Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives LED headlight bulbs

Has anyone tried upgrading to LED headlight bulbs?

It's common here in AK to add "moose lights" for driving our low traffic winter roads....

I've used the large Lightforce halogen lights in the past and they really put some light
down the road but I'm looking for a cheaper alternative for one of my pickups.

I'm thinking of only changing the high beam bulb although they are available for low beam and fog lights also.

One potential problem is that most of them aren't really street legal. They're too bright and can blind other drivers. It's high unlikely that a cop would say anything but if you got in an accident and the other guy's lawyer found out you had them, it might be a problem.

Not really,
DOT specifications are 45 watt low, 65 watt high beam. A 45 watt LED is much brighter than a 45 watt halogen and a halogen is much brighter than a incandescent.
The DOT needs to change the law to lumens instead of watts. Until then enjoy a bright drive.

Many brands don't have a 'DOT approved' label. If they don't there's a good chance that they aren't legal. Some will say 'SAE Certified'. Those have been tested for quality by SAE.

A lot of new vehicles come with LED's now.
I just rode a new Roadglide with twin LED headlights. On a dark night in the country I could run 90 mph without out running the headlight. DOT approved stock lights.
Looking in my catalog all the replacement LED headlights (even the 1600 lumen) are DOT approved except the very cheap ones. I suspect they just didn't submit them for testing

The issue with aftermarket LED bulbs is not one of brightness, or color, but rather of light distribution. The placement of the LED's on the "bulb" never matches the filament placement of the bulb the headlight was designed for, so the light pattern is diffused and scattered, rather than being where it's needed. The cars that are equipped with factory LED lights have all the right stuff to produce good light, the LED prisms, adequate cooling for the lights as they produce a lot of heat, and shutters built into the the prisms for high/low beam control.

The aftermarket ones, IMO, are a step backwards from stock. They only advantage is that they produce a much whiter light.

If someone is buying the cheap ones that is true but good ones like J.W. Speaker are excellent.

Those are complete headlights, not just bulbs.

The LED replacement bulbs are a joke. You are better off with a PIAA Super Plasma or Xtreme White bulb.
To get a real LED headlight you need to buy a complete assembly and wiring adapter.
The lens is what makes a LED headlight work properly. As with any optics the money is in the lenses.