Philips LED bulbs better than stock?

[Dangerdan85]

Hey guys. I've only ever bought LED bulbs once before and it was a bad experience as they were not better at all but those were some random Chinese ebay brand that was $40 about 5 or so years ago. My F150s OEM bulbs at the time were much brighter in fact.
I'm looking at buying a pack of the actual Philips ones that are $99 at the Lordco here.
So before I go spending my money though, are the actual brand name LEDs (Philips, Sylvania etc..) generally better than those Amazon or Ebay brands.
Are they better than the OEM bulbs in my 2021 xlt? which I have no complaint about... but brighter is better for seeing deer and elk where I live.

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[Langwilliams]

I'm thinking about the Sylvania silverstar ultra's. They have solid reviews an cost around $50 or less. Only downside is they don't last as long as regular halogen bulbs.

 

[Frenchy]

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.

 

[lou5560]

Save your money for other mods & just buy the Auxito 6500 Led bulbs.
H11 Fog light bulb, H11 Low Beam Headlamp bulb, 9005 High Beam headlamp bulb

 

[lou5560]

Save your money for other mods & just buy the Auxito 6500 Led bulbs.
H11 Fog light bulb, H11 Low Beam Headlamp bulb, 9005 High Beam headlamp bulb

 

[Frenchy]

Yeah those lights are causing glare. My lights did the same when I had drop in LED lights.

 

[amick1995]

Yeah those lights are causing glare. My lights did the same when I had drop in LED lights.

Every time I bring up that LED bulbs do not work well in halogen reflector housings a lot of people say “well I don’t get flashed so they aren’t bad”. Meanwhile there is a big difference in useable light, glare and light patterns. I cannot stand seeing these drop in lights pointing at me while driving, even if they are aimed low.
Glad someone else isn’t a fan of them

 

[Frenchy]

Every time I bring up that LED bulbs do not work well in halogen reflector housings a lot of people say “well I don’t get flashed so they aren’t bad”. Meanwhile there is a big difference in useable light, glare and light patterns. I cannot stand seeing these drop in lights pointing at me while driving, even if they are aimed low.
Glad someone else isn’t a fan of them

Just wait.... You know who will pop up any minute now strongly disagreeing you

 

[Trigganometry]

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!

 

[JasonTremor]

Coming from a Colorado ZR2 to the Ranger Tremor XLT, the factory lights are so much brighter in the Ranger. Both use halogen bulbs, but the ZR2 had a projector low beam housing.

 

[JesseS]

Yeah those lights are causing glare. My lights did the same when I had drop in LED lights.

That is lens flair on the camera, not necessarily a product of the lights.

 

[Frenchy]

That is lens flair on the camera, not necessarily a product of the lights.

Says the person that thinks drop in LED lights dont cause glare(spoiler alert!! They cause glare!!!)

 

[towpro]

something else that helps is to turn your battery charge voltage up with forscan

 

[JesseS]

Says the person that thinks drop in LED lights dont cause glare(spoiler alert!! They cause glare!!!)

And you think other lights don't cause glare?? Really?? Put away your soapbox please.

 

[bloosh]

And you thing other lights don't cause glare?? Really?? Put away your soapbox please.

It isn't that hard to understand. A reflector light fixture is designed to reflect and focus light from a filament. If you switch to a LED bulb you will have a light source that is wider/thicker than a filament. This wider source will result in more scatter/glare due to the design of the reflector. This scattering makes it look much brighter to the driver due to proximity, but actually decreases the focus/range of the beam.

Few LED bulbs are thin enough to achieve acceptable distance performance compared to stock, and even they probably are worse than getting a brighter halogen bulb. If you do your research and get a good thin LED bulb and adjust your headlights you can likely achieve acceptable performance, but otherwise you are actually making your own vision worse at the expense of others, despite what your eyes are telling you. This is not some subjective thing, it is physics.

There is a really informative thread on tacomaworld on replacement lighting where someone has tested many different lighting setups. It isn't directly comparable to the ranger, but it can still give an idea what to look for.

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