it’s because I have a deeper understanding behind the working principles of automotive optics to where I can make accurate judgements without needing first hand experience. before people were able to go to space, they had a deep understanding of it. That’s the benefit of having an understanding- you can make accurate predictions.

if we had an actual light engineer in this forum, they can confirm my statements but I’m probably the closest thing this forum will get to an actual light engineer as this is a very niched topic on the internet.

the way headlights are made is that they use a lot of software. Plain and simple.

Im sure Mercedes doesn’t make junk. But argument that I’m making is that digital light is far too sophisticated for what’s needed on the road for most people.

 

I was going to bring this up on the general car thread but…

Last summer, I was traveling at night and I saw these headlights way behind me. They looked low and really far apart, pushed to the corners as much as you can go. I wondered what sports car it must be so I slowed down to let it catch up to me. It turned out to be an Acura TLX. I have to say that model has the best front and rear lights. I was behind one recently and I saw the same effect. The taillights make the car look really wide. Overall, I like Acura’s light designs the best.

 

^^^ i agree they're awesome... not sure if they're the best, but really great!

 

The jewel headlights on the Acura are ok but the DRLs and taillights are tacky and boring. Imo. I liked them more in the last gen(especially on the RLX) when they were still using the beak grille. Acura is trying to be too flashy nowadays and they've lost their soul in the process.

 

LS460 pre-refresh HIDs with highs, all bulbs are Phillips

W12, lows/fogs

All

Thermal

My friend that mentioned in another thread who had my 460 as a loaner INSISTED he be the one to do his rear brakes vs me doing them after I was done with the rest. Long story short I left the shop at 1:21 affecting having to drive back to help him when he got stuck.

It did however allow me to drive the 460 home and then after I had to drive back out to help him un-screw himself drive the W12 and compare the headlights. The W12 is clearly superior and driving them back to back it was very clear to me that the swarm of LEDs do a better job overall.

I guess I just never drove them back to back closely enough and payed enough attention to the lights till now to realize. I for sure could go 20mph faster and still have confident vision in the Audi vs the LS.

Oh and the thermal I just called somewhat of a gimmick earlier actually caught a deer I missed on the way back. So I guess I stand corrected and it's fairly useful!

 

Better how? The HIDs look smoother in those pics.

 

Much longer range without power drop off, they are actually just as smooth and even as the HIDs but with the division lines between bulbs. Overall amount of light is just outright higher at all ranges as well. I could drive about 20 mph faster in the Audi and see the same amount of time ahead of me as the LS, the A8 lights have enough punch to make me feel unconcerned at 100-115 vs only about 80 in the LS

Tomorrow I am going to have my wife come with me to the dam overlook parking lot to use her camera to get better comparison pictures since my phone is too old for the differences to come through well.

 

Are you referring to the high beams when you say longer range? Because if we are talking about the regular low beams, there shouldn't be a difference in the amount of range that you get because all low beams are aimed to falloff every foot. So at a certain distance, the beams of both cars should fall off into the ground, depending on the height of the car though. My suv will have a longer reach than your sedans since it sits higher.

Now if you are referring to the highbeams, than yes the LS will fall short since the highbeams uses a weaker halogen bulb in comparison to high powered LED in the audi.

Its also worth noting that headlight design must meet a standard first. once that standard is reached, some things are left to the taste of the designer. That's why Lexus has a much softer cut off line than say Acuras which had a harder and bluer cutoff line.

 

It has longer range on all but the highs and sides are a major difference. An SUV shouldn't have any more range than a car unless it is aimed outside of spec since there is a strict standard for cutoff, now if you adjust it to be different.....well I'll just say my 2000 Jeep and 03 Ram actually have decent/stupid good coverage respectively lol! The softness of the Lexus lighting is nice but the Audis don't have hard cutoffs, more of a very distinct zone of light that just "stops" unlike the blue cutoff on other cars. I have no problem with the soft fade effect but the fact still is that it is outranged and I can't drive as quickly with it vs the LED array cars.

On non-advanced cars I reaim the lights to "stack" with fogs close, then mains, then highs so the coverage is at long/wide/strong as possible. Advanced headlights I just leave alone since they work insanely well and nearly always are self leveling/aiming/etc, plus they cost $2700 each for my most expensive pair so I would rather not touch them at all. The 460 has my cheapest set of advanced lights at $600 each and it just goes up from there....

 

I looked a vid of the two and the A8 does have better reach than the LS. I guess I forgot that the A8 is a projector but it utilizes several of them so the beam pattern is different from the more traditional HID projectors. Whenever you have time can you take a pic of the beam against your garage door(maybe 5-10ft away)? But hey the LS HIDs are still great.

 

Please share with us your background and experience that has given you this “deeper understanding”

Also, just because you don’t “need something” for the minimum of safety doesn’t mean it doesn’t increase safety or diminish the strain of doing something. Life is full of things that make what we do better that we don’t “need”. This technology improves driving at night, if you would drive a car with this technology that’s just obvious…but you haven’t. I would agree you don’t “need” this, but it makes driving at night better.

 

LS460 headlights look like they cover more at least from your picture.

 

Several years ago I tested the waters of automotive lighting development out of interest. What I learned back then I carried with me today. Go figure, that's why I forgot that LED matrix headlights and digital lighting are a different breed which doesn't abide by the same rules that HID/Halogen projectors abide by. The new lighting system may have a completely new rule book. So my learning was quite outdated so to speak. That's why I can speak on the topic with a certain amount of confidence.

Again, the problem with the new headlights is the complexity and cost. Now, would I pay more for the very best lighting? Of course I would. I'm a firm believer that things hold their value.
But we have to consider that headlights don't exist in a vacuum. Its not just safety. Its not just better lighting. There's many things to consider.

You know, if I really wanted good lighting that will beat out matrix headlights, for only $100, I can retrofit in a third projector on top of the roof of my car and visibility will never be a problem on the back roads or the autobahn.

 

I'm not sure how that gives you any better understanding than anybody else who has done research into this topic and certainly not people who have tried different lighting systems themselves.

The issue with traditional high vs low beam lights is, especially HIDs and LEDs have a sharp cutoff of light. In very dark situations that means there is a hard line in low beam mode where there is simply no light. When driving on a dark roadway or highway at night when there are other cars around and you cant use high beams, that means its really easy to overdive your headlights.

With ILS you never have just low beams, unless you are in an area with so much ambient light that its not an issue, the system carves the cars around you out so that you have light much farther down the road. The difference in visibility is enormous.

Some examples of what that looks like:



I added a line here, in just low beam mode beyond the red line there would be NO illumination:




This is a graphic that shows how the high beam illumination is able to be maintained on the right side when there are oncoming cars on the left.




Taking it a step further to digital lighting which my car does not have but the W223 S Class does, you can see the system highlights a person on the side of the road, or a deer, etc:




Except that wouldn't beat out matrix headlights at all, you don't understand the benefits these headlights provide, you could not operate that light when there is traffic around you. Matrix lighting is not for an empty road with nothing else around, it maximizes your lighting without blinding other drivers.

 

I'm pretty sure a guy who follows boxing, watches it, and keeps up with it will have a deeper understanding of the sport than someone who doesn't, without having to be a boxer himself. If you don't understand that, I don't know what to say. Of course, I'm limited to more or less things but nonetheless I have more knowledge of the topic.

I was quite excited when I read about the ils several years back because it had the potential to change the game. It's a good system! I'm not denying that at all. But when taking everything into consideration, HID's should be the go to technology. HID's don't require that level of "intelligence" or complexity and they still do a great job. That's how you know it was well engineered.