LED headlight technology mature enough?

[untrueparadox]

Recently, while looking at cars at dealerships, I came across a Prius that had LED lights, and they were very bright. I always had the impression that LED wasn't mature enough and wouldn't provide nearly enough lumins compared to halogens. Well, a quick search on google for my i30 headlights returns a 105 piece LED headlight for the HB1/9004. Anyone have expertise in this? Looks to me like its got a lotta lighting power.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...%3AIT

and also my regular halogen headlights died a while ago but i never bothered replacing them, is LED a good way to go considering their longevity and savings in battery?http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...%3AIT

[audtatious]

Interesting concept but I would not trust some Chinese-built product when Phillips nor Sylvania has come out with a design. I would also assume that the housing would need to be designed specifically for LED lighting, similar to HID and Halogen housings being different. It will be quite a while before DOT approves anything like this for car use as well (my guess).

If you give it a try, let us know how it goes and take lots of pictures.

[jltibbs]

There is an LED conversion out there. The technology is there, just in it's infant stages as HIDs were at on time. The conversion costs $1,200, but has a LIFETIME WARRANTY. It better.

[untrueparadox]

holy, costs more than the value of my whole car combined and like 20x more than a xenon kit. who buys that? led's are like 5 cents a bulb.. what a rip off.

[jsmithsole]

Def not where you want to go, it says ideal for fogs which makes sense because they won't be that bright (not headlight bright at least) They have released some cars with LED headlights:

Lexus LS600h has had them for a couple of years



And it's optional on the new Prius:

http://www.ledinside.com/Japan...90525

[jsmithsole]

Oh yeah and reg Prius compared to LED Prius:

[audtatious]

Yeah, forgot the Prius. They spent quite a bit of research on getting the reflector to work properly I'm sure.

[untrueparadox]

wow the leds look brighter than the regular ones. pretty cool although i wont be purchasing one from the looks of the prices.

[jltibbs]

The new Escalade Platinum Edition has them. I had a customer pull up in one last night and had to check it out. I see that it requires more than one projector style lens for the LED's. Here's a shot of the headlights, and a link with more pics and review.