Driving Lights: 2x Baja LP4 Pro or 2x LP 9 Sport? Similar power draw, lumen output, and cost.

[Theoretician]

I'm interested in upgrading the lighting on my truck and have been drawn to the LP series for the peripheral lighting. I'm also trying to stay within, or at least close to, the power budget allowed by swapping my halogen headlight bulbs for LEDs.
Thus, I'm looking at either 2 LP9 Sports or 2 LP4 Pros. Judging by the specifications on the Baja Designs website, these two options have very similar total lumen outputs as well as very similar power draws, albeit with the LP9 Sport sending out a bit more peripheral light and the LP4 Pro sending out more forward light. The cost for both setups is also similar. The LP4 Pros are smaller, which is nice, but with the increased overall size (more heat sinking) and number of LEDs (less heat generated per LED) would the LP 9 Sport be the more reliable offering?
I'm not going to be doing baja prerunning or such, I just need better light for avoiding deer and debris in the road ahead of me at night. Is there some benefit to going with either the LP 9 Sport or LP4 Pro in this case?
Thanks

 

[-Virgil-]

I'm interested in upgrading the lighting on my truck and have been drawn to the LP series for the peripheral lighting. I'm also trying to stay within, or at least close to, the power budget allowed by swapping my halogen headlight bulbs for LEDs.

Oops...that was a major mis-step. You've really got to put the halogen bulbs back; the so-called "LED bulbs" are not effective, safe, or legal. Thorough, dependable info is here and here. How is your truck configured and equipped, that you're right on the bleeding edge of running out of available power?

I'm not going to be doing baja prerunning or such, I just need better light for avoiding deer and debris in the road ahead of me at night.

You'd be significantly better off (less money, far more effectively spent) buying this Osram bar.

Moderator Edit
Fixed links

 

[Theoretician]

The jalopnik link doesn't work, but absent that information I can thoroughly disagree with you on the LEDs being a major mis-step. I can identify deer and other road hazards from a fair distance farther out than I ever could with hacked in HIR high beams. Along with that, the LEDs have more peripheral spread to help with keeping track of the road/trail through turns. My main complaint with the LED bulbs is the 6000K temperature and low CRI compared to the halogens; I'm confident that I can see things before I can identify them due to the color characteristics of the light. Better than the halogens where I simply couldn't see things from a reasonable distance, but I think the 5000K temp of the BD lights would help along with the brighter output. The LP series of lights also have dedicated peripheral lighting to help follow dark roads and trails.

I don't know that my 16 F150 HD is right on the bleeding edge for reliable power generation, but I can't find reliable information on what the spare long term operating capacity is. If you can find such information then I would certainly welcome the, presumably, extra head room; until then, I'll choose the arbitrary limit of staying within factory reliable specifications.

That osram bar has the same color temperature as the LED bulbs that I'm already running, and at 25in wide I could only mount one of them aimed forward instead of two of the LPs, which means I'd be getting 31% of the lumen output for 42% of the power draw, for 39% of the price. That hardly seems like a good value when I'd basically be getting two more high beams with this bar, for a likely distance increase of 41%, compared to a likely distance increase of 83% with the LPs. I'm not sure if the CRI would be improved with the LPs, but at least the temperature and output would be improved compared to the Osram that you linked.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

The jalopnik link doesn't work, but absent that information I can thoroughly disagree with you on the LEDs being a major mis-step.

I fixed Virgil's links.

Absent information, you can disagree-- but disagreement based on not having information is just being wrong. (STILL disagreeing after being presented the information makes you willfully ignorant.)

I can identify deer and other road hazards from a fair distance farther out than I ever could with hacked in HIR high beams.

I identified that there were two links in the same tag and fixed them. Now that the links are fixed (which for PC/Mac-based browsers, the malformed links weren't that much of a hindrance to discern), you can read them and visit them and learn more on the subject.

Along with that, the LEDs have more peripheral spread to help with keeping track of the road/trail through turns.

The width of a beam is related to the filament placement and beam focus. LEDs move the "filament" away from the axial center of the lamp, which ruins focus.

My main complaint with the LED bulbs is the 6000K temperature and low CRI compared to the halogens

If the beam focus were correct, then abnormally high color temperature and poor CRI would be a legitimate complaint, but bulb focus is not correct. Using these bulb-shaped toys in your headlamps is an objectively bad idea.

 

[-Virgil-]

The jalopnik link doesn't work, but absent that information I can thoroughly disagree with you on the LEDs being a major mis-step.

I'm sure it feels like you can, but you're objectively wrong about this. On this board we have a policy against discussing, promoting, or facilitating lighting modifications, systems or products that are illegal and/or unsafe, and your "LED bulbs" are both. If you wish to replace your subjective impressions and guesses with knowledge, the Jalopnik link has been fixed.

You're also way off on the wrong path trying to pick lamps based on quoted lumens, which is not a useful measure, and also when you put so much emphasis on color temperature and CRI, which are not near the top of the list of factors that determine the human-usable performance of a road illumination lamp (headlamp, fog lamp, "driving lamp", spot lamp, etc).

As for the power capacity of your truck -- that information will not be difficult for you to find if you want specific numbers, but unless you are already running a large amount of non-stock electrical equipment, you're not near any practical limit with any set of lamps you might reasonably consider using.