jbkhat303

The brightness of the light shouldn't matter as long as,the level is correct. The projectors contains a cutoff shield to prevent light to reach windshield height. My car was delivered with one headlight too high and i had the dealership level it out during my 5000 Mile service. Instead of lowering the high one, they drastically raised the other one putting the beam way up.
In other words, don't trust the dealer to make it correct. Its easy enough for you to get it at a safe/correct level on your own.

jennypenny

what headlights are you on?

janterry15

Lol ppl still do this?? I would high beam them back if they flash me!!! Roar

Burritoman

They are just the standard HID on the IS 350 AWD model. When I drive at night, I can bet that I'll get flashed at least once or twice. I've stopped bothering to flash people back... if my low-beams are bright then the high beams will absolutely destroy them.

airforcejo

Hi everyone, I read over and over about folks wanting cooler looking front lights -- especially the high beams. I don't believe the Japanese Philips 6000 and 6200K HID bulbs are made in Germany. Philips Automotive Lighting is being spun off from the Dutch/German company -- Philips will soon be concentrating on their health products and no longer manufacture light bulbs (Sept 2014, Wall Street Journal). It appears Philips is licensing their name to Japanese and Chinese manufacturers. Japan makes terrific bulbs, don't get me wrong, but be careful what and where you buy. I replaced my 2013 ES 350 fog bulbs with the JDM Astar 1200 Lumens Extremely Bright 144-EX Chipsets H16 (type 2 with 90-degree angle) LED bulbs (Amazon.com). They run approximately 5500 to 6000K and look fantastic! The OE fog lamps do very little to light up the road anyhow, but the LEDs tend to widen the visibility more than stock. I also have placed extra DRLs in my right and left corner of the lower "spindle" grille which also runs around 5500K (Philips Daylight9 -- ordered from England -- Ebay / autolightsdirectUK; not available in the States). To match the whiteness of my two new sets of front lights, I purchased Osram Cool Blue Intense (CBI) 5000K HID bulbs (XenonDepot.com); they also look terrific and offer the same lumens and the same down-the-road light projection of my stock HIDs. However, they are almost pure white once they burn in. You can view many guys using the CBI HID bulbs on YouTube and you'll see they first spark on blue and within seconds start glowing white with a tinges of blue on the edges. After about 20-hours of use they are pure white. They are a great upgrade to your stock HDI bulbs and to me, I see further and wider. Back to the subject of high beams --- I agree with many other members that raising your Kelvins just lower your usable light. If you think about it (and lower your desire to be a cool driver around town) you really want a great bright bulb for your high beams. I have found that Philips X-treme 9005 bulbs offer the brightest and furthest projection of light down the road of any bulb I've tried. They also project further to the right and left than stock. I've tried tip-colored halogen bulbs to get the "cooler" 5000 to 6000K color of HIDs, but I'm always disappointed in the dimmer light. The newer LED headlight bulbs (2014-2015) state they have 3200L each bulb and may offer more light. However, you'll probably be disappointed again because their optics scatter light -- not a concentrated focus you want for high beams. LED headlights should only be used with projector lenses. For overall appearance around the city, I highly recommend adding the Osram CBI to replace your stock HIDs, change the fogs to the JDM Astar LEDs, and add the extra safety factor of Philips DRLs . For your high beams stay with the lower Kelvin Philips X-treme.

J3ffrey

so as someone who is picking up an is350 with LED headlights tomorrow... do I have to worry that:

A. They suck compared to HID

and

B. They are going to fade?? I will bring them right in to have them swapped out if they aren't 100% bright as when new.

C. is there a way I can measure this via some use of technology to check every so often if I'm getting the full brightness that I'm paying for?

jennypenny

LED headlights, will never suck. they are excellent.

Most people prefer the color LED lights present. So, you should be fine.

They will fade, but only after many year.s

LED headlights are 2-3 times brighter than halogen, you'd be impressed.

LINSTEFAN

I prefer both HIDS & LEDS.

Brokenis

LED headlights in 3is are bright enough, and look nice. HID's may have more usable light but it's OLD technology. LED ftw.

peteharvey

A. HID does have more output, but uses much more power and produces even more heat to do so; however, multiple LED's can match one HID.

B. Yes, LED's do fade and change color, however HID's fade and change color to bluish purple tint at around 3,000 hours too.

C. Extech makes plenty of light meters.

theory816

Hey guys, came across this thread while doing some research. I want to clear things up a bit with LED vs HID headlights.

Brighter is not always better. The lumen output for OEM HID bulbs caps around 3200 lumens. Manufacturers can make it 10,000 lumens if they wanted to. The reason for the cap is that R&D found 3200 is the amount needed without being too bright whilst illuminating the road well. You don't wan't lights that is too bright not because it blinds ofthers, but because it takes your eyes off the road. Your eye will tend to look down into the pool of light rather than slightly above the cutoff line. Too bright will also wash out the color of objects making harder to discern objects on the road. This is another reason why you should always keep your fog lights off. Fog lights are actually not very useful. It is also why you should never install an hid kit.

The challenge for automotive lighting is to illuminate the road just enough and to illuminate it evenly. Before, light engineers had to work with the way the halogen bulb distributes light. They had to build the projector around the bulb. Halogen reflectors gives streaks on the road and this can actually make driving very distracting to the eye. HID projectors has almost eliminated all streaks but LED projectors can do even better. The main reason why manufacturers still use Halogen bulb is because its extremely cheap to produce.

HIDs are awesome. If your car has them, you are set with forward lighting. However, if you are getting a new car and it has the option of LED lowbeams, always go for it.

You won't have to worry about replacing a bulb with LEDs because they will last for decades. EVEN THEN, it won't burn out. It will just slowly lose its lumen output. An HID bulb will most likely go out already and those things last a long time. 6+ years. As for the concern with heat, manufacturers build heat sinks with fans into the headlight unit to keep it cool. Its no different from a cooling fan found on your CPU.

- LED vs HID Headlights

evident

the LED's on my IS is simply OK, which makes me disappointed.

I prefer the HID's on my 2007 RX350 w/ new Osram CBI bulbs, and the custom retrofit job I did on my 07 accord. the output is simply better in both of those applications. It sucks that upgrading the LED setup seems to be prohibitively expensive.

E46CT

HIDs still hold the advantage I think (Good HIDs anyway) in terms of pure output. But overall I still prefer the modernness of LED. I like the instant on no-fuss operation and instant-on high beams is VERY attention grabbing. People notice it.

iJDMTOY

iTrader: (5)

I love the sharpness and the output of the new LEDs on Lexus. Not just the headlamps too. I think LEDs just pull the entire vehicle together, which is extra classy.

evident

the LED's get a "Marginal" rating. the prius and corolla have better lighting than the IS w/ LED equipped headlamps, lol. and for the posters above, I don't understand the argument how the HID's wouldn't produce as sharp as a cutoff as the LED system, and instant on? not a big deal, HID's light up pretty quickly. Good HID's produce a very nice cutoff.