You might have seen my post “Pitfalls of the HD LED Headlight” and now I’m looking for a set of LED spot lamps to fill the voids from the LED Headlight in dark canyon turns. I have scoured most of the forums and it look like posts favor the Truck-Lite over the HD LED 4 ½ spots lamps. I already took out a second mortgage (jokingly) in buying the HD LED headlight and it does work well in the straights, so I’m not replacing it. In looking into the pricing of the spots, there is a big price differential between the HD LED & the Truck-Lite LED (TL $184 vs HD $400+ for the pair) and almost seems like a no brainer to go with TL.

My question which I couldn't find anywhere is:

The new Truck-Lite Phase 7 (PH7) is a 2 diode light vs. the older Phase 6 (PH6) which is an 8 diode light. My thought is that (after talking to TL Tech support – which wasn't much help….) is that the older Phase 6 with the 8 diodes would be more of a “dispersed” or wider unfocused beam. Where the Phase 7 would be more a focused or straight beam; with the thought that the Phase 6 might give me better light in the dark canyon turns.

I spoke to Custom Dynamics Tech support today regarding their LED lights and they told me honestly their lighting truly wasn't going to help me or give me the light or performance I’m looking for. She said that their lighting is a focused beam………. so with all that said do I get the older Phase 6 instead of the newer Phase 7??

Need your thought and details to really help my waffling like; riding at night in the dark twisties (good or bad), lighting up the canyon turns and the road ahead, focus vs defused (does the light disappear in the turns like the headlight), any pitfalls with either light on performance or durability.

 

My best friend runs the Phase 6 headlight and spots. Even though I have the Phase 7, his Phase 6 on an Ultra Classic seem to light up the world at night. I like them both, but for me the Phase 7 was more in line for the front appearance of my Street Glide (no spots). Either way the LED would be an improvement over stock. I will admit his Phase 6 spots are alot more noticeable for visibility.

 

Thank you for getting back to me. I rode me Roadking this morning with the Halogen lighting and realized how much I got use to the LED lighting on the Ultra. For the price of the Truck-Lites, it's worth the try.

 

Here ya go. An in-depth comparison between HD, TL phase 6 and TL phase 7 - with photos!

http://bogiesreviews.webs.com/Review...ng%20Lamps.pdf

 

TL P6

I am more concerned with functionality vs aesthetics.
These TL's light up the night and more importantly, are very visible in daylight.

 

Here is some more good info in comparing the two

 

If you are planning alot of night-time riding then the P7 passing lamps are evey bit as good as the HD LED passing lamps for lighting the road.

If you do 95% of your riding in the daytime (as I do), then being seen is an important factor and none of the focused LED beam passing lights will be remotely close to the P6 passing lamps for visibility.

Aesthetically the P7 and the HD LED passing lights are more attractive but only when the lights are off. When they are on there is no aesthetic difference.

In the end, it comes down to what your needs are. For me, being seen while riding in daylight was the driving factor that made the P6 passing lights the clear choice.

 

I just recently added the TL Phase 7 headlight in place of the stock halogen. I could tell it was much brighter just doing installation in my garage. I haven't had the chance to ride with it in darkness yet, but I am sure it will be a significant upgrade over the halogen unit. I may take the plunge on the passing lamps now too, after seeing the comparison.

 

I'm really liking my TL7 headlight at night but day time use really does require use of high beam to be effective for oncoming traffic. I have hyper yellow bulbs in my spots to aid in daytime visibility. That said, its hard to ignore the $95/each price of the TL7 spots. That's going to give me something to consider ???

 

Well, I took a chance on EBay and bought a set of demo'd Phase 6 spots for $135/shipped. You just can't find these brand spanking new anymore. Figure these will give that dispersed pattern at night along with better daytime visibility with my Phase 7 HL. They won't match but function over form here