LED track lighting -- too bright / harsh even when dimmed -- how to solve?

As described in an earlier thread, I am trying to replace my halogen track lighting with LEDs.

Today, I tested two brands of MR16 GU5.3 LEDs in my existing track head fixtures. I also purchased an inexpensive MR16 GU10 LED track head fixture. All of them are flood lights (35 or 36 degree beam angle).

The problem is that they are so bright / painful / harsh to look at. It's been 20 minutes since my test, and my eyes still feel uncomfortable from looking at them (I was looking at them to test the dimming).

Even with the dimmer at the minimum setting, they were still pretty bright (esp. the GU5.3 bulbs), and in both cases there did not appear to be a large dynamic range of brightness as I slid the dimmer up and down. In comparison, the halogens dimmed very nicely.

How can I solve this brightness/harshness problem?

-Do I have the wrong kind of dimmer (I have no idea what kind I have since I did not install it myself)?

-Are there any diffusers that I can attach to MR16 track head fixtures to soften/diffuse the LED lighting?

I am wondering if this is both a output level and color temp issue.

Color:
Me thinks that you could put some type of diffs on there for sure. I would look for some heat resistant translucent yellowish color to test out. Or me thinking: a few layers of materials. Ex: Stick on glass privacy film, and maybe a yellow & red film to get a orange tint? So basically, I would suggest playing around with things till you get what makes your eye balls happy.

A friend of mine had some lights like that in display cabinet. He jigged up some cheap sunglass lens over the lights. Worked pretty well, until the lens melted! lol

Output:
Don't know if you have the wrong dimmer, as you don't say what it is you have. However, pretty sure you need a LED dimmer switch. Search those in the voltage you need. You may end up having to try a few different models out. I run all my house LED lights on Lutron. So far so good.

Get lighting diffusion. They also come in different tint colors.

Thanks for the replies -- I am going to try to find out what kind of dimmer I have. For diffusers, I found diffusers for MR16 Halogen like this one from AMP, but heard from someone that LED bulbs should not be covered to allow heat to dissipate.

If you have a direct link to something which is OK to use with MR16 LED bulbs, please let me know!

I found that some LED MR16 bulbs have a lot of side-throw and glare. In a conventional halogen bulb, the light is emitted deep within the reflector -- that's not always the case with LED bulbs.

For example, I've found bulbs with emitters close to the front to have too much glare from the side spill:



Whereas one like this (same company, same beam angle, newer model) that have emitters recessed have no glare:

I have a bulb like the first one MattPete shows. I hung a piece of DIY diffuser maybe an inch away from the bulb. It moderates and spreads the beam to my liking. I cut a piece out of a standard sheet of fluorescent light diffuser, hung it with small wires. Inelegant if you climb up on a chair to look at it, but otherwise works good.