Which budget, but decent, LED lights?

Hard-Drive said:

Oh for goodness sake. I never said "how inadequate Land Rovers are". I'll let you into a little secret, I too run and enjoy an old Land Rover! Yes, lots of it is inadequate, it's not very good on diesel, there's feck all elbow room, it steams up, it's noisy, slow (although much faster than it was when it left the factory) and there's a million other things that aren't very good about it but that's exact reason I bought a 30 year old 110 rather than a Mitsu-yota for goodness sake, because I love Land Rovers. I think most readers of this forum won't take too much offence about pointing out which bits can be improved and the multi million pound industry based on Land Rover upgrades does OK out of it too.

Thank you to all for the comments and suggestions/links, I'll do some reading and decide which way to go. As I mentioned before, I am a fan of LED technology, and I quite like the look of some LED lamps, so whilst I appreciate that I could fit new bulbs etc, I'm keen on the idea of a safe, legal, useable LED solution for a number of reasons. Thanks again.

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Each to their own. Quite happy with mine. Only thing I dont like about a landy is no axle lockers. But I can deal with that, they are easy to fit!

I would look into the crystal lights, cheap and practical. If you use Td5 bowls too everything in that area is plastic, no corrosion.

BrUOTE="Hard-Drive, post: 3863996, member: 128002"]There's nothing actually broken or suspect on my lights, they are just crap, that's all. The technology is ancient, and things have moved on with LEDs.

I've owned two 2008 BMWs, one with standard halogens. These were of course 2008 technology, not 1980s, and whilst they were OK, they were not brilliant if you wanted to "push on" a bit at night on unlit roads. The second car (same age) has factory fit LEDs and the difference is enormous.

I'd be interested to see the performance of the bulbs listed above, however LEDs have revolutionised lighting in so many other fields that I have an interest in (sailing, cycling, camping, DIY home lighting) it just seems daft not taking advantage of the technology in the one place I'd really see the benefit.

Drum brakes and cross plies on a 109" are fine and legal. Disc brakes and radials on a 110 are just soooooo much better.[/QUOTE]
Britpart do the best budget ones for 200. Very good reviews.

Thanks Coffeelandy. I've had a quick google on those...they do two models of light but are around the £300 mark from what I can see. Any links to the £200 version?

Hard-Drive said:

Thanks Coffeelandy. I've had a quick google on those...they do two models of light but are around the £300 mark from what I can see. Any links to the £200 version?

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I don't know how people actually rate the lights, i.e. on what criteria.

Looking at these:
http://www.britpart.com/parts/lighting/light-conversion-and-upgrades/lynx-eye/da6282/

They do have some info in the listing.

Cree XM-L LED's are ancient in LED terms. Don't think they are even made anymore.

Although the biggest thing that bugs me is the poor, inaccurate and conflicting info on the web page.

No claim for amp draw on a 12v source. And the claims just don't tally up with the claimed outputs.

And while on that note, have a close look at how many times lumens is mentioned...

2800LM@30W on low beam.
> 4450LM@48W on high beam

Row lumen output: 5600LM
> Effective lumen output: 3640LM


So which is it????

Also note the typo of 'row' rather than 'raw'. Which suggests to me these are just cheap Chinese units being re-sold by Britpart. I suspect if you look about you'll see the same lamps sold under other or no brand names.

It also says 6000-6500k colour temp, so a huge variance and not using a single binned LED. For reference OEM HIDs are typically 4300k.

High kelvin rating LEDs will have a low CRI too.


I'm not saying these will be rubbish. But I suspect they'll just about match or fall short of the £30 LED bulbs (pair) that are available. Which IMO makes them hugely expensive for what they are.

And while LEDs might have a 50,000 hr life, the reality is the electronic driver for the LEDs won't.

A shame, if these had modern LEDs in at 4000-4500k with 90CRI they'd actually be really nice (assuming the beam profile is ok).


These ones:
http://www.britpart.com/parts/lighting/light-conversion-and-upgrades/ece-led-headlamps/da6280k/

Have no info about them. But I suspect they are no better in terms of CRI or Kelvin rating. The amps draws also look low (although similar to the others).

They also look rather like the Truck Lite units, which are another Chinese knock off sold under many different names.
http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wc...=15554&parent_category_rn=13089&storeId=10001

I suspect these can be had cheaper, but obviously you need to make sure you get them for a RHD vehicle (well the important bit is a car driven on the left, not were the seat is....) to get the correct beam profile.

Again, I'm sure these are fine and actually look like a normal headlight for a Land Rover. But they are still extremely expensive for what they are offering.

And another thing that really annoys me and reduces credibility of lights like this is their example photo:


Complete and utter misuse of the whitebalance setting on the camera or intentional colouring of the photo afterwards. Either way it is a complete lie and 100% intended to deceive.

We have all driven with halogen headlights and they are never orange like a sodium street light as portrayed in the pic. This also means their example picture of the LED is also wrong.

Cool white Cree LEDs of the XM-L era tend to have either a blue, purple or sometimes green tinge to them.

Ha HA HA HA

Just noticed in the pic above, from Britpart, the text actually says Truck Lite 27270C....... So yes a complete repackage of an existing product. I wonder if Britpart know they have stolen intellectual property from the Truck Lite site (the photo)??? I suspect it was probably supplied by the Chinese vendor selling the lights to Britpart. As that seems to be the Chinese e-commerce way to steal stuff from other sites...

Well there was me taken in by all the blurb and the photos...thanks for pointing out the potential pitfalls!

I like the "look" of the Britpart lights, they obviously employ the LED tech that I am after, and also look more modern but whilst still looking like a Land Rover if that makes sense. I might have a scoot round on AliExpress...I've ordered other stuff there before and it does work, and there is buyer protection. Pop them in, take them to my friendly MOT man, and if they aren't any good from a beam pattern and legality point of view, raise a dispute!

Really appreciate that info, thanks for posting.

I'm almost certain you'll find the truck lite ones on Aliexpress, although I don't know on price. I think £200+ is still likely sadly.

I know I may have sounded negative on these. I'm not really, it just bugs me that they could easily make them so much better for no extra cost. But don't bother. And they are still expensive for what you get.

It's taken years, but the flashlight/torch world was the same. Crappy high kelvin LEDs. Actually the same LEDs as in these headlights. But now many makers offer neutral white and high CRI LED options, which generally are the preferred ones within the community.

Only the big torch makers are still lagging behind in this regard.

Seems the headlight market is still a number of years behind the torch market though.

I quite liked the look of those Lynx eye ones above, then I had a bit of a cough when I saw the price. Don't think I can justify that sort of "Upgrade" I'll stick with the osram nightbreakers, might get one of those wiring kits though, my 90's wiring is 25 years old now after-all.

Heard these are good to add to existing headlights. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-Pro-...589368?hash=item2a71a9f1f8:g:da4AAOSwImRYI9XS

I highly doubt they are e-marked for road use, so shouldn't be fitted to anything newer than 1991. They will also be a horrible blue-ish colour which will give poor night vision and be glaring to oncoming drivers. You really need a yellower light for night driving.

Look okay on the vids on YouTube.

danny6801 said:

Heard these are good to add to existing headlights. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-Pro-...589368?hash=item2a71a9f1f8:g:da4AAOSwImRYI9XS

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Legally this is a grey area. But my biggest complaint is those particular ones look like COB LEDs and have no shield for the dip beam emitter.

To sum up, I do not believe those ones will be of any use at all and will give a completely useless and blinding to oncoming traffic beam profile. Completely avoid.

E.g.

Note on this halogen there is a small reflector cover over the front element. This is what gives you your dip beam. For UK use, down and to the left (the lens also does some of this, but the actual light source is important and fundamental to beam profile).



See how these LED H4's also have a reflector sheild over one of the emitters. This means they stand far more chance at producing a good and legal dip beam profile. Not too mention these are not COB LEDs.

This is a little deja vu.

I fitted LED lamps a little while ago and some spots and they are great. Lets see what happends next year at the MOT.

SpaceDawg said:

This is a little deja vu.

I fitted LED lamps a little while ago and some spots and they are great. Lets see what happens next year at the MOT.

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Come on then and throw the cat amongst the pigeons and tell us which ones you fitted

Yeah come on tell us.

300bhp/ton said:

See how these LED H4's also have a reflector sheild over one of the emitters. This means they stand far more chance at producing a good and legal dip beam profile. Not too mention these are not COB LEDs.

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So are those what you have fitted? Are you happy with them, and what are they/how much? Thanks!

Hard-Drive said:

So are those what you have fitted? Are you happy with them, and what are they/how much? Thanks!

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Quite pleased with them. Can't comment on durability or longevity yet though. I posted a review link earlier in the thread, all the info is in there, plus a link to a listing on Amazon.

(Link is in Post #8)

I got these ones http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/land-rover-defender-7-Black-Crystal-LED-High-Out-Put-Head-Lights-great-quality-/282258408274?hash=item41b7e98352:g:x9UAAOSwmfhX7qNQ

Cheap and work, dead easy to fit; however, lets see what Mr MOT chap says next year.

300bhp/ton said:

Quite pleased with them. Can't comment on durability or longevity yet though. I posted a review link earlier in the thread, all the info is in there, plus a link to a listing on Amazon.

(Link is in Post #8)

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Just read your link 'Chicken Drumstick' Do you really have to clean the fins on the back of the light unit regularly or am I being a duffer? Cos for £36 they don't seem to bad, I like the idea of 'proper' LED headlights but it just seems another bit of bling to attract the thieving scroat brigade as they aren't the hardest thing to rob of the front