anyone had any experience with those bulbs? I'm not interested in HID kits. Thank you. 80W CREE 4th Gen LED Headlight Kit 7200LM Color Change 5k 6k 8k Bulbs - 9006 HB4
Don't waste your money, all the light goes out to the sides. All eight LEDs, even with the so called "enhanced" dispersion angle, still project none of the light out the front, where the light is needed, and can be focused properly by the projector lens. Also that color change feature by changing out the housing looks silly, it's just a filter that will decrease the amount of light transmitted just for looks. If you want more light, do the H9 bulb upgrade (link in my signature below). Quality Philips or Osram bulbs cost about $20 per pair and you get about 50% more light than using the standard H11 bulbs.
While LED lighting from CREE is generally first class, in these headlight applications they are not worth it. None of these LED headlight replacement bulbs are at this point. As has been said, if you want a halogen headlight replacement and have projector beam housings HID is still the way to go.
Just don't confuse the LED die or chip manufacturer (CREE) with the maker and seller of the rest of the assembly (unknown).
Cree wouldn't brand anything unless they had a hand in the design. However, I've seen products with a fake "Cree" logo.
I've had H9 bulbs in both of our cars for over a year now with no problems. Remember to get name brand bulbs like Philips or Osram with clear glass capsules. Don't touch the glass capsules with your hands/fingers when installing or handling them or you will get oils on them that will lead to a hot spot and early failure.
Do remember that that factory LED's on the Prius uses 2 projectors per side. I really like the spread of the factory system when I had a loaner. Without the 4 projectors, I think overall the HID works excellentl.. but as you noted, not interested. Reliabity is a huge factor as other have eluded to, thus questioning the design of this of this product. Even though the H9 is a brighter bulb than H11, it obviously runs hotter to generate the lumens. Reduced life for more lumens. That again seems to favor HID system. I've have yet to have any factory or aftermarket system fail on me in the past, ever. Wait, I do recall having an issue but that was due to a connection NOT really related to the HID design or system. Reliability is priceless. No comparison when there is no light. The light output of the HID's is quite impressive.. even on par with LED's watt for watt.. NTL, and the debate still goes on about H9, HID, LED.. I agree though LEDs are the future though.. I also noticed most if not all of the factory LED headlights use multiple projectors. I suspect it has something to do with heat and spread. The heat generation of LEDs are very obvious. My bike lamp which is a high output CREE get darn warm and it's not enclosed. Amazingly efficient and bright.
Good point. Our city invested heavily in first and second-generation street-lighting, which was expensive and less-reliable than what's available now. Best not to jump too soon.
