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      06-05-2010, 05:18 AM   #1
markjord
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Angel Eyes - Summary To Date

So having followed all the recent threads on this subject and spoken to one or two vendors I am no nearer to making a decsion. All of my observations are subjective; I have not actually seen any of these in the flesh:

Thunders
Pros: Cheap
Cons: Not very visible in daylight

HIDs
Pros: Very bright. I like the colours. No major issues (faults etc).
Cons: They are not plug and play (check out the installation videos). Less even light distribution (as opposed to LEDs).

iBright
Pros: Genuine plug and play install. Good light distribution. Not many issues (some overheating in hotter climates)
Cons: (Apparently) the Lux are brighter and more daytime visible

Lux
Pros: Seem to be the brightest LED. Lots of people love them.
Cons: Heat problem led to recall. New version has some components outside of the light housing so not as neat at iBrights. No evidence yet that the revised version fixes the issue; Is it any cooler outside of the light housing (like between a 4 litre V8 and its radiator?)

OSSPros: Proper solution
Cons: Not everyone would consider the investment gives enough return to justify it. Not easy for those of us in Europe.

So here I am with nothing ordered yet.
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      06-05-2010, 08:19 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markjord View Post
So having followed all the recent threads on this subject and spoken to one or two vendors I am no nearer to making a decsion. All of my observations are subjective; I have not actually seen any of these in the flesh:

Thunders
Pros: Cheap
Cons: Not very visible in daylight

HIDs
Pros: Very bright. I like the colours. No major issues (faults etc).
Cons: They are not plug and play (check out the installation videos). Less even light distribution (as opposed to LEDs).

iBright
Pros: Genuine plug and play install. Good light distribution. Not many issues (some overheating in hotter climates)
Cons: (Apparently) the Lux are brighter and more daytime visible

Lux
Pros: Seem to be the brightest LED. Lots of people love them.
Cons: Heat problem led to recall. New version has some components outside of the light housing so not as neat at iBrights. No evidence yet that the revised version fixes the issue; Is it any cooler outside of the light housing (like between a 4 litre V8 and its radiator?)

OSSPros: Proper solution
Cons: Not everyone would consider the investment gives enough return to justify it. Not easy for those of us in Europe.

So here I am with nothing ordered yet.
I don't think the reason for placing the components outside the housing is for temperature, I think it's to avoid damage to the actual headlight components inside the housing.
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      06-05-2010, 09:24 AM   #3
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Both Angel iBrights and LUX require the driver to be outside of the headlight housing. There are issues with LUX on 2010+ cars.
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      06-05-2010, 01:05 PM   #4
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For me the obvious solution was just 'whiter' bulbs from GP Thunders (8.5K) since I want my car 100% stock, meaning all parts should work like stock (no extra wiring, extra wattage/power, no extra wires, no compromising of a seal, etc). And they're only $20. They're plenty visible, just like stock, but with whiter rather than yellow color. Don't understand why people want them brighter if they're DRLs not feaking headlights, which basically detract from the awesome lines of the car IMO, but to each his own .
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      06-05-2010, 02:50 PM   #5
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^-- I don't want them brighter, I juts like them to stay white when the headlights turn on.
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      06-05-2010, 02:57 PM   #6
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You should note that the higher temperature (e.g. 12000k and 20000k) HID bulbs have fairly even light intensity across the two rings AND don't blur out, more so at least than any other solution I've seen.
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      06-05-2010, 04:42 PM   #7
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I think AiB's are the way to go with OSS coming in first place if money is not an issue.

I'm doing AiB's from EAS when I pickup my car in two weeks or so.

I think the HID lights are way to bright and bleed too much light into the inner ring. I need something subtle, not yellow, good light distribution, little heat, plug-n-play installation - AiB's take the cake in all those points.
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      06-05-2010, 04:54 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elp_jc View Post
For me the obvious solution was just 'whiter' bulbs from GP Thunders (8.5K) since I want my car 100% stock, meaning all parts should work like stock (no extra wiring, extra wattage/power, no extra wires, no compromising of a seal, etc). And they're only $20. They're plenty visible, just like stock, but with whiter rather than yellow color. Don't understand why people want them brighter if they're DRLs not feaking headlights, which basically detract from the awesome lines of the car IMO, but to each his own .
i like that idea.. they are cheap, looks nice and you dont play too much with car's electric system.

can you please post some more pics with these bulbs on???

i really loved that solution since i really dont want them too bright anyways and you only change the bulbs which is the easiest thing i guess...

thanks in advance...
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      06-05-2010, 04:59 PM   #9
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I should also say that AiB are fantastic as well, I've seen them in person several times and are evenly distributed.
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      06-05-2010, 06:19 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eclipsis View Post
I should also say that AiB are fantastic as well, I've seen them in person several times and are evenly distributed.
More great news!

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      06-05-2010, 06:49 PM   #11
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GP Thunders do the job fine for the money....
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      06-05-2010, 06:54 PM   #12
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It would be great if an AiB owner and a LUX owner got together and did a side-by-side shoot. Bonus points if they include an E92 LCI, F10 5-series, 5-series GT, or an LCI X5 in the mix as well.
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      06-05-2010, 07:49 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aajami View Post
It would be great if an AiB owner and a LUX owner got together and did a side-by-side shoot. Bonus points if they include an E92 LCI, F10 5-series, 5-series GT, or an LCI X5 in the mix as well.
I've had them both and tried them side by side. Unfortunately I did not have a good picture. My impression was that they were about the same in terms of the brightness and the distribution between inner and outer rings. Both were not particularly easy to see in bright sunlight and both looked great from dusk to night.

The bad news is that one of my AiB burned out and thus was returned. The LUX H8's were then recalled. Both vendors provided outstanding customer service.

I had preferred the LUX H8's because they didn't require the driver to be outside of the headlight; however, the recall solution is to put the driver outside so they are equivalent to AiB in this regard.

For 2010+, LUX H8 do not seem to work. So for newer cars, you have a choice of GP thunders, AiB, HID or OSS.
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      06-05-2010, 08:27 PM   #14
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Another vote for AiB's. I have been VERY happy with mine. There may be brighter options out there but there are not many and for the $ these are a great buy.

Here is a shot in full daylight.

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      06-06-2010, 12:11 AM   #15
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Very nice summary. There just is not a perfect solution yet.

You should add GP Thunder + Camaross kit. Quite a few of us have gone that route, myself included and am very happy. The GPs give you a much nicer color, much more white (not yellow-ish at all like stock). I went with 7500k as I did not want too blue/purple. The Camaross kit then makes them brighter by delivering more voltage and keeping the voltage constant when the headlights are on. The only "complaints", and they are very minor, are that the brightness and color between the inside and outside rings are slightly different.
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      06-06-2010, 12:46 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swamp2 View Post
Very nice summary. There just is not a perfect solution yet.

You should add GP Thunder + Camaross kit. Quite a few of us have gone that route, myself included and am very happy. The GPs give you a much nicer color, much more white (not yellow-ish at all like stock). I went with 7500k as I did not want too blue/purple. The Camaross kit then makes them brighter by delivering more voltage and keeping the voltage constant when the headlights are on. The only "complaints", and they are very minor, are that the brightness and color between the inside and outside rings are slightly different.
+1 this was my favorite setup I had, except it kept braking and there were too many wires under the hood. camaross was great with customer support, however I just got tired of dealing with it.
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      06-06-2010, 01:34 AM   #17
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can we pls get pricing next to each summary too? thanks!
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      06-06-2010, 10:34 AM   #18
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OSS FTW.
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      06-06-2010, 10:41 AM   #19
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i love my camaross... very simple install and looks great
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      06-06-2010, 10:49 AM   #20
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Well there is no way I'm putting anything on my car that doesn't work - all the time. And the thought of returning goods to the USA is not a good one.
So after all the research it's stock for me.
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      06-06-2010, 01:26 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MMMorish View Post
I don't think the reason for placing the components outside the housing is for temperature, I think it's to avoid damage to the actual headlight components inside the housing.
Caused from high temperatures.

The AiB DriverPacks have not required external mounting for quite some time now, the electronics have been improved.

As an example for LightSource temps, here is surface temp readings of the LED, HID and stock lightsources on the market used for Angel Eyes:



Pictured are AngeliBirght (left), HID (center) and Halogen (right), things obviously change when installed in a sealed headlamp.

LEDs will always run the coolest out of the three, with HID temps running the highest. Going the AIB or LUX route would keep temperatures the lowest within the headlamp.

Quote:
Originally Posted by aajami View Post
It would be great if an AiB owner and a LUX owner got together and did a side-by-side shoot. Bonus points if they include an E92 LCI, F10 5-series, 5-series GT, or an LCI X5 in the mix as well.
I have a M3 Sedan here with the LUX kit installed - we can do this tomorrow.
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Last edited by tom @ eas; 06-06-2010 at 01:32 PM..
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      06-06-2010, 01:57 PM   #22
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I'm content with my angelibrights:

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