Do LED Headlights Still Suck?

So i've owned my truck for a year and a half now and since the first day i've owned it the biggest shortcoming to me has been the halogen headlights. a truck so nice deserves better lights and after coming from led headlights that scatter-blinded everyone coming my direction i was hoping that the technology has improved a little.
i've seen some nice LEDs from Philips, Headlight Revolutions and VLEDs to name a few that promise to improve cut off so my question is are any of these worth getting?

 

I like my Hi/Lo beams...

 

It's my understanding that they shouldn't be used unless you have a projector lens. Reflector lenses are the culprit when it comes to scattering light everywhere when using the LED bulbs.
My guess is that this is because in a regular halogen or xenon bulb, the light source is from one precise spot, i.e., the filament. In an LED there are several LEDs stacked in some sort of array, so the focal point of the reflector reflects these various sources of light to different points than where they are supposed to be aimed.

 

yes that has always been the answer. the problem with that is i'm not entirely interested in baking my lights nor am i in sending them away for multiple weeks.

 

i bought spyders for my 08 and put in the 35 watt hids whitch is a big improvement over the halogens they came with, that being said i think the projectors in these lights are pretty cheap and do not throw a very good pattern. i'm thinking about retrofitting the spyders with a kit from the retrofit source. my spyders have the u-bar led stripe.

 

Yup them LED sucks. Send them to me and you can have mine. Seems fair.

"...one mans spoil is another mans....."

 

I love my h4 LEDs(truck-lite) in my Tacoma. They give my retro a semi run for there money but the retro wins.

 

Baking them does not harm anything. You can always buy another pair to use while you work on the retrofit. That way you can still use your truck. Or same with sending then off to have done professionally.

 

I say if it's not in your budget to spend a 1100 for a retro fit, go with the LED's.

 

it boils down to money and sometimes 1000 for a retro fit is just not in the budget. but a $200 pair of LED's will work just fine and give you better output. If they are street legal, go for it.

 

If you can take apart your headlights yourself, the new Morimoto H1 is fairly simple to install and output seems to be really good. $270 or wait until there's a 25% discount at the retrofit source

 

ya, and it blows ass honestly. It's like Im in a dream for like 5 seconds and trying not to drive into the light HAHA.

 

X2

 

You dont have to wait for weeks on a retrofit. @eledobleu has an exchange program. Pick what you want, pay for it and he does them on a set of headlights that he got from someone else doing the same thing. When done he ships them to you. Put them on and send him your factory headlights back. He had mine done and shipped to me in about a week. Depending what you want, mine cost about $800.

 

A week or 1.5 months. I'll be at the 1.5 month mark all said and done after sending them back the same day I received my retro due to plastic debris inside the headlight. Also, I expected to get my original headlights returned not a set of lights from some other person's truck. My headlights were in mint condition with clean lenses. This is what I got back. I'm not saying Leo hasn't worked with me to resolve the issue but there have been a few hiccups during the process. My truck hasn't moved since January 28th and won't be put back together until at least mid next week. I'd advise getting a spare set of headlights if you need your truck on a daily basis and choose the retrofit route.

 

Ouch, I just sent my lights off brand new, I asked to please send me back my originals based on your experience. I think mine are getting done pretty close to what you just had done.

 

LED headlight are alright.. not worst than the stock halogens but not really much better.. that said, I will be getting retros once I have some funds..

Here is a shot of my Philips LED & Morimoto fogs

 

Those are your 100% original lights. Your lights sit in the box until I start working on them. The lens is perfect! Was just a little dirty which I cleaned up with Plasti X. I never send anyone a different set of lights that they sent me. The only way you will receive someone else lights is if you were in the core exchange program and the condition is always new.

Sorry about your lights! Like I explained, some dust from the back of the headlights where the reflector bowl was shaved were stuck on the level motor. During shipping, that dust got inside through the empty turn signal slots (No bulbs).

Its unfortunate that one of your lights has dust inside when you received it. I would definitely be upset to. But they are now cleaned up and on its way back to you.

I want everyone to be aware of something. By your lights being "stock chrome", Its extremely difficult to make out any blemishes or details on your lens. Even scratches are hard to find due to the reflection. Once that background is changed to black, all of the blemishes and marks will be more visible. This is a common thing most people don't seem to understand. In your case, your lens was a little smoggy. Very difficult to make out with an all chrome background. The black background made it more visible. Only way to remove smog from the lens is using Plasti X or another headlight polisher. When you receive your lights back, you will see exactly what I mean.

 

Fair enough. I'm not upset with your work and I think the left side headlight looked great. I get that the shipping duration is out of your hands (sorta) since I'm located across the country and that's been the main factor that added such a long time for this project. I wasn't aware that I was supposed to leave all of the bulbs installed in the headlights. In hindsight I would have left them installed and let you handle them.

 

Do you have any pics you could show? Also how bright is the u-bar. I have heard some stories saying they are not that bright. I have been on the fence about getting them for a while now.

 

FWIW, Im having lights installed next week. I asked the guys at the customs shop I go through what they thought about LED headlights and they said they stopped carrying them in store. They said the light is bright as hell but they dont have enough distance to recommend over HIDs. They would special order for you if you really had your heart set on it, but they were tired of having vehicles brought back in the shop to dump the LEDs for HIDs

 

Do you have any pics you could show? Also how bright is the u-bar. I have heard some stories saying they are not that bright. I have been on the fence about getting them for a while now

ill try to put some pics up later this week. you have heard right the led u bar is not that bright, just for show.

 

Ok thanks