Just got a new set of Depo's installed. Haven't converted them to projector, so they're still the H4/H1 setup. Since I have two 80's, figured I'd do some side by side comparison shots.
Couple of things to be aware of in the pictures below. First is that my truck is higher than the
. Not just lift wise but literally, it's parked on the sidewalk (so as not to block the street). In retrospect I should have swapped them, but meh, whatcha gonna do. 
Second thing to be aware of is that the Depo's are adjusted with a much further throw than the OEM lights. I feel comfortable doing this as they have a nice sharp cut off. The OEM lights scatter so much light upwards I would be concerned about blinding oncoming traffic.
Third, camera was on auto, but all the settings stayed the same....except exposure time. More on that in a minute.
Fourth thing to be aware of is that the stock 80 is running the John Deere HIR bulbs, which are an upgrade from the OEM bulbs. (Not a huge upgrade, but noticeably brighter.)
Overall thoughts:
The Depo's are definitely an upgrade. No doubt not as much as projectors, and I still wouldn't call the light output exceptional, but I would call it acceptable (which I would not with the OEM lights). For the cost, it's a no brainer as night driving in the 80 is about the most dangerous thing you can do...I'd (almost) rather be in a 4 wheel slide on a dirt road with a cliff than drive at night.
Swapping lights is cake. As mentioned in other places, the LX grill does not quite fit. You can swap the chrome trim pieces at the top to fit that part, but the headlights have a slight bulge that keeps it from dropping in all the way. Will have to do something to address that later.
Am I the only one who hates the H1/H4 connectors? Since these lights are shallower, it's harder to reach the back of the light to pop the bulb and connector in and out. And you put the bulb in, then seal it with a rubber cap (that also has to plug into the bulb), then plug the wire harness into the cap. It's nice that it's sealed, but it's kinda a pain in the butt to do.
I used the Innovate Wiring harness which works like a charm. Very well designed and built. Only potential "complaint" is that you cannot use the high beam on the H4 bulb, but that is minor, it'd be a lot more complex to do that as you would have to shut off the low beam (something Toyota doesn't do).
They also sent me a refund due to shipping costs being less than I originally paid. I can't remember the last time a vendor has done that, major props to them!
On the photo's, as mentioned before all settings (F number, focal length, etc) stayed the same except exposure time. This is nice, because it gives a good idea of the difference in light output.
OEM: .5 seconds
Depo: .3333 seconds
OEM + Depo: .25 seconds
(Lower is better.)
So based purely on the exposure time, the Depo's put out significantly more light than OEM, which confirms what I'm seeing when behind the wheel.
OEM
Depo
OEM + Depo
______________________________________________________________________________
Update 11/6/11
So as per a request, got some wall shots and some bright shots.
For the low beams, like the previous pictures, the settings did not change except for exposure time. On the high beams, the F stop did drop from 4.0 to 3.8 in one shot, interestingly enough in all three high beam shots the exposure time stayed the same (1/8th of a second).
Lights are adjusted the same as in the previous set of photos. Both vehicles are about the same distance from the wall, which I found interesting that the OEM setup was hitting the same point on the wall. You can clearly see in the previous photo set that the "hot spot" (or primary illuminated area) of the lights falls far shorter than that of the Depo's.
I think that this is one of the things I like about the Depo's, they are hitting objects much further away. At a guess, the Depo's are aimed out at nearly twice the distance of OEM. As previously mentioned, the OEM lights scatter a lot of light upwards which means you cannot adjust them up very high without blinding oncoming traffic.
The other thing I did notice that I hadn't previously is how much whiter the Depo's are. I'm attributing that heavily to the clear glass (vs frosted), but the OEM lights are noticeably towards the yellow side of the spectrum.
Due to the ambient light (sorry, not many places with a wide wall and no lights) the exposure time is much shorter all the way around, but it was never smaller than 1/8th of a second. As before, lower is better.
Exposure time (low beams)
OEM: .25 seconds
Depo: 0.2 seconds
OEM + Depo: 0.125 seconds
Exposure time (high beams)
OEM: 0.125 seconds
Depo: 0.125 seconds
OEM + Depo: 0.125 seconds
This isn't really as good of an indicator as the previous set due to two reasons. One is more ambient light. The other is that a lot more light than normal is being reflected off the wall, so it's kinda a bit of a false reading. Despite this, you can see that the Depo lights still out perform the OEM ones.
So without further comment, here are Low Beams On A Wall.
OEM
Depo
OEM + Depo
And here are High Beams On A Wall.
OEM
Depo
OEM + Depo
Couple of things to be aware of in the pictures below. First is that my truck is higher than the
. Not just lift wise but literally, it's parked on the sidewalk (so as not to block the street). In retrospect I should have swapped them, but meh, whatcha gonna do. Second thing to be aware of is that the Depo's are adjusted with a much further throw than the OEM lights. I feel comfortable doing this as they have a nice sharp cut off. The OEM lights scatter so much light upwards I would be concerned about blinding oncoming traffic.
Third, camera was on auto, but all the settings stayed the same....except exposure time. More on that in a minute.
Fourth thing to be aware of is that the stock 80 is running the John Deere HIR bulbs, which are an upgrade from the OEM bulbs. (Not a huge upgrade, but noticeably brighter.)
Overall thoughts:
The Depo's are definitely an upgrade. No doubt not as much as projectors, and I still wouldn't call the light output exceptional, but I would call it acceptable (which I would not with the OEM lights). For the cost, it's a no brainer as night driving in the 80 is about the most dangerous thing you can do...I'd (almost) rather be in a 4 wheel slide on a dirt road with a cliff than drive at night.
Swapping lights is cake. As mentioned in other places, the LX grill does not quite fit. You can swap the chrome trim pieces at the top to fit that part, but the headlights have a slight bulge that keeps it from dropping in all the way. Will have to do something to address that later.
Am I the only one who hates the H1/H4 connectors? Since these lights are shallower, it's harder to reach the back of the light to pop the bulb and connector in and out. And you put the bulb in, then seal it with a rubber cap (that also has to plug into the bulb), then plug the wire harness into the cap. It's nice that it's sealed, but it's kinda a pain in the butt to do.
I used the Innovate Wiring harness which works like a charm. Very well designed and built. Only potential "complaint" is that you cannot use the high beam on the H4 bulb, but that is minor, it'd be a lot more complex to do that as you would have to shut off the low beam (something Toyota doesn't do).
They also sent me a refund due to shipping costs being less than I originally paid. I can't remember the last time a vendor has done that, major props to them!
On the photo's, as mentioned before all settings (F number, focal length, etc) stayed the same except exposure time. This is nice, because it gives a good idea of the difference in light output.
OEM: .5 seconds
Depo: .3333 seconds
OEM + Depo: .25 seconds
(Lower is better.)
So based purely on the exposure time, the Depo's put out significantly more light than OEM, which confirms what I'm seeing when behind the wheel.
OEM
Depo
OEM + Depo
______________________________________________________________________________
Update 11/6/11
So as per a request, got some wall shots and some bright shots.
For the low beams, like the previous pictures, the settings did not change except for exposure time. On the high beams, the F stop did drop from 4.0 to 3.8 in one shot, interestingly enough in all three high beam shots the exposure time stayed the same (1/8th of a second).
Lights are adjusted the same as in the previous set of photos. Both vehicles are about the same distance from the wall, which I found interesting that the OEM setup was hitting the same point on the wall. You can clearly see in the previous photo set that the "hot spot" (or primary illuminated area) of the lights falls far shorter than that of the Depo's.
I think that this is one of the things I like about the Depo's, they are hitting objects much further away. At a guess, the Depo's are aimed out at nearly twice the distance of OEM. As previously mentioned, the OEM lights scatter a lot of light upwards which means you cannot adjust them up very high without blinding oncoming traffic.
The other thing I did notice that I hadn't previously is how much whiter the Depo's are. I'm attributing that heavily to the clear glass (vs frosted), but the OEM lights are noticeably towards the yellow side of the spectrum.
Due to the ambient light (sorry, not many places with a wide wall and no lights) the exposure time is much shorter all the way around, but it was never smaller than 1/8th of a second. As before, lower is better.
Exposure time (low beams)
OEM: .25 seconds
Depo: 0.2 seconds
OEM + Depo: 0.125 seconds
Exposure time (high beams)
OEM: 0.125 seconds
Depo: 0.125 seconds
OEM + Depo: 0.125 seconds
This isn't really as good of an indicator as the previous set due to two reasons. One is more ambient light. The other is that a lot more light than normal is being reflected off the wall, so it's kinda a bit of a false reading. Despite this, you can see that the Depo lights still out perform the OEM ones.
So without further comment, here are Low Beams On A Wall.
OEM
Depo
OEM + Depo
And here are High Beams On A Wall.
OEM
Depo
OEM + Depo
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