Yes, we all know the stock halogen headlights are borderline dangerous so honestly it's a useless comparison. The comparison I think most are looking for is if a $150 drop in HID bulb's output is better than a $1200 full headlight replacement. We need pics of the same location, same shutter speed, same camera. Happy to help here since Im close to you and I have a drop in HID bulb setup.

The 4runner projector sucks. That said hid or led is gonna mess with peoples eyes. I tried many including the 1st gen XB's. all had issues and ended up with H9 for 15 bucks.
Heres a link to sevel of my failed headlights. 1st post of thread has link to taco forum where a dude quite well explains our headlights...good read. Oh, check out gen 1 xb picture, they are worse ones in the whole damn bunch of them. Mine is taken in exact same spot with same cell phone, dont own a decent camera
Headlight before/after comparisons

I'm currently running Anzos until my Kustom54's come in. Anzos with stock bulb is twice the light of a runner projector, the Kustom 54 has BiLed 2 projectors that are proven better than DS2, so I guess I'll find out!

Which configuration did you go with for Kustom54?

I have yet to see an LED bulb or unit that can beat XD/Philips drop-in HID for light output.

You just have to be a responsible adult and take the time to even out the beam pattern and aim them slightly DOWN after install.

If your primary goal is more about aesthetics than functional light output, then I guess the design part of it weighs more heavily...

i dont disagree in terms of light output that practically any HID kit will beat any LED drop in bulbs. the problem lies with poor ballast quality and cutting of the dustcap. the dustcap isnt a big deal as they are like 10 bucks a pop to replace but no one makes a good ballast besides oems. and the best way to use oem ballast is also a retrofit that uses d2s bulbs. then you go from spending 100 bucks to 1000 in a blink. i was a very early adopter of HID retrofits from the mid 2000s and believe this is and still is the best way to do headlights.

100% a properly retrofitted HID projector with a clear lens is going to beat just about any aftermarket and OEM LED Headlight. I used to retro headlights many years ago and can see that has still not changed.

Although, I would say BMW and Audi are pretty close to matching or exceeding HID performance with their new Adaptive LED headlights. The set on my GF's X3 is pretty amazing.

I was going to buy the XB headlights and then read all the negative reviews on them. I got sick of waiting for the "perfect" solution to our terrible headlights. After looking at all the available options I just did a morimoto M-LED 2.0 retrofit on my stock headlights. Very impressed with the output and cut off. They are wayyyy better than stock bulbs. Here's a photo when I was aiming them on a garage door from 25 ft away. Can't wait to see what the oem LED headlights look like still.

Attached Images

 

Plain black satin with smoked signal lens. I like the AB6? but wanting to black out the runner the led would stick out and defeat the blackout goal

Hell yea. retrofits are the best. they're also a huge PAIN. nice work man.

that's 25 feet away from the front of the car? And dead level for 40'?

If so, then the municipality needs to send out a housing inspector because that isn't close to code.

That photo is not from a level position. That's when I first installed the lights and was initially aiming them from 25' away on the garage door near where my oem lights projected. I then drove to a level area near me to fine tune them. Didn't want to blind the crap out of everyone when I first installed them and it turns out I had to lower them just a little bit.

I didn't realize the internet would call the housing inspector on me for posting pictures of headlights. This place is great.

Just ignore him. He doesn't even own a 4R.

Those look great....Do I want to even ask how annoying it was to retro yourself??

I bought a second pair of headlights and took my time. It was my first retro. The worst part was removing the permaseal from the headlights but it wasn't that bad. I used a heat gun and a screwdriver and got 99% of it off. Took me around an hour per headlight. I also made my own wiring harness soldering the factory connector and the adapter wires so it's plug and play. I bought laser cut brackets to mount the projector to the headlight housing so they are perfectly aligned. Wasn't that difficult if you have the right tools and time. I can type up a how to when I get some free time.