Originally Posted by kp877

I have this question too. There's a bunch of Chinese knockoffs on eBay and Amazon and some see good others don't. Actually found one that is a legit company and offers 2 year warranty. The pictures they post show which leds are illuminated on high and low but what I've been looking for is to see what they actually look like coming at you. Can you see the individual leds or is it one bright white light. Especially during the daytime I'm looking to be more visible to incoming traffic, I don't ride much at night but I'd like to learn my chances of left turns in my path.

Originally Posted by cggorman

OK, here are the night shots comparing the two properly aimed lights. Again, the yellow one is a Cibie E-code reflector with the brightest 55W halogen you can buy, +130% overdriven, short life. The blue one is the Chinese 8790A clone.


These were all taken with white balance and exposure locked. I tried to set them so the camera captured roughly what my naked eyes were seeing.

All were about 25 feet from a vertical corrugated metal warehouse wall out in the dark edges of town.

My first use impression is that the Chinese light is pretty good. As this was installed in a car, there's no bank-turn function at this time. The light is a bit more blue than I initially thought. Not terrible but, personally, I would prefer it to be a bit warmer in color. That's subjective, tho. The beam is extremely broad. It's a "soft" light. No real hot spots jump out while on the road and it's deceptively bright somehow. I'm not sure how to descibe it other than broad or soft. Like a quarter hemisphere evenly lit. it seems to be very friendly with regard to oncoming driver/rider glare. it actually looks very dim above the horizontal cutoff...at least on low. They may be cussing you if you run with high beams on. The high beam is VERY high. You'll be scaring the birds in the trees.

For $100, even without the adaptive stuff should it crap out, I'm happy. It compares favorably with the Cibie, which is about as good as it gets for street legal halogens.

Both low beams.


Both high beams. (higher shutter speed, so apparent brightness won't compare to the low beam shots)


The Cibie on low from the driver perspective.


Clone low beam. Pretty nice cutoff and extremely wide beam. I really love the width going down the road. Also has nice nearfield spill illumination. No huge black hole right in front of you.


Clone high beam. (higher shutter speed, so apparent brightness won't compare to the low beam shots)


Cibie high beam. (higher shutter speed, so apparent brightness won't compare to the low beam shots)


Low beams viewed from about 2' above grade.


Low beams, viewed from about 5' above grade. Very little/no glare.


High beams at about 2' above grade.


High beams viewed from about 5' above grade.

Originally Posted by kp877

That bulb needs an extra 2" behind it right? I tried to get a bulb and can't fit it in the 5.75 housing. Is there that much more room in the 7"?

Originally Posted by Fatboy16S

Fits perfectly in the 7". Only reason I am looking to upgrade is that the LED bulb has 3 sides on a triangle and uses 2 for low and all three for high. It just doesn't seem to give off much more light with the third side lit on high. I will say it is night and day difference from stock for $50. Plus if the lens gets broken you don't have to replace the LED.