3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

I ordered a harness from Aspire after following @tclavell 's link. Didn't use it, however, since I became impatient waiting for the postal service to catch up and deliver it (delayed 4 days on top of the original 5 it was taking). Just trimmed the internal plastic tab on the bulbs instead.

Will probably use it next time. Looks like an okay harness.

I am very satisfied with the "H9 upgrade." I received German made Philips H9 bulbs. The additional light output helps a ton with being able to see at night versus the OEM H11 bulbs.

 

yeah I’m fine with trimming the tabs at home especially first go around etc. but the point is if I’m on a road trip out to LA or some shenanigans and a bulb(a) dies in the middle of Kansas, I can stop into a Walmart or whatever and get decent H9s and drop them right in.

speaking of which I might plan a trip to LA but the current lockdown shenanigans I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. Currently high level planning Amarillo in March but that might not happen.

 

Exactly the same reason I ordered the harness, ease of use. I'll keep the harness in the truck for when the time comes.

 

On this topic, I bought two pairs of H9’s and modded both at the same time. 2nd set is in the glove box. No Walmart stop needed. They are cheap and I like the incentive to replace annually.

 

Ehh...good review crash. Lot obviously went into the engineering of the new Morimotos but can’t see burning $179 do go backward in performance when my hella 2.0s at $26 are doing exceeding well and not bouncing all over the place like the XD HIDs.

Old stock H11s are stowed in the under backseat compartment wrapped in bubble wrap with an alcohol wipe just in case and will get me to a Walmart or some time for Amazon to get me a new set.

 

They fit H11 might as well store them installed so you don’t have to have more stuff stashed in the truck.

fair enough. If the harnesses were more than the 5 dollar range I’d consider that but for 5 or 6 bucks, I have no effort needed and I’m a lazy bastard.

 

holy shit balls Batman! I didn’t know the price! Yeesh. Hard to stomach that unless you know they’ll give cost benefit long run to halogen bulbs. You’d have to replace your bulbs 7 times at a 27$ price point for the LEDs to be worth it instead.

I don’t think the LEDs shake like the HIDs. I definitely just thought my shake was normal/the truck until I put in regular lights and realized “no, that’s not normal!” It was noticeable but not so much so that I thought it was more than just normal behavior. But that all stems down to the bulbs used, not so much the ballasts.

 

It has to do with bulb in the tacoma projector. Know a guy that uses the XDs in his Silverado which is also an H11. We took my bulbs out and put them in his truck just to eliminate all factors and drove on the worst road we could find and my lights in his housings were solid as a rock with no bouncing other than what his truck’s suspension was doing.

I’ve had no bouncing issues with anything other than hid bulbs and I’m very happy with those Hellas.

 

I spent more on my harness and then didn’t use it. It was ok for the Tacoma but since I’m running H9’s in the minivan it’s so cramped that the harness adds unnecessary bulk. Once I improve my crimping skills I will try to make it shorter.

The main reason, though, that I converted to bulb mod and pre mod spare is the metal tabs. Crash posted an excellent video of how / why metal tab trimming isn’t needed. But in the minivan I have so little space and my hands aren’t petite so I went ahead and trimmed the tabs to make install easier. Since I committed to the metal tab trimming, doing the base mod seemed like a natural path vs the harness.

 

Hah! I googled H9 to H11s metal tab trimming and I landed on a 4Runner form that linked back to this thread.

crash - you’re a star!

 

I just linked the video for you. He makes it look so easy.

If you compare H11 and H9 bulbs you’ll see it’s just the one metal tab which is wider on the H9. Trimming to match is definitely not necessary but my math on ROI had a very high multiple for each second of side-of-the-road install delay while the wife and kids are inside waiting

 

It's this tab (note: not my picture). I went ahead and trimmed mine this time around. Used tin snips then needle nose pliers back-and-forth to snap it off.

 

I didn’t need to trim the metal tab on the Phillip H9s that I just installed, only the inner plastic piece. Just start the one metal tab in at an angle first

 

I read in this thread you didn't need to. Also saw the video crash posted installing them with the tab intact.

I had the tools already in front of me so I figured why not go ahead and do it.

 

Thanks for the review. Still can’t risk the freezing lights when heading to and from the mountains.

 

Revolutionary in terms of the engineering to building the closest product yet that accurately replicates a halogen bulb while also solving a common failure point in the replacement LED design. (I've edited the post for clarification). There is a push to legalize replacement LED products that can meet strict compliance test criteria, in October of this year Germany legalized the first replacement LED from Osram which met all the TUV standards. Unfortunately that Osram LED is not yet available in an H11 but you can be sure I'll test it when it is released. Although the US doesn't seem like they will legalize replacement LEDs anytime soon. The Hikari does put down slightly better peak numbers in a much less elegant design using more power but the Morimoto product does a better job of accurately replicating a halogen. Getting the PCB that thin poses some unique cooling challenges and the cooling design not only aids in addressing those challenges but also solves a failure point point in replacement LED products in an approach unlike anything I have seen yet.

 

Awesome thread!
And great review! My finger was on the trigger for the 3.0 but now it’s a lil shy...
Lol
FWIW
I thought the 3.0 where clockable :

“360 DEGREES OF ROTATION: The 2Stroke 3.0 LED bulbs feature a fully adjustable base. In order to fully utilize the optical facets in any reflector or projector: The light emitting diodes must face the 3-o-clock and 9-o-clock positions. Since no single standard exists across different headlight and fog light assemblies, all bulbs in the 2Stroke 3.0 range are fully adjustable. A geared step rotational adjuster mechanism is installed for all bulbs which twist-to-lock, offering adjustability in 15-degree intervals. An omni-adjustable rotation mechanism is utilized on all bulbs that are press-fit or clip into the housing.”

Thus not a problem in the high beam reflector...??
Thanks again for your time and thoroughness

 

another awesome review, crash. thanks. is there any way to compare test data directly from the 2stroke 3.0 with previous version 2.0? I had been planning an led-conversion bhlm, converting to the M LED 2.0 projector and replacing the highbeams with the 2stroke.

there's about a $40 difference between the versions of 2stroke - is the 3.0 worth the upgrade?

 

Thanks for pointing that out! I hadn’t noticed that on the website and I’m not sure if it is just the initial rotation adjustment or if the bulb I tried was somewhat seized, but it takes an uncomfortable amount of force where I feel like I am going to break the product before it rotates. After the initial rotation it does rotate easier.

I will update the high beam portion of the review and test accordingly!

 

The 2.0 is not recommended. They are one of the bulkier and poorly focused designs in this thread. See the review in post #2120 here. In a 42’ low beam distance test, you can see the comparison numbers below.

I’ll need to check the 3.0 high beam alignment as mentioned in the previous post. I’d look to decide between the 3.0s vs Hikari Ultra, the 2.0s would not be in the running.

3.0 left vs 2.0 right