Code Monkey
Observer
I've been a fan of LEDs for their advantages, but implementation and use have often left something to be desired.
In the motorcycle world there are some new lights that work well - at least as aux. lights, maybe as primaries - but in general they would probably not be good for night driving on public roads because their patterns would blind drivers coming from the other direction. They are not meant for use on public roads.
But the patterns I have seen on some of the motorcycle lights do indicate they would be good enough to use if you didn't have to worry about traffic - indeed some would be downright better than anything else I have seen.
HIDs seem to last on motorcycles until you take them off-road and then they start having problems. Not sure how they do on off-road trucks - maybe a better system than those sold for motorcycles.
I do know that the headlight on my dirt bike (it is plated and 'street legal') sucks big time so I need to get something better. It is rare that I ride it at night, but I have once or twice had to spend so much time on the trails that I've had to use the headlight to get home.
I think eventually LEDs will make their way into street vehicles and have satisfactory or better performance than what we have now - it will just take work by the manufacturers to figure out and implement something that works.
Part of the problem probably is that LEDs are fairly directional so they don't benefit much from a reflector behind them. The powerful LEDs are still very expensive so you can't just throw more of them in to get better fill - although that will probably be what they have to do.
In the motorcycle world there are some new lights that work well - at least as aux. lights, maybe as primaries - but in general they would probably not be good for night driving on public roads because their patterns would blind drivers coming from the other direction. They are not meant for use on public roads.
But the patterns I have seen on some of the motorcycle lights do indicate they would be good enough to use if you didn't have to worry about traffic - indeed some would be downright better than anything else I have seen.
HIDs seem to last on motorcycles until you take them off-road and then they start having problems. Not sure how they do on off-road trucks - maybe a better system than those sold for motorcycles.
I do know that the headlight on my dirt bike (it is plated and 'street legal') sucks big time so I need to get something better. It is rare that I ride it at night, but I have once or twice had to spend so much time on the trails that I've had to use the headlight to get home.
I think eventually LEDs will make their way into street vehicles and have satisfactory or better performance than what we have now - it will just take work by the manufacturers to figure out and implement something that works.
Part of the problem probably is that LEDs are fairly directional so they don't benefit much from a reflector behind them. The powerful LEDs are still very expensive so you can't just throw more of them in to get better fill - although that will probably be what they have to do.
