Holley RetroBright headlamps? Good, bad or ugly?

[ButchW]

Sadly not much. When it comes to function over form, Philips came out with their "Integral beam" 7" and according to Daniel Stern those are the best round headlights right now. Second place is still the JW Speakers 8700 Classics. In some photos they look acceptably vintage, but I'm sure they are photoshopping them to bait folks like us. Click on them and look closely:

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Those are photos straight from their site.

Look at the bottom projector and how it seems to have fluting in front of it and in general the headlight appears to have a uniform fluted lens. What they are shamelessly doing is grabbing a car with regular sealed beams and blending that with photos of their own lights in photoshop. With the MG they didn't even bother to do a credible edit job. Both lights have a notorious 2D effect and are crooked.

This is the only photo that I think really reflects how they look in real life and they are definitely not my cup of tea, plus the lying in their official photos makes them a no go for me:
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If you're seriously considering the TruckLites, forget about them and get the Philips'. Similar style but much newer and better beam pattern. The only downside apart from looks is that they emit a very cool, almost blue light, upwards of 6000K.

I'm still chasing a projector retrofit. I'm this close to cutting open my old Hella eCodes, de-flute the center section and cram a good projector in there (Morimoto D2S or M-LED)

Thanks for the up date… I'll take a look at those Phillips lamps.. I saw some reviews that said had some problems with longevity… Maybe no worse than other brands?..
Butch

 

[DoughnutMonster]

I found these, and actually joined the forum to ask about them... anyone know anything about "Bangin' Headlights"?

Bangin' Headlights - LED Headlights For Classic Cars & Trucks

LED headlights designed for classic cars and trucks. Real glass headlights for vintage looks combined with the latest in LED projector technology for sharp and bright light. Be safer and make driving at night fun again.

www.banginheadlights.com

After reading this forum thread about 6 months ago when I was looking for more objective reviews on the RetroBrights I decided to go with Koito H4's (which I still need to get around to installing). But a buddy sent me these, knowing I want the keep the vintage look.

 

[crdiscoverer]

I saw a couple of comments complaining about early failures too, on Amazon reviews I think. In that sense I doubt Philips would be any worse than, say, the Chinese RetroBrights or the JW Speakers. The main thing there is to ensure there's a good return policy/warranty.

This is a problem with LED lighting in general. I have had to throw away many light fixtures at home that had no replaceable "bulbs". Once they fail, the whole thing has to go. That's one of the advantages the RetroBrights have, at least you can buy bulbs separately. Ironically, for as hot as halogen and even xenon bulbs run, heat doesn't kill them, but it kills LEDs. Those Philips have no fans but instead a massive heatsink. If your Samurai doesn't have a lot of room for air circulation behind the headlights (or there's something really hot close by, like the exhaust manifold), then LED reliability will be a problem.

 

[ButchW]

I found these, and actually joined the forum to ask about them... anyone know anything about "Bangin' Headlights"?

Bangin' Headlights - LED Headlights For Classic Cars & Trucks

LED headlights designed for classic cars and trucks. Real glass headlights for vintage looks combined with the latest in LED projector technology for sharp and bright light. Be safer and make driving at night fun again.

www.banginheadlights.com

After reading this forum thread about 6 months ago when I was looking for more objective reviews on the RetroBrights I decided to go with Koito H4's (which I still need to get around to installing). But a buddy sent me these, knowing I want the keep the vintage look.

I asked about them on a couple of Suzuki Forums that I'm on… One of them is based in Australia, where the Bangin's are made.. I just asked after I saw your post, and have heard nothing back about them, except one guy mentioned to be careful because of the right hand drive they use in Australia… But I see the sell for right hand and left hand drive… They have glass lenses which is a plus compared to most LEDs,with plastic… Other than that I know nothing… If your buddy sent you a pair, try them and let us know what you think… Or did he just send you the link to them?
Butch

 

[ButchW]

This is a problem with LED lighting in general. I have had to throw away many light fixtures at home that had no replaceable "bulbs". Once they fail, the whole thing has to go. That's one of the advantages the RetroBrights have, at least you can buy bulbs separately. Ironically, for as hot as halogen and even xenon bulbs run, heat doesn't kill them, but it kills LEDs. Those Philips have no fans but instead a massive heatsink. If your Samurai doesn't have a lot of room for air circulation behind the headlights (or there's something really hot close by, like the exhaust manifold), then LED reliability will be a problem.

Yea, but the Holley replacement "bulbs" are about as expensive as a new Phillips fixture.. I do like that feature though…. I'll have to decide what light I want, then check out the dimensions to if there would be any issues… I don't think there is anything close that would heat up the lamp, as long as there is clearance around it for air circulation… The radiator is the closest "hot" thing around it…
Butch

 

[crdiscoverer]

I found these, and actually joined the forum to ask about them... anyone know anything about "Bangin' Headlights"?

Bangin' headlights is similar to Dapper Lighting. They use off-the-shelf generic LED projector tech and find ways to adapt them to sealed beam form factors (be it 7", 5x7, etc.). They are not lighting experts and don't do any engineering work at all, they only get credit for subcontracting a factory to slap a pre-existing projector inside a reflector form factor.

In general, Bangin' does a better job at integrating everything but the projectors they use are still mediocre. It's hard to compare without proper technical data (which should be a BIG red flag in itself) but the beam patterns are too narrow, have dark spots and hot spots in the wrong areas and are probably not too bright.

When you go to a site and they devote 3 whole pages and full FAQs to demon eyes, RGB, halos, switchback flashing, customizability and suspiciously positive "customer" reviews, but just 1 paragraph to color temperature, high/low beam patterns, lumens, efficiency, heat dissipation, etc. they almost assuredly sell a bad, unsafe product and they know it so they shy away from publishing data you could use to compare.

On a similar note, an acquaintance who bought the RetroBrights used to have old-school sealed beams in his Datsun, probably at 11 volts or less with a points voltage regulator. He's amazed with the RetroBrights and why wouldn't he, considering what he had before. I put my car with Koitos, brand new wiring and 13+ volts right next to his and my headlights were just as bright with better low and high beam patterns.

I don't doubt many of the positive reviews on the Dappers, the Bangin's, the Holleys and all the generic Amazon crap, but they come from folks who haven't had better. They think they are seeing more because road signs glare them, or others flash their high beams at them or simply their poor old sealed beams were running barely turning on at 9V.

 

[DoughnutMonster]

Or did he just send you the link to them?

Just a link; no actual lights unfortunately. Seems like I'll stick with the Koitos for now. Hopefully install them in a week or two when weather gets nicer and I break it out for a drive

On a similar note, an acquaintance who bought the RetroBrights used to have old-school sealed beams in his Datsun, probably at 11 volts or less with a points voltage regulator. He's amazed with the RetroBrights and why wouldn't he, considering what he had before.

My brother put some RetroBrights on his '69 C10 and he's been very happy with them. We are just your typical un-informed buyers of all thing lighting. I haven't seen them at full dark, but to my untrained and certainly non-expert eyes, they seemed way better than the old sealed beams they replaced. Likely due to low voltage at his old sealed beams. No idea what glare is like to other drivers, or if the pattern is actually good. They were a gift from his wife, so I doubt he'll ever replace them unless they break.