LED headlamps

I wasn't there when you took the shots, but it looks to me like the Halogens splash more light against the wall than the other side.
Agreed, more yellow but some silverstars would help that if desired along with more brightness too.

Bright lights are very hard to judge against a close object.. you really need to shoot at something thats at least 100 yards away... even 150 would be better to see the real lumen differences.

Up close.. its all bright... in the distance, there are dramatic changes.

 

Yes, the halogens were splashing more light. Remember, the halogens are the brights on my 2010 -- above the LEDs. The other brights were from my 2007 with HIDs.

I wish I could have had more time and an opportunity for better testing, but I took what I could get. I suppose I could team up with someone locally who has a GenII with HIDs to get better shots.

Volunteers?

 

I actually have both cars still "I have 3 now!"... I'll try to do some tests shooting down the road in my neighborhood.

I"m sure I can see higher with the halogens... "good for coon hunting!.. LOL!" they also hit the ground very good.. but I think they are more focused to the center whereas the HID is broader....but I'll try to get some beamshots.

The only problem.. we are dealing with different housing, reflectors etc.... so unless you can take a before mod shot and then after with all the same camera settings, I'm not sure the point.

Except that if someone is considering the 2010 purchase and wants to compare the two "GenII HID's vs. Gen III pkg IV Halogen" that would give them an idea.

 

That's almost what I was thinking about. I believe more than one person has asked about the particular comparison of the GenII HIDs and the GenIII LEDs.

 

I don't have the Gen III LED's as that is pkg V.
I have the Gen III Halogen high and Halogen low beams w/lenses in Pkg IV.

I can compare that with the HIDs.

 

Hey Everyone!

Just a heads up, I hit my 5 and have (or so I think) successfully uploaded a few shots of the S2000 HID's vs. Prius LED's.. I gather you can find my post by clicking on my name if not let me know and I'll post a link to the thread. If you want to see any other shots let me know. This was done without too much thought using my garage door as the comparison surface.

 

Try to do some shots into the distance with trees, house etc as a backdrop... up close comparisons are hard to determine.

 

I will try to get some distance shots real soon, maybe tomorrow night. I live in a rural area so I should be able to tripod my camera and park the cars on a nearly pitch black street... stay tuned.

 

Ok everyone, as promised... here are road shot comparisons of the Prius LED headlights vs. the S2000 HID headlights. These are taken with the same exact camera settings (Nikon DSLR) and I placed tape on the ground where the tire and tripod were in an effort to keep everything as close as possible in the photos. You will see the LED's alone, S2000 HID's alone and then the LED's with the Fog lights turned on as well.

 

Lastly... here are wall shots, Prius first and S2000 second, followed with an indoor shot of the subject vehicles with their headlights on for height from road comparison. I believe that the S2000 being lower to the ground (stock vehicle height) gives it a slight advantage with regard to the appearance of more light, look at the height in the photo and you can be your own judge as to if it may be a factor.

 

You might want to clarify that the S2000's HID pic is the first one. Your last sentence made it seem like the S2000 was in the middle...
But anyone with a little common sense, most will probably notice the headlight housing's shape and figure that out on their own.

Thanks for the pics...

 

Agreed, I saw that too and thought to myself.... but like you said, I figured that someone looking at it would probably be able to tell. The S2000 has a much wider beam spread than the prius, it does however use only one large projector vs. the Prius using several smaller ones and the obvious, different light source.

 

I don't know that I see it the same way. I can't see that the reflected signs in the distance are more visible with the S2000 than the Prius. On first glance, I thought it was the other way around.

I do like the fact that on the S2000 there is more of a light spread right by the car, but I don't know that it is really visible/usable at speed. Perhaps I'll use the fog lamps a bit more when I'm at very slow speed on a dark night!

Also, it seems to me that I can see another set of road divider reflectors on the Prius shot.

All-in-all, I like the whiteness of the Prius, in comparison, but the S2000 light is also very nice.

Thank you to priusagent for producing such a good head-to-head comparison.

 

Yeah, the headlights on my BMW were way better, but these are definitely nothing to be ashamed of, especially considering they use less energy, produce less heat... etc

I LOVE that the tail lamps are now 100% LED. That is a great change. It's difficult to change turn lights for LED, so I am not going to.. but I HAVE replaced every parking light with LEDs in the front. So, in theory if I needed to leave my parking lights on for some reason, I could easily do so with miniscule drain on the battery.

 

Would you share with us where you got your replacement LED's and the specific ones you went with, as well as the estimated cost to replace them? Do you have any pictures of the new LED's that you can share? Thanks!!

 

I got most of the interior ones on bavauto.com and I go to lighting, replacement bulbs, and typed in what I used to have, 06 330i. It has a product called "24 led kit" that is a great kit to buy. Very versatile. I even got one to work in the rear cargo area.

However, for the vanity mirror lights, the door lights, and the rear license plate bulbs, (as well as some parking light bulbs) I went to superbrightleds.com On there you go to miniature wedge bulbs. Those bulbs are the WLED-xHP6. Those are the perfect size, and output. Good luck!

 

I should also state, that you might want to pick the color of your choice for light temperature. On the 24 led kit, it comes in a very whitish, bluish light... can't help that. I like the look personally, anyways you will want cool white for all the interior wedge bulbs to match. Outside I kept it the same, but you could do it however you want. There are also some wedge bulbs on superbrightleds that would work well for the front. They sort of have several leds on top, and a few rotating around the side. You can get those in Amber if you want for your parking/marker lights, but I just went with bright white.