Yeah, I was thinking the same. I run spot pod lights behind my grille to acomplish a super far throw cuz there is no lightbulb or DOT complient retrofit proyector that will actually go as far as I wanted. Not even a 65 watt HID proyector will do it if it is DOT complient. For me, a set of GTR ultra 2 bulbs in the high beams, ans a set of morimoto 2 stroke 3.0 for my low beams are the way to go in the headlights. Then I might add dedicated light pods to enhance performance cuz I drive late at night quite regularly and I take a lot of back roads that are pretty sketchy and insecure (Mexico is not a good country to be driving late, but I have no other choice for now).
Looked pretty good to me. You don’t want to be glaring other drivers either, which some brighter bulbs do. Your stock halogen must have been pretty good if that was barely better.
Halogen weren't too bright, but not any worse than my old Ram's stock bulbs. Although, my wife's Tahoe just has better than stock halogens and they're pretty bright. I definitely don't want to blind anyone. Thanks!
I have the GTR Lighting Ultra 2 and it’s incredible! Insanely bright, buy once cry once, so worth it i HIGHLY recommend it, good beam pattern with Projector/Reflector
Personally I think sometimes we get a little too hyped and expect a lot. I know these improve lighting substantially on my car. I installed them on my 2010 Corolla in the low and highs and they more than tripled the light output and had zero glare. The best part is I left one side halogen while I tested to see if they would raise the light cutoff height as some less precisely aligned bulbs do. And they did not alter my cutoff height at all on my low beam. I was able to leave the aim stock. I then asked my mom if she would drive in front of me the next night. Then I had her wait down the road while I came toward her at about 45 mph. She said they did dazzle a bit when I went over one bigger bump on the road but other than that they didn’t glare at all. I should point out these were installed in brand new (never installed until the LED’s came in) OEM Toyota headlight housings. I did this because there I just no competing with their consistency on their reflector/projector quality when you’re not swapping out the optics in a retrofit. Like a biLED projector in its place or something. Anyway with a lux meter I was able to Measure 210 max lux on low beam at the brightest spot with halogen and 685 lux on the halogen high beam. Then after the two stroke 3.0 led bulbs were installed the low beam max lux went to 581 lux and the high beam was at 1785 lux. I’d say that’s a sizable increase. Just out of curiosity I wanted to swap out my gf’s ddm tuning LED’s which actually are the same led chips and power level as the GTR lighting ultra 2 LED’s I believe that’s the correct model. All I know is they use the same chip as the 55 watt GTR lighting led bulb. So the raw lumen output is extremely high at 55 watts compared to the Morimoto. So in theory the ddm tuning bulbs should be brighter. Incase you’re wondering how this worked, she has the same car as me just a year newer and base model. Mine is the XRS but uses the same bulb types still for headlights. Oddly enough the lumen level on the ddm tuning/GTR Lighting led did go up but not by much and the beam shape was pretty bad compared to it. After she saw mine she ordered a set right after lol. Anyway the lux readings are as follows for the ddm tuning 55 watt led bulb low beam 623 lux and high beam 2009 lux. Very impressive numbers but when you see the low beam cutoff it’s obvious which is better. She also does get flashed quite often and we’ve lowered the beam a few times to the point she runs her high beams when she can because her lights don’t shine down the road very far due to the angle of aim she had to lower it to. In order to keep from getting flashed non stop. I have yet to be flashed and actually had a few people ask if my car came with oem LED’s because it looks so uniform and smooth lighting wise that you’d never know it wasn’t original. My point is yes I think you expected too much but you should also know that LED PnP bulbs will sometimes be brighter in some housings and projectors than in others. Maybe this is the case for yours. Because mine worked out incredible well And extremely bright. There’s also a question about where your headlights are hazed up at all as that will rob you of light output quite a bit before most people realize that is the cause.
Good points! My lights aren't hazed up. The housings are only a few years old. It's dust. I think also the fact that I'm driving in very dark rural areas vs. others goes a long way. In the city it probably seems brighter, too. I'd think it's a mix of the bulb not being as bright and just being a cleaner patterned LED and the housing and not built for distance. Thanks for the comment.
I have these bulbs in a low beam projector housing and wasn't blown away by their brightness either. I previously ran DDM Tuning SaberLED 50W Pro bulbs in the same housing which were many times brighter, but I got a couple flashes from oncoming traffic in the city, so I swapped them out for the 2Stroke 3.0. I keep the SaberLEDs in the trunk as a spare, though.
Thanks for this. It's good to know I'm not losing my mind. Do you recommend the Sabers? I'm considering changing at least the high beams to as bright as possible as I won't be running them with oncoming traffic anyway.
@@WildMountainGarage Doulos, if you want bright and not blind led bulbs, the best option is the morimoto 2Stroke 3.0 in reflector. In projector, maybe you can try the lumibright xt1 gen2, it is the best performance with CV3 LEDs. More than DDM saber Pro 50w or prox 55w. You can check the reviews/driving video from BULBFACTS.
@@WildMountainGarage I'd go with @Marco Yuen's recommendation and check out reviews at bulbfacts. I can't make a personal recommendation, as I only have the two bulbs for comparison (as well as noting that both are still brighter than stock halogens). I was happy with the Sabers, however, until I started getting flashed. :(
Beam patter is very important, kudos to you for recognizing the brighter bulb was causing issues for other drivers and you changed them! From what I read, laser based projectors are the best but expensive. I still personally love HID projectors but also have these on my car just for simplicity and longevity.
Bulbs can only do so much if the housings and lens are not designed to throw light the long distance you want. Designers of the OEM lights knew they had LESS light to work with and likely focused it closer to the vehicle.
I have them in my wrx on a projector with 9005 bulbs. Compared to a halogen bulbs these are way brighter. And the beam patter is identical to a halogen bulb like advertised. The hot spot is very bright as well as the flood around it.
I just bought 2 pairs and i feel the exact same way, i was expecting to be blown away but that wasn't the case, my cheap $20 hid headlights that these replace were brighter.
HIDs get hot but perform incredibly well. LEDs have to stay warm, not hot, because heat will cause the LED to dim. I have some Lumibrights XT1 GEN 2s (new in November 2020) that are bright but they still don't compare to HID. We are getting better designs as time goes on. Maybe we will get LEDs as bright as HID in 2023 lol.
I just picked some up too. I was using a different brand of LED bulb. the 3.0's are not as bright as the 2.0 but I will say this; the light they produce is more useable and they seem less fatiguing to the eye.... Yes the fans are loud but they are quiter than other bulbs I have used.
If you want the brightest lights possible buy the gtr lighting hids 55w. They’re 400 dollars but they’re totally worth every penny. The morimoto 2 stroke 3.0 aren’t advertised as the brightest bulbs. They’re suppose to have the best beam pattern out there.
From what I've seen from HR, it's not so much that they're brighter but they're supposed to mimicking the lighting pattern better than other LEDs. Additionally, I believe they are also compliant with whatever legislation they're trying to get passed to allow LED headlight bulbs.
Morimotos goal with the 2stroke 3.0 wasn't necessarily brightness, but rather maintaining the beam pattern to the halogen bulb, and the overall build quality. In my opinion I'd say that the 2stroke 3.0 would make an excellent fog light bulb as it's not overpoweringly bright, and is completely water resistant and enclosed meaning you wouldn't need to worry about the cooling fan failing. If brightness is what your really looking for, I'd go for the GTR ultra 2. Running those for my low and high beams and their performance is excellent. And I'm running them in my reflector housings!! If you ran them in your projector housings, they'd perform great. Especially off road and on a very dark trail at night. No need for light bars!
I just installed these bulbs. My car uses 9012 in projector housings. These bulbs aren’t touted to be the “brightest” on the market. Their main focus is to more effectively distribute the light, almost the same as that of a halogen bulb that they replace. The beam pattern on mine is almost identical, so the hotspot is very focused, similar to that of the halogens. I’ve tried other LED’s, and they’re definitely brighter, but the beam pattern is crap. So if you’re looking for brightness, I’d go with the GTR or SV4, or even go HID. My bulbs are 5500K too btw and they appear to have a light blue tint to them when looking at the front of the car, but behind the wheel they have a pure white look.
The impression I got after watching several video's on LED headlights of different manufacturers is although these Morimoto's are way more expensive than similar OSRAM or Philips/Signify, they do not perform any better. Probably a consequence of the fact Morimoto uses the same chipsets OSRAM and Philips sell them wholesale/as OEM. The fact the cooling air flows through the front openings inside the headlight bowls or reflector housings (patented for sure) means that snow on the outside will probably still melt, while with all other types circulating the air at the back this will not happen. Of course, if snow is seldomly a problem in the environment this feature may not be of interest to a lot of us. BTW mosts tests I watched on RU-vid were on the H4 versions, not the H7 of this post. For some of the OSRAM H4 versions, German regulation now supports the use on specific car models, which are listed publicly (and the validation stickers come with the LED units).
I also have these on my 2017 Durango. They are really dim and not bright enough for travel on super long stretches of road with no street lights. I'm considering getting hid conversions and returning these so you're definitely not alone
Good to know, but sorry to hear you're having the same issue. That's really it for dark roads with long stretches they did nothing. They're still OK for now, but I was definitely hoping for brighter output.
These bulbs were like 220 bucks but I'm returning them because I ended up doing a quick hid conversion at a one employee light shop, 6k hids broo, he installed them in like 5 mins each side! With ballast zip ties. The total was only 160 and the output is crazy bright and nice. The hids weren't even a big brand name either. I leveled the headlights myself and have not had anyone flash their lights at me either. Nd now I can finally see
@@WildMountainGarage for sure bro! Ya you should get them, so you can just Set em and forget bout em wit no worries at least until leds get there stuff together
Idk if it’s with the projector housing, but my Armada with the regular reflector housing suits the morimotos really well. IMO they are at least 5x brighter than the stock bulbs
I've been rocking a pair of 9007 2stroke 3.0 and I've used many different no name Brands from ebay/amazon, yes some are brighter but with very uncontrolled light patterns and the hvac for the bulb housing kicks ass being my happy ass lives in Alaska and thawing headings is so nice! I've got lightbars on my car for extra throw since my headlights pattern isn't as good as a projector but does awesome none the less. I'll run out of the 3 warranty in a few months and we'll see. So far so good though been very happy and I'll be replacing all my rigs now I feel is so worth the price! Do wish they were a little brighter but they are a true osram automotive bulb unlike many other knockoffs that yes may be brighter in times. But! Are usually over driven so burn out much more quickly then a quality bulb, much like the hid's on how much/type of salt that is used along with the driver.
I think you may have been better off with the GTR ultra or some other high power LED replacement. These 3.0 are mainly designed for reflector housings because they mimic the position and size of the halogen filament such that they maintain the beam pattern to prevent glare for oncoming traffic. Also they are capable of dim operation for DRL replacement applications that run at low voltages. So I feel like you’re missing out on a lot of those features in a high beam only projector application and I agree you probably wasted your money a bit.
Thanks for the tip. They don't seem any better in the projector vs the reflector. I had thought that perhaps the power could be amped a bit. Maybe I'll check out another brand for the high beams, but my guess is it won't be any different without significant LED quantity or driver output differences.
I have the gtr ultra2 and they are bright but they suck in reflector low beams because they are to bright but in high beam or projectors are good. You should check out Headlight Revolution on the gtr ultra 2.
@@WildMountainGarage I think what may be holding those lights back is the quality of the projectors. The heat and light intensity from halogen bulbs can cause some clouding up in the reflector and the glass lens. So that may be what's causing the LED bulbs to seem underwhelming.
Yeah they look. Great and the led market is getting better and better. If you go cubes they to match the spectrum those 3.0's are on or they won't look as cool. Rigid has some good cubes.
Speaking from experience. Installing LEDs and fog lights will blind everybody. Back roads and when no one's around, they're great. I like the GTR 2s. Much brighter than factory halogens in projectors. And so far, no one has flashed me.
dedicated HID projectors make all the difference in the world. mine are so bright and the color temp is perfect. i though about getting a light bar because i also live on the country side with deer and all. perfect 5k white with Zero blue or yellow and they are ultra bright. aftermarket HID projectors is the way to go
I think people are missing the point of LED lighting, a quality led is more reliable has instant light and brighter than its halogen counterparts. Also simple install and plug and play. Many tests shows they aren’t blow you away brightness but in average 40% better than a regular bulb. In your projector you also cannot see the bulb so it’s likely not positioned correctly in the housing for best performance.
It's positioned correctly per the instructions, to which I can tell when putting it in the housing. The bulbs are designed to be clocked before inserting. I'd say these are 10-15% more than the stock halogen.
What's good brother.. Nice video. They look great if you ask me! I have a 2018 2500 and was looking into these myself, I just can't deal with the stock bulbs anymore! Got a few questions if you have the time. Do your DRL's still work how they're supposed to? Have you had any error msgs on the dash or flickering at all with out a pwm module? Did the dust caps all go back on with out modification? Are you still running them? Any feedback you can give me would be appreciated! THANKS!
Thank you! They do look nice. They run fine. I have only noticed flickering on two occasions, both when it was really cold: one in the reflection on the rear of the car in front of me and the other when the truck was cold starting and idling. DRLs still work fine (I believe I linked the exact product I used in the description). Dust caps fit fine, no modifications. I recently got a real scan tool and found that the BCM is throwing four minor codes, one for each bulb. Nothing that causes malfunctions or a check engine light but they're obviously drawing a different amount of voltage than the stock bulbs so the module records that. I don't know that I can recommend them if you're looking for something *brighter* than stock. If stock brightness is fine and you just want a clean LED beam, then go for it. If I had to buy again I'd probably go an HID route for brighter output. EDIT: A few people have commented with other options for brighter output, if that helps.
@@WildMountainGarage I live in the city so I don't need anything stupid bright but my main concern was a clean beam pattern and color so I didn't want to go with any cheap LEDs. I was originally looking into the GTR Ultra 2's but the guys at GTR told me they won't fit in the headlight housing on these trucks so scratch that. I'm in Florida so it doesn't get cold down here. Didn't want to get into spending so much on HIDs and dealing with all that extra equiptment and short life span you get with those right now so I think I'll give these a shot and if they don't work for me I'll probably go the HID route later on as well. THANK YOU for all the info I appreciate it Brother!
they look great, it's just the fan kicks on all the time and they are expensive, I think people pay for the brand and packaging. For a heavy duty truck you definitely need good lighting for night driving
Thanks! They are loud. I can always tell when they're on and the truck is off. Definitely expensive. Still considering switching to something with more output at some point. Thanks for the comment!
I’m gonna go ahead and say that the reason your not blown away is your head lights were foggy to begin with but they looked better than halogen to me for sure
LEDs perform better in reflectors. They perform worse in projectors. That's why projectors need a really good quality LED with good heat management so it doesn't dim.
I like your take on the video. For the price there should definitely be more to it. For cheap lights I’d be impressed but considering the price not worth it.
Thanks, glad you liked the video. It was snowing the other day and thought of your comment and they felt too blue to me, but I'm picky. Glad you like 'em.
Good question. No problems with flicker on these with my truck. I did notice flicker once or twice intermittently in extreme cold last winter not long after installing and it only lasted a minute or two but that was all. My guess is the board was cold, but no clue why that would do any of it.
Just purchased them (only for $100) and I'm also disappointed. I'd say they are around 20% better over stock, if that. Definitely was expecting more. Even for $100 I'm not sure it's a great purchase. On your video it looks a lot brighter than in real life. I'm considering upgrading the fog lights to help but I don't know that I want to buy the Morimoto ones.
Let's work poorly in projector housings vs an HID or a designated LED projector. Headlight housings no matter how bright of a bulb you get will never have a mind blowing beam pattern as they aren't designed for bright output. After spending hundreds on led bulbs over the years the only reason I'll pay for a name brand is reliability and warranty.
Love how everyone has no inderstanding of lux and down road penetration. These are designed to the new fed proposal standards to be legal and mimic the halogen lights for the halogen lights. You wont see forgroiubd light as much as youll distance. These are not made to be a flood light. Halogen 100% phillips will out perform almost all those cheap led amazon finds. These also mimic the heat of a halogen so you prevent icing
Did you clock the leds in your projector low beams? If you turn the leds so they are facing up and down, or 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, it will help throw the beam a bit further. As far as reflector housings, leds will not throw as far unfortunately.
Yes, they're clocked. I mentioned that when installing. The cheapo amazon ones in the fogs with reflectors throw farther than halogen. Good to know, thanks for the info!
@@WildMountainGarage Lumen makes some some nice LED fog lamp housings that are projector style as well. Thanks for your review on the Morimoto 2Stroke 3.0! I am going to get a pair for the low beam projectors on my truck.
@@WildMountainGarage I actually just got that cheap Innovited 35W HID kit from Amazon and so far I’m really impressed with the beam pattern and how bright they are. Their customer service is pretty awesome too. Ordered with 5000K bulbs and was sent 4300K. They immediately sent the right set out and I received in a couple days.
yeah the fan noise is funny the first day i put my led bulbs in, at night after getting home i shut my engine off but had the headlights on and i hear this mmmm im like what the hell is that noise? is that a airplane? then it donned on me im like oohh haha oh yeah those bulbs
I felt the same way with morimoto products. They hype them up so much and really your paying for the branding. I'm sure you could find compariable LEDs for less money.
I'm sure there's heat but I haven't thought about it or checked since the housings are designed to get somewhat warm and they have fans (although it's a closed system on this truck with the additional seal).
They look good to me! You need my halogen bulbs in your truck! Then you'll know you can't see the road. My 2018 honda civic high beams suck balls compared to them. And my family says they can see just fine. I think maybe I'm blind as a bat....
Yeah, they work fine and are clean, I'm just not impressed for the money. Perhaps it's the housings, but I still don't think better housings would increase the output to the point where I'd be happy having spent $300 for high and low beams. I think the point of these is having a quality LED bulb and clean output but they're not exceptionally bright in my application.
@@WildMountainGarage I had these cheaper Chinese leds with a smaller fan for $90 a pair and these morimoto were a pain to put in the aftermarket headlights and were just slightly brighter but hey I got morimotos now lol. Next year something better comes along.
The OEM GM projectors are garbage they had a couple lawsuits. You may benefit from a projector upgrade. The Morimoto OEM foglight replacements are absolutely insane!
If you put any more lighting to your truck you will probably endanger other road users. Those lights have a good peripheral vision and enough spread for your comfortable night driving. You don't need to install anymore lights to the car.
Ephraim, I don't run the lights with oncoming traffic but in the past run aux lights switched with the high beams. I don't know where you live, but it's dark here at night with a lot of wildlife and long stretches at high speeds and visibility is paramount.
@@WildMountainGarage I live in South Africa, in the rural areas. I know, I see plenty of wild and domestic animals on our roads at night too and it is also as dark as it can be.
Morimoto 3.0 Low beams I think they not bright at all.. stock high beams are same as morimoto 3.0 just different color but definitely not brighter plus you need to get anti-flicker harnesses otherwise they flick every time you turn them on... I wish I could ordered the gtr instead...
Good to know. I might upgrade highs to GTR. I haven't had any flickering, other than one time in severe cold during remote start. Sorry you're having regrets, too!
Unfortunately, those particular projectors are garbage to be OEM. they don't produce light very well as other projectors like say the Toyota for whatever reason. I have the GTR Ultra 2s in my 2020 Chevy Spark OEM projectors and they bang hard. I went to my mother's and tested them against her stock LEDs in her Jeep and they were just as bright. I'd say grab some GTRs but I'm afraid you wouldn't be 100% satisfied.
The bulb is irrelevant if you don’t have quality projectors. Those are pure garbage. Hid projector retrofit is the only process worth spending money on. I prefer a guarantee for my money instead of just hoping it was worth it with other junk. Do it right, do it once.
to answer your question no they aren't worth it because if and when you do have problems with these bulbs service from Morimoto will be non existent, just like I had with my Morimoto 2 Stroke 2.0s, they are all marketing BS.
Sorry to hear, and good to know. I typically don't expect too much support from a company after purchase. It's the odd exception when you get it and I stick with the companies that do. Thanks for watching & commenting.
Thanks! They don't need resurfacing from what I can tell. There was just a lot of dust from the dirt road. Thanks for the thought though! I am looking into replacement housings as the one does get condensation.
