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Philips LED bulbs better than stock?

9zero1790

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i tried the philips bulbs and they a let down. brighter for about six nights worth of use and now they are far worse than the el cheapos.
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BiilyJones

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LED drop in bulbs are not designed for reflector type lights no mater what others say. Are the factory bulbs weak? Indeed they are. My suggestion? Spend money on a good set of halogen bulbs(PIAA Xtreme White Plus for example) or get yourself a set of headlight assemblies from AlphaRex or Morimoto if you want LED lights.

I actually have a writeup on the PIAA Xtreme White Plus bulbs. So far I really like them. A well worth the money purchase.
Did I read somewhere that you had aftermarket led assemblies and changed back to oem with the PIAA bulbs? I'm looking to upgrade and it seems like you would have a better opinion.
 

MVRanger

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I did the 9005 conversion. I do a lot of highway driving and during winter, I like the idea of the halogen bulb being warmer, keeps some of the frost off the housing. The 9005s are 65watts instead of 55 and very noticeably brighter and work with the xlt housing for light spread. I don't get the cool led look but for practicality, the light works very well in fog and snow.

My high beams and fogs are auxito leds.
 

Frenchy

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Did I read somewhere that you had aftermarket led assemblies and changed back to oem with the PIAA bulbs? I'm looking to upgrade and it seems like you would have a better opinion.
I did have the AlphaRex LUXX series installed. Was the light output good? Yes, way better then drop in led bulbs. Due to some other reasons I decided to go back to the factory housings and go to PIAA halogen bulbs. With the color temp of the bulbs and the design of the reflectors I prefer the PIAA lights.
 
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Dangerdan85

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Looks like the general consensus is they are crap unless paired with the correct reflector. More of a hassle and cost than I care to bother with. Decided i'll just Philips ones that are 130% X-tremeVision or the Crystal vision ultra's (bright white). Being halogen they will just work and be brighter no hassle.
 


apotocki

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I did the 9005 conversion. I do a lot of highway driving and during winter, I like the idea of the halogen bulb being warmer, keeps some of the frost off the housing. The 9005s are 65watts instead of 55 and very noticeably brighter and work with the xlt housing for light spread. I don't get the cool led look but for practicality, the light works very well in fog and snow.

My high beams and fogs are auxito leds.
Good option for those wanting to avoid LED’s. The 9005 bulb on average is around 1700 lumens….typical H11’s are somewhere near 1250 with the expensive “performance” H11 only an additional 100 or so lumens. An H9 halogen will get you approx 2100 lumens and can be modified for H11 as well…..drawback is they last a year or less depending on your driving but the good is they only cost $10 a bulb.
 

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The most popular lighting sources are incandescent lamps. They are old but have their advantages. Led lights are a modern analog. They last much longer and consume less electricity. You can save money on this. However, I was too lazy to replace all the light bulbs in the house for a long time. I changed my mind when my son created his own color scenes in the room. Btw, I often forget to turn off the lights and the bulbs are often burned out because of it. My wife used to make fun of me. This was also the reason to change bulbs.
 
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lou5560

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I’m with you guys. The halogen reflectors just don’t work with LED drop in’s. The light scatter is very noticeable. Stick with the halogen upgrade route. Everyone else on the road will thank you!
I don't worry about it because no one in New Jersey seems to turn off their high beams. Low beam with fog lamps top picture, high beam bottom picture.

received_1033625143894805.webp


received_358089112838348.webp
 
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THLONE

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Dim bulbs do not need brighter lights. ;)
 

peterson1604

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LED drop in bulbs are not designed for reflector type lights no mater what others say. Are the factory bulbs weak? Indeed they are. My suggestion? Spend money on a good set of halogen bulbs(PIAA Xtreme White Plus for example) or get yourself a set of headlight assemblies from AlphaRex or Morimoto if you want LED lights.

I actually have a writeup on the PIAA Xtreme White Plus bulbs. So far I really like them. A well worth the money purchase.
Yep, and you can replace them every 6 months as they burn out. I switched to the Auxito and they light up the road much better than the stock bulbs. The main issue with LED lights is people buy too many lumens, which you are correct in saying they overpower the housing. If you go with 12,000 lumens or less you will be okay.

I know you're not a fan Frenchy but my eyes do not deceive me, the LEDs are better and everybody at my work noticed a difference. People just need to realize that more lumens is not necessarily better.
 

Frenchy

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Yep, and you can replace them every 6 months as they burn out. I switched to the Auxito and they light up the road much better than the stock bulbs. The main issue with LED lights is people buy too many lumens, which you are correct in saying they overpower the housing. If you go with 12,000 lumens or less you will be okay.

I know you're not a fan Frenchy but my eyes do not deceive me, the LEDs are better and everybody at my work noticed a difference. People just need to realize that more lumens is not necessarily better.
You are also missing the color temp of the light. The LED lights you have are so high that whenit snows you can't see anything in front. Big issue if you ask me
 

peterson1604

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You are also missing the color temp of the light. The LED lights you have are so high that whenit snows you can't see anything in front. Big issue if you ask me
Frenchy,
I live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where long winters and vast amounts of snow are the norm. I can tell you they are absolutely fine in the snow and have no problems at all. ?
 

Frenchy

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Frenchy,
I live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where long winters and vast amounts of snow are the norm. I can tell you they are absolutely fine in the snow and have no problems at all.
I see you're from The Woodlands, which I'm assuming is the one outside of Houston. My brother lives in Tomball andI used to live in Spring when I got out of the Air Force 30 years ago. You don't get much snow in that neck of the woods. ?
Incorrect sir, I'm in the Rockies of Colorado. I have already delt with drop in led lights in the ranger and have personal experience driving in snow. With drop in LED lights it is impossible to see in front of you due to the light color temp and the fact the reflector housings are scatter beams. When I ran the Alpharex I didn't have as much issue in snow bit fog was a different story. One I went to the PIAA lights I did not have an issue with snow what so ever(couldn't speak on the fog since it did happen during that time period.

Put simple your drop in LED lights are not as good as you think.
 

JesseS

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Frenchy,
I live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where long winters and vast amounts of snow are the norm. I can tell you they are absolutely fine in the snow and have no problems at all. ?
Be careful, he will beat you to death with a soapbox :) Here is a photo of my 1:1 'drop in's' correctly adjusted, how much "scatter" do you see?
IMG_4281D.webp
 

peterson1604

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Incorrect sir, I'm in the Rockies of Colorado. I have already delt with drop in led lights in the ranger and have personal experience driving in snow. With drop in LED lights it is impossible to see in front of you due to the light color temp and the fact the reflector housings are scatter beams. When I ran the Alpharex I didn't have as much issue in snow bit fog was a different story. One I went to the PIAA lights I did not have an issue with snow what so ever(couldn't speak on the fog since it did happen during that time period.

Put simple your drop in LED lights are not as good as you think.
Actually they're better. Maybe it's the thin altitude air in Colorado but when I checked stock to the Auxito, the Auxito are much better. Even in the snow, which we get a lot of!
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