H4 LED Upgrade - Are there any good ones?
- Thread starter Andres
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Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
They do make such a bulb, and it's described in a post in this very thread. The relevant portion of that post is here:
That it is getting "very good reviews" doesn't mean a whole lot-- having a credit card and ordering a product and liking it doesn't make one an expert on the product. These aren't loudspeakers or amplifiers, nor are they flashlights or stadium lights. Headlamps have specific photometric requirements that can be reliably met so long as the headlamp is in good condition and is using the specific light source for which they were designed. These LED H4s are not that specific light source, rather it's an approximation that just is not quite good enough, hence their sale only in unregulated markets.
And "cut-off" as a metric for lamp performance is pretty much meaningless on its own. I would guess that the HID kit makers/sellers and their ilk love "cut-off" as a metric because that's the only thing they can easily demonstrate in their garage door beamshot pictures.
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Moderator Edit
This is your second warning about Rule 3: Whining about the rules.
This forum is ALREADY an EXCELLENT resource for vehicle lighting modifications; we shut down the conversation whenever someone comes in and tries do undo a thread full of solid information with a few glib words about how we "walk a hard line" and then posts links to a site whose sole purpose is to SELL items, not to inform people.
Do not do this again.
--Alaric D
This is your second warning about Rule 3: Whining about the rules.
This forum is ALREADY an EXCELLENT resource for vehicle lighting modifications; we shut down the conversation whenever someone comes in and tries do undo a thread full of solid information with a few glib words about how we "walk a hard line" and then posts links to a site whose sole purpose is to SELL items, not to inform people.
Do not do this again.
--Alaric D
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Andres
Newly Enlightened
While I greatly appreciate you taking the time to provide comprehensive responses, from my perspective, the members on this forums are no more/less experts than the other forums I have read - of which many said the replacement LED product was great! So I had to try for myself!!
They're still essentially a bunch of LED emitters stuck behind some perspex lenses with some basic solid state electronics. Allegedly a very well made, but glorified, bicycle headlight.
I believe it seems overpriced - but that's subjective. Final pricing come down to the actual product, as well as the costs of R&D, standard licensing/testing, sales volume, marketing forces etc. I wouldn't be surprised if the price of these reduces in order of magnitude in the next few years. Sadly I can't go to the future when my bike hits 88mph :laughing:
Again - maybe Eagle Lights or the HD Daymakers can make a comparable product for a lesser price. Much in the same way a Nissan GTR can lap the Nurburgring in a similar time to a 911 Turbo.
Sometimes a great dessert after crow!
No refunds? Ouch. Or was that just on the shipping and you at least got your money back on product?
We *tried* to save you the grief!
Well at least I have the humility to admit it
To a point... I was HOPING there would be some recommendation that weren't (and I paraphrase) "buy the most expensive product on the market - everything else is junk".
Will check them out. :twothumbs
Yeah - will avoid imitations - well, try to!
Gents - I don't want to come across as unappreciative - but the price for this product is beyond what I believe is reasonable (especially to purchase in Australia). Yes I can afford it - but no I don't think it's worth it. Yes I could afford the BMW NineT, but I didn't think the price vs performance stacked up. Diminishing returns and all that.
I'll keep looking around and maybe see what other items are around and report back for the interest of the forum.
Do US approved lamps have an asymmetric (around a vertical axis) beam? As we drive on the LHS in Aus, the beams need to drop away to the right. Do US headlamps to the same (but in reverse?).
Out of curiosity - who here has personally used any of these recommended products?
Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
Part of the Dunning-Kruger Effect is not only having a misapprehension of one's own expertise on a subject, but also being unable to judge the expertise of others on the same subject, and the inability to differentiate between experts and frauds.
A standard automotive headlamp is essentially one or two filaments stuck behind a lens with a basic circuit. A glorified bicycle headlamp! The truth is, neither simplicity nor complexity are at issue, the issue is actual photometric performance.
It's priced quite fairly for what it is, and yes, prices will eventually go down. In the meantime, however, you'll stop going into the future depending on what your bike hits AT 88mph because you were overdriving your headlamp. Or maybe it was at 40mph, or turning a corner and being unable to see properly.
Picture your very favorite band (unless it's Nickelback, because then this won't work). Picture your very favorite band, and tickets to see are $175.00. Nickelback comes in to town and promises to do a note-for-note performance of [your favorite band] because they've listened to that band's setlist and found some sheet music and they're going to put on this concert for $17.50. Are you getting a good value for your money?
Eagle Lights is ripping off JW Speaker's designs. If it were a watch, the face may look like a Casio G-Shock or Timex Ironman, but the watch is actually built like the premium you get after sending in 5 box tops and $1.25 shipping and handling to the cereal company.
That's a very poor analogy. Both the Nissan AND the Porsche are made to strict quality standards and adhere to certain emissions and safety regulations (including compliant headlamps!). A more apt analogy would be someone throwing a Buick 455 big block into a go-cart frame and lapping either car, and then saying it's just a good a performer and is as safe as either car.
But do you have the sense to also learn from it? Here you go trying to say the cadre are wrong about the subject, and are looking for the next ripoff product to "test".Well at least I have the humility to admit it
There are some less-expensive products that aren't junk. The products that ARE less expensive and ARE junk are those that try to look like JW Speaker's products but do not perform like them. A genuine Bushnell binocular outperforms a fake Swarovski binocular because ripoff products are concerned ONLY with appearance.
Spending MORE money on the GENUINE article is *always* a better deal than a bargain on a fake. Always.
The US does not work on a type-approval basis, but, yes, the beams here are asymmetrical so that oncoming traffic is not blinded.
In the same way as all cars are essentially a metal box with four wheels and a motor. And eyeglasses are all just a few bits of wire or plastic and two clear plastic plates. You are grossly oversimplifying. Headlamps, especially LED headlamps, are a great deal more complicated (and costly to make) than you seem to want to believe.
LOL! Which bicycle headlamp are we talking about...maybe Busch & Mueller Luxos, maybe?
It actually sounds like what you really mean is that you can't (or don't want to) spend that amount of money. That's fine, but it doesn't mean the headlamp is overpriced.
HD Daymaker = HD branded JW Speaker headlamp. Eagle = cheap and nasty headlite-shaped toy. No, it is not comparable.
No, what you're putting forward is much closer to the idea that a Jiangnan TT can lap the Nurburgring in a similar time to a Porsche 911 Turbo or a Nissan GTR.
Your paraphrasing is faulty. That's not what you were told at all. What you were told was that legitimate LED headlamps are expensive, and the cheap ones are knockoff pretenders that aren't legitimate headlamps.
It's not that you're coming off as unappreciative, it's that you're coming off as arguing against realities that aren't going to stop being realities just because you want them to.
You're entitled to your opinions, of course, but this one is not based in fact, it's arbitrary.
Then your option is to not buy it. But own that it's coming from your end: you don't want to spend the money. It's not that they're overpriced, unreasonably priced, etc, it's that you don't want to spend the money.
Yes, though a cutoff is not necessarily present and US lamps are not "approved" (our regulations work on a certification system, not an approval system)
I have, but out of curiosity - what is the point of this question?
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If you're finding the price of the JW speaker lights abit hard to stomach, understandably, have you thought about a replacement halogen fixture using a proper, replaceable, H4 globe? Iirc Hella still produce a 5 3/4" halogen headlight that is ADR approved, as does Narva, who also markets the truck-lite brand of LED headlights.
Retrofitting LED or HID into a halogen housing, or using cheap/off brand/knockoff LED or HID lights is pointless, illegal and even dangerous.
Retrofitting LED or HID into a halogen housing, or using cheap/off brand/knockoff LED or HID lights is pointless, illegal and even dangerous.
Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
Some of them are better than normal sealed beams, but if you're going to spend time and money upgrading, just *upgrade* for real!
And you try to tell the kids of today that and they won't believe you.
mntbighker
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2016
- Messages
- 26
For the record:
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[Rule 11 violation removed by moderator]
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Sadden
Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2015
- Messages
- 262
Same junk as every other junk sold by every other illegitimate company.
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Yup...and we don't link or recommend those on here, whether "for the record" or for any other reason.
