Your LED Headlights Buying Guide (2022 Updated)

 You have a lot of options when it comes to your headlights. When choosing the right light, it is important to understand the different lights available and how they improve visibility or design. LED lamps are becoming the norm and offer many of the same benefits as halogens. Want to find the best aftermarket headlights but don't know what to consider when shopping? This buying guide is for you.

Lumen

So it's no surprise that most people really don't know how many lumens they actually need. Until you're sure the brightness is enough for your taste, stick with these numbers:

Replace a 40W bulb: Look for at least 450 lumens

Replace a 60W bulb: Look for at least 800 lumens

Replace 75W bulbs: Look for at least 1,100 lumens

Replace a 100W bulb: Look for at least 1,600 lumens

Color temperature

The next concept you will understand after lumens is color temperature. Measured on the Kelvin scale, color temperature is not a true measure of heat. Rather, it is a measure of the color produced by the light source, ranging from yellow at the low end of the scale to blue at the high end, with white light in the middle.

Typically, incandescent bulbs have yellow light at the bottom of the scale, while CFLS and LED have long been thought to lean toward the high blue end of the spectrum. This has long been a complaint about new lighting alternatives, since many people prefer warm, familiar, low-color incandescent bulbs. Still, manufacturers are listening, and in this case, they're hearing consumers' voices loud and clear as more low-color temperature CFL and LED options hit the shelves.

Color rendering index

Unless you live at a disco, you probably want the colors in your home to look traditional. This is where the color rendering index, or CRI, comes in. The CRI is a score from 1 to 100 that evaluates a bulb's ability to accurately illuminate colors. You can think of CRI as the color GPA of a light bulb, because it is actually averaging multiple fractions of multiple hues.

LED Chip type

The chip type sometimes affects the installation process. Do your headlights have flip chip, COB (on-board chip) or surface mount diode (SMD)? The latter two models can have multiple chips in the same bulb. SMDS can produce multiple colors from the same bulb, but COBs emit more lumens per watt, so they glow brighter while consuming less power.

Flip chips are square and their diodes are mounted "upside down". This process is faster than conventional LED manufacturing, takes less time to produce and has lower retail costs. This installation process also means the LEDS generate less heat and resistance.

You can dispense with the eye-catching radiator, which means flip-chip leds are physically smaller than their bent upright Cousins. In addition, because the chip is angled at a larger angle, it produces a more focused beam than a normal chip, and may not require the iconic round reflector.

FAQs

Q: Are all LED headlights the same?

No, they may differ in lumen number, headlight assembly design, and reflector size and style. All of these play an important role in brightness levels, maximum range, and power consumption. In our research, we gave priority to 8,000 lumens and 6000K color temperature LED headlamps.

Q: What are the benefits of LED headlights?

LED headlights offer more intense brightness and wider patterns than traditional halogen bulbs. They are also more efficient, while halogen lamps convert most of the energy into heat. LED headlights also come with a heat management component that extends the life of their bulbs by using cooling fans or radiators for conventional heat before releasing them into the atmosphere. Naturally, they are more expensive than HID and halogen lamps.

Q: Is it worth upgrading to LED headlights?

We strongly recommend switching from halogen headlights to LED headlights because it improves energy efficiency, reduces vehicle battery workload, and has better all-round performance with clearer, brighter lighting. The LED headlight bulb also has a service life of more than 50,000 hours.