15 Brands LED Headlight Bulb Shoot-Out! Which one's the best?

Disclaimer:

Street legal in the USA for Fog Light use.  Not compliant with DOT / FMVSS108 and not street legal in the USA for Headlights.  Certain specialty vehicles strictly limited to off-street use and not having DOT registration or license plates may use these products exclusively off-streets.  International street legality varies by country.  For detailed clarification on street use, go to https://headlightrevolution.com/street-use/  For improved headlight street use we recommend full assembly replacements found: here. 

There are many options in the world of headlight upgrades, and even when you decide to go with LED instead of HID it doesn’t seem to make it any easier! There are still literally dozens of LED headlight bulbs to choose from! In the tests for this video we took a 2016 Dodge Ram reflector headlight housing and set up a test station using a digital light meter and some reference marks on the wall.

With the camera in the same locked photo settings, we were able to get a good beam pattern comparison of how each LED bulb faired against the original OEM halogen bulb. Then with a digital light meter, we located the brightest sectors of each beam pattern to discover the max lux. Comparing max lux, beam pattern shape and color gives us a unique perspective on which LED bulbs perform the best!

Watch the video below to see more discussion about which one is better!

We want to show you some different LED bulbs in the market today, and help you see what makes one better than the other, measure them for brightness, color and beam pattern, and hopefully, you’ll have a better idea of what you should be buying for your next project. First, let’s start with a normal halogen incandescent headlight bulb:

55w Halogen Philips Bulb
Beam Pattern: Good but not very bright
Color: Yellow and Dim
Lumen Rating: ~1100
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 720 Max Lux
Ranked #14 out of 15 for brightness

9.3W Philips X-TREME Vision LED Bulb
3 Year Warranty
Beam Pattern: Good but not very bright
Color: 5,500K or 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 1200
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 950 Max Lux
Ranked #12 out of 15 for brightness

40W Ceramic-Style LED Bulb (CHTOOLIGHT / Car Rover / VLED)
2 Year Warranty
Beam Pattern: Good hot spot but too tall, will create glare
Color: 5,500K or 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 4,800 (not true…)
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,030 Max Lux
Ranked #9 out of 15 for brightness

40W XHP50 LED Bulb (Street Glow / Nineo / Xtreme Vision / Glowteck LED)
Warranty: 0 – 2 Years
Beam Pattern: Very bright, large hot spot, centered in tall beam pattern is not good. Too tall, not focused and will create tons of glare to oncoming drivers.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 3,000
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,680 Max Lux
Ranked #2 out of 15 for brightness

60W Auxbeam F-16 LED Bulb
Warranty: 1 Year
Beam Pattern: Not a normal headlight beam shape – more like a flood beam pattern. Central hot spot is there but the beam pattern is so tall it’s almost unusable. Will create massive glare for other drivers.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 6,000 (not true…)
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,250 Max Lux
Ranked #6 out of 15 for brightness

45W P6 / Axiom / LEDONLY Bulb
Warranty: 2 Years – Lifetime
Beam Pattern: Not a normal headlight beam shape – more like a flood beam pattern. Central hot spot is there but the beam pattern is so tall it’s almost unusable. Will create massive glare for other drivers.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 4,500
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,580 Max Lux
Ranked #4 out of 15 for brightness

30W S-V.3 Bulb – Click Here to Buy
Warranty: 2 Years
Beam Pattern: Great beam pattern, similar shape to original but brighter and more white. Excellent hot spot position.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 3,000
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,660 Max Lux
Ranked #2 out of 15 for brightness (2nd Best)

60W OPT7 Flux Beam LED Bulb
Warranty: 2 Years
Beam Pattern: Not a normal headlight beam shape – more like a flood beam pattern. For some reason, the hot spot is in a “C” shape, with a dim shadow on the right side. Will create massive glare for other drivers and put almost no usable light down the road.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 3,500
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 790 Max Lux
Ranked #14 out of 15 for brightness (One of the worst!)

CLICK HERE TO WATCH US SHOOT THIS BULB WITH A GUN!

34W Morimoto 2Stroke LED Bulb – CLICK HERE TO BUY
Warranty: 3 Years
Beam Pattern: The hot spot is in the right place, positioned near the top edge of the beam pattern, but it’s still significantly taller than the pattern should be. The whole housing should be able to be adjusted to have adequate performance.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 5,000
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,410 Max Lux
Ranked #5 out of 15 for brightness (5th Best)

Putco Silver-Lux Bulb – CLICK HERE TO BUY
Warranty: 2 Years
Beam Pattern: Good beam pattern and good color. Hot spot is nice and tight, not very tall. The only downfall is it’s not as bright as some other options.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 2,000
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,150 Max Lux
Ranked #7 out of 15 for brightness

60W Kensun CREE Chips LED Bulb
Warranty: 2 Years
Beam Pattern: Not a normal headlight beam shape – more like a flood beam pattern with dead spots and shadows. For some reason, the beam is in a “C” shape, with shadows on the right and left sides in the center. Not only is this bulb less bright than the original halogen bulb, but also the beam pattern is useless – not safe to drive with at night!
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 3,000
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 590 Max Lux
Ranked #15 out of 15 for brightness (Less bright than the original halogen bulb!)

CLICK HERE TO WATCH US EXPLODE THESE BULBS!

25w GTR Lighting Third Generation Ultra Series LED Bulbs – Click Here to Buy
Warranty: Lifetime
Beam Pattern: Perfect beam pattern, similar shape to original but brighter and more white. Excellent hot spot position, little to no extra glare – exceptional!
Color: 5,800K White
Lumen Rating: 3,700
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,730 Max Lux
Ranked #1 out of 15 for brightness (#1 Best!)

Click here to watch the video review of the GTR Lighting GEN 3 LED Bulbs

Alibaba Ribbed Fin Heat Sink LED Bulb
Warranty: 18 Months
Beam Pattern: Beam pattern is too tall, hot spot is elongated vertically – would not be able to align well to make a good beam. Too much glare for oncoming drivers.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 4,000
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,130 Max Lux
Ranked #13 out of 15 for brightness (One of the worst!)

Putco Nite-Lux / S-V.2 – CLICK HERE TO BUY
Warranty: 2 Years
Beam Pattern: Beam pattern is taller than it should be and the hot spot is stretched vertically. If aimed down it won’t blind other drivers because it does have a decent cut-off line, but you’ll lose some down-range visibility.
Color: 6,000K White
Lumen Rating: 3,000
Measured Lux at 23 Feet: 1,005 Max Lux
Ranked #11 out of 15 for brightness

Thanks for checking out the beam pattern on these different bulbs! Please watch this video below to see more discussion on which bulbs made the cut, and which ones got shot in the 15 LED bulb shootout video here: