Angel Eyes recommendations please

[HKKid92]

So I am looking to install some angel eyes.
I am looking at the $279 EAS AngeliBright 4.5 right now.
Any suggestions guys?

Thanks

[GIdriver]

Lots of info here. I love my LUX. I invite you to search, so you can choose what fits you best.

[RBB]

I've had both Lux and AIBs....gotta go with Lux.

[Nicname]

I got the lux 5000k option which was for a limited time. In my top 3 mods.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...light=lux+5000

[rjd598]

Lux

[snowmants]

My headlights are at OSS right now having the orion v2 installed. I have heard great things about them. I will let you know when they come back.

[THE TECH]

Do some research. You will figure out which one you like best.

[davramic]

Originally Posted by GIdriver

Lots of info here. I love my LUX. I invite you to search, so you can choose what fits you best.

GIdriver, how do you like your exhaust? Do you get much drone? Trying to decide between the Akrapovic, eissman and vorsteiner. Thoughts?

[lorinzo]

Get Lux.

[HKKid92]

really trying to get the OEM look, don't want that blue tint to it that the Lux seems to have

[GIdriver]

Originally Posted by davramic

GIdriver, how do you like your exhaust? Do you get much drone? Trying to decide between the Akrapovic, eissman and vorsteiner. Thoughts?

This a bit off-topic, but I can say that I'm extremely happy with the exaust.

Here's my review: http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=721333

Any other questions are welcome.

[EAS]

Originally Posted by HKKid92

really trying to get the OEM look, don't want that blue tint to it that the Lux seems to have

AIB will be your choice:



Please contact us directly or visit our website for more info.

[BMW Fanatic]

Originally Posted by EAS

AIB will be your choice:



Please contact us directly or visit our website for more info.

Outdoor pics in direct sunlight? Never seen pics of it under those conditions.

[EAS]

Originally Posted by BMW Fanatic

Outdoor pics in direct sunlight? Never seen pics of it under those conditions.

As requested:



More images can be found on our website and/or Vendor's section. Please feel free to contact us directly if you have any specific questions about the kits.

[Legion5]

Honestly I've spent $2000 on this and literally bought every single credible bulb solution on the market, the top 6 brands of LED angel eyes, both brands of HID angel eyes and seen OSS LS3, Orb, and Umnitza angel eyes in person.

ALL of the solutions are less than stellar except for one or two, which I will get to later.

LED angel eyes:

- These are all not very good because none of them are remotely bright enough, the outer ring is practically invisible unless you are looking at them head on. You will notice how most pictures will show LED angel eyes from perfectly head on.

Even though these are brighter than BMW's halogen angel eyes, BMW's angel eyes don't need to be bright because the yellow color instantly makes them stand out, you see the color not the brightness. Because our headlight housing is white and so is daylight all LED angel eyes just do not stand out very well.

My personal favorite out of all the countless LED angel eyes are the Lux H8 and Angel iBright ones, I preffer Lux over AiB personally, because they have a more blue hue that makes them stand out more against the housing or daylight light, the Angel iBright bulbs are invisible in the day if you're not looking head on because they are too close to the color of daylight. BMW's own bulbs have a bluish purplish hue for this reason. AiB's match the stock headlights better though. Avoid all other brands because if the best ones aren't bright enough then anything else will just be pointless.

Again though ALL led angel eyes don't look very good because the outer ring looks so dim.



Here's an example and the Angel iBright v3 bulbs on an overcast day at an angle. The image is taken at a carefully selected angle to maximize the brightness of the outer ring on the right side. In reality the angel eyes will look 99% of the time like the left most rings where you can barley see the outer ring and the inner ring is somewhat bright.

In short, not good.

HID Angel eyes:

Camaross / Alpine Angel Eyes are the big players both make similar kits for a similar price with the same performance. These are 3 times as bright as any LED angel eye solution. The key issue with HID angel eyes is that they are extremely uneven. There is no reflector at all so 80% of the light goes into the inner angel eyes. While they are bright enough to be used instead of headlights at night they just look silly. Especially at night where they are too bright making the angel eyes have zero definition. Your lights will just look like a big blinding blob. These have the output but not the control.

The other deal breaker for me was that they were instant on and instant off so you didn't get the gradual fade in and out when you unlock/locked the car.

The outer ring will be about as bright or slightly brighter than LED solutions so really you're just paying for a blinding inner ring.

This is what HID angel eyes really look like:



In short, not good.

LED replacement ring headlights:

These aren't actually as ridiculously bright as people make them out to seem (hid angel eyes have a brighter inner ring for example), but the outer ring is the bightest out there.

The key problem with these is LED seperation, and the fact they could be brighter.

This isn't the best example but this is what LED seperation is:





Simply put except for 2 exceptions LED angel eye rings have huge gaps between each LED. Usually the gap is at least the size of one LED itself. The reasons for this are technical and economic, most of these rings are cheaply made by overseas manufacturers.

In short, not good enough.


The Two Exceptions:

The two exceptions to the rule are the OneEightNYC Orb replacement rings and the Umnitza v4 rings.

The OneEightyNYC rings have been out for a while but they aren't well known in the BMW community for some ridiculous reason. They have tight LED spacing and strong diffusors infront of each LED to make the gap between them very small:



They are bright, white visible in the day and uniform if not a little overwhelming at night.

The only solution I find acceptable though is the brand new Umnitza Orion v4 rings. These are new as of maybe a month ago and aren't technically going to be released for a week.

There is almost zero led speration, they are perfectly white, and they have a dimmer so they dim at night so they are better defined and not blinding.

The tessellation between the dark and light areas around the ring are about the size of a sheet of paper. It's just a contiguous ring.







Umnitza Orion v4 (right) vs previous best versions (left):



Now the Orion v4 rings aren't perfect, they don't fade in and out when you unlock the car, which may be a feature included in the future. In some online photos I've found it looks like the inner ring has some seperation in it, this is actually not the case, there is no seperation between the LEDs. What is happening is that the LEDs have different refresh rates (all LEDs quickly turn off and on to emit light) and in some cases the camera catches the LED as it dims towards it's off cycle which results in the edges of each LED darkening making them look smaller. In real life there is no seperation.

I realize sending your headlights in is a big deal, but turn around times are very quick and you'd be without a car for only a few days. It's more than worth it.

Summary: Lux H8/AiB or Umnitza Orion v4

Hope that helps.

[EAS]

Legion5: Appreciate your honesty.

Please keep in mind the picture you have chosen is AIB v3.0 (almost 3 years ago). We are on v4.5 now.

[BMW Fanatic]

I'll be sticking with LUX. However, thanks for that, don't look bad at all.

Originally Posted by EAS

As requested:

More images can be found on our website and/or Vendor's section. Please feel free to contact us directly if you have any specific questions about the kits.

[BMW Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Legion5

Honestly I've spent $2000 on this literally bought every single bulb solution on the market, the top 6 brands of LED angel eyes, both brands of HID angel eyes and seen OSS LS3, Orb, and Umnitza angel eyes in person.

ALL of the solutions are less than stellar except for one or two, which I will get to later.

Your whole post should be stickied (maybe updated but nevertheless). Will save the plethora of threads that are created every day regarding this.

[rjd598]

Originally Posted by BMW Fanatic

Your whole post should be stickied (maybe updated but nevertheless). Will save the plethora of threads that are created every day regarding this.

+1 mods get on this now

[sdshah]

BAVARIAN LS3 - you get the full ring? why go any other route. looks ridiculous

[jaehshim]

to chime in a little,
i've been searching on this for a long time too
No plans to HID+ballast on angel eye (i don't think it's neccessary), don't want the headlight brightness on my fog+angel eye.

so my choice is LED angel eye.
I was about to purchase the Lux 8, which is well known on this forum, but just came across another vendor e-92 lighting? selling Dtec angel eye LED bulbs for half the price and claiming that it has no flickering, and it will dim unlike the Lux.

some question out of my curiosity:
1. will the Lux 8 bulb flicker on start?
2. What really justifies the price of these? how come one brand is at ~130 and the other at ~240? it seems too much of a difference. The cheaper one claims no error code nor flickering whatsoever, so perhaps why go with more expensive one? (just in the function stand point)

Thanks all for keeping us with good info, and also those vendors with fantastic products keep getting better and better!

[HKKid92]

Originally Posted by Legion5

Honestly I've spent $2000 on this and literally bought every single credible bulb solution on the market, the top 6 brands of LED angel eyes, both brands of HID angel eyes and seen OSS LS3, Orb, and Umnitza angel eyes in person.

Wow, thank you for that very informative post. I found it extremely helpful. And yea this should be stickied!