Automotive laser eye surgery 

by "AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
Published 09/30/2017 at 14:47

Tags: Miatafications ; Miata ; Nighthawk ; LED ; GE ; Jeep
STARS: 8

Halogens vs. LEDs Review

I’ve wanted these for quite some time, but the hefty price tag always scared me away. Suffice to say, a pair of these headlamps have been sitting in my amazon cart for over a year, where I’ve watched the price fluctuate, hoping to see a major dip where I would swoop in and have them delivered with free two-day shipping. For once things worked out exactly as I hoped. Each headlamp dropped in price by 15% and that was enough. One day later (thanks Amazon) a small, heavy box was waiting at my door when I came home. Finally!

The first thing I noticed after removing the lamps was how beefy they are. These are solid, heavy, and everything from the braided cable with a dust cover to the brushed steel trim ring spoke of surprising quality for a part that is practically invisible when in use. The second thing that stood out to me was the unusual black bar bisecting the lens. That’s certainly different. To be quite honest... I wasn’t a fan. But function over form is the name of the game, and I’d already heard plenty of people bestowing praise upon the split high/low setup used here by GE. I decided to withhold judgment.

Looking them over I thought about the claims I’d found when researching these lights. Exceptional throw paired with a wide dispersal pattern. Custom reflector unit for an evenly distributed beam with no “hot spots” or artifacts. A high beam that would make midnight forest-service road hooning a possibility...

Well... They looked the part. As much as any lamp assembly could.

It was time to test them out. That meant removing the old Halogen lamps, which is incredibly easy to do. Headlights go up!

The next step is removing the black plastic headlight shroud, held in place by four screws. Grab your JIS screwdriver (jdm, yo) and reveal the hidden inner workings of the NA Miata’s most recognizable feature. Inside, there are three screws holding the mounting ring in place, which in turn holds the lamp in place. Loosen the screws—don’t remove them—and you can twist the mounting ring and pull it off. Only thing to watch out for is that you don’t loosen one of the two screws that controls adjustments in the X and Y axis. Unplug the connecter and the terrible OE lamp should fall to the ground, where it belongs.

With the lamp removed, I channeled my inner Svend and gave the entire area a much needed deep clean. So much dust! I polished the rusty trim ring, and took care of the corrosion on the electrical connector. Some carb cleaner took care of the really nasty sections that had accumulated 24 years worth of gunk sliding down through the crack between headlight cover and hood.

Sad Miata is sad.

Doing each side one at a time, I installed a new LED lamp and got all the trim in place.

Repeated the above on the other side and altogether after twenty minutes of work (and photography) the installation was finished. Super simple.

High beams utilize the top and bottom halves, low beams use just the top half. Here you can see how they look compared to no light.

I was going to do a big comparison between these, stock lights, hella E codes, ebay LEDs and all the other leading brands but... There’s no point. GE blows them all out of the water. As they should, costing on average $230 per side, versus the $10 or so for new Halogens, and $50 per hella E code. Price however, is the ONLY complaint I have with these. The beam pattern is fantastic, lighting up the shoulders immeasurably better with the wider spread. The throw is about the same distance, and almost too bright near the end of its reach, but I’m 99%sure sure that’s only because I need to adjust the lamps a bit—aiming them higher up—because of how low I am at the moment. The high beams? Sweet mother of God. I no longer feel like I need additional rally style pod lighting or light bars for nighttime offroading. I’ve got two tiny suns to keep me on the right path. The high beams give off light a lot further up then I’m used to, which could be handy if deer start climbing trees I suppose.

As you can tell, I’m a believer. If I buy any other vehicles with 7" round or 5x7" headlamps... These are going in immediately. I’ve found nothing else that even comes close to these, and I spent hours upon hours researching just that the last two years. These lights are also used by longhaul truckers for what it’s worth. Anyways, if you can get over the strange looks and high cost, I recommend them. 10/10 A+

Replies (13)

"Chuckles" (chucklesw37)
09/30/2017 at 14:58, STARS: 0

Thanks for the thorough write-up. I’ve been considering upgrading the lights on my 94 Miata since the day I bought it, and if these things get the AestheticsInMotion Seal of Approval, that’s good enough for me.

"The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock" (jukesjukesjukes)
09/30/2017 at 15:03, STARS: 2

I thought you put LED bulbs in the halogen housings, crisis averted.

My LED “fogs” do a nice job job of lighting up the sides of the road. They are PIAA LP270 (6000k). Especially during harvest when deer love the corn by the road. I have PIAA extreme white plus bulbs for my mains.

Yellow tint is going on the fogs soon.

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
09/30/2017 at 15:04, STARS: 1

Keith over at flyin’ Miata had some good words about them as well. More technical stuff than me! The price sucks... But seriously these things are fantastic. I can’t wait to get my new tires on so I can go test the lights offroad at night.

https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=527546

The new “I’m on lots of drugs” face is growing on me too haha

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
09/30/2017 at 15:08, STARS: 1

Crisis averted! I don’t want to be that guy... Although my 24inch train horn with a two gallon compressor that will be installed soon will probably make me “that guy” by default.

Love yellow fogs, curious if it detracts at all from the actual lighting ability.

I bet your Juke would look fantastic with some pods above the windshield....

"The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock" (jukesjukesjukes)
09/30/2017 at 15:14, STARS: 0

PIAA LP570's would look good on the roof.

"Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero" (sampsonite24)
09/30/2017 at 16:16, STARS: 0

wiat...230 per side? so 460 total? jesus mary and joseph

"TorqueToYield" (torquetoyield)
09/30/2017 at 16:45, STARS: 1

GE makes some high quality lighting products. These look beefy as anything. I’m guessing no fan in these? Fans suck for LED lighting, especially in harsh environment of automotive because the fan will fail way before the chip, but it’s cheaper to just stick a fan to cool a chip than invest in a beefy die-cast aluminum housing.

Always go with name brand for LED stuff. Expensive, but should last longer than the rest of your car...

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
09/30/2017 at 17:37, STARS: 3

Currently 220 per side on Amazon. It’s crazy, but LEDs with proper housings are all pricey. Ten year no questions asked, replacement with free shipping both ways, so I think GE really does expect these lights to last the life of any car they’re put on.

Someone on here mentioned the 3000ish dollar repair cost for ONE of the Volvo s90's headlights.... Made me feel a little bit better about dropping almost 500 for these.

"Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero" (sampsonite24)
09/30/2017 at 17:45, STARS: 0

ive been thinking of replacing the headlights and fog in the explorer with just LED bulbs since ive already got LEDs in the tail lights but im not sure im ready to blind people just yet. hell i still havnt added resistors to the tail lights so my turn signals stop flashing so quickly haha

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
09/30/2017 at 18:52, STARS: 1

At that point might as well just grab a cheap light bar!

I tried driving around for maybe two blocks with the brights on thinking that because my car was lowered so much, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Passed ten cars, 9 of which flashed me and about half of them honked.

"Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero" (sampsonite24)
09/30/2017 at 19:07, STARS: 0

haha ive actually already got one to hide behind the grille up front but i havnt wired it in yet

"Audistein" (Audistein)
09/30/2017 at 22:11, STARS: 0

How are you planning on tinting your fogs?

You should make a post about it when its done as well.

"The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock" (jukesjukesjukes)
09/30/2017 at 22:13, STARS: 0

A tinted film.