5 Factors to Consider When Buying Automotive LED Headlights
Lighting is an essential accessory in any vehicle. It is responsible for ensuring that you can drive safely at night while being able to check if there are any obstacles ahead, and if you drive a truck, then you must face many truck challenges, especially at night, and a good pair of LED headlights is sure to solve some of them. LED headlights are more effective than their counterparts as they offer a better light output, consume less power, and have longer lifespans. Therefore, it’s crucial to invest in good LED headlamps to ensure your safety and others on the road. Here are some things you need to consider when purchasing them:
1. Color Temperature
Kelvin is a measurement of light color. While different drivers prefer different color temperatures, it’s generally agreed that a higher temperature indicates ‘warmer’ light shades closer to red and a lower temperature indicates ‘cooler’ light shades closer to blue. But there’s much more to color temperature than simply choosing between yellow and bluish-white or red and white headlight bulbs! It can affect visibility, safety, rain/snow/fog driving conditions, and even your eyesight.
High-quality LEDs have a high color temperature (5000 K), while lower-quality ones have a low color temperature (3000 K). The higher the Kelvin number is, the whiter and brighter the light. Therefore, it’s recommended to purchase headlamps with high color temperatures as they provide better illumination.
2. Brightness
Forget about candlepower or how ‘bright’ a bulb appears; you want actual lumen output. Lumens measure how much light the bulb produces – the more, the better. Because LED headlights have a more focused beam of light, they generally don’t need to be as bright as HID or halogen bulbs to see well ahead on the road. But if you’re looking for maximum illumination, you’ll want to look for bulbs that offer around 3500 lumen per single bulb and 7000-8000 lumens per pair.
2-1. Beam Pattern/Beam Distance
The beam pattern refers to how wide or narrows the light is at a certain distance. It is measured as the distance at which the light illuminates a stop sign or pedestrians. LED headlamps have either a parallel beam pattern or an asymmetric beam pattern. Parallel beam patterns offer greater road visibility, while asymmetric ones produce sharper and wider views on side streets.
3. Beam Pattern
This may seem like an obvious one, but the beam pattern of your headlights is also a significant factor to consider when purchasing LED headlights. A high-quality set of LED headlight bulbs will offer various beam patterns to suit different driving conditions. It might be tempting to choose the pattern that lights up the road as much as possible, but drivers who do so run the risk of blinding oncoming traffic or being blinded themselves. A quality LED headlight bulb will provide a disorienting distracting amount of light for others on the road without compromising the light for the driver.
4. Durability
LED headlights are more durable than halogen ones since they do not have any filament and are thus resistant to vibration, making them ideal for off-road use. In addition, they are less prone to damage from moisture, do not produce UV light, and require less power than halogen lights, which makes them more economical to run.
5. Price
LED headlights can be costly, depending on the brand and the quality you want. However, some economic models offer good features while being affordable.
If you are looking for a new headlight to improve your driving experience at night, invest in LED headlights as they provide safe lighting which can help prevent accidents on the road. Just make sure to consider these factors when choosing one so you can get the best LED headlamps.
This article is written by Crist Roy from Truck Daily.