Headlight comparison stock vs others

[patkelly4370]

Need night shots with the headlights shining into the camera, not away from the camera.
Oncoming traffic perspective.

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[henntseng]

I was reading crashnburn80 tacoma post and it seem his argument for lack of distance on LEDs is the lack of a central hotspot as the led are sidefiring in most other projectors. however, in the 4runners, an LED bulb would be front and back firing in our halogen projectors. seems like you would still get a central hotspot as seen in most of the 4runner LED reviews. Does anyone know if anyone has done the same analysis on the 4runner projectors to the extent of crashnburn80? in particular, the bulb orientation of 45 deg as recommended by some others on this forum vs directly front and rear firing to maximize the central hot spot? Is he actually on this forum to address this question?

 

[NW.OH.T4R]

Updated output shots.
Low beam only:

Low beam plus fog:

High beam:

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[NW.OH.T4R]

Need night shots with the headlights shining into the camera, not away from the camera.
Oncoming traffic perspective.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Photos differ greatly from what you actually see when looking into the headlights. I tried to capture this last night and the photos made it appear blinding.

 

[ForRun]

Updated the OP with the Alpharex nova and explained my finding of each light

 

[mynameistory]

Good comparative post here. Those Alpharex headlights look terrible. All foreground lighting with no distance. Good for instagram only I guess.

 

[mynameistory]

I was reading crashnburn80 tacoma post and it seem his argument for lack of distance on LEDs is the lack of a central hotspot as the led are sidefiring in most other projectors. however, in the 4runners, an LED bulb would be front and back firing in our halogen projectors. seems like you would still get a central hotspot as seen in most of the 4runner LED reviews. Does anyone know if anyone has done the same analysis on the 4runner projectors to the extent of crashnburn80? in particular, the bulb orientation of 45 deg as recommended by some others on this forum vs directly front and rear firing to maximize the central hot spot? Is he actually on this forum to address this question?

I don't think he's on here. However, you do bring up a good point- yes the emitters would be forward and rearward facing in the side-mounted projector housings on a 4Runner.

However, the central problem is still the same. LED chips sitting on a blade of copper (for power and heat transfer) still cannot be shrunk down to the thickness of a wound halogen filament. Because the thickness is increased, the light source is pushed out of the focal point of the optic. You may retain a hotspot, but it will not be placed in the correct location of the beam pattern (at the top, just under the cutoff). This will increase near-field brightness at the expense of distance projection- a very unsafe combination for headlights.

Drop-in LED bulbs are not worth it. I advise you to save your money and get performance or H9 halogen bulbs.

 

[ForRun]

Added some Alpharex Luxx headlights. The install was a pain in the ass. I didn’t install the DRL function since i never use it anyway. Also I didn’t care for the dancing lights at startup. Seemed kinda cheesy to me. Another thing I didn’t care for is the extended shut off time which I don’t have any of that since I didn’t install the DRL harness. I really miss the ease of modding like with Jeeps. I like the black housing. BTW, to adjust the lights don’t use a screwdriver. Just use an 8MM ratcheting wrench. So much easier. I’m not sure what i think about these headlights yet since I haven’t driven far and it was all in the city which will drown out most lights. I’m not sure I like the beam pattern. Just not used to the cutoff pattern. Also the drivers hi beam is much higher than the passenger side.

Led headlights (the 3 that I've had) all have wierd cutoff lines, not sure why. Morimoto tries to cast an "M"
The drivers high beam does look up high

 

[mynameistory]

Lol those look terrible.

 

[mynameistory]

Not perfect, but at least they are better than the halogens.

I doubt it. They may be brighter but distance projection appears to be lost in the photo that ForRun posted. I'd rather have dim headlights that reach far into the distance than bright headlights that reach 30 feet in front of my truck. And the high beam alignment shows that they have terrible build QC.

 

[VB.TRD.Pro]

5. Gen 1 Morimoto LED headlights
... I have not seen adequate pictures to verify. Perhaps someone can post them?

Hopefully these pictures are adequate. Gen1 on top, gen2 on the bottom...

 

[ForRun]

Hopefully these pictures are adequate. Gen1 on top, gen2 on the bottom...

Bottom pic on the left. Is the two dark spots (up close) on the grass or is it projected that way? Just curious, thanks

 

[VB.TRD.Pro]

Bottom pic on the left. Is the two dark spots (up close) on the grass or is it projected that way? Just curious, thanks

It's definitely not the grass. It's projected that way and is also present on the passenger side, too. It's not as noticeable when driving or when projecting on the wall. Not sure what it is.

 

[?????]

It's definitely not the grass. It's projected that way and is also present on the passenger side, too. It's not as noticeable when driving or when projecting on the wall. Not sure what it is.

Who did you go with for the retrofit? I've got another set of pristine headlights I'm trying to figure out what to do with.

 

[VB.TRD.Pro]

Who did you go with for the retrofit? I've got another set of pristine headlights I'm trying to figure out what to do with.

I didn't do a true retrofit if I'm interpreting your question correctly. The Morimoto XB headlights are completely sealed replacement assemblies that I purchased through HID Kit Pros last year.

If opening up the stock units for a projector retrofit was a solution I was open to, of the pictures posted here and in other threads, the Morimoto M Bi-LED 2.0 projectors look the best in multiple areas. It looks to project the most consistent and usable beam pattern. There are no weird spots or inconsistencies. The beam pattern and performance is just one aspect of customization though so it depends on what your goals are.

 

[NW.OH.T4R]

Who did you go with for the retrofit? I've got another set of pristine headlights I'm trying to figure out what to do with.

I didn't do a true retrofit if I'm interpreting your question correctly. The Morimoto XB headlights are completely sealed replacement assemblies that I purchased through HID Kit Pros last year.

If opening up the stock units for a projector retrofit was a solution I was open to, of the pictures posted here and in other threads, the Morimoto M Bi-LED 2.0 projectors look the best in multiple areas. It looks to project the most consistent and usable beam pattern. There are no weird spots or inconsistencies. The beam pattern and performance is just one aspect of customization though so it depends on what your goals are.

The projector retrofit is an involved process, not difficult just requiring a lot of patience when opening the OEM housings. The Morimoto are nice because you can purchase a retro-quick kit and have the ABS (I think) brackets for an easy swap. I prefer the performance of HID headlights, so opted to do the Lexus IS projector swap which is bi-xenon. Both options provide an open slot where the factory DRL/high beams are located. I ran a splitter to keep factory DRLs and then my high beams are HID plus halogen.
As mentioned by VB, the options for customization are vast once you have a set of headlights open.

 

[mynameistory]

The projector retrofit is an involved process, not difficult just requiring a lot of patience when opening the OEM housings. The Morimoto are nice because you can purchase a retro-quick kit and have the ABS (I think) brackets for an easy swap. I prefer the performance of HID headlights, so opted to do the Lexus IS projector swap which is bi-xenon. Both options provide an open slot where the factory DRL/high beams are located. I ran a splitter to keep factory DRLs and then my high beams are HID plus halogen.
As mentioned by VB, the options for customization are vast once you have a set of headlights open.

If those projectors are bi-xenon, do the projector high-beams take a bit of time to warm up to full brightness? You mentioned you're using the factory DRL/high beam bulb as well. Got any pictures?

 

[NW.OH.T4R]

If those projectors are bi-xenon, do the projector high-beams take a bit of time to warm up to full brightness? You mentioned you're using the factory DRL/high beam bulb as well. Got any pictures?

Posts #79 and 83 are mine. The projectors do take a moment to warm up, but this occurs during low beam, low to high is just a shutter that opens to increase the beam pattern, so there's no secondary warm-up period for high beam.
I can try to snap a few pictures of the pigtails and splitters I've used to make it work, if that's what you're asking.

 

[mynameistory]

Posts #79 and 83 are mine. The projectors do take a moment to warm up, but this occurs during low beam, low to high is just a shutter that opens to increase the beam pattern, so there's no secondary warm-up period for high beam.
I can try to snap a few pictures of the pigtails and splitters I've used to make it work, if that's what you're asking.

Interesting, I didn't know the high beam was a mechanical shutter! And you use the factory halogen reflector as a high beam as well, that's pretty neat. No need for the nitty gritty, I understand now.

 

[Jetboy]

I went to buy some GE Ultra Vision bulbs and learned that GE has discontinued making bulbs. So I guess we'll have to see if someone takes over or if that option is now over. Just thought it might be worthwhile to toss in this thread.

Something I haven't seen discussed is the issues with having brighter lights in the more reflective spectrum and snow driving. If they don't melt the snow off the lenses - it doesn't matter how good the projector is - it scatters light everywhere. Combined with the extra brightness it makes for some really difficult vision in snow. This isn't just an issue for aftermarket HID or LED bulbs, but that type of headlight in general. If it's a lot brighter than OEM - which many are - snow is likely to be a problem even with great projector housings.

I removed my XD with Phillips setup last week again for about the 3rd time. They're great in the summer if aimed correctly once the bulbs burn in and dim down. I just left them on as my DRLs for a long time and once they got dimmer they were great and not obnoxious for other drivers. But the snow situation was just unusable each winter, so I'd pull em back out. I didn't have the same issue with my RX350 HID headlights or my last IS headlights. The IS had headlight washers. But the RX doesn't. There's probably more to it than just that, but if you're on the fence and live in snow country - HIDs in OEM projectors is not a good combo for winter.

Do folks with full HID retrofits or aftermarket housings with proper HID projectors have the same issues?