Contrary to popular belief, LEDs create heat. With these high power LEDs, there needs to be a way to dissipate heat... Being in a smaller size case and confined in the passing lamp shell, the lower portion of the passing lamp acts as a heat sink.

In the headlight, the larger finned case does the job. (FYI - the JW/HD headlight actually has a small fan inside)

Plus, it gives the passing lamps a more similar appearance to the headlight.

 

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Subscribed. Keep the updates coming.

 

I really enjoyed reading your review gentlemen. It even caused me to delay the installation of the HD LED lights on my limited for a few weeks.

I believe that lights should make me more visible, not just light up the scenery in front of me.
I don't doubt your integrity or your intent in writing this review but I had a hard time accepting that a device that lights up the road so well by producing intense light, would be so hard to see in the daytime. The amount of light produced is the same, day or night.

I had to go to my dealership yesterday and wanted to see for myself how visible one would be to others with this set-up as your review seeded some doubt.
I showed your review to my parts sales rep. and he suggested we carry a little experiment on the showroom floor.

We compared a bike equipped with stock halogen headlight with a CVO that had the LED headlight.
From less than about 20 feet, the LED light is indeed a bit hard to see compared to the stock halogen, just as showed by the pictures in your review.
As you get further from the source, 20 feet and above, the visibility of the LED light compares favorably with the stock halogen, from any angle.
From about 40 feet, it's so bright, it's annoying to look at.

That seems to match the light layout on page 6 of the review, where there seems to be a curved area of darkness in front of the motorcycle.

From walking around in the showroom while looking at the LED headlight, I concluded that the LED light is as visible as the stock halogen from 20 feet away. Anything closer and there is no time to react anyway.

I decided to get the HD headlight and passing lamps installed.

Now, if spring can just arrive.....

Pierre

 

I'm still sold on my PIAA Powersports H4 Super Plasma GT-X Anti-Vibration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BNuYOfFs2M

 

I tried a pair in my Road Glide. They were brighter than the stock lamps. I liked them. They also burned out faster. Pulling the fairing to change headlamps is a pain and a silly design on HD's part.

With my Ultra, I have the TL original LED headlamp and the LED passing lamps.
The LED products do a far better job of lighting the road and with a long lifespan.

 

Pierre,

Thanks for this review. I have the HD LED Headlight and Passing Lights also. I agree with your assesment.

I too was concerned about the HD LED not showing up as well in the Daylight. Once, I was in a Parade ride, and there was a guy watching along the road that yelled out to me my Headlight was burned out as I approached him. It wasn't burned out, but at his distance in the daylight, he couldn't see the light.

This got me thinking that the LED wasn't showing up very well during the day. Then, one day, I had to have my wife give me a ride to the dealer to pick up the bike from a recall I had done. On the way home, she was in front of me and she said the LED Headlight was really bright. I've also been riding with other guys and the ones in front always say that the Headlight shows up really well in the daylight.

Like you say though, they have to be far enough away to get the full effect of the light, too close and it doesn't show up that well.

So, at very close distances, the LED doesn't appear to be seen as well as a stock light does, but like you say, if something happens that close, it's probably too close to react anyway.

Overall, I'm very happy with the HD LED's, especially at nite or on an overcast day. I also wired the Passing Lamps to stay on when I switch to Brights so at nite, I've got a ton of nice bright White Light on a dark road.

I'm sure the Phase 7 lights are great too, but for now, I'm happy with the HD version.

 

It's really not a matter of distance regarding the daylight visibility differences between the HD LED and the TL LED. The real difference is the design. HD took a very different approach to the design of their LED when compared with the Phase 6 design of the TL LED.

Specifically, the HD LED is a "focused beam" design. You can see this in the "lens" that is used to focus the HD LED's beam. The advantage of this approach is the crispness of the light "within the beam". Outside the beam there will be little in the way of scattered light. That's why the HD LED has relatively poor daylight visibility, if viewed outside of the beam. It's also why the night lighting is very sharp since the contrast of darkness outside the beam versus the lighting within the beam will be stark.

On the other hand, the TL LED uses a combination of a light diffuser that scatters the light and a lens that focuses it. This design approach results in far greater visibility in daylight due to the diffuser portion of the lens and the fact that there are more LED bulbs to scatter the light. There is also a lens that helps with the night lighting but it will differ from the HD LED since the contrast within and outside the beam isn't as great since there is a combination of both diffused and focused light.

This also helps explain why the stock halogen headlight is far more visible when viewd from wider greater angles than the HD LED headlight in daylight.

In summary all the testing is in and it remains consistent.

If you want the absolute best night visibility, the HD LED is slightly better than the TL LED and far better than a halogen headlight, but it will significantly sacrifice daytime visibility when compared with either the TL headlight or a halogen headlight, particularly when viewed outside the len's beam angle.

The TL LED will be far better than the stock halogen for night time lighting and far better than the halogen for daytime visibility. The TL LED will be close to the HD LED in night lighting (but not quite as good) and far better than the HD LED for daytime lighting.

So it comes down to your needs. If your decision is solely driven by night time lighting, the order of performance would be:
1) HD LED
2) TL LED
3) Stock Halogen

If your decision is solely driven by daytime lighting, the order of performance would be:
1) TL LED
2) stock halogen
3) HD LED

If your decision is a balance of both with an emphasis on daytime because that's when you ride the most, then the order of performance is:
1) TL LED
2) HD LED
3) stock halogen

If your decision is a balance of both with an emphasis on nightime because that's when you ride the most, then the order of performance is:
1) HD LED
2) TL LED
3) stock halogen

And if you take into consideration cost, then the decision gets even easier since the TL LED can be found for almost half the price of the HD LED. I ride with guys that have all three options and for me it was a very easy call...the TL LED won hands down for all around visibility at a fair price. Combine it with the TL LED Passing lights and there's nothing that can match it whether you're comparing at night or in daylight.

 

Thanks, sounds like you know your Lighting.

I also found this comparison, sorry if it's already been posted before. It seems to support your conclusion. Apparently the Phase 7's are gonna be even better.

http://www.lrsanitary.com/0/leds_update.pdf

 

The review in the link that is what initiated this thread...

Plans are in place to update this review with the results of testing the Phase 7 headlight and passing lamps. If the weather liars are correct - testing should be happening this Sunday and hopefully the results posted next week.