I just concluded an experiment where I compared several flavors of sealed beam and several flavors of H4 headlights to each other. I set up my test inside my garage with the windows blacked out and aiming the headlights at a sheet of drywall up against the garage door about 12 feet away from the headlights. Power was supplied by a beefy 35A power supply with a constant voltage set at 13.5 volts. I measured reflected light intensity with a digital lux meter aimed directly at the most intense portion of the light pattern. The measured light was at the low end of the lux meter scale, but since the purposes of the test were just to compare the reflected intensity of the several headlights, the accuracy of the actual measurement is unimportant. Here are the headlights I compared. All of them are FJ62 rectangular headlights with the exception of the Sylvania XtraVision which is a round FJ60 headlight.
NOTE: Part 2 of the Headlight Bakeoff starts on post #48. See post #51 through #53 for 7 inch round headlights.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-...ientific-headlight-bakeoff-3.html#post6499540
And now to the headlights:
Sealed Beam:
Sylvania Silverstar H4656ST
Sylvania XvraVision H6024
Koito H4652
Wagner (No Part Number)
H4
AutoPal HL-106 H4
Hella Free Form (totally clear lens)
Cibie 082395
The Koito and the Wagner were on my FJ62 when I purchased it two years ago, so this test may not be fair to them because they have been used an unknown amount of hours. But, I threw them in the test just for comparison purposes.
My camera automatically adjusts the aperture opening to brightness, so the relative brightness of the various headlights is not accurate in these pictures. The pictures serve to show the light pattern. The digital light meter is used to determine relative brightness. In the pictures, the more of my ugly garage door with the cheepo cardboard insulation you can see above the hot spot, the more oncoming drivers will be blinded by the headlight.
So here we go with the pictures (LO beam first, HI beam second):
SECTION 1--SEALED BEAM
Sylvania Silverstar H4656ST
Notice the amount of stray light above the hot spot of the LO beam picture. This will appear as glare to oncoming drivers. It is interesting that with two of the three sealed beam rectangular headlights, the HI beam had less light intensity than the LO beam, it's just aimed higher and in some cases a little to the left. Also notice that the SilverStar has a whiter light than all of the other headlights.
LUX: LO=49 HI=36
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sylvania XtraVision H6024
This is the only round headlight I had to test. There is stray light above the hot spot, but not as much as the SilverStar. Also the intensity of the light is higher than any of the rectangular sealed beam headlights, probably due to the round vs. rectangular design.
LUX: LO=63 HI=77
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
Koito H4652
Notice the stray light above the hot spot. I don't believe this headlight is available, but I decided to show it because some vehicle lighting web sites that I have seen have high praise for Koito lights. I didn't see any visible superiority. In fact, the light pattern is very similar to the Sylvania Xtravision.
LUX: LO=49 HI=41
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
Wagner (no part number on the light)
This headlight is terrible on LO beam. Notice how much of the garage door it lights up.
LUX: LO=25 HI=26
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 2--H4
All of the following headlights are H4 headlights. The exact same light bulb was used to test each headlight housing and is an AutoPal 60/55W H4 lamp.
AutoPal HL-106 H4
I bought this headlight on ebay. This headlight is very inexpensive compared to the other H4 headlights that I tested. You can see that the vertical cutoff is fuzzy and not much better than the sealed beam headlights. The low light intensity indicates a poorly focused beam. Both the Cibie and the Hella have much higher light intensity using the exact same lamp.
LUX: LO=39 HI=87
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hella Free Form (the one with the totally clear lens)
This headlight had more stray light above the hot spot than you can see in the pic. Because the hot spot has more intensity, the camera aperture closes some and you can't see the stray light very well. What is interesting is that using the exact same bulb as the AutoPal gives a significantly higher intensity hot spot. This is due to the headlight housing doing a better job of focusing the light energy in one place.
LUX: LO=55 HI =117
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
Cibie 082395
This is the headlight I have in my FJ62. You can see the sharp vertical cut off with the LO beam and the even distribution of light below the cut off line. There is very little stray light above that straight cut off line. This headlight is top shelf.
LUX: LO=55 HI=113
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
To satisfy my curiosity, I then redid the test with my Cibie headlight and replaced the AutoPal 60/55W lamp with the Osram 70/65W that I run in my headlights. The LO beam intensity was about the same as the AutoPal, even though it is 10 Watts higher. The big difference was the intensity of the HI beam: 139 LUX! Two of those with my 100W H1s really lights things up.
CONCLUSION: None of the sealed beam headlights have a very good vertical cutoff, which means upward glare and potential blinding of the driver coming toward you. Also, it appears that round headlights focus more light down the road than rectangular ones. The cheap H4 Autopal has marginally better cutoff than the sealed beams, and it is in the price range of the high end sealed beam headlights, like the Sylvania Silverstar. But unlike the sealed beam headlights, it has an inexpensive replaceable lamp. The Cibie and the Hella both had about the same intensity hot spot, but the Cibie does a better job of vertical cutoff, which means you could get away with using higher wattage lamps without blinding on-coming drivers.
CONCLUSION of the CONCLUSION: The Hella headlight came with a 60/55W bulb and was about $50 which is about half the cost of the Cibie headlight ($75) plus the cost of the bulb ($25). So my thinking is to buy the Hellas and put the difference in cost toward a good wire harness. But if you have the coins, the Cibies are definitely the best of the bunch.
Additional Note: If you are buying headlights for an FJ62, a very good combination would be to buy Cibie for the H4 HI/LO headlights and Hella for the H1 High Beam only headlights. This will save you about $100 over purchasing all Cibie, and you will have an excellent set of headlights. Couple this with a new headlight wire harness, and your headlights will rival any new vehicle for quality of the light pattern and intensity of the beam.
Final Note: The Hella Free Form 165mm only comes in H4 and NOT H1 configuration. So look for Hella ECE headlights. A full set of Hella ECE 165mm headlights seems to be about the best compromise between cost and quality for the 165mm headlights for FJ62s. The round headlights for FJ60s come in more choices including Roundeyes, Hella, Cibie and IPF.
NOTE: Part 2 of the Headlight Bakeoff starts on post #48. See post #51 through #53 for 7 inch round headlights.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-...ientific-headlight-bakeoff-3.html#post6499540
And now to the headlights:
Sealed Beam:
Sylvania Silverstar H4656ST
Sylvania XvraVision H6024
Koito H4652
Wagner (No Part Number)
H4
AutoPal HL-106 H4
Hella Free Form (totally clear lens)
Cibie 082395
The Koito and the Wagner were on my FJ62 when I purchased it two years ago, so this test may not be fair to them because they have been used an unknown amount of hours. But, I threw them in the test just for comparison purposes.
My camera automatically adjusts the aperture opening to brightness, so the relative brightness of the various headlights is not accurate in these pictures. The pictures serve to show the light pattern. The digital light meter is used to determine relative brightness. In the pictures, the more of my ugly garage door with the cheepo cardboard insulation you can see above the hot spot, the more oncoming drivers will be blinded by the headlight.
So here we go with the pictures (LO beam first, HI beam second):
SECTION 1--SEALED BEAM
Sylvania Silverstar H4656ST
Notice the amount of stray light above the hot spot of the LO beam picture. This will appear as glare to oncoming drivers. It is interesting that with two of the three sealed beam rectangular headlights, the HI beam had less light intensity than the LO beam, it's just aimed higher and in some cases a little to the left. Also notice that the SilverStar has a whiter light than all of the other headlights.
LUX: LO=49 HI=36
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sylvania XtraVision H6024
This is the only round headlight I had to test. There is stray light above the hot spot, but not as much as the SilverStar. Also the intensity of the light is higher than any of the rectangular sealed beam headlights, probably due to the round vs. rectangular design.
LUX: LO=63 HI=77
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
Koito H4652
Notice the stray light above the hot spot. I don't believe this headlight is available, but I decided to show it because some vehicle lighting web sites that I have seen have high praise for Koito lights. I didn't see any visible superiority. In fact, the light pattern is very similar to the Sylvania Xtravision.
LUX: LO=49 HI=41
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
Wagner (no part number on the light)
This headlight is terrible on LO beam. Notice how much of the garage door it lights up.
LUX: LO=25 HI=26
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 2--H4
All of the following headlights are H4 headlights. The exact same light bulb was used to test each headlight housing and is an AutoPal 60/55W H4 lamp.
AutoPal HL-106 H4
I bought this headlight on ebay. This headlight is very inexpensive compared to the other H4 headlights that I tested. You can see that the vertical cutoff is fuzzy and not much better than the sealed beam headlights. The low light intensity indicates a poorly focused beam. Both the Cibie and the Hella have much higher light intensity using the exact same lamp.
LUX: LO=39 HI=87
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hella Free Form (the one with the totally clear lens)
This headlight had more stray light above the hot spot than you can see in the pic. Because the hot spot has more intensity, the camera aperture closes some and you can't see the stray light very well. What is interesting is that using the exact same bulb as the AutoPal gives a significantly higher intensity hot spot. This is due to the headlight housing doing a better job of focusing the light energy in one place.
LUX: LO=55 HI =117
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
Cibie 082395
This is the headlight I have in my FJ62. You can see the sharp vertical cut off with the LO beam and the even distribution of light below the cut off line. There is very little stray light above that straight cut off line. This headlight is top shelf.
LUX: LO=55 HI=113
LOW BEAM
HIGH BEAM
---------------------------------------------------------------
To satisfy my curiosity, I then redid the test with my Cibie headlight and replaced the AutoPal 60/55W lamp with the Osram 70/65W that I run in my headlights. The LO beam intensity was about the same as the AutoPal, even though it is 10 Watts higher. The big difference was the intensity of the HI beam: 139 LUX! Two of those with my 100W H1s really lights things up.
CONCLUSION: None of the sealed beam headlights have a very good vertical cutoff, which means upward glare and potential blinding of the driver coming toward you. Also, it appears that round headlights focus more light down the road than rectangular ones. The cheap H4 Autopal has marginally better cutoff than the sealed beams, and it is in the price range of the high end sealed beam headlights, like the Sylvania Silverstar. But unlike the sealed beam headlights, it has an inexpensive replaceable lamp. The Cibie and the Hella both had about the same intensity hot spot, but the Cibie does a better job of vertical cutoff, which means you could get away with using higher wattage lamps without blinding on-coming drivers.
CONCLUSION of the CONCLUSION: The Hella headlight came with a 60/55W bulb and was about $50 which is about half the cost of the Cibie headlight ($75) plus the cost of the bulb ($25). So my thinking is to buy the Hellas and put the difference in cost toward a good wire harness. But if you have the coins, the Cibies are definitely the best of the bunch.
Additional Note: If you are buying headlights for an FJ62, a very good combination would be to buy Cibie for the H4 HI/LO headlights and Hella for the H1 High Beam only headlights. This will save you about $100 over purchasing all Cibie, and you will have an excellent set of headlights. Couple this with a new headlight wire harness, and your headlights will rival any new vehicle for quality of the light pattern and intensity of the beam.
Final Note: The Hella Free Form 165mm only comes in H4 and NOT H1 configuration. So look for Hella ECE headlights. A full set of Hella ECE 165mm headlights seems to be about the best compromise between cost and quality for the 165mm headlights for FJ62s. The round headlights for FJ60s come in more choices including Roundeyes, Hella, Cibie and IPF.
Last edited: