Thanks to Cary, I got a screaming deal on Hella high and low beams for my 80 last Thursday. Towed 3 hours at night through some hairy country roads with deer, elk, sharp curves, etc and here is what I found.
Prior setup: high - 100w Phoebus, low - 55w Phoebus, fog - 55w Hella 3000s.
Current setup: high - 100w Hella, low - 80w Hella, 55w Hella 3000s.
Immediately noticed higher low beam output - say 30% brighter as a swag. Under trying conditions, I noticed I reached for the high beams far less often and drove with greater confidence. Also noted that when I dipped from sustained running with the high beams, there was less night blindness as my eyes adjusted - a benefit I had not considered. On the down side, the 80w low beams were right at the threshold where street signs/curve signs, etc were barely annoying due to their reflected glare. Not -quite- an issue but worth mentioning as this is not an issue with 55w lows. Nobody in oncoming traffic (rural two lane highways the whole way) flashed that they were too bright, though I am anal about aiming my lights and leveling the vehicle for towing. There seemed to be disproportionately more light added to the low beam pattern at the center, and laterally - which helped greatly and meant there was not a "hot spot" on the pavement a car length ahead of me. I attribute this to the excellent stock lamps, of course, but it was nice to see.
Overall, it provided a lot of benefit, and with the 3000s on I'm pumping out 470 watts of light! Pretty relaxing to have that at my fingertips with 6000lbs of boat behind me.
IdahoDoug
Prior setup: high - 100w Phoebus, low - 55w Phoebus, fog - 55w Hella 3000s.
Current setup: high - 100w Hella, low - 80w Hella, 55w Hella 3000s.
Immediately noticed higher low beam output - say 30% brighter as a swag. Under trying conditions, I noticed I reached for the high beams far less often and drove with greater confidence. Also noted that when I dipped from sustained running with the high beams, there was less night blindness as my eyes adjusted - a benefit I had not considered. On the down side, the 80w low beams were right at the threshold where street signs/curve signs, etc were barely annoying due to their reflected glare. Not -quite- an issue but worth mentioning as this is not an issue with 55w lows. Nobody in oncoming traffic (rural two lane highways the whole way) flashed that they were too bright, though I am anal about aiming my lights and leveling the vehicle for towing. There seemed to be disproportionately more light added to the low beam pattern at the center, and laterally - which helped greatly and meant there was not a "hot spot" on the pavement a car length ahead of me. I attribute this to the excellent stock lamps, of course, but it was nice to see.
Overall, it provided a lot of benefit, and with the 3000s on I'm pumping out 470 watts of light! Pretty relaxing to have that at my fingertips with 6000lbs of boat behind me.
IdahoDoug