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      08-15-2014, 11:51 AM   #67
stewy604
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Originally Posted by opasha View Post
Yeah, this is one of the nice features. The white LED eyebrows turn orange upon using the indicator.
Yea...looks WAY better than the standard indicators.
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      08-15-2014, 12:24 PM   #68
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Originally Posted by opasha View Post
Thank you for the correction/clarification . European market is so lucky to have these options.
Blame the lazy American politicians and law makers
That's balanced by the European market feeling unlucky when they pay VAT, import and fuel taxes...

On topic. LED are stunning, but the value proposition wasn't there for me. When xenon came out, the difference between halogen and xenon was striking- easily worth $2k. I'll wait a generation on the LEDs.
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      08-15-2014, 02:36 PM   #69
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I'm not sure if it's been mentioned earlier though one good reason to get the LED package is the front direction indicators - they're super bright / sharp orange LED's not the crappy incandescent lamps you get with the Xenons!
This was a huge selling point for me. If they had the led turn signal on the standard xenons i would have stayed stock. I feel like the LED headlights, although brighter, don't cover the road the way the xenon (projector) headlamps do.

The LED uses the same old reflector technology that halogen bulbs use. You can tell because instead of the clean even projection, you get a splash of light with dark spots.

I think they should have incorporated the projector but used the super bright LED's inside the projector bulb. That would have been an intense bright light.

Those LED turn signals really make it look and feel high tech/luxurious so I think it's the best reason to get the Lighting Package.
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      08-15-2014, 02:40 PM   #70
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Originally Posted by xdriverx View Post
This was a huge selling point for me. If they had the led turn signal on the standard xenons i would have stayed stock. I feel like the LED headlights, although brighter, don't cover the road the way the xenon (projector) headlamps do.

The LED uses the same old reflector technology that halogen bulbs use. You can tell because instead of the clean even projection, you get a splash of light with dark spots.

I think they should have incorporated the projector but used the super bright LED's inside the projector bulb. That would have been an intense bright light.

Those LED turn signals really make it look and feel high tech/luxurious so I think it's the best reason to get the Lighting Package.
I mean, technically, it's just a switchback LED strip, which I think get's illuminated with a strong bulb the same way the Halos do.

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      08-15-2014, 02:50 PM   #71
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Originally Posted by opasha View Post
I mean, technically, it's just a switchback LED strip, which I think get's illuminated with a strong bulb the same way the Halos do.

I was referring to the headlights. The BMW LED turn signal is top notch and much better than the "dotted" LED's you see on Audi or Lexus.
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      08-15-2014, 03:41 PM   #72
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Originally Posted by xdriverx View Post
I was referring to the headlights. The BMW LED turn signal is top notch and much better than the "dotted" LED's you see on Audi or Lexus.
True. I was just commenting on the reason you chose LED over Bi-Xenon...due to the LED turn signal indicator being the eyebrow as opposed to the side bulbs in the Bi-Xenons. It might actually be a simple switch/retrofit of a bulb to enable the LED turn signal feature, but I could be wrong. Obviously, coding is also needed.

And you are 100% right, BMW's turn signals are really solid compared to some other manufacturers.
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      08-15-2014, 05:08 PM   #73
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Originally Posted by opasha View Post
True. I was just commenting on the reason you chose LED over Bi-Xenon...due to the LED turn signal indicator being the eyebrow as opposed to the side bulbs in the Bi-Xenons. It might actually be a simple switch/retrofit of a bulb to enable the LED turn signal feature, but I could be wrong. Obviously, coding is also needed.

And you are 100% right, BMW's turn signals are really solid compared to some other manufacturers.
How's your turn signal led project going Opasha? =D
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      08-15-2014, 05:53 PM   #74
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How's your turn signal led project going Opasha? =D
Just ordered the amber turn signals because the white are actually bluer (6000K) and won't match my xenons (4300k = 5000k aftermarket equivalent).

They ship Monday and should arrive within 3 business days.
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      08-15-2014, 06:02 PM   #75
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Originally Posted by xdriverx View Post
The LED uses the same old reflector technology that halogen bulbs use. You can tell because instead of the clean even projection, you get a splash of light with dark spots.
I would like to save this post somehow as it describes the essence of what I thought about the LED headlights. Although tempted by the new and superior technology I preferred the more even spread of light that xenons give and more gradual fading of the light into the shade on the sides. This is really something that one should look at when comparing the LEDs and the xenons.
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      08-16-2014, 07:36 AM   #76
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Originally Posted by xdriverx View Post
This was a huge selling point for me. If they had the led turn signal on the standard xenons i would have stayed stock. I feel like the LED headlights, although brighter, don't cover the road the way the xenon (projector) headlamps do.

The LED uses the same old reflector technology that halogen bulbs use. You can tell because instead of the clean even projection, you get a splash of light with dark spots.

I think they should have incorporated the projector but used the super bright LED's inside the projector bulb. That would have been an intense bright light.

Those LED turn signals really make it look and feel high tech/luxurious so I think it's the best reason to get the Lighting Package.
I agree regarding the overall 'evenness' of light distribution with Xenon's utilising their reflector / objective lens / shutter mechanism though that's about the only advantage of the Xenons. I think there are technical reasons why the active LED system can not use this method since the LED's use multiple, individual light sources (rather than a single point light source in Bi-Xenon's) Since each of the LED's appear to be individually enabled / controlled in order to provide features such as the anti-dazzle 'light tunnel' and adjustable beam patterns, steerable 'traditional' multi-faceted reflectors are the best solution. A well silvered reflecting mirror with no lens is (IMHO) the more efficient method of projecting light onto the road - certainly more efficient than complicated mirror / lens systems though the light intensity may be not so even overall.

I've noticed that the individual LED 'chips' are all mounted horizontally either facing up (in the case of the dip beam) or downwards (in the case of the high beam) I guess the reason for this is to eliminate the need for mechanical shielding (otherwise required to prevent dazzle) thus improving the overall efficiency of the reflector system.

Having used the LED system on my X5 for a few weeks (and making a direct comparison with my previous Adaptive Bi-Xenon equipped BMW) there's no way I would go back to Bi-Xenon.
  • The LED's are very bright with a nice high °Kelvin value.
  • The way the European spec LED's variable light distribution works is incredible. It has many automatically enabled modes e.g. even has a specific mode when reversing the car in the dark!
  • The turning lights are very effective (compared with using the fog lights as the Xenon equipped cars do)
  • The high beam is awesome.
  • It's a generally 'smarter' more modern system!

I wouldn't really say there's anything bad to say about them (Except the price!)
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