LED headlight lamps for Gen 3 with halogen projectors

Well, here I am, writing about doing something I would never endorse doing, but after having done it, changed my mind!

Having noticed projectors on my "new" 2011 Gen 3 Prius' headlights I decided to try the LED replacement bulbs. I know, I know, it's taboo! However, the effort of trying it is low and cost is under $60 and returnable (Amazon). So I pulled the trigger after having projected and recorded the cut-off line with original halogen bulbs. I first tried Sealight ones ($25) and they were total junk for this application. Not brighter than halogen (despite the advertised lumen numbers, if you can believe that ). I returned them and tried these Hikari ones ($45). Wow! These are amazing! The pattern of light is better than halogen and just as controlled as far as cut-off. I have been using them for about a month and drive a bunch on dark country roads. Not a single complaint from oncoming traffic, road in front of me is very well lit. Very impressed so far. I went with projector HID retrofit on my Gen 2 and was fairly happy with it, but this is WAY better than my Gen 2 retrofit. I did go cheap on the HID retrofit, but it was still an improvement over the original halogen reflectors. This Gen 3 has very nice projectors for the low beams and the currently available LED bulbs actually can work, it seems. This is still short term (about a month of use), but so far it looks promising.

BTW, to change bulbs I took down the front bumper and removed the whole headlight assembly. It is way easier than trying to work blindly in a tight space. I learned that on my Gen 2 and this one is similar. Very simple to remove the headlight assembly and work in piece. Also, it's much easier to adjust the bulb to point the LED plane as per recommendation (vertically). The Hikari are adjustable for that, Sealight were not.

 

I have "normal" hands. But I am also good at math. Took me 5 minutes to remove the headlight and when I tried to replace the bulb in place it took me at least 10 minutes and lots of frustration.