UPDATED: H4 (HB2/9003) Car headlight XM-L2 - quick review inc 7" round lamp

Xhp50 version doesn’t have the cutoff shield that hopefully works very well. Can’t wait to see a wall shot.

That picture clearly shows that it has one, and you also see the XHP50 :

For those interested, and UK based, these are the ones I purchased:

Fast shipping in the UK. I did see some on Aliexpress, but didn’t want to wait weeks for delivery.

I will attempt to get a wall shot and post that, but sadly no walls near by easy to drive close too. So might not be until next week now. However I was very pleased with the cut off.

Since getting these I actually purchased another set, which I’ve just installed in some 7” round lamps on a Land Rover. But need to wait until it’s dark to see how they perform. So far the cut doesn’t look quite as good on these lamps with the LEDs, compared to the halogens. But I can’t really tell until the sun has gone down if they will adjust up ok or not. So it might be they are lamp sensitive. The 7” round lamps uses the lens for beam cut off and angle and don’t have scatter shields, so this might make all the difference.

Looking at your pics, it appears this is the model they sent you (looking at the box), but I see no low beam shielding in the pictures in this ad:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272160525664?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Since i tried lots of those some tips:

- never evey buy COB based ones, youll fry them in no time, especialy the chips, they WILL start blinking in 2-3 weeks of moderate usage

- prepare to lube the fans regulary, and clean them every 10-15 days or so, if not they will fail on you in no time

  • 2 x xml based ones arent sufficient, look for 3x or even 4x ones at least, they are also most durable

Cool review, I think this fits well with BLF and with RMM bringing out his light bars, something BLF needs reviews on.

I would absolutely love some 4000K Headlamps out here in a dusty region…

Low beam cut off:

Dude, your car has a dash remora! Nice pic of the cutoff on those lights…

Be aware that the 4000K option is just a yellow filter that slides on the LEDs to make it warmer…
But you always have the possibility of swapping the emitters

Oh yeah, I am only looking at some 4000K if it is that from the LED’s. The filters just block more light…

Wow, I was always thinking like every single one of these LED-replacements were rubbish :slight_smile:

Good review!

But is there any good option for H7 replacement? :question:

Updated the op with more photos and info on using these LED H4’s in 7” round lamps.

UPDATE:

Ok, so I was so impressed with the performance of these bulbs, I bought a 2nd set for my 1979 Land Rover Series III. It uses the fairly common 7” round headlight unit.

It currently runs Wipac aftermarket lenses and stock 55w/65w halogen H4 bulbs (in itself a big step up from the sealed beam units that were factory fitted).

Removal of old units. These lamps sit in bowls, not loads of room back there. Hoping there is enough air flow too.

First hurdle, the LED bulbs seem to have slightly larger flanges and don’t sit in the recesses fully.

Quick bit of trimming with a pocket knife and they fitted a treat.

Almost impossible to tell they are in there with the lamp off.

No other fitment issues noticed.

I did take some pics of the units working outside of the housings. Dip/low beam uses the two leds under the little sheilds.

While main/high beam uses all 4 LEDs. The big advantage here is, you don’t loose the low beam profile like you do with a halogen H4, which doesn’t illuminate both elements at once.

Low beam cut off, it looks better in the pic than maybe it is in real life (wall shot to follow later on). It certainly isn’t bad, but maybe not as good as the Impreza’s. These lamps uses a smooth reflector and a focused lens to generate the beam profile. So I don’t know if that makes a difference.

That said, the spill around the cut off is full of shadows and dim. And having gone and stood in front of the vehicle with the lights on, it produces very little glare. So as far as I can tell the beam profile is good and safe and not dazzling other traffic.

Main beam is very good.

If I had to make any observations with the 7” round lamps. These LED bulbs are still an upgrade and an improvement. But to a much lesser extent than they were in the Subaru. These Wipac units worked very well with stock bulbs and were probably better than the Subaru lamps, even with Nightbreakers fitted.

The LEDs seem less of a jump for the Land Rover, but still a good improvement. Although the beam pattern doesn’t seem any smoother with the LEDs.

Also oddly the tint seems less harsh cool white. I don’t know if this is just due to a different LED batch, or more likely the focusing lenses of these lamps have maybe caused a tint shift.

They still get the thumbs up from me however.

Low:

High:

^

Excellent report. Thank you Chicken Drumstick. I think this thread marks the beginning of real automotive LED headlight reviews and mods. This has so needed to happen for a long time. Thank you.

Thanks CD. :+1:

I agree, good stuff!

I recently ordered and tested a set of H7 bulbs with XHP-50.

It turns out they put about 40% less peak lux BUT the area for peak lux is much larger.

This was when comparing to Good incandescents. Lower quality, basic incans have somewhat the same lux.

So, I would assume these pack more power in lumens than regular bulbs. Too bad the tint was too blue to my taste.

Just looking at my original post and spotted this comment. Thought it was worth updating.

As this is now nearly 5 years later.

I ended up buying 5 sets of these. (4 in H4 and one in a different fitment).

All sets are still running strong today bar one set which I don’t have a vehicle to fit them in. I had one issue with one bulb flickering, which I believe was the driver unit. But switching them about between the sets (bulb and driver unplug) resolved the issue.

I also have 2 friends also running these in H4 fitment. I guess time will tell how long they continue to last, but so far so good. 4 of the sets are fitted to Land Rover’s which also off road regularly and the headlight bowl on a Land Rover is enclosed and restricts free airflow also.

Has anybody here tried to reflow the cool white stock LEDs with warmer CCT or high cri? I am wondering if you have easy access to the mcpcb.

i don’t want to sound rude, but don’t you guys think that, very brightly illuminated patch of land in front of the vehicle, may cause our vision to be less sensitive to things in darker place? halogens were yellow and looked not as bright but they illuminated evenly, no high contrast areas, so your eyes do not close pupils for bright spot, while being dull to darker corners.
i think this design may not be the best one, but i’m not against led bulbs, i want to get one for my passport, for high beam, mine has hb3,