Built my truck on Toyota’s website and..

The halogens are terrible antiquated technology. One of the first things I did to my truck was update to HIDs. Finally they're giving cars lower safety ratings for not having HIDs or LEDs and having halogens

 

Everyone has there opinion. I like the White lights of the OEM LED headlights from most manufacturers. And there may lie the difference.
As far as in my house I have almost all my lights change to LED bulbs. Would I want them all White light (5000K-6000K) no.
But lower the temperature down to 2700K-3000K and you have soft White. That equal to an incandescent.
A much more pleasant feeling room. Try looking at one of the big box stores at some of the Vintage LED bulbs.
20,000 hours of life. 60W equivalent for 6W. at about 2700K. You might just change you mind.

 

I really wanted the LED headlights on my Tacoma but there just wasn't the right combo available, or incoming, so I settled. Now with some time behind the wheel, in the dark, they aren't as awful as I originally thought. I'll probably just swap in a brighter halogen and ride it out. If it weren't just a lease I might do more about it but it's not the end of the world.

 

Did your buddy install led bulbs in stock halogen housings? Because that what it sounds like. Leds in stock halogen housings scatter the light, blinding others and not giving you a proper driving light with a proper cut off line.

 

I'm definitely not viewing it as an end of the world kind of deal. Do I wish I had them? Absolutely. Will I now spend that money to swap them out? Probably not. Just had a preference is all.

 

Well, and that's another thing, entirely. The ratings they claim for bulb life. Some of the claims are just total bullshit.

 

I use this style of LED in my Kitchen and really like them! Almost four years of daily use and no failures yet!

BTW Most (if not all) Traffic Signals you see are using LED’s in place of incandescent’s. Been that way in Ca for the past 20 years or so. Huge savings going from a 135Watt Lightbulb to an LED which draws 12.5 Watts! Plus the LED’s last years longer than Incandescent’s did so I don’t have to run as many calls to change them!

 

This is the pertinent sentence... "I've got a neighbor that was bragging up his new (NEW... so LEDs) Ford, making fun of my Taco and the "antiquated technology" (OLD... so halogen) so I challenged him to a headlight duel."

Ford... Leds
Taco... Halogens

 

For the Cheesy, no-name brands, maybe. But if you stick with a brand-name you can expect 5+ years. The only LED’s I’ve changed at mine and at my GF’s houses have been because we wanted a different light color. None have failed yet and I have several exterior lights around my house which are either on all night, every night or cycle all night long (motion lights).

In Traffic Signals we’re getting 10-15 years out of GE LED’s. A comparable 135Watt Lamp would typically last 1-5 years by comparison.

Don’t fear the future

 

Ok?

Proper LED light in a proper LED housing will outperform a halogen set up any day of the week. Not sure what’s happening with your buddies Ford. It should not be blinding when looking at his lights. They are either adjusted improperly or he installed Led bulbs in his halogen housings.

 

Different manufacturers use different LED’s so it’s not really a fair comparison. Like I said earlier, drive a 20+ with the factory LED’s and you will notice a dramatic difference!

 

Order it with the LEDs I’ll pay the $490 and give you my headlights

 

If only they could put the light output of a waterfilled 70's headlight on my Tacoma. I could prove my superior manhood by driving with them

 

That's because the RAV4 only has three sections of low beam LED vs. the five for the Tacoma. Makes a huge difference and only goes to prove that there's LED lighting and then there's LED lighting. The Tacoma LEDs are on par with the best out there and not only can you see much further than with the projector halogens, they have a much broader and far smoother pattern than those projectors could ever hope for. And that broadness of smooth illumination, and how much brighter they are at 30-40 degrees off axis make them functionally safer in many many situations.

 

There is only objectivity when comparing tacoma halogens to OEM LEDS. Unless you had halogens like I did and convert the same truck to OEM LED's such as I did, and I can clearly see that the light output on the same streets, in the same woods and on the same reflective signs are all superior with the OEM LED's. No one on here with anecdotal BS, neighbors truck and other scenarios is worth listening to.

 

Enjoy the read, tons of great info
On there.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

 

Toyota's website configurator is horrible. I've seen so many posts on here where someone thought they were getting LED headlights only to end up with the halogen projectors. The shortages in the supply chain have made it worse because more people are using the configurator to build their truck and take delivery instead of finding one that matches at a nearby dealer.

The option code for LED headlights on the Tacoma is LG
The option code for LED DRL (daytime running lights) is LF

 

my headlights can kick your headlights ass any time...

 

my headlights kicked my old headlights ass. broke the clips clean off