John00

one thing to consider in testing is that its not the technology that determines what is brightest.
its the power in, the beam focus and the conversion efficiency.
this means that theres cases where hid are brighter and cases where led are brighter for more light on the road.

then theres lumen vs lux
depending on reflector/lens design, one can have more total light output yet not be as bright as the other.

WifesGX460

Unfortunately her base did nto come with fogs and the $1500 cost to add the oem one's is something I just cant justify.

John00

some nice comparison pics at the beginning.

im putting this here not to compare led to hid. he doesnt show which led he uses and if its different vehicles with oem or just some aftermarket. at least i didnt see that in the beginning.
this is here just to show that adding the fogs can help.

John00

we could do some wuick tests. an app, arperture meter, has some methods to measure with your phone. might not be calibrated but should be close enough for a general comparison. see whats the brightest you can get?

coolsaber

Some aftermarket fogs might do the trick without the hassle of testing etc. I`d avoid the obnoxious led beam offroad lights folks use to bring the power of the sun onto oncoming traffic lol.

Do note, that fogs however will not point as high as the low beam on our units (at least by design fogs dont illuminate the same area as the low beams, but design and logic fail some)

cb1111

Sigh. This thread is the poster child exemplifying what happens when people that have no clue about lighting want to "improve" their lighting - thinking that a $10 Chinese bulb, placed haphazardly in a housing designed for a different bulb type, will result in better light output that the OE housing that a manufacturer has spent millions of dollars to design.

Aside from all that, it is a violation of the law to retrofit a different type of bulb into a housing.

I agree with the OP that LED lighting isn't better than HID lighting by virtue of it being LED. Testing (proper testing, not a YouTube shot by some guy on the side of the road) has shown that the early LED light housings weren't as good as the HID lighting they replaced (the Acura ILX is a great example) but the newer housings (Lexus NX/UX/RX are examples) with upgraded lighting is now getting good marks.

John00

example of manufacturers not making something good enough, and someone who realizes they dont know enough actually reaches out to the community to ask.
thread is a poster child exemplifying members who would rather express their displeasure than help.

cb1111

John - I know you don't like me and scrutinize every post I make for something you think you can criticize, but facts are facts.

John00

please dont think that I dont like you. I do and also appreciate the input. I just have seen many times where people drive others to no longer ask for help and the intent of the community is to share and help. i hope my comments dont cause anyone, including you, to stop contributing.

of course facts are facts, no link needed to agree with that. this is why i write facts, and back them up.

my only point in my previous post was to show that it wasnt, in my opinion, helping to answer the op question. it appeared to me to be another post about what the law says, and how this test or that test isnt good, and how you dont like it.

the very best test to see what you prefer is the one you yourself perform, not something you read somewhere. eyes are not the same as test equipment.

cb1111

That isn't quite right. We tend to equate brighter with better, whiter light with better and so forth. We don't consider all of the subtleties of lighting when we think of "good" lighting.

Often, when we see examples of "good" lighting, we are presented with a picture that has everything from immediately in front of of the car to a point somewhere in the distance. The detail is washed out but everything sure is bright. You can't see anything in the shadows but man, everything that is lit up sure is bright.

We aren't the ones that are best at determining what a good lighting source is.

The link I provided in my earlier email discusses some of the facts about why it doesn't work (from a lighting standpoint) to put a different type of lightsource into a housing that was designed for something else. And because it doesn't work is the reason that it isn't legal.

What the link doesn't discuss is some of the intricacies of how we process light - how that dark area directly in front of the car is intentional to draw our vision farther down the road or that the lighting shouldn't be too bright to allow us to see into the shadows.

More direct to the OP's question, unless one can find a proper housing that is made for the HID bulbs, there really is no way of changing the type of bulb - aside from the fact that any such mod would certainly cause warranty woes.

Like a new pair of glasses, it takes about a month of frequent nighttime driving to get used to a new lighting system, so the OP may want to give it some time.

cb1111

Let's talk about this video for a moment and completely disregard the fact that the author can't spell the name of the item he is reviewing properly.

On each of the shots, where the advantages of the fogs are extolled, pay careful attention as to what wart of the road your eyes are drawn to as the fogs go on an off. Everytime the fogs go on, your eyes are drawn closer to the front of the car - when turned off you look farther into the distance.

Fogs are intended to illuminate the area directly in front of, and to the side of, your car for driving at slow speeds in heavy fog. They are not intended for speeds over 30mph or in non-fog conditions.

All of the non-OE solutions in the video create hotspots and glare.

I'll be happy to answer any questions.

John00

I do agree that facts are facts, and what you add is good info. I do think that what I wrote is in agreement, all except that we tend to equate brighter with better. In certain cases yes, and in others most people don't.
I said that theres no test better than a persons eyes to tell them what they 'prefer'. this does not mean brighter, dimmer, or anything other than what is preferred. A very personal, varying preference.
Better can mean brighter. It can also mean dimmer, or lower, or a different color. There's a reason that manufacturers use multiple technologies, assemblies and powers. They realize that better also changes with the person, the climate, the terrain, etc. It is all up to the driver, thus the multiple lighting system controls placed within reach of the driver.

John00

fogs are not used for their original intended purpose in most cases anymore. Fogs used to be able to be turned on without the headlights to get under the fog without reflection. they were also lower power to reduce reflection.
what is on most vehicles today are different and are used for different purposes.

GoHuskers

It looks like every @#$%*&% thread in this forum turned into an argument between John and CB. Can you 2 lay each other off in 2020, Please?

The the OP, I installed XenonDepot H9 LED in the high beam and it helps tremendously driving at night in the boonies.

MarkVII

Same here, same LED, same results.