Are these headlights worth it?

[JTenn]

I have those Oracles (for last 2.5 years). I like them. That price seems good.

I happened to have a promo code for 15% off in my email when I ordered them. I paid $598 shipped.

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[Raven65]

most of us would prefer not to drive our in our trucks blinding people being "that guy"

I used to preach this same sermon, but thankfully it's no longer relevant. Many/most (all?) of the current better LED bulbs/lamps are designed to be used in reflector housing made for a halogen bulb. They are designed so that the light source on the LED is the same height from the base as the filament of the halogen bulb, so the light pattern is the same but with a fairly sharp cut-off line. They no longer blind oncoming drivers - IF - you take the time to check/adjust the aim when doing the install (which is very easy to do). Are they as good as the OEM LED projectors or the aftermarket ones? No, but they're still WAY better than the factory halogens - and for a fraction of the cost of the OEM/aftermarket LED projector units.

 

[Rahkmalla]

thankfully it's no longer relevant

This was the same line i'd heard over and over that sold me. So i went out and got good led replacement bulbs. cutoff line was sharp; not projector sharp, but sharp so thought i was all clear. headlights were aimed a little bit lower than suggested even.

But there is no escaping the fact that reflector housings reflect. That's how they work. You can't perfectly shape a reflected beam, you can just mold it to be the strongest in specific directions. Halogens don't blind people simply because they just aren't that strong. The stray reflections just don't have the power to blind.

If you really think your LED bulbs in reflector housings aren't blinding people, follow your wife in her car somewhere. Let her tell you whether they are a well-formed beam of perfectly directed light or not. That's how i learned.

 

[Raven65]

This was the same line i'd heard over and over that sold me. So i went out and got good led replacement bulbs. cutoff line was sharp; not projector sharp, but sharp so thought i was all clear. headlights were aimed a little bit lower than suggested even.

But there is no escaping the fact that reflector housings reflect. That's how they work. You can't perfectly shape a reflected beam, you can just mold it to be the strongest in specific directions. Halogens don't blind people simply because they just aren't that strong. The stray reflections just don't have the power to blind.

If you really think your LED bulbs in reflector housings aren't blinding people, follow your wife in her car somewhere. Let her tell you whether they are a well-formed beam of perfectly directed light or not. That's how i learned.

It totally depends on the LED bulb. If it has LEDs that exactly mimic the position and thickness of the halogen bulb's wire coil, it will produce the same beam pattern and will not blind oncoming drivers.

https://www.naoevolighting.com/blogs/news/led-headlight-bulb-light-beam-pattern-all-you-need-to-know

For the record, I'm still running my OEM halogens because I rarely drive at night, but I'm considering a set of bulbs.

 

[sharpsicle]

It totally depends on the LED bulb. If it has LEDs that exactly mimic the position and thickness of the halogen bulb's wire coil, it will produce the same beam pattern and will not blind oncoming drivers.

They don't though. The construction and location of the diodes never mimics filaments. They can't. LED bulbs by their very nature have a completely different light dispersion pattern than halogens. No way around that.

 

[Gvsukids]

They don't though. The construction and location of the diodes never mimics filaments. They can't. LED bulbs by their very nature have a completely different light dispersion pattern than halogens. No way around that.

Right, if you look at my picture you can see that the LED bulb in the reflective housing on the right has a large saturation area.

 

[sharpsicle]

Right, if you look at my picture you can see that the LED bulb in the reflective housing on the right has a large saturation area.

This is a bad picture to use for that. Each Jeep is on a different angle, and the the factory LED one doesn't have as many lights on as the other two. That alone can impact the "saturation" difference you see. It's hard to see the actual differences between each here because of the difference in pitches, angles, and number of lights between them all.

It's a neat picture no doubt, but as I said before, I'd be interested in a better version of this picture as this one isn't good for comparing objectively.

 

[Raven65]

Right, if you look at my picture you can see that the LED bulb in the reflective housing on the right has a large saturation area.

That photo doesn't prove anything because we don't know what LED bulbs are in that particular Jeep. The light pattern they throw is VERY dependent on the way the bulb is constructed. There are some out there now that exactly mimic the halogen filament position, size and thickness. Those cast a very nice light pattern that is nearly identical to the halogen bulb. Any variance in that changes the light pattern significantly.

 

[Gvsukids]

That photo doesn't prove anything because we don't know what LED bulbs are in that particular Jeep. The light pattern they throw is VERY dependent on the way the bulb is constructed. There are some out there now that exactly mimic the halogen filament position, size and thickness. Those cast a very nice light pattern that is nearly identical to the halogen bulb. Any variance in that changes the light pattern significantly.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/led-bulb-replacement-it-works.19953/post-304018

 

[sharpsicle]

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/led-bulb-replacement-it-works.19953/post-304018

What's this for? Am I supposed to know where in this 40 page thread you're referring to something?

 

[ChrisNLA]

It totally depends on the LED bulb. If it has LEDs that exactly mimic the position and thickness of the halogen bulb's wire coil, it will produce the same beam pattern and will not blind oncoming drivers.

https://www.naoevolighting.com/blogs/news/led-headlight-bulb-light-beam-pattern-all-you-need-to-know

For the record, I'm still running my OEM halogens because I rarely drive at night, but I'm considering a set of bulbs.

I have had these in my halogen housings for a year now:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073ZDLKT9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

No programming. No flickering. Work's in a stock halogen truck. Have been flashed once in a year by an oncoming car. My Camaro SS with its factory HID headlights has offended more drivers. I have them adjusted a little lower than the factory halogens. Light quality looks pretty nice. Not OEM nice, but I'd give it a 7/10.

The LED emitters are in the same exact place as the filaments in an incandescent H13 bulb when compared side by side, so probably as good as its gonna get for what I'm doing. These bulbs are even adjustable so you can move the emitter slightly / flip orientation to match OEM.

I know a lot of folks hate it. Some will give me grief. That's fine, I'm even going to defend it anymore. But it's what I have in my truck, lol. I like the look of the stock headlights and I don't have over $500 to allocate to purpose built LED's headlights that I don't like.

 

[Gvsukids]

What's this for? Am I supposed to know where in this 40 page thread you're referring to something?

The post refers to the Chinese bulbs that are in the Jeep.

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