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Lumen® Fiber Optic LED Tail Lights - any experience?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by Prius_Gnome, Jan 1, 2020.

  1. Prius_Gnome

    Prius_Gnome Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2008
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    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Since I need to replace my 2010 tail lights, I went searching for any upgrades/mods over OEM ones.
    I know others on the forum have mentioned Valenti and Crystaleye, but has anyone had any experience with other ones? Specifically, this Lumen brand:
    Lumen® - Toyota Prius 2010 Black/Smoke Fiber Optic LED Tail Lights

    I'm not a huge modder so I have no experience to know if Lumen brand is reliable or not. It does come with a 1 year warranty, and maybe my credit card will provide another year of warranty. Also, it's not that much more expensive over OEM ones at under $250 for the pair.
    I would appreciate any thoughts.

    Thanks! And Happy New Year!
     
  2. royrose

    royrose Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    Limited
    I replaced mine with a set of 2012 lights from ebay for about $150 for the pair but they were not LED. I just swapped the bulbs from the old lights.

    The Lumens do look like they are well made and would look good. There's not much to go wrong mechanically, so you should be good to go.

    Why do you need to replace yours?

    By the way, your profile says you have a 2009 but your post says 2010.
     
  3. Prius_Gnome

    Prius_Gnome Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
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    N/A
    Thanks for the response.

    I actually think there's too much red in the 2012 tail light. If I were to go the OEM route, I'd probably go for the plug-in version.

    I have both 2009 and 2010 Priuses :) I don't think I can add multiple vehicles in my profile, and I never set up my signature.

    I'm replacing the ones on my 2010 because:
    1. there's a water leak coming from the bulb area into the 12v battery compartment
    2. the driver side one is cracked
    3. both tail lights seem to have moisture inside of them
    So I was initially going to just use silicone sealant to fix the water leak issue. But if I have to spend time disassembling the rear bumper and removing the tail lights, I figured I'd go ahead and replace/upgrade them to fix all issues. Also, I've heard that some people break tabs when prying the tail lights off, so I want to have a set of new tail lights to install if that happens because I don't want to waste my time having to disassemble/assemble twice.
     
  4. royrose

    royrose Senior Member

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    Mar 21, 2009
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    Location:
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    Other Hybrid
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    Limited
    OK that all makes sense. I followed a video on Youtube that loosened but did not disassemble the rear bumper and it worked ok. Springing the clips to remove one of the lights was, however, more difficult than shown in the video, so I can see how tabs might be broken. Good luck.

    For fun, here is mine with one light replaced (maybe I should have left it that way):

    PriTail3.png
     
    #4 royrose, Jan 1, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2020
    Raytheeagle likes this.
  5. Prius_Gnome

    Prius_Gnome Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
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    N/A
    Royrose, thanks for the photo. It's always helpful to see 2 taillights in comparison like that.

    I'll need to fully disassemble my rear bumper (instead of just loosening) because I need to fix other issues. When replacing my rear bumper just before winter, I noticed I was missing lots of the plastic tabs on the bottom and I also need to replace one of the bottom spoiler(?). It got too cold for me to finish the project so I'm going to tackle all those when spring comes around.

    Thanks!