Originally published at: I am thrilled with these cheap LED headlights | Boing Boing
…
A lot of the LEDs out there blind oncoming drivers. I don’t know why; sloppy aiming? Bad design? But if you get more high-beam blinks from oncoming drivers after you change bulbs, please be aware something is wrong and needs fixing.
5 Likes
People need to aim their headlights. It is really easy and a matter of turning a screw in either direction.
3 Likes
Legally headlights should also be DOT compliant. I’d say most LED and a fair amount of HID aftermarket lights are not. Yes you may be able to adjust your headlights to achieve a non-blinding setup for on coming traffic, but that doesn’t mean you will automatically pass a safety check.
3 Likes
AIUI, sometimes it’s because the lamp’s lens and/or reflector isn’t designed with LEDs in mind.
1 Like
These are terrible and unsafe on the road. The beamforming is not the same as halogens, and the refectors are not designed for them. However they are aimed, they spill light into oncoming traffic and light the road ahead unevenly. Junk recommendation and irresponsible.
7 Likes
Great. More people illegally modifying their car headlights.
‘Sorry you’re blinded because my headlights were designed for halogen bulbs but I can see fine’. 
8 Likes
You’re right, but even factory LEDs have their issues. I’ve had people flashing their brights, thinking I’ve got mine on, since I bought my car. Based on what I’ve read, having pulled up to a wall and checked, my lights are aimed just fine. In my case, and with many other factory LEDs, I think the issue may be that with LED lights, the boundary between almost no light and full-on headlight brightness is sharper than with halogen, which has a more gradual dropoff at the edges. In any case, I do not recommend installing anything in your headlight housings that isn’t OEM.
Edit: Turns out my car has HID lamps, not LED. Oops. Guess it’s the housings after all.
3 Likes
The Amazon link Jason gave claims the manufacturer has addressed these problems.
It’s easier to scream than follow the link.
Exactly. In which case, don’t buy 'em, and don’t use ‘em. And manufacturers, quit sellin’ 'em to owners whose vehicles can’t do it…
These are both high and low beams, and I can’t help but think that it’s a terrible idea to have these. With high beam only, the potential lack of proper focus won’t hurt anyone else, because you shouldn’t be pointing these where other people can get blinded by them. I replaced the high beams with the H11 version of this bulb on one of my cars. But the low beams are stock. And part of the reason is DOT compliance. I can prove that my low beams (which are the only beams other people can see when they’re around) are stock.
If they make some that are DOT compliant, yeah, sure, go ahead and replace your low beams.
2 Likes
Sometimes they can flicker too.
Had a truck behind me yesterday and his headlights were flickering into my rear view and side mirror. Not only does it mess with my eyes, it could cause a seizure in someone else.
Invariably, they aren’t. The LED just isn’t the same size as a filament. The result varies from bad to superficially okay but still not really right.
I’ve seen that too. I wondered if was a junk imitation of motorcycle headlight modulation.
The manufacturer claimed that the Sealight 9007 headlights work to replace the halogens in the ones we bought for my partner’s 90’s Ford truck last year. They lied. No matter how we’ve positioned them, had them adjusted, tried adjusting them ourselves…we constantly get flashed by incoming traffic on the “low beam” setting as well as high. I can’t get him to go back to the Halogens, though, as we can now see the road, but it’s a nightmare. I have to drive this truck alone sometimes. Afraid I will be blinded by an oncoming driver’s revenge flash and die in an accident on mountain roads
I wonder if headlight visors would help? I always liked those ones on the old psychedelic VW campers that looked like eyelashes.
The 9008s are working fine in a 2009-2014 Ford F150 designed for Halogens.
I have this cheap led headlight, it works great:
I think halogens would make me sweat too much.
2 Likes
