Lastly, I took out the halogen lights and installed these guys....
Amazon product ASIN B08TBK4YV3 I know that I've gone back and forth with halogen bulbs and LED but these things are just flat out better than the recommended halogen bulbs. I'm not sure what to say other than I can see really well on pitch black roads and they're not blinding other drivers. For the moment at least... LED wins for me. I know they'll possibly ice up but I'd rather see well and run that risk than the other way around.
I'll post up some pictures of how they appear at night but again, those are not accurate as cameras can touch up the light shown in a picture with aforementioned magic.
As my iPhone's Lux meter shows, they're bright. I recognize that the lux meter is probably incredibly inaccurate but at least all measurements are being taken in a consistent manner.
The LED bulbs utilize the entire reflector top half of the reflector and don't leave any dark areas as shown in the second picture.
The last picture is a comparison between the halogens on the left and the LEDs on the right... obviously they're brighter. I've aimed them properly along with my crazy bright fog lights, this seems like a winning combo. It wasn't inexpensive but neither is hitting a deer or something else I wouldn't be able to see.
One time driving just past Spanish Fork on my way to Moab a guy pulled up next to me at a stop light in a super nice yellow, lowered Chevy full size truck and when the light turned green he hauled ass to get in front of me where the lanes narrow down from two lanes to one. It was clear he had spent time and money making that truck as bad ass as a lowrider can be.
I noticed as he pulled up that one of his headlights was out and I thought, I wouldn't want to be driving over Highway 6 without proper lighting.
Sure enough, a few miles down the road he trained the $hit out of a deer and completely destroyed his truck. The impact blew both air bags, smashed his front grill, bumper, radiator, core support, both fenders, hood, windshield and somehow the roof. Both drivers side tires were blown out and both wheels were destroyed because after hitting the deer he ran along the cement barrier for 200 feet or so leaving a yellow and black witness mark on the barrier. Steam was pouring out of what was left of his engine bay, trans fluid or oil all over the ground along with pieces and bits from his truck. Smoke from the air bags was pouring out of the occupant compartment but they were both out walking around so I assume they were okay.
Not far from his destroyed truck was what was left of the deer. It wasn't the largest I'd seen but I bet it weighed about 250lbs. There was ZERO chance his truck wasn't totaled. My guess is that if he had a second headlight and was driving a slow ass Land Cruiser up that pass he would have been just fine.
We pulled in to Moab late that night, when I woke up the next morning and went out to load our mountain bikes in my new Tacoma I saw I had a flat tire, I could immediately see a chunk of what I believe was his truck lodged in the tread. I said some choice words and started changing the flat.
I learned something that day... deer hate lowriders.
JK
