[el_guru]

I’ve just installed Holley Retrobright. LED headlights (Summit racing $180) on a ‘97 NAS D90. They look great and throw out a good light pattern. I’ve had various “eBay” LED lights on other Defenders which look horrible and one particular set were absolute rubbish beam pattern I threw them away.
I will try and get some pictures of the light pattern of the Holleys.

 

[WeBeCinYa]

I’ve just installed Holley Retrobright. LED headlights (Summit racing $180) on a ‘97 NAS D90. They look great and throw out a good light pattern. I’ve had various “eBay” LED lights on other Defenders which look horrible and one particular set were absolute rubbish beam pattern I threw them away.
I will try and get some pictures of the light pattern of the Holleys. View attachment 483849

These look great. I need an upgrade on my 97. Took first trip at night with stock and couldn’t see much at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LRNAD90]

I’ve just installed Holley Retrobright. LED headlights (Summit racing $180) on a ‘97 NAS D90. They look great and throw out a good light pattern. I’ve had various “eBay” LED lights on other Defenders which look horrible and one particular set were absolute rubbish beam pattern I threw them away.
I will try and get some pictures of the light pattern of the Holleys.

Curious to hear more about how you like them and see some beam patterns. Did you go for the classic white (3000K) or the Modern White (5700K)? I assume you go them for $180 EACH, but Summit currently lists them for $200 EACH..

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hly-lfrb135?seid=srese1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItNXCmKL4_AIViMCGCh0NbwTBEAQYBSABEgI9s_D_BwE

 

[Chip]

That is quite the deal. Bus Depot seems to have the best prices online for both the Koito and Hella e-Codes at $72 and $80 a pair, respectively, so no where near as good a deal..

Who'd have thought buying them from the Toyota dealer would be the cheapest option..

Oh, and Daniel Stern seems to think the Koito's are the best as well.. (He sells them for $180/pr)

"It's a bit of a sad end to a storied brand, but don't fret: compared to the Cibiés even before their downward skid, the Koito large and small round H4/H1 lamps on this page are superior. The Koitos are more efficient (more light on the road), better focused (more useful distribution of light), and better-built (sturdier glass and metal materials, more careful build quality). "

I've thought about upgrading to LED's in the past, but I couldn't bring myself to put their more futuristic look on the Defender, and to be honest, I really can't complain about the lighting performance of my current set-up. Maybe a little whiter light would be nice, but ultimately for visibility, I think most studies show the warmer Halogen light to be better in most conditions anyway..

I wonder why Stern is selling them for that much. I think they're worth that much, but when you can them from Toyota for so cheap...

I think the whiter light is why most people go for LEDs because they're often not brighter. A friend of mine had Truck-Lites on his rig and they became so dim you couldn't even see the road. I don't mind the yellowish color of halogens. I think you're right that it's better for visibility. I've seen comparisons that show halogen light extends farther into the distance even though it seems less bright. I think it's easier on the eyes too.

 

[erover82]

White light of lower color temperature (“yellow”-er) is superior for the purpose of night driving. This is well studied over many decades and there’s a lot of material out there to read on the subject. However, the primary need of drivers now is more light, which often comes in sources which are of higher (“blue”-er) color temperatures. The trend toward blue tinted halogen lamps just highlights the ignorance (mostly innocent) and vanity of consumers.

 

[Chip]

I found this thread that contains discussion about the Holley RetroBrights. Experts Virgil and Stern didn’t care for them, but they like the Koito.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/holley-retrobright-headlamps-good-bad-or-ugly.478539/

 

[Z.G]

I found this thread that contains discussion about the Holley RetroBrights. Experts Virgil and Stern didn’t care for them, but they like the Koito.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/holley-retrobright-headlamps-good-bad-or-ugly.478539/

I switched from the Hella Vision Plus and it was certainly an upgrade.

Also if I ever become an expert because of 7000 posts on a forum for flashlights just shoot me

 

[Red90]

I found this thread that contains discussion about the Holley RetroBrights. Experts Virgil and Stern didn’t care for them, but they like the Koito.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/holley-retrobright-headlamps-good-bad-or-ugly.478539/

Those guys are on drugs. They work well. Brightness and beam pattern is good.

 

[Red90]

Here... These guys have tested them all and do the tests properly. You can see beam pattern and brightness for every LED 7" headlight on the market.

 

[IppoJ]

I'm surprised you didnt go for the Holley retrobrights...

I wish I would've found this a couple months ago. I installed the Hella e-codes.
I've used them and like them but properly done LEDs are a much better option.

 

[Z.G]

I wish I would've found this a couple months ago. I installed the Hella e-codes.
I've used them and like them but properly done LEDs are a much better option.

Also 4x the price, though. The Hellas are great, reliable lights, but LEDs are the future.

 

[Red90]

The problem with Hella and other similar H4 lights is the lights are not sealed to the housing. Every time you go wading, they fill with water. Years ago, I switched to sealed halogen housings that use 9003 bulbs. The bulbs are designed to seal to the housing. Maybe not an issue if you never drive through water deeper than the headlights.

 

[erover82]

if I ever become an expert because of 7000 posts on a forum for a car just shoot me

 

[Z.G]

View attachment 483881 View attachment 483888

The irony is not lost on me, however I do not work in the flashlight industry 😅

 

[erover82]

Those guys are on drugs. They work well. Brightness and beam pattern is good.

They're the rivet counters of lighting. The kind that has their own integrating sphere at home and interprets government lighting regulations with fundamentalist fervor.

 

[darbison]

Did some digging. Looks like the guys who run Headlight Revolution and The Retrofit Source (two channels on YouTube and identical reskinned sites) also import/manufacture the Morimoto lights. So, they might not be non-biased with their reccomendations.

Chip, I live in Portland too… I really need to upgrade my lights for the dark-nighttime/pouring rain winters we get. Is the Koitos able to cut through? Did you also add on fog lights in addition to hit the road right in front of you?

 

[Chip]

Chip, I live in Portland too… I really need to upgrade my lights for the dark-nighttime/pouring rain winters we get. Is the Koitos able to cut through? Did you also add on fog lights in addition to hit the road right in front of you?

I think the Koitos will be able to cut through just fine, but my truck's not on the road yet so I'm not able to test them driving. I bought another set from the Toyota dealer and they left me a voicemail in Japanese today lol. I have a Japanese voicemail greeting as a prank and anti-spam. They got me back.

I'm not currently planning to add fog lights. What are most people running for fogs? The OEM Hella Rallye 1000s (STC7643) or something else? I think last time I started looking into fogs & driving lights there were so many options I couldn't decide.

I noticed in Australia Toyota sells Hella driving lights. That would be cool if we could get them cheap from Toyota like the headlights, but it looks like they don't offer them as an accessory in the USA for some reason.

 

[Red90]

Did some digging. Looks like the guys who run Headlight Revolution and The Retrofit Source (two channels on YouTube and identical reskinned sites) also import/manufacture the Morimoto lights. So, they might not be non-biased with their recommendations.

They sell a variety of lights. They have side by side comparisons of everything on the market which you are free to watch and decide on your own.

 

[Z.G]

We'll be doing an in-house unbiased review of all the headlights we offer in the next few weeks, will post the results.

 

[LRNAD90]

We'll be doing an in-house unbiased review of all the headlights we offer in the next few weeks, will post the results.

To Red's point, maybe consider adding a water ingress resistance to the list of tests..