BOSLLA B1 review

[Jarheadoo7]

BOSLLA is back again with the smallest, thinnest LED headlight bulb on the market. The B1.

Like my other review of the BOSLLA Bullet 4 mode LED bulb, this is just my opinion of the product and an initial impression. As time moves forward I’ll update this thread.

I am starting from stock bulbs on a 2015 trail premium, the baseline is easily improved without much effort. I just wanted a drop in bulb that will improve output. Having read things in the forums about LEDS sucking in projector housings, especially our sideways mount type, I was skeptical but I ignored all that and gave these a shot.

At 40 bucks shipped (amazon) the package and presentation quality is nice. These aren’t some cheap bulbs you get at autozone that come in plastic bubble housing and some shrink wrap.

Installation was easy, knock the dust caps off, old out, new in. With the lights on the garage door I rotated each LED until I visually got the best beam pattern from each bulb.

Improved brightness over stock is obvious but it’s not going to knock your socks off. I think the sideways projector set up we have basically gets only half the LED (these are two sided) which saps the brightness. The rumor is true, LEDs work better in reflector housings, my BOSLLA Bullets in the fog light location proves that in these photos.

The good points:
Fits under factory dust cap with no issues.
Install took ten minutes.
Plug and play.
Slightly brighter than halogens.
40 dollar investment isn’t too bad.

Cons:
TBD

Here are the photos sequence.
Lights off, low beam, low beam and fogs, high beam, box

H11(H8,H9) LED Headlight Bulbs,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SGQ8TCZ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[Jarheadoo7]

After some night time driving on roads with street lighting I’ve discovered that the LED throw is not very far. This isn’t new news. LEDs are notorious for not having the push power as HIDs, especially in a projector housing.



These BOSLLA B1’s can be rotated to adjust the beam pattern and after fiddling with that a bit with no illustrious results I decided to test them against some of the “best” LED bulbs on the market. The Diode Dynamics SL1 H11’s.



Photos with the Diode Dynamics SL1 H11s.

Off:

Low beams:

Low and fog:

High beam:

It’s hard to tell from the photos if the DD are any “better”. I’ll update.


Side by side:

UPDATE:

I had some install issues with the Diode Dynamics that I inquired about with their customer service. Turns out the "old" SL1 worked with the T4R's but the "new" SL1's are not designed for our housings.
Back they go.

 

[cb1111]

This post just proves why these are illegal. The beam pattern is awful and the hotspots just produce a ridiculous amount of glare.

Do you have the same picture with the stock bulbs?

 

[Angelo]

This post just proves why these are illegal. The beam pattern is awful and the hotspots just produce a ridiculous amount of glare.

Do you have the same picture with the stock bulbs?

Doing ANYTHING to your lights that isn't SAE / DOT approved is technically illegal- not just replacing your bulbs with LEDs. HID swaps, retrofits, and lots of other lighting mods are illegal too. No offense intended, I just didn't want someone to read your post and think something about LEDs or these bulbs specifically is illegal.

I could be wrong, these LEDs are probably not anywhere near the lumens they're advertised to be- most of the cheap Chinese lighting products available on Amazon aren't truly what they say they are.

 

[cb1111]

Doing ANYTHING to your lights that isn't SAE / DOT approved is technically illegal- not just replacing your bulbs with LEDs. HID swaps, retrofits, and lots of other lighting mods are illegal too. No offense intended, I just didn't want someone to read your post and think something about LEDs or these bulbs specifically is illegal.

I could be wrong, these LEDs are probably not anywhere near the lumens they're advertised to be- most of the cheap Chinese lighting products available on Amazon aren't truly what they say they are.

Correct. I'm just getting tired on explaining that in every lighting thread. Thanks for doing it for me.

That said, these things are absolutely horrible. I knew that before I even saw the pictures when the OP "I rotated them to get the best output".

Manufacturers spend millions on R&D - these guys spend 10 cents on a cheap base and superglue it to an even cheaper bulb. then they put it in a 75 cent box and call it a day.

 

[Jarheadoo7]

Do you have the same picture with the stock bulbs?

I don’t have pics with the stock bulbs,



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jarheadoo7]

these things are absolutely horrible. I knew that before I even saw the pictures when the OP "I rotated them to get the best output".

Can you show me what you see when you look at the pictures? I get the hotspot, but I’m not seeing the glare. The cutoff line is pretty good isn’t it?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cb1111]

Can you show me what you see when you look at the pictures? I get the hotspot, but I’m not seeing the glare. The cutoff line is pretty good isn’t it?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Be happy to.

The brain (and the eye) is drawn to the brightest area. That is the reason that headlights are designed with an unlit area directly in front of the car so that the eyes will look down the road.

Here, we have several hotspots. One directly in front of the car (about mid picture, right above the dash) and another down the road.

Those hotspots wash out all detail - and that is glare.

 

[Jarheadoo7]

Headlights are designed with an unlit area directly in front of the car so that the eyes will look down the road.

Here, we have several hotspots. One directly in front of the car (about mid picture, right above the dash) and another down the road.

Those hotspots wash out all detail - and that is glare.

That is great insight, thanks!

 

[cb1111]

That is great insight, thanks!

Which is also the reason that you shouldn't run fogs all the time.

Fogs are designed to illuminate that dark area immediately in front of your car and to the side during heavy fog at low speeds.

I regularly drive to a site that is 4 miles straight up a mountain. About a 100 yards before the turn off to that road, there is often very heavy fog.

The fog is so common that the road has Botts dots on both the center and on the outside of the lane. One sometimes has to drive by feel and sound as even the fog lights are ineffective. The fogs do light up the dots though.

We tend to equate "bright" with "better", but a properly designed halogen light can be far better than a badly designed HID or LED even if it doesn't appear as bright.

 

[IanB]

Which is also the reason that you shouldn't run fogs all the time.

Fogs are designed to illuminate that dark area immediately in front of your car and to the side during heavy fog at low speeds.

I regularly drive to a site that is 4 miles straight up a mountain. About a 100 yards before the turn off to that road, there is often very heavy fog.

The fog is so common that the road has Botts dots on both the center and on the outside of the lane. One sometimes has to drive by feel and sound as even the fog lights are ineffective. The fogs do light up the dots though.

We tend to equate "bright" with "better", but a properly designed halogen light can be far better than a badly designed HID or LED even if it doesn't appear as bright.

Would you say the factory halogen projectors these trucks come with are properly designed? Because I thought they absolutely sucked. I'm very happy with my HID bulbs in factory projectors though, zero complaints.

 

[cb1111]

Would you say the factory halogen projectors these trucks come with are properly designed? Because I thought they absolutely sucked. I'm very happy with my HID bulbs in factory projectors though, zero complaints.

I can't say because I've not spent any time in a 4R at night, but they meet the
regs and have the following rating from IIHS:

Low beams
On the straightaway, visibility was fair on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests.

The low beams created some glare.

High beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was fair on the gradual left and gradual right curves and inadequate on the sharp left and sharp right curves.

The highlander got a very similar rating:

Low beams
On the straightaway, visibility was fair on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests.

The low beams created some glare.

High beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was fair on the gradual right curve and inadequate on the sharp right and both left curves.

High-beam assist compensates for some limitations of this vehicle's low beams on the straightaway and all 4 curves.

The Wranger also has pissy ratings:

Low beams
On the straightaway, visibility was inadequate on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests.

The low beams never exceeded glare limits.

High beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on the right side of the road and fair on the left side. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests.

That said, here is a problem with how we "see" light - that wasn't an issue prior to HIDs - and that is that we think that colder lights are brighter and brighter is better.

Accordingly, we need to carefully evaluate lights based on objective tests and not what we perceive as better.

So the short answer is I don't know, but they don't appear to test worse than comparables - the GX/LX/LC weren't tested yet.

 

[IanB]

I can't say because I've not spent any time in a 4R at night, but they meet the
regs and have the following rating from IIHS:

Low beams
On the straightaway, visibility was fair on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests.

The low beams created some glare.

High beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was fair on the gradual left and gradual right curves and inadequate on the sharp left and sharp right curves.

The highlander got a very similar rating:

Low beams
On the straightaway, visibility was fair on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests.

The low beams created some glare.

High beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was fair on the gradual right curve and inadequate on the sharp right and both left curves.

High-beam assist compensates for some limitations of this vehicle's low beams on the straightaway and all 4 curves.

The Wranger also has pissy ratings:

Low beams
On the straightaway, visibility was inadequate on both sides of the road. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests.

The low beams never exceeded glare limits.

High beams
On the straightaway, visibility was good on the right side of the road and fair on the left side. On curves, visibility was inadequate in all 4 tests.

That said, here is a problem with how we "see" light - that wasn't an issue prior to HIDs - and that is that we think that colder lights are brighter and brighter is better.

Accordingly, we need to carefully evaluate lights based on objective tests and not what we perceive as better.

So the short answer is I don't know, but they don't appear to test worse than comparables - the GX/LX/LC weren't tested yet.

So you don't drive a 4Runner? I'm not trying to be rude, but why are you here in this forum, criticizing lighting upgrades? I'd recommend you spend some time night driving in a 5th gen before jumping down people's throats about how they are trying to fix the huge issue that is the factory lighting.

I run 4300K HID conversions in all my vehicles (2X halogen projectors and 1X HID retrofit), and they have been a huge upgrade as I do quite a bit of rural, night time driving. Aimed properly I've never been flashed, the cutoff is quite good.

Legal doesn't mean it's any good, and good doesn't mean it's illegal.

 

[cb1111]

So you don't drive a 4Runner? I'm not trying to be rude, but why are you here in this forum, criticizing lighting upgrades? I'd recommend you spend some time night driving in a 5th gen before jumping down people's throats about how they are trying to fix the huge issue that is the factory lighting.

I run 4300K HID conversions in all my vehicles (2X halogen projectors and 1X HID retrofit), and they have been a huge upgrade as I do quite a bit of rural, night time driving. Aimed properly I've never been flashed, the cutoff is quite good.

Legal doesn't mean it's any good, and good doesn't mean it's illegal.

An intelligent person does lots of research before dropping $40 or $50k on a purchase. That's why I'm here.

I also happen to know far more about lighting than any of the aftermarket lighting manufacturers of "retrofits" combined.

It also doesn't matter how "good" a retrofit it - if it is illegal then it isn't good.

The manufacturers of these illegal retrofits prey on misconceptions of the community - that brighter is always better, that colder (blue'ish) light is better, glare only affects oncoming traffic and cutoff is the most important thing.

Here's your challenge. Set up your car using the OEM lights using this [B]alignment guide[/B]. Take photographs from the driver's viewpoint.

Place a chair against the wall on the center line. Sit in the chair and point your camera to the center of the car. Take picture.

Next, install your retrofit lights and take the same pictures. Post them here (without any enhancements) and PM me and I'll be glad to weigh in.

I'll be more than happy to say "they may be illegal but they look pretty good" if that is the case.

You can say "cutoff is great" and "there is no glare" until the cows come home and it means nothing unless you have the data or pictures to prove it.

Pictures from your driveway against your garage door are completely useless as are pictures pointing down a random road.

 

[uh0h50]

It also doesn't matter how "good" a retrofit it - if it is illegal then it isn't good.

Absolutely false.

 

[pointman]

Correct. I'm just getting tired on explaining that in every lighting thread.

Then take a break. No one asked you too.

 

[cb1111]

Then take a break. No one asked you too.

Ignorance is bliss. I guess if you don't know what the laws are then you can't break them.:lmao:

 

[pointman]

Ignorance is bliss. I guess if you don't know what the laws are then you can't break them.:lmao:

Arrogance is distasteful. I guess if you don't know you're arrogant in how you write online then you don't realize how badly you turn people off to you in real life. :lmao: