LED vs. Xenon

[BEMR]

Just had a 7series around me on the freeway at night with led, having now seen those headlights from all angles, well worth it and far different from the xenons. I've had xenons for seven years, gotta have the led's by far.

[BEMR]

Like "Ringmeister" pointed out to me in my FLASH IN THE PAN thread he said: "It's a personal preference if you want to evolve with the times or stay comfortable, stuck in your past."

LED is new and here to stay. Low energy consumption, and little amount of power to work.

[Gstone]

I did not get them. I am extremely happy with the xenons. My car looks very aggressive ( it's an M for god's sake)
I guess if I parked next to an identicle M4 with LEDs every day I would notice it.

[PokGuy]

Originally Posted by Gstone

I did not get them. I am extremely happy with the xenons. My car looks very aggressive ( it's an M for god's sake)
I guess if I parked next to an identicle M4 with LEDs every day I would notice it.

Thanks for the input!

[BEMR]

[/QUOTE]

This is the newest in Technology though, don't ya wanna be able to do that? Aren't the Xenons old school like Chrome? lol;

[kitw]

Personally, I wouldn't order the lighting package again. It's not brighter than HIDs, they a little more reliable but HIDs are pretty good these days. HIDs start off yellower but get bluer over time, the LEDs look bluer at first but will stay that way and won't color shift. But, for $1900, I'd put that money elsewhere. I mainly got the LEDs so I could code on the adaptive headlights like they are supposed to be, but I've found that they blind people in many situations when you are within 4-5 car lengths of the person in front of you. Not very useful unless you do a lot of 2 lane roads.

[dmk08]

Originally Posted by kitw

Personally, I wouldn't order the lighting package again. It's not brighter than HIDs, they a little more reliable but HIDs are pretty good these days. HIDs start off yellower but get bluer over time, the LEDs look bluer at first but will stay that way and won't color shift. But, for $1900, I'd put that money elsewhere. I mainly got the LEDs so I could code on the adaptive headlights like they are supposed to be, but I've found that they blind people in many situations when you are within 4-5 car lengths of the person in front of you. Not very useful unless you do a lot of 2 lane roads.

Yeah it's lame but the part that gets me is the LED strip under the light.

[YMB-M3-J2]

having just came out of an F30 with xenon into an M4 with LED the LED's are a noticeable difference. I still have my F30 and parked them next to each other...LED is brighter, whiter and more evenly disbursed for better light distribution. Even my neighbor with a 435 said my lights were better than his Xenon.. i wouldnt go back to Xenon after having LED.

[X2Board]

I wish the auto high beams were available with the xenon headlights. I will miss that from the X5 M, but not enough to shell out another $1900.00!

[ragazzi_07@hotmail.com]

anyone have any pics of the difference? im on the fence weather or not to add this option or skip it.

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by ragazzi_07@hotmail.com

anyone have any pics of the difference? im on the fence weather or not to add this option or skip it.

LEDs look better, IMO, but are probably not a huge difference performance-wise.

Some pics here, but there are better ones in another thread I can't find.http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...leds+vs+xenons

[3er]

Awesome to hear! I also decided against the LEDs since I much prefer the look of the xenons. As some have already stated, the LEDs look too "halogen-like" for my taste.

[justinstephen]

I haven't even got mine yet and I'm regretting skipping the LED package. I had to stop with the options at some point and I thought HK and adaptive suspension was the better way to go.

Fortunately it does look like there are LEDs available for the side markers with just some minor coding to remove the flicker.

[BPe90M3]

Originally Posted by 3er

Awesome to hear! I also decided against the LEDs since I much prefer the look of the xenons. As some have already stated, the LEDs look too "halogen-like" for my taste.

I agree... I don't think the LEDs look bad... by any means.. but when they are off (during the day), I think the Xenons looks much better (Just my opinion but I'll throw the flame suit on)

[JoeyBananas]

Originally Posted by BPe90M3

I agree... I don't think the LEDs look bad... by any means.. but when they are off (during the day), I think the Xenons looks much better (Just my opinion but I'll throw the flame suit on)

I dunno, after looking at Xenons on BMWS for a while, they are starting to look a little dated IMO. HOWEVER, I'm pretty sure only guys noticing are guys like me who ordered the overpriced LEDS, lol

[3er]

Lol, leave it to us to fret over such details . Most people can't get past the BMW badge.

[BEMR]

50,000 hours of light at 4 hours of driving a day isnt that about 12 thousand days of driving or 34 years before replacing the lights? Is that reason enough?

[BEMR]

For the most part though, if you've watched the video for adaptive headlight technology on utube, the features don't apply in the US unless you code to the EU version to get the full technological design of the LED options BMW designed them for to begin with.

We just get the emerse color of light and auto dimming, boring in my opinion, that'll be on my coding list.

[Siciliano611]

Ok I have a question, I'm getting my LED's (and other things) coded next week....once I have the adaptive LED's activated do I need to turn on the auto high beams everytime i get in the car when the headlights are on to activate this feature (where the beams move with cars oncoming/in front of)?

[BEMR]

Originally Posted by Siciliano611

Ok I have a question, I'm getting my LED's (and other things) coded next week....once I have the adaptive LED's activated do I need to turn on the auto high beams everytime i get in the car when the headlights are on to activate this feature (where the beams move with cars oncoming/in front of)?

If your using it with all its supposed to do, push the button on the left side turn signal stalk, an "A" is now illuminated on the instrument cluster right in the middle, that's it!

[Jim B]

Originally Posted by vladberca

LEDs are just a very "cool" option over xenon

Yeah, for a cool $1900, and for that we don't get the full package here in the USA. Save your money like I did and get the excellent standard xenon HID lights. Get the Adaptive M Suspension instead.

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by Jim B

Yeah, for a cool $1900, and for that we don't get the full package here in the USA. Save your money like I did and get the excellent standard xenon HID lights. Get the Adaptive M Suspension instead.

At least you guys in the US get the High Beam Assistant with the LEDs for $1900. In Canada $2000 only gets you the LED headlights. If you want the HBA, you need to shed an additional $1500 for the Technology package .