Halogen -VS- LED Headlights with pictures

I was going to suggest supplementing the headlights with the front fog lights As an interim solution but I see most of the US models do not have them fitted as standard. In my current car (not a Prius) I have increasingly found these to be of value at night on unlit roads so I have better situational awareness, especially when it rains.

 

I don't know all the things that you are telling us here, but here in Greece if you try to drive at night when it’s raining in a small country road with halogen headlamps you can't see anything especially when there are other cars at the opposite direction. But if you have the led headlights you can see everything. You are telling us “Its quite impressive when I hit the high beams as "all the signs" on the freeway in the distance light up like a neon light.” But with the led Headlamps you can see that without the high beams. Just try them and you can see what I mean.

 

No knock on the LED's, but a few comments if one is to really make a fair comparison between LED's and halogens:

(1) I assume you used the stock halogens? That being said, there are now a host of newer generation aftermarket halogens that offer significantly more brightness/lumens (but still at 55watts), and a much "whiter" light than the OEM halogens. No idea how they would compare to the LED's?

(2) From just looking at the pictures, by far, the biggest difference seems to be in the spectrum of the light, with the LED's being much "whiter" than the halogens. While the "whiter" look (vis a vi, stainless steel appliances) is all the rage, it is not clearly obvious to me that I gain any significant advantage in seeing an object in the road, some 25m, 50 or 100 meters out? Further, how would things look in the rain, mist or fog...when you really need to see what's out in front of you. Color/spectrum aside, I'm more interested in knowing the lumens that are projected at various distances with the two different technologies.

Yes, whiter is "cooler", but does it really help my nighttime driving? By way of the magic of digital photography...I wonder how the two images would compare, or whether you could even tell much of a difference, if you simply put a colored filter in front of the LED light...such that the spectral color looked more like the halogens, but with no/minimal attenuation of the light? Is much of the difference we all see due to the color of the light, or how much light is projected on to the road?

 

Another question I have is..... are these comparison shots of the package IV with Halogen on high beam vs. package V with LED as lower beam and halogen for high?

Because LED is only for low beam and it appears thats all I'm seeing here because my High beams go much farther than those photos imply with my Halogens on High beam.... yes low beam is not that impressive.

If we are comparing onlly low beams, then yes, I prefer the LED's but if we are comparing both packages with all lights on, which would be on high beam mode, then I actually like my Halogens better.

It was my understanding that the the low beam is the only thing thats LED on the package IV.

I'm guessing the shape of the housing is why the high beams on the Package IV shine differently?

Where am I wrong here?.... because something doesn't add up with those pics.....

But again.... when you compare pics, you can get a hint of how the camera was set by looking at what the car Light "could not reach to illluminate"... like the sky.
If the sky is brighter in one shot, that means the camera was set to a longer exposure or a wider aperture in either case more light was allowed through the lens which makes the whole picture brighter.

Its obvious the LED shot is allowing more light... look at the sky and the distant trees.
The Halogen shot is either different settings on the camera, or the evening has gone longer.... in either case, there is less ambient light overall and its a darker night shot.

Plus the LED shot was taken back a bit farthur and the light pole in the immediate right is bright with reflected light.. in the Halogen shot there is no light pole at all... again giving the simulation of a darker shot.

But my final point is that I believe the High beams of the Halogen would attempt to light up the trees in the distance... in both of those shots there is no illumination at all which makes me think these are low beam shots.
Also if you look at the little post to the left you can see where the light gets chopped off whereas its dark on the top portion of the post.

 

Its always hard to get good shots.... I'm a member of Candle power forums and have been associated with a few heavy weight light shootouts... its hard to give justice to each light unless variables are controlled.

Thanks for the effort, it does give an idea of the different feel.

When I ran my HID's with my GenII, I was convinced I would never like Halogens again.
In fact if you follow my threads, I was quite paranoid about a step backwards to go to the GenIII.

As we know there are different preferences for color temperature and the lower the Kelvin "yellower" the more lumens are displayed per watt, but it doesn't always appear that way to the eye as the brighter bluer colors mimic those frequencies of much brighter lights.

When in fact, they often illuminate objects worse when all things are equal mostly because thats what the brain interprets. In dim lighting, "far distance and low power up close" the lower kelvin works better and in intense light its not so important.

Both packages have a fine set of lights and If I owned a package V, I'm sure I would be proud and bias'd towards them too.

I'm not trying to put down any set over the other but rather try to look at the best of both because they both have advantages over the other.

I really do think the Halogen throw farther and higher than the HIds did but the HID's may have had a broader throw to the sides. I still have two GenII's but I never drive them :>

I've never driven the LED package but I would imagine they are quite impressive in high beam mode when the LED's are covering the lowside and the Halogen the High but I can only presume as I've never been in one yet.

 

You have a problem. Maybe your headlights need adjusting? I have a IV, and I have none of those problems. I am, however, looking to put in a newer generation of aftermarket halogens that give a whiter spectrum, and more lumens down the road.

I recently switched halogens (from the OEM's) on my wife's Odyssey, and then reajusted the headlight assembly to get more light where I wanted it...and it made a HUGE difference in nighttime drivability. I opted for the Silverstar ULTRA: [ame="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lgkg_osram-sylvania-offers-tips-and-head_auto"]Dailymotion - OSRAM SYLVANIA offers tips and headlights to make ... - a Auto-Moto video@@AMEPARAM@@http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x5lgkg@@AMEPARAM@@x5lgkg[/ame]

I don't think they are available (yet) for the 2010 Prius, but I'm sure they will be...

 

I too and thinking of upgrading just for the fun of it.. but so far I"ve had little motivation since they work so good.

Hey Toyota!.. how about side lights that come on when the blinker is activated, otherwise all the light is thrown forward where you drive like it should be.

Seems I"ve seen that on some of the luxury cars.

 

I was thinking about the complaint of not having enough side light on my way home in the dark a couple of hours ago and I just don't have that issue.
Theres plenty of light on the side.... yes there is less on low beam alone, but plenty on high for sure.

I was trying to figure out which circumstances may make me feel like there is not enough light and the only thing that comes to mind if I was driving "very" slow... otherwise I would have never thought about it unless I had read it here.

I'm wondering if those are defective.
Maybe going to a dealer and taking a test drive in another at night would tell the story.

 

Actually, I've noticed that my prii has brighter lights in the dark than my other car which is not toyota/hybrid but newer and little bigger than prii. So, I thought the difference was in the led lights. But of course, since I'm not an expert on this technical stuff, I could be wrong but my eyes with corrected lenses can really see a brighter difference prius makes during night driving!

 

Thank you for the great comparison shots, Paradox! I haven't read through every post in this thread, but from those that I did read, I didn't notice that you specified if the pics were of high beams or low beams? You did specifically mention that your fogs were off, so I assume you used low beams, else if you used high beams, the fogs would be off by default anyway.

BTW: I'm old enough to recall when halogen lights were bright white compared to standard, pre-halogen headlights, and the difference was as stark as what you show between the LED and halogen. It's funny to see how "yellow" the halogen lights now appear by comparison.

 

Hi Paradox,

Looking at the pictures, it seems you took the Halogen picture when the car was about 3 yards from the closest light pole (which is not in that picture, but the clump of vegetation near it is). While you took the LED picture about 20 yards from the closest light pole.

Even at the greater distance (about 50 feet greater), the small structure near the farthest light pole shows much greater illumination with the LED lights.

 

No knock on the LED's, but a few comments if one is to really make a fair comparison between LED's and halogens:

(1) I assume you used the stock halogens? That being said, there are now a host of newer generation aftermarket halogens that offer significantly more brightness/lumens (but still at 55watts), and a much "whiter" light than the OEM halogens. No idea how they would compare to the LED's?

(2) From just looking at the pictures, by far, the biggest difference seems to be in the spectrum of the light, with the LED's being much "whiter" than the halogens. While the "whiter" look (vis a vi, stainless steel appliances) is all the rage, it is not clearly obvious to me that I gain any significant advantage in seeing an object in the road, some 25m, 50 or 100 meters out? Further, how would things look in the rain, mist or fog...when you really need to see what's out in front of you. Color/spectrum aside, I'm more interested in knowing the lumens that are projected at various distances with the two different technologies.

(3) Is the beam position, or the beam focal point the same for both the halogens and LEDs? No reason to assume they would be the same, as they have different optics. I recently installed some ULTRA halogens in my wife's Odyssee (a lot whiter), and then adjusted the beam up a bit to look further down the road...and the results are stunning compared to the stock halogens, with no adjustment.

Yes, whiter is "cooler", but does it really help my nighttime driving? By way of the magic of digital photography...I wonder how the two images would compare, or whether you could even tell much of a difference, if you simply put a colored filter in front of the LED light...such that the spectral color looked more like the halogens, but with no/minimal attenuation of the light? Is much of the difference we all see due to the color of the light, or how much light is projected on to the road?

 

By the way, moving the spectrum more towards the blue can cause more glare when you need optimal visibility the most, ie, in rainy, foggy or misty conditions.

"Glare--Shorter wavelength light, blue & purple, is bounced around by mist in the atmosphere--fog, rain, wet road haze, etc. It looks like glare to the driver. Blue light also doesn't make the eyes of an oncoming driver contract in the usual way, so they see glare from blue lights, also. Long wavelength yellow light doesn't bounce around this way, so it provides better lighting in foggy conditions. The best light color for headlights is either clear or very lightly tinted blue called Super White."

 

Not saying halogens are better, and not trying to convince anyone to change their preference. You missed my point. I'm saying:

A great deal of what we observe has to do with the spectrum (whiteness) of the light. Halogens can be made much whiter (and brighter) by selecting a number of aftermarket halogens. I know this because I just swapped out my wife's halogens on her Odyssee. Eventually, I plan to do the same with my Prius. How these newer whiter and brighter halogens would compare to the LED's is anybody's guess...but I suspect there would be less difference. The bottom line - there can be significant difference just between halogens, let alone between halogens and LED's. That said, "yellower" spectrum light will produce less glare when you need visibility the most - in rain, fog and mist.