LED Headlight Comparison

[yrwei52]

For those that think the LED's are inferior to HID, I'd ask if any of you have actually driven a CX-5 with the full LED lighting package? I have, and I've driven cars with HID lighting as well. Both are great systems, but I prefer LEDs. Light output is tremendous, and extremely clear, the cutoff is about as flat as I've ever seen on any lighting system (I.e. it does not bother oncoming drivers at all). Add to that the adaptive feature which is amazing on any dark road with corners, and you've got one heck of a package. LED's aren't just a trend (although they are trendy), but they have some significant features over HIDs (greater efficiency, lower operating temperature, less material required - lenses/reflectors/ baffles/ballasts - etc, instant on/off, longer useful life - typically measured in thousands of lamp hours, slower "lamp decline"), the list goes on. If we're talking off road lighting, where you want light to go "everywhere", only then can I see an advantage for HID, but for street lighting where a sharp focus is beneficial, LED is the way to go.

I totally agree! I have both lighting systems on two different cars from factory and I definitely prefer LED headlights on CX-5! Besides, LED lighting technology is still advancing. Don't mistake yesterday's LED headlights or aftermarket LED replacement to CX-5 factory LED headlights! Those weaknesses to Xenon, if any, will be things of past very soon! Just wish Mazda Adaptive LED Headlamps can be available here in the US!

 

[ramius]

I doubt the quick cycling would be good for the xenon bulbs either!

My old Maxima would flash the HID bulbs on an alarm state.....ouch..

AFS HIDs in my CX-5 seem to be noticeably brighter than AFS HIDs in my G35x. I did have to change HID bulbs twice in the '02 Maxima in 12 years... still stock in the '07 G35x and never lost an igniter so low maintenance. The Bosch bulbs were pretty cheap to replace. The Mazda LED headlight will likely be very reliable but if not could be expensive post warranty to fix.

AFS headlights in general aren't cheap though... after having the swiveling lights in my Infiniti I couldn't pass having them in the CX.

 

[m8te]

For those that think the LED's are inferior to HID, I'd ask if any of you have actually driven a CX-5 with the full LED lighting package? I have, and I've driven cars with HID lighting as well. Both are great systems, but I prefer LEDs. Light output is tremendous, and extremely clear, the cutoff is about as flat as I've ever seen on any lighting system (I.e. it does not bother oncoming drivers at all). Add to that the adaptive feature which is amazing on any dark road with corners, and you've got one heck of a package. LED's aren't just a trend (although they are trendy), but they have some significant features over HIDs (greater efficiency, lower operating temperature, less material required - lenses/reflectors/ baffles/ballasts - etc, instant on/off, longer useful life - typically measured in thousands of lamp hours, slower "lamp decline"), the list goes on. If we're talking off road lighting, where you want light to go "everywhere", only then can I see an advantage for HID, but for street lighting where a sharp focus is beneficial, LED is the way to go.

To the OP: I'll happily post up pictures of my LED lighting at night, if someone will post up photos of their HID system. Not true apples to apples since the photos will be in different places with different cameras but it may help? Or we could do a bay area CX-5 meet up and compare lighting systems. (cabpatch)

As in a post on the previous page, this link provides a fantastic comparison between HID and LED on the CX-5 exact same location / angle etc:

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?62722-2013-CX-5-OEM-HID-vs-2016-CX-5-OEM-LED-(RHD)

 

[Unobtanium]

For those that think the LED's are inferior to HID, I'd ask if any of you have actually driven a CX-5 with the full LED lighting package? I have, and I've driven cars with HID lighting as well. Both are great systems, but I prefer LEDs. Light output is tremendous, and extremely clear, the cutoff is about as flat as I've ever seen on any lighting system (I.e. it does not bother oncoming drivers at all). Add to that the adaptive feature which is amazing on any dark road with corners, and you've got one heck of a package. LED's aren't just a trend (although they are trendy), but they have some significant features over HIDs (greater efficiency, lower operating temperature, less material required - lenses/reflectors/ baffles/ballasts - etc, instant on/off, longer useful life - typically measured in thousands of lamp hours, slower "lamp decline"), the list goes on. If we're talking off road lighting, where you want light to go "everywhere", only then can I see an advantage for HID, but for street lighting where a sharp focus is beneficial, LED is the way to go.

To the OP: I'll happily post up pictures of my LED lighting at night, if someone will post up photos of their HID system. Not true apples to apples since the photos will be in different places with different cameras but it may help? Or we could do a bay area CX-5 meet up and compare lighting systems. (cabpatch)

Oh, led is surely the future I agree. nearly alll serious weapon lights are now led, but man it went through some ugly stages of weak, purple beams, lol. That said, I get 300 lumens for about 45 min from 1 battery with my m300c. Half a decade ago, I got 225 lumens for 20 minute's from 3 of the same batteries on my surefire incandescent wml. Massive improvement! Hiwever, led CRI and output at Hugh CRI with 4-4500k temp is still a balancing act. No led is at the cri levels of incan. I think 92ish is the best I've heard so far. Not bad though!

 

[MazdasForAll]

For deer I think the original self-aiming Xenon headlights are probably better due to their more effective peripheral illumination. The better spectrum won't hurt. However, realistically speaking, if you're going over 50, it's hard enough to avoid a deer hell-bent on jumping in front of you, and that's in broad daylight. At night the best headlights might be a small advantage when it comes to deer strikes.

I have HID's on my '08 Mazdaspeed 3 and they're fantastic. Clean white light with a sharp cut-off. I drove my wife's new '16 CX-5 with LED's for the first time last night. My first impression was that there's not an obvious difference between HID's and LED's, certainly not like going from halogen lights The cutoff does not seem to be as sharp as the HID's and there's a little halo effect at the cutoff point. Need more seat time for a better evaluation. In any case, if you have an opportunity to have them (either HID's or LED's), they're a MUST HAVE. One nice thing about the CX-5 over the MS3's HID lights is that you also have them for the high beams. The MS-3 uses a halogen light for the high beam (ugh!), no bixenons on that car. IN any case, $1500 for the tech package is bargain. Take a look at what BMW charges!!

The autodimming feature is really cool. I could see that very useful on a long trip. Between that, the lane change warning system, active cruise control and smart braking control, there's not much else to do but point the steering wheel -- scary! Looking forward to a long trip in the car, so far only 500 mi on the odometer.

 

[yrwei52]

For deer I think the original self-aiming Xenon headlights are probably better due to their more effective peripheral illumination. The better spectrum won't hurt. However, realistically speaking, if you're going over 50, it's hard enough to avoid a deer hell-bent on jumping in front of you, and that's in broad daylight. At night the best headlights might be a small advantage when it comes to deer strikes.

It's very funny that I had an exact experience as you described. The mother deer suddenly jumped out from roadside bushes with a baby deer across the highway while I was driving down at 55 mph on I-35 south of Des Moines, Iowa. Sadly I killed mother deer and my '74 Chevy Impala, although still drivable, had crushed right front fender and shattered windshield.

 

[yrwei52]

I have HID's on my '08 Mazdaspeed 3 and they're fantastic. Clean white light with a sharp cut-off. I drove my wife's new '16 CX-5 with LED's for the first time last night. My first impression was that there's not an obvious difference between HID's and LED's, certainly not like going from halogen lights The cutoff does not seem to be as sharp as the HID's and there's a little halo effect at the cutoff point. Need more seat time for a better evaluation. In any case, if you have an opportunity to have them (either HID's or LED's), they're a MUST HAVE. One nice thing about the CX-5 over the MS3's HID lights is that you also have them for the high beams. The MS-3 uses a halogen light for the high beam (ugh!), no bixenons on that car. IN any case, $1500 for the tech package is bargain. Take a look at what BMW charges!!

The autodimming feature is really cool. I could see that very useful on a long trip. Between that, the lane change warning system, active cruise control and smart braking control, there's not much else to do but point the steering wheel -- scary! Looking forward to a long trip in the car, so far only 500 mi on the odometer.

I agree with you that HID or LED headlights are a must to have (especially with AFS) and this is one of reasons we bought the CX-5! Bi-xenon HID on older CX-5 has a single xenon bulb serves low/high beams with a shutter, but LED has two separate LEDs serve low/high beams. The effect will be different and the cutoff is related to headlight reflector design, not by LED itself. And if you think High Beam Control is really cool, you should check Mazda Adaptive LED Headlamps out which has 5 times more features than auto-dimming on automatic headlight controls.

 

[Srad600]

As in a post on the previous page, this link provides a fantastic comparison between HID and LED on the CX-5 exact same location / angle etc:

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?62722-2013-CX-5-OEM-HID-vs-2016-CX-5-OEM-LED-(RHD)

Yep, good comparison photos, seemingly very close results. I'll still go for the L.E.D.'s though.