customizability options for appearance (if thats what you want) and more output.
Pros - custom appearance, unbeatable output (as long as you use an LED or HID D2S based projector) while not bothering other drivers and high beams are as good as some aux lighting.
Cons - can get expensive if you get carried away, more complicated/more parts (LED projectors less so, but also not serviceable like HID projectors), snow/ice can build up with the LED projectors but with HID's it can keep the lenses clear to a certain point and resale could be affected since some people don't want to deal with that kind of stuff and many repair shops are absolutely clueless about it. If you choose to do any halo's or strip lighting, use Diode Dynamics ONLY! It costs more but has an extremely low failure rate compared to other "big name" halos or strips. Been there, done that! Very annoying tearing into a headlight again to replace a failed part after 4mo on the vehicle.

Kind of a 3rd option is if you like the "custom" look of the ebay/Amazon projector headlights. You can retrofit an H1 based 2.5", 2.5" LED projector, D2S based 2.5" projector with adapter brackets that will bolt right into the existing projector location.

I retrofitted my headlights and I enjoy them a lot! But I have owned 4 vehicles that I retrofitted (and helped buddies with theirs) so I know, accept and explain the challenges that come with the added output. All of that said... My lenses are crazed (not just faded but small fissure type cracks below the surface) from age beyond repair on my current retrofitted headlights. They are OEM but I bought them used and they appeared to be in good shape, they started to fade earlier this year but life has been so busy that I never got the opportunity to fix them before they got worse. Thats life! I still have my OEM ones and I have been debating on swapping the lens from my original headlights to the retrofitted ones or giving Crash's Ultimate setup a shot. I haven't quite decided yet...

FYI - Crash tested the RX350 projectors (not mine, another members) if you're curious what the difference is between the Ultimate Headlight setup vs a retrofit is. The RX350 projector (with a clear lens swap) is regarded as the pinnacle of which all other projectors are compared. They don't have the brightest "hotspot" but the beam spread is the widest out there for a bi-xenon (low and high beam) and the light is distributed throughout the beam pattern better than others too. The easier option would be the Morimoto D2S 5.0 since it is shaft mounted and still great output! The RX350 requires whats called the "nut and bolt" method which is not easy for a beginner.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ctor-headlights.589465/page-276#post-26704071

Hope this helps, sorry for the long response as I get and if you have more questions about retrofitting let me know, I'll help where I can.