3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

Wish mine came with LED option!

 

Knowing LEDs are not the option for low beams and I am a long time low beam H9 mod person after this thread.

However, my curiosity was peaked for high beams when the new Diode Dynamics came out. I decided to go for it with SL2 Pros and give them a test about as scientific as the butt dyno. Drive around and see what it was like.

Didn't like it.

Like I said, not scientific, going off my visual experience driving, they pump out A LOT of light in the foreground - consistent with what I have read in the thread. But with these being the most "powerful" of the DD options, I was curious if the distance would be there as well.

If it is, it was hard for me to tell if it was that much more in distance than a properly focused omnidirectional Phillips halogen H9 since the foreground was so lit up. I also found my eyes focused in the foreground a bit too often vs the distance because of this, also consistent with the thread.

Drove around for a few nights in the dark and switched back to the halogens last night. I don't know if it was just because of halogens being what I have always been used to or the foreground effects above and lots of "white light", but driving is so much better, for me, with the good old H9s.

so, thought I would post in case anyone else was curious to try for themselves and could use the feedback in advance.

as always thanks to @crashnburn80 and the others adding to this thread. great stuff.

 

Any recommendations on a high beam bulb to pair with the Phillips H9’s for low beams?

 

Nope. No such upgrade. Have to start looking at auxiliary driving lights if you want more light. The SAE J581 thread pinned at the top of the lighting subforum is what you seek.

 

After 8 months in my taco I wanted to upgrade bulbs but knew led’s weren’t the way to go after chasing my tail in my NC Miata. It also came with halogen projectors. In fact I’m pretty sure it’s the same setup as the Tacoma - H11 lows and H9 highs.

Since I chased my tail so much in that car I happened to have a set of Germany philips h9 in my tool box that I was able to swap in. Haven’t driven yet but from what I could tell at dusk they’re definitely much brighter than the stock osram h11’s.

Thanks for doing all the research you did @crashnburn80 . Now I’m thinking of doing the same in my NC since none of the leds I’ve tried over the years have any kind of light throw/projection even close to what they should.

 

The H9 high beams are more than adequate just the way they are. Quite nice for high beams.

 

You can go auxiliary headlights like I have. Diode Dymamic SSc3 Pro 4K driving lens wired into my high beams

 

Any idea if the clear housing for the oem LEDS is the same or different than the oem halogen? The horizontal planes on these take a beating and curious if the new ones that are pricey deteriorate the same way.

 

Finally took the plunge and upgraded my '21 Tacoma's halogen headlamps for the OEM LEDs. A MASSIVE difference. The amount of light these things throw is CRAZY. This was the one option I was missing back when I got my truck during Covid (the truck was 100% everything else I wanted).

Ordered from Sparks Toyota with a discount code from Chloe Kuo. Her video and the one linked below were hugely helpful and made the installation go very smoothly with the plug-and-play wiring harness from daveeasa's FBC Harness Solutions.

Both the harness and the lights were shipped quickly and in 100% perfect condition.

It was a little nerve-wracking pulling the bumper apart but it all worked out fine in the end. That was by far the hardest part, everything else came apart and went back together very easily.

The first side took me a little over an hour, the second side about half that. And that includes time being interrupted by my neighbors wondering what the heck I was doing.