Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
Sure.
I'd expect them to be very bright but poorly focused. Good for offroad use like the other low-end HID units.
Comparing 7" Aftermarket Headlights
- Thread starter Hilldweller
- Start date
I'd expect them to be very bright but poorly focused. Good for offroad use like the other low-end HID units.
Are they really considered low end?? I think they were around $800 brand new when they came out.
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
:Wow1:
PIAA and IPF have bulbs that cost a small fortune too; and they're worth about $8.
They're among the worst bulbs made and people pay a premium for them -------- just because of the pricetag.
Price doesn't always equal quality or performance.
Red90
Adventurer
Maybe another one to test?
http://www.detroitspeed.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DSAEP&Product_Code=121201
My little write up for some more information, http://members.shaw.ca/Red90/Bright_Driver/Lights.html
http://www.detroitspeed.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DSAEP&Product_Code=121201
My little write up for some more information, http://members.shaw.ca/Red90/Bright_Driver/Lights.html
Last edited:
Interesting with the Goretex filter.
Bill, the Philips Extreme +80, how many watts do they draw? They're not 55W are they? 80W?
Looking over this, man, those Cibie Z-beams are great lights. Such nice coverage.
Any chance you could try some simple Hella 100W bulbs in them?
Bill, the Philips Extreme +80, how many watts do they draw? They're not 55W are they? 80W?
Looking over this, man, those Cibie Z-beams are great lights. Such nice coverage.
Any chance you could try some simple Hella 100W bulbs in them?
Last edited:
Ooh this is soooo up my alley!!!!
A little history first.I'm a trucker in Canada's north. I live in Whitehorse Yukon, and run up the Dempster hiway as well as western canada. Lites are a pet peeve of mine. I've run everything from stockers to led and hid. The T/L led's look like they throw a lot of glare. The JW spkr led's have a dark center, and little ditch coverage, and throw glare.( bad vertigo in heavy snow) I tested and worked for a dealer up here of IPF, liteforce, hella, you name it he had it. check out Starrhid. That's his stateside company. I personally find the led's and hid's although wonderful output, have lousy ditch coverage. Very sharp cut off which works well in snow and fog but to get ditch coverage you have to set them high which then annoys oncoming traffic.( ask me how I know) my ex boss is working on led's that will address these issues. His First gen led's are nice, but no ditch distance. will keep you posted. the lites I'm currently using: Sirius 5x7 two headlamp system with philips xtreme power bulbs.(wonderful lamp, easy to aim, sharp cut off, good ditch coverage.) I actually pulled my set of hid H/L and put these in due to issues with the hid's. Two hid orange fogs,(buillt by ur's truely) one hid IPF spot.(prototype, got to test it, put in 50 w hid bulb) and two jetco arctic ice lites (modified by me for crispness) w 50w hid's. I have better than TWO(2) km's of wall to wall lite. I can see a rabbit on the road at that distance. Wait and see what I come up with for my new truck( IHC prostar) hehehe. will keep you all posted on that and the new led's. cheers
A little history first.I'm a trucker in Canada's north. I live in Whitehorse Yukon, and run up the Dempster hiway as well as western canada. Lites are a pet peeve of mine. I've run everything from stockers to led and hid. The T/L led's look like they throw a lot of glare. The JW spkr led's have a dark center, and little ditch coverage, and throw glare.( bad vertigo in heavy snow) I tested and worked for a dealer up here of IPF, liteforce, hella, you name it he had it. check out Starrhid. That's his stateside company. I personally find the led's and hid's although wonderful output, have lousy ditch coverage. Very sharp cut off which works well in snow and fog but to get ditch coverage you have to set them high which then annoys oncoming traffic.( ask me how I know) my ex boss is working on led's that will address these issues. His First gen led's are nice, but no ditch distance. will keep you posted. the lites I'm currently using: Sirius 5x7 two headlamp system with philips xtreme power bulbs.(wonderful lamp, easy to aim, sharp cut off, good ditch coverage.) I actually pulled my set of hid H/L and put these in due to issues with the hid's. Two hid orange fogs,(buillt by ur's truely) one hid IPF spot.(prototype, got to test it, put in 50 w hid bulb) and two jetco arctic ice lites (modified by me for crispness) w 50w hid's. I have better than TWO(2) km's of wall to wall lite. I can see a rabbit on the road at that distance. Wait and see what I come up with for my new truck( IHC prostar) hehehe. will keep you all posted on that and the new led's. cheers
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
The Phillips are 60/55 ---- I've tried the Z-Beams with 70/65 and that's as high as I think is prudent (or legal) ---- and that's a motorcycle bulb...
That's okay; their reflectors suck anyhow. The photometry from them is bad and they're not well-built.
They make the rebranded headlights for such ilk as KC and a few more.
1leglance
2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
So read through this thread and talk about info overload 
First of all thanks for all the testing and hard work, especially for a guy who isn't working for a publication or website or such. Great to see a regular dude doing this for the sake of the knowledge.
Now to the meat of my post...
I have a 1994 Landcruiser 75 series Troopcarrier with nothing but the factory headlights.
Huge thanks to Rigid LED lighting for the LED lightbars I will be bolting to the front bumper (1 10in & 2 6in), however that does nothing for every day driving...
So what can I do for the factory 7in rounds??
I get the idea of upgrading the harness and using relay's to get more power but from my reading it sounds like the Hella reflectors with the Phillips bulbs you tested last were also the best setup?
All thoughts welcome and looking forward to your advice.
First of all thanks for all the testing and hard work, especially for a guy who isn't working for a publication or website or such. Great to see a regular dude doing this for the sake of the knowledge.
Now to the meat of my post...
I have a 1994 Landcruiser 75 series Troopcarrier with nothing but the factory headlights.
Huge thanks to Rigid LED lighting for the LED lightbars I will be bolting to the front bumper (1 10in & 2 6in), however that does nothing for every day driving...
So what can I do for the factory 7in rounds??
I get the idea of upgrading the harness and using relay's to get more power but from my reading it sounds like the Hella reflectors with the Phillips bulbs you tested last were also the best setup?
All thoughts welcome and looking forward to your advice.
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
The best all-around performers are Cibie reflectors with 70/65 Hella bulbs (with the harness, of course). That gives you the best lateral wash of light. The Phillips Xtreme Power bulbs have almost as much light and last longer though.
Daniel Stern Lighting is the easiest source.
Hella reflectors put the most light forward though. But it's a narrower band of light, gives a little too much foreground light, and the highbeam sits a bit too high.
But used with supplemental lighting all the time...
Rallylights is the easiest source.
Worst for DD vehicles, Trucklite LEDs and IPFs.
Delta blue bulbs lead the way for bad bulb technology but PIAAs, Sylvania Silverstars, IPF Fatboys, etc should be mentioned as failures too.
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
Daniel Stern gives a detailed explanation here on his website.
In fact, I became interested in automotive lighting because of my very negative experience with a set of Sylvania Silverstars. Those craptastic bulbs and a pair of Disney-esque PIAAs are what led me to all of this testing insanity.
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
Could be.
Many vehicles come with great lights from the factory.
Chrysler was notorious for bad lights for quite some time. But I've been told that they recently changed their view. In fact, the president of Chrysler Canada saw a JK with the JW Speaker 8700s installed and liked it alot...