what's the latest on headlight or lighting upgrade options...? (1 Viewer)

[BobinBend]

I have the 2004 GX and upgraded my low beams to the Xenondepot kit (35w) years ago. It has been a good upgrade from stock, but on the rainy/foggy early morning drives that I do, they are just not very bright (of course, some have said that about me too). I do have some upgraded halogens and some Rigid D2s for my high beam option, but the H11 lows are just not enough light to be safe.

I did upgrade the factory fogs with the H3 yellow HIDs and they help but still don't do much overall. ...and I added the Hella 500s with 100 w halogen upgrades and they don't really add too much to the high beams /Dually combo. So I will probably replace them with some vision X 4.7" lights (multi LED) for offroad/backroads fill and throw.

So now I am on the hunt for an H11 upgrade and a replacement for the Hella 500s (as a good offroad / need some serious light) option. I've been looking at the Retrofitresource HIDs (Morimoto brand) as well as headlight revolution GTR HIDs (55 w gen 5 ballast).

For the offroad, I have been looking at the 4.7" CG2 from vision X

...and I guess while we are at it, I am looking to replace the dome and backup light bulbs to LED

Hoping for some input from others that have upgraded to HID recently or have some feedback...

Bob

 

[gungriffin]

I have The Retrofit Source D2s with Apollo 3.0s. It is not possible to say they don't put out enough light. They are as bright as the factory LED headlights in my 2018 E300. I highly recommend them.*Edit* These HIDs are installed on a 100 series, but I would imagine that they could be installed in the GX.

If you are looking for more light off-road, have you looked at the Baja Design LP9 or LP9 sport? 9000-12000 lumins per unit should cover any potential needs.

 

[Jstawgn]

In foggy condition the higher kelvin light provide much reduced visibility. What color temperature is your low beam? Adding too bright of a light are just counter productive in this condition. I found with my old eye anything over 4300k is just add strain to my eye. It does look bright but does not help me see any better farther. Remember that the brighter the foreground the darker the background would be. Your eyes have to adjust to the super bright light in front of you and makes it non sensitive to the darker background.

No doubt if you are doing high speed desert racing you want it as bright as possible but on road too bright of a light are actually blinding other people You might see better, but it would not help if they crash to you if they get blindsided. Where I live there are so many people putting LED Light bar and run it on the highway. It's very annoying and dangerous.

 

[BobinBend]

I tend to agree on the 4300 rating... seems better for my eyes too. Don't do any desert racing but cruising to work every morning in the dark and typical rural western Washington conditions and just want to reach out further with the low beams and see problems or deer, dogs, cows, elk, coyotes at night, and even the occasional human walking in dark clothing. A little more usable light distance, maybe a better color temp and reliability is what I am after. Although I just looked at those Baja Designs LP9s...whoa those are amazing (and expensive)...add those to the list I guess

 

[gungriffin]

In foggy condition the higher kelvin light provide much reduced visibility. What color temperature is your low beam? Adding too bright of a light are just counter productive in this condition. I found with my old eye anything over 4300k is just add strain to my eye. It does look bright but does not help me see any better farther. Remember that the brighter the foreground the darker the background would be. Your eyes have to adjust to the super bright light in front of you and makes it non sensitive to the darker background.

No doubt if you are doing high speed desert racing you want it as bright as possible but on road too bright of a light are actually blinding other people You might see better, but it would not help if they crash to you if they get blindsided. Where I live there are so many people putting LED Light bar and run it on the highway. It's very annoying and dangerous.

You can/will get ticketed for running light bars most places. Ha ha I find most of the people running them though are using crappy Ebay light bars... They put off less lumens than most halogen high beams. They have to show off that $75 light bar though.

The D2S with Apollos are fantastic. They have a cut off for the low beams and when in high beam mode they are BRIGHT. In high mode, they will illuminate the road reflectors about 3/4 mile away. Max Lumens with a 4500k bulb is about 3500 lumens each bulb. I still have the normal high beam bulbs in my 100 and when the HIDs are in bright mode too, you can barely see the addition of the normal high bulb. In truth, I cannot see how you would need much more than what these offer for lighting.