yowps3

HIDs provide a much brighter & stronger illumination than LEDs IMO.

One HID creates a bright light, where as you need a large cluster of LEDs to match the same output.

spwolf

if i remember correctly, germans rated 3IS's LEDs better than HIDs.

SW17LS

Then why does every carmaker offer LED lighting as their upgrade to HID?

I've never driven a car with LED headlights at night so I'm genuinely curious. If this is true, why would I ever upgrade to LED?

bam

There are a couple of reasons why someone would upgrade. Whether or not, they're for you is another question.

1. They're the latest and greatest and some people just want that so they'll pay for it.
2. They produce a more crisp white light even more close to the same color of daylight than HID lights.
3. They use less energy.
4. The bulbs are cool to the touch.
5. You can layout an LED array in many different ways that just aren't possible with HID lights and so that's why you're seeing a bunch of unique light housings for the LED options. I'm not referring to the light pattern that's projected on the road. I'm referring to housing design of the actual LED lights whether head lights or tail lights.

SW17LS

1&2 sure...although less output and visibility apparently for #2. 3...my car generates its own energy. 4...I don't touch my bulbs often. 5...cool on cars where its designed into the car's design. But what about cars where LEDs are just in the same housings?

I see the benefit when they eventually become the primary lighting technology then, cars can be designed around their size, heat output, and energy draw. I don't see a benefit when they are just installed in a car with HIDs standard then. Design is the same...electrical system is designed for the draw of HIDs...they may look cooler inside the same housings, but have less function?

Infra

iTrader: (1)

An array of LEDs allows the lights to be pointed in different directions to provide better coverage than an HID. Audi is probably #1 at progressing lighting technology with the new A8 in Europe having the ability to turn off specific LEDs to dim lights for not only passing vehicles, but when you are following another car, it will dim the center lights and have the outer lights shine "around" the lead vehicle, almost acting as headlights for the car in front of it.

Rather than technology like Lexus' AFS which will swivel the headlights around turns, LEDs allow extra lights to turn on or off to duplicate the effect with much simpler mechanics.

HIDs will probably not go away for a very long time since they are now so cheap and provide such great coverage and high beams in a single package, which works very well for when space is limited in a headlight housing.

bam

Yes, your car does generate it's own electricity through an alternator with the energy stored in a battery. If the draw from the battery is lower due to the LED lights drawing less electricity, it's possible for a car manufacturer to achieve a smidge better mpg. In a car application, this might not be as realistic in this application but LED lighting for home use and such does have a very real benefit in terms of electricity draw and therefore cost.

LED lights do produce less heat and again in a car application, it might not be worth much but for home application and such, it's definitely worth not having a light bulb burn you, pets, or little kids.

Currently, most cars that are mixing LED lights with HID lights are using the LED lights as day-time running lights. When the buyer opts for the full LED package, the HID lights are replaced with LED lights. Take for example, the new Mercedes E class sedan. Take a look at one with the HID lights and then one with the LED options. You'll see a big difference and if you don't then you're blind. The actual shape of the light housing unit is the same, obviously because they're not going to alter the shape of the hood and fenders and such to design a new light housing unit for the LED option. Inside the light housing unit though, going from the HID lights to the LED lights, you will see a big change in the light array and design.

The benefits that I listed are benefits one way or another. Whether they're a real big benefit in the car application and top you is another question. Like I said, having the latest and greatest for some is worth the extra $3k or so. For some people, it's not. Less energy draw is a benefit. How much does it truly benefit when applied to a car. I don't know as I have not conducted any tests but it is a fact that LED lights draw less energy than HID lights.

The most true benefit that someone will get opting for LED lights, will most likely be having a more crisp and truer light as it's closes to true daylight color temp. Is it as big a jump as when we all went from halogen to HID; I don't think so but it is a jump non-the-less.

SW17LS

Like I said, I see the appeal from an industry standpoint going to LED, less power draw allows for more efficient vehicles overall. BUT, if I have two identical cars and one is HID and the other is LED, am I going to get better fuel mileage in the one with LED? No. I'm not debating the benefits in a home application, the benefits there are huge.

As for styling, I certainly can see the differences in the styling within the headlights, but thats just aesthetics. Of course they style the LED clusters to look cooler, they cost more. My question was more...what are you actually getting from a function standpoint...

bam

As I answered previously, from a function standpoint, you get all of the benefits I pointed out. For some, one point will weigh more heavily than others and vice versa.

In your case, the main benefit is a more crisp white that more closely resembles normal daylight compared to HID lighting. As I previously said, going from HID to LED in this respect is not a huge jump such as when we all went from halogen to HID. Even my wife can see the difference there. Going from HID to LED will produce a more crisp light color very close to daylight temperatures but most people will not be able to notice the difference.

The other main difference between HID and LED lights are the fact that with LED lights, the engineers are able to incorporate very unique lighting clusters. The function in that is it allows the car to be even more unique. Like I previously said, take a look at an E class with "regular" lights and then look at one with the LED headlight option and you'll clearly see the difference (no pun intended.) There are designs that you can do with LED lights that you just simply can't with HID lights.

SNiiP3R

iTrader: (3)

1+ The output is the same if not better compared to HID. The color is nicer as well, the stock HIDs are yellowish compared to LEDs. And the best part, no warm up delay. When you turn them on they ignite right away, no need to wait for them to warm up.

yowps3

yellow? lol

Every Xenon HID headlamp that I've see has this hue to it

SW17LS

4300k HIDs do have a little yellowish tinge to them when you compare them to 5,000k or higher HIDs or LEDs. I have the LED fogs now, and comparing the light output from both there is definitely a little yellow tinge to the HIDs. Its more the light output than when looking at the lamps from the front.

Sniper knows, he just converted his GS from factory HID to factory LED.

SNiiP3R

iTrader: (3)

What you're referring to is the cutoff which is created by the projector not the bulb. The bulb does not create that bluish / purplish color that you see on modern vehicles. If you were to take the bulb out of the projector or look at the projector directly (not from an angle) then you would see the true color of the bulb.

Yep, and to be honest, even my 5K HID foglights don't fully match the LEDs I have. I will switch back to 6K this weekend.

yardie876

You can definitely see the difference when staring at the headlamp with your line of sight above the cutoff line. They're definitely a color difference.

mordecai

It's really sad that the RC is not the actual production model and that the first thing that may be toned down may be the deep sculpted side panels (which was what was most criticially acclaimed about the design of the RC). Shaking my head Lexus.