2023 Tacoma LED bulb

I’ve seen that before, just an excellent write-up! Gave it a bump, worth reading.
When I first started looking into LEDs I did a lot of research. Your write-up is superior to anything I read back then.

 

If you spend enough time skimming the LEDs threads it's always the same 2-3 people squawking about how much better their lights are and when presented with actual experimental data double down with, but my eyes tell me X.

The problem lies in 99% of these threads the OP wants confirmation bias. They'll get bombarded with actual data, not conjecture and ignore it. Then one person says but this worked for me and that's enough to sell them, sadly. The Corvette forum I'm on is full of drop in LEDs are the answer I can see so much with that 30 feet in front of me illuminated. I've tried to give an opposing opinion with the LED thread and I've gotten laughed off the forum usually with some disparaging remark.

I used to be dumb and believe drop in HID or even blue tinted bulbs were better. I had blue tinted halogens on my first car and thought they were like...10,000 times better than stock since they "looked" whiter. I bought into the marketing hype. I finally broke down and did some reading and ultimately ended up with OEM LED on my Tacoma and H9s on my wife's JGC. It's the inability to seek out and look for data against what you might think is best that's the shame. I remember thinking Daniel Stern's website was written by some stogy old guy who hated modern lighting and now I realize he was truly trying to create the best performance.

My personal (unpopular) belief is that every single headlight thread should have a bot post "OEM LED or H9", link crash's thread and lock

 

The problem is signal to noise ratio. There are so many low quality aftermarket lighting companies competitively vying for market space producing a tidal wave of very bad marketing campaigns combined with "influencers" on youtube and other social channels promoting products for profit under the false guise of being an independent reviewers, or worse not understanding the products they are reviewing. It is hard for the average consumer to determine facts from sales pitches by cleaver marketers combined with so much mis-information online. Stern's site is a good resource, but under the onslaught of newer social platforms and video reviews, it requires actual reading and is easily lost in the noise for the average consumer. One of the things I've strived for is to show visually demonstrable facts with my posts/reviews, so people can really understand the concepts to make more informed lighting decisions.

 

I find these led threads entertaining because they go round and round and never seem to land. My question, without reading all the testing is what is THE best replacement low, high and fog lamps for our 3rd gens? What an individual likes best can be different from what actually works best so it will always be hard to get a consensus. However, is there a real proven best no matter what your feelings are? I put Sealight led's in mine and really like the 6000k color and output, but they aren't perfect and there are trade offs. I only used them a few times before parking it for the winter while I put one more salt season on the 4runner. I will try them come spring for awhile longer and have no problem eating the cost spent on them if they really don't perform as I want. If that is the case I want to put in the best replacement lamps that are between 5000k and 6000k.

 

The lighting thread that has been linked here multiple times is where you will find your answers.

These threads never land because what works and what has been shown to be the best isn't what folks "want" and as a result the don't like the answer or have purchased what they want and don't like that it isnt best or worse recommended against

I believe to meet your goals you should look at the thread first but from there I think it is the Sylvanias and hikaris (and only one specifically)

 

I though the hikaris, Sylvania, and morimotos were all decent.

I need to go read it again I guess

 

Everything I’ve read is that Morimoto 2Stroke 3.0 is #1 among the drop in LEDs.

 

Best overall headlight -> OEM LED
In the OEM halogen assemblies:
Best overall performance -> Philips H9 swap
Best direct replacement H11 -> Tungsram Platinum
Best replacement LED -> Morimoto 2stroke 3.0

In terms of performance:
OEM LED>Philips H9>Tungsram Platinum>Morimoto 2stroke 3.0

LEDs do not perform as well as halogens in a halogen projector. Replacement LEDs are not recommended, but if really set on them anyway, Morimoto 2stroke 3.0 is the best option.

 

My LED replacement bulbs are awesome!

 

Thank you!

 

Are you running a relay harness?

 

Saw a moron about an hour ago with their light bar on in the rain when it was dark out.

It's like they don't even notice that the street light reflect back of the wet ground reducing visibility, so what's their soloution? More light pollution.

 

Not sure if this is off topic or not,

Can you change the color of your DRL?
I ordered a 2023 trd pro that will arrive sometime in January.
Can I change the DRL color to amber by simply switching out a bulb?

 

And every night 80% of drivers use their driving lights in the city and foglamps when it's clear out. OR they think their driving lights ARE fog lights. Genius. If these people had to hunt their food they would die.