05-11 Tacoma Replacement Headlights?

What is the best brand/style headlight that will provide better light than the factory headlights? (Without giving it a "blue" tint)

 

This post will have all the info you need:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-not-led-or-hid.398066/page-107#post-20766573

Though to clarify I’m assuming you are looking for bulbs, not a headlight assembly.

 

^^^^ This. Did the mod a few weeks ago, probably the bed mod I've done to date. I got new OEM headlight housing (a bid spendy) plus the mod noted above and got amazing light output. If it can work in the very dark montana roads, it'll work anywhere.

 

If you want something that looks cool (in my opinion) head over to tacoma beast. They've got some pretty cool options. I'm not sure about reliability or light output since I've never owned them. But I've never had non-OEM headlights be better than OEM.

 

Looks, maybe depending on preference. Output is a significant downgrade.

 

slow at editing here. lol

 

Bottom line is that the stock lights suck but can be made less sucky with higher output bulbs. Most aftermarket lights are even worse from what I’ve read here. I settled on some slightly higher output bulbs. Kinda a compromise between a bit more light and a reasonable lifespan.

 

So which do you think are the best "white" headlights?

 

Don’t know. I have not seen these but Diode Dynamics claims their LED lights mimic halogens in the way they project light and will work in stock housings without causing scatter and glare. Being LED they would likely be white but of course they are pricey. Think they may be a vendor on here. I just try to avoid driving at night.

 

Thanks I'll look into them

 

Don't waste your money on LED's.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

 

I’ve read that thread and am aware of why you shouldn’t use LED bulbs in place of halogen bulbs. Diode Dynamics claims that their LEDs are designed to be used in stock halogen headlight housings. I don’t have any skin in this game and it may be just more LED bullshit, I don’t know. I don’t like being blinded at night by all the jerks that just have to have that white light but if they do work as advertised these may be a valid option.

You seem to be an expert on lighting @crashnburn80 are these Diode Dynamics SL1 LED bulbs just more junk like all the other ones?

 

They seem to understand the concepts and science better than most. However, note that their testing and claims are based around an H11 headlight. Why is this important? An H11 headlight is solely a low beam headlight, meaning all the reflector faces in the assembly are designed to reflect light to a low beam pattern. If the geometry is just slightly off you'll get some glare but all the reflector faces are attempting to reflect the light into the low beam area. Compared to dual filament headlight like the H4 found in 2nd Gens and earlier, where the reflector is dual purpose for high and low beam relying on precision light source geometry to control whether the light being projected is a low beam pattern with cut offs, or a high beam pattern. If the geometry is a little off in a dual filament assembly the light enters the high beam reflectors and blasts light above the cut offs producing awful glare. Creating a decent dual filament LED like an H4 is a significantly more challenging engineering problem than a single filament bulb like an H11. I just checked to see if DD even sells a dual filament bulb with that claim, and it turns out they do not sell dual filament lights at all. They likely recognize this issue. Meaning they do not offer a LED headlight for the 2nd Gen and earlier Tacomas.

Again look at the output and color temperature charts in this thread, they are posted in the lower part of the original post. You can balance what you want in terms of color and output with all the information I have provided there.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-headlight-upgrade-h4-not-led-or-hid.398066/

If you want something whiter than what those charts provide, you are either going to have to look at coated bulbs, which are less performant than clear ones, or a full HID retrofit which is quiet costly. You might check out the IPF Fatboy bulbs, which are available in coatings of 4300k and 5000k but have higher wattage at 80w which can be run on a stock harness, the higher wattage will help offset their losses from using a blue coating. But high wattage plus blue coatings will equal short bulb life, and they are not inexpensive. I would not recommend using a performance robbing coated bulb for cosmetics when a clear bulb will provide much higher output and functionality.

 

Word to your monkey. I have the new lighting harness with TB projectors and then got TRD Pro housings. Pros much brighter than aftermarkets.

 

Upgraded Fog lights with Amazon ones:


With Light bar on to compare colour (6500k):


Upgraded to Auxbeam W Series H4/HB2/9003 Hi-lo Beam LED Headlight Bulbs:


Here are the LEDs:

 

You realize this photo shows the glare issue being discussed? And this is an exact example of what not to do, those are not a safe product for street use as it will blind oncoming drivers.

 

LOL, I’m not even sure what that means. But glad you like the Pro lights!

This is a fun comparison between 3rd Gen Projectors vs 2nd Gen reflectors. An aftermarket projector isn't going to be nearly as good as an OEM Toyota 3rd Gen projector. You can see just how good the 2nd Gen reflectors really are in this comparison, see post 2144: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-not-led-or-hid.398066/page-108#post-20772090

 

This picture was taken prior to aligning my headlights. They were pointing high left. Also, my lights have little cracks in them, which disperses a small amount of light. It does it with halogens or LEDs.
After the alignment, both halogen and LED has the EXACT beam. I bought the W Series because they have a reflector as the same in halogens.
Take a look below.

Mine (LED) with reflector:


LED without reflector (cheaper):


Halogen with reflector:


Only one LED diode illuminates on low beam (with reflector). The other then illuminates what the high beams are activated (to create brighter and higher light).
Same thing as your halogens. You can see two separate filaments. One with a reflector and one without.

I did a ton of research prior to purchasing LEDs.
Most LEDs are meant for projector style lights as the projector focuses the light for you. Traditional halogens have the reflectors to focus the light.

In that picture i am directly in the hot spot of the lights. You can see the halogens fill the entire light, and that's without high beams on.

Here are other pictures of my lights not directly on them:

 

I asked DD this question.

Is this really an LED bulb designed to work in a halogen housing. I hadn’t ever heard of these. Is this new technology or is my view obscured by the rock I live under. Do you make them for 05 to 15 tacoma? If so and it works I could be a customer.

I’m pretty skeptical in general. And very skeptical of vendors claims. That’s why I tagged you. Thanks for all the info @crashnburn80 . I truly appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed answer. Seems DD was either stretching the truth or actually desperate enough to lie in order to get a sale. If I paid $150 for headlight bulbs and they didn’t perform as advertised I’d be happy to tell anyone and everyone how much they suck. How is that good business? There’s always been hucksters out there selling their snake oil etc but now it’s definitely more prevalent. Guess the quick buck is winning now.

 

LOL, I’m not even sure what that means. But glad you like the Pro lights!

Many LEDs are 'designed to work like a halogen' but that doesn't mean they actually end up working like a halogen. Since there are currently no SAE compliance standards or any standards at all for these products, it is very much the wild west with these products with ridiculous amounts of low quality poorly designed China garbage flooding the market, like the Auxbeam lights posted above. However, there is a science for how to make these products perform better than some others and they seem to understand this better than most. LEDs must exactly replicate the X and Y coordinates in size and position of a halogen filament, and critically the distance between the opposing LED faces must be as small as possible, the same width of a halogen filament in order to have focus which is needed for distance projection. And that last one poses a challenge to most LED companies, as either they cannot build it or don't understand it. You can see some extensive testing in my 3rd Gen thread about the focus issue where projectors rule out glare issues.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

DD does not offer an dual filament H4 product like is required for 2nd Gens, so asking them for headlights on an 07 is a bit of a non-starter. I'll will be testing the DD LEDs in my 3rd Gen thread to see how focus and distance projection compares to halgoen. But again, glare isn't an issue with the 3rd Gen due to the projectors, however loss of focus and resulting loss of distance projection has been a significant problem for LEDs. It will be interesting to see what the data says.

I'm not trying to pick on you, really! But the projectors do not focus light for you, that is a common mis-conception that just because it is a projector means you can throw anything in there and it will focus the light correctly. The only advantage of a projector is that is has an internal glare shield which cleans up the glare from bad light sources, however with LEDs you still usually end up with loss of focus resulting in loss of distance projection as covered in detail in this thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

Yes, your AuxBeam LEDs have a low beam glare guard, the Opt7s you pictured from one of my other threads do not, which predictably results in a disaster of a beam pattern. The Opt7s were chosen for that thread because at the time they were a front running favorite LED on the forum that many recommended with great reviews, when it was very clear looking at the product that it would not work. I've tried several other H4 LEDs that include low beam glare guards and are a far more advanced design than those Auxbeams, and they still produce significant glare, there are numerous updates in that thread aside from just the oldest Opt7 LEDs without the glare guards used to make the initial thread.

However, even with low beam glare guards it is not possible for those AuxBeam lights to work correctly or have the same pattern as stock, you can tell just by looking at the product. The LED in no way replicates a halogen filament, that design will cause glare, loss of focus and loss of distance projection. Look at the Diode Dynamics LEDs pictured further up in this thread, the LEDs are in the exact shape of a filament. Those AuxBeam lights are a using a very dated square chip with a circle emitter. The LEDs must be oblong in shape in the same dimensions of a halogen filament, not just circle emitters placed in the approximate position, the lighting geometry is completely incorrect.

Looking at the last head on photo of your truck, you can tell the lights are not working properly. You have a pretty bad V shape above the bulb which will reduce beam saturation, but most importantly the glare guards are not working and you have light entering the lower portion of the headlight which is part of the high beam reflectors, meaning they will produce significant glare. On low beam the headlights should only be illuminated in the upper part of the housing with a very sharp flat horizontal cut off at the level of the bulb and higher, no light should enter the lower portion of the headlight assembly. Not only do you have light hitting the high beam area of the headlight, you have no flat horizontal illumination cut off, which is clear evidence the glare guards are not working.

Another common notion is you can 'adjust your headlights down to fix glare with LEDs'. It doesn't work that way, glare is light escaping above the designed cut off, aiming your headlights down doesn't fix light above the cut off and significantly reduces your distance projection, which is the main purpose of the headlight. Unfortunately the loss of focus also causes the light pattern to shift toward the vehicle with significant foreground light, further reducing distance projection and vision. So you end up with a blob of light immediately in-front of your truck which many initially think is an upgrade as people psychologically intrinsically like foreground light, but then later driving at speed down a dark road, many realize that with their "upgraded headlights" they actually cannot see very far at all.

Driving at night with those lights, you will notice street signs on the side of the road that are above your headlight light cut off light up like they are radio active, as well as overhead highway signs, and that is your introduced glare.

Many people tend to be a bit defensive about this kind of critique information due to 'the ownership effect' which is a real thing where people form an attachment to an item they have purchased and rate it and desire it to be better than it actually is, even when the data says otherwise.