My Honest Review: Phillips H4 LED headlights

I've been dragging my feet on typing this up over the last few days, but I finally gathered enough willpower to do so finally.

Link for the bulbs with their respective part number: http://www.xenondepot.com/h4-philips-12953BWX2-LED-Bulb-p/12953bwx2.htm

Part Number: H4 12953BWX2

Sidenote: These headlights claim 6200K, but that kelvin temperature is not even close. It's actually closer to 5000K if not 4500K, as the light emitted from the bulbs are a very pronounced white color. Pictures will not do the color temperature, nor the actual output of these justice.

Picked these up on a whim from a local member selling his remaining truck parts, based on all the so far positive reviews on them I was willing to shell out some $ to pick them up, new or not. I hear the waiting list on these are 3 months if I remember correctly. Hell yeah I'll pick them up! Why not? The bulbs and ballasts are pretty much all that comes with the kit. It is a plug and play. It is up to you to decide where you want to install the ballasts, whether double sided tape or bolt on.

The bulb install: Not as straight forward as I thought. The bulbs on initial install are a bit difficult to get secured. I was changing out my previous Torchstar LED bulbs for these and I must say the Torchstars held in there much better without having to modify anything. I ended up battling the headlight retainer spring for a good while to get a nice solid fit in there on both sides. For whatever reason, the passenger side decided to give me the most trouble. I ended up pulling the headlight assembly on the passenger side to get a nice secure, anti-wiggling (if that's even a word) fit in there. Not all assemblies are built the same, but when and if you upgrade to these, make sure you get a nice secure fit while you are installing the bulbs. My headlight assemblies see a lot of rough roads, so I wanted to make sure they were as tight in there as possible. Plan on having to tweak and bend the retainers to get a better fit in there. You may have to pull your headlights to be able to work on them better. Even after loosening up and moving my windshield washer reservoir out of the way, it was still not enough for what I needed to do. So be warned. After installing the bulbs themselves and securing the springs, you install the rubber grommet back on, which installs very nice and easy. Following that you screw on the aluminum heatsink's supplied and continuing screwing on until it's tight. Done.

The ballasts: This part was not all that bad. It was more finding a location as to where I could essentially bolt them up. I did not have any remaining double sided tape and the old tape adhesive that was on there was needless to say all used up. So I saw it more as a cushion at this point against the metal and to mildly protect from vibration. I relocated my battery a while back so the battery tray area under was a perfect candidate for the drivers side. It bolted up nicely right behind and in between the two access terminals for the battery. I ran one small self tapper through the metal. Nice and secure. The passenger side was a bit more of a challenge, I wasn't wanting to enlarge the ballast slots for running a bolt through too much on the ballasts so utilizing any current bolt up location was somewhat out of the question. I recently had the radiator support bulkhead area (the wings which extend out from the cab mount bushing area to the fenders) worked on and strengthened a bit. So there were already small rivets and bolts in place. Luckily there was a bolt right under where the headlight mounts up to on the support, so I removed one of the self tappers out, installed the ballast and rebolted it up. Nice and secure as well. Two plugs is all it took to get the headlights running, one for the main harness from the truck and one for the new headlight itself. Waterproof seals.

Driver side ballast:



Passenger side:



Installed with heatsink on, ready to fire up:



Impressions: Initially, I fired up the headlights and as usual, instant on just how I like it. Cool. After installing one, the other side still had the old light in and I was able to notice a very distinct cutoff difference between the Phillips one and the old one. It was very distinct coming from the Phillips side. It also appeared noticeably brighter. Though it was daylight I was in my relatively dark garage so I could still notice a difference. Night time driving proved to make these truly shine. Driving around, they appeared much MUCH brighter over the old ones and that distinct cutoff made them appear close to how driving around with Xenon retrofits with their respective angel eye headlights looked like. I really enjoy it. The high beams are really good as well and get a great amount of coverage when selected. I think the lows are so strong now that I actually GAINED coverage in useable light and overall throwout over my old headlights, yes Halogen is included in that small list as well. The advantage to these over all the other aftermarkets is that they have a small built in reflector right on the LED chips just like Halogen's do which allows for a correct cutoff and not such a scatter of light like all of these other brand's. It is built by Phillips also, and by running these over other's, you know you are going to get quality LED chips and a build. None of this made in China stuff.

The only small caveat to all of this which I have noticed is when cranking up the truck and the headlights are already on (that auto mode that we have) there is a noticeable flicker from the lights. I am not entirely sure if I should be worried or not for the ballast's as these lights have a much decreased amperage consumption over Halogen's and definitely Xenon's.

Installed:



Cutoff on wall from 2-3 feet away:



Overall: After logging several hundred miles of driving on these over my old ones (some 68 miles at around 12am with no noticeable eye fatigue) I am very happy with the outcome of my buy and If I had to, I would purchase these all over again. Even if I had to put my name on a waiting list or not. Well worth the price, and well worth the benefits. A small little added plus is that they ended up matching my LED pods color over the old ones. They definitely make me want to go for a drive on blacked out backroads now. They actually appear to be right on par with my center light bar which I have installed on the bumper after I tested them to see if they were or weren't as bright as the bar which I definitely wasn't expecting. I am never going back to anything else after these. More pictures available on request. Happy driving!

 

Thanks for the review!

 

Nice! Gotta get some for my 1st gen.

 

You will love them when you get them! This review was for the 2nd gens, but I have no doubt in my mind that they will be just as great in the 1st gen's. Oh and 3rd Gen's also.

 

You have any pics showing cut off from 20-25ft away? 2-3ft doesn't give very good perspective.

 

I do not at the moment but I can get them for you here very shortly. Even from much further away the cutoff due to that integrated reflector they have on the bulbs make them very crisp on the road. Luckily it is getting dark out here in California, so I can get you a better idea here in a bit.

 

Only if they are not sealed beams.

 

If they are sealed beams, swap to Hella H4 E-code lamps. World of difference w/o even upgrading the bulb.

I've looked at the Philips, they seem to be the only viable LED headlamp option IMO. Curious to see how they look.

 

Okay. This is the best I can do right now given it is still sundown. Keep in mind my driveway is sloped, hence why the lights are aiming so high, but I hope this helps.

25+ feet away from the wall. Still very defined.

 

Are these sold in the US? There seems to be no information about them on the Philips website, they only have the LED fogs on their site.

 

They are sold out of Japan only. These are not sold in the States due to their lack of an approval from DOT. Basically any headlights which are not Halogen carry no DOT rating Xenon included. ESPECIALLY xenon! Reason for that, is that a vehicle which has Halogen style reflectors are only supposed to carry Halogen headlights because that is what they are designed for. Though these are built for Halogen style reflectors in mind, so it doesn't matter. It's just a legality deal is all. In short, money.

 

Standby for on the road night shots.

 

Interesting....thanks for the info.

 

Do you have a picture of the packaging by any chance?
I know you get them second hand but we might find them on eBay?
I have an 02 with halogens so it should be plug-n-play.

 

Is this the bulb we're talking about?

 

I have the packaging in the garage. I am highly doubtful you can score some off ebay. Especially with all the recent demand they have.

This is exactly the one! ^^

 

@crashnburn80 I got you some better shots. All from different distances, but you'll get a better idea of how the cutoff looks as you drive.

One on a good wall low beam:



High beam:



Out and about, by a local construction area, low:



High:



Low with light bar on (just so you can get an idea of the spread and the intensity of these headlights):



high:



Low aimed at a hill from at least 100 feet out:

 

A little advice: If you write a review, please add the link to the product, along with the price so we don't have to guess. Even if it's rare and only available in Japan, anything helps. This is coming from a guy who writes model airplane reviews for a living.

 

Updated. I didn't realize these were kind of hidden still. Lol.

 

Thanks man! Im ordering a set. Price is right and I've become an LED snob around the house!