LED headlights

[gobiman]

Does anyone have these yet?
Interested in views on performance/looks compared to xenons?
Do you still have the bright angel eye driving lights?
I'm actually speccing up an X3 rather than X5 but no facelift models here for a month or so.
Any views of early adopters gratefully received.

[X5Sport]

Snipez had them in his X6 M50d and seemed very positive about them.

Given that more and more manufacturers are fitting them, I can see them replacing HIDs in a few years.

What surprised me was the retrofit cost.  BMW want £6k for the system so best do it at build - not that they are a cheap option then either.

Richard

[X5X3]

i have had them for 2 months, certainly better than xenons, seems to form a large rectangle of solid light in front of you, the auto dip and light shaping is very clever, although I normally drive on country roads at night so haven't tested the an awful lot with cars in front or many cars coming towards you. Certainly add something to the car from a function and looks perspective, and therefore are as useful as larger alloys etc if you are buying extras/ options

[catflap]

I've had my X5 M Sport for 3 weeks and I've done 2500 miles, I have the LED headlamps along with many other toys on it.

Overall I'm very impressed with the LED's compared to my previous 2012 BMW which was fitted with adaptive Bi-Xenon's. The LED's have a higher colour temperature than the Xenons which makes them much whiter rather than the creamy white of the Xenons. They appear to give a very much broader spread of light on dipped beam and a much improved high beam, the LED turning lamps built in to the headlights (rather than using the fog lights) are great.

The LED's beam pattern is very 'active', there are clearly many individual controllable elements within each LED lamp unit which allows for a great deal of flexibility in terms of how much light is produced and where it is aimed. The beam pattern and intensity seems to constantly change dependant on steering angle, road speed and many other variables / situations - they even change when you select reverse! (both turning led lamps come on and the dipped beam shape changes to give optimum illumination in front of the car whilst you're manoeuvring)

IMHO the 'old' Bi-Xenons are always going to be a compromise since using a single Xenon projector lamp unit on each side for both dip and main beam isn't a really a good idea. You need a long range, narrow beam pattern for high beam and a short range, wide beam pattern for dip - just chopping off part of the long range beam with a mechanical shutter was never going to work well since the lamps combined (reflector / lens) focal length never actually changes. I remember the first Xenon dipped beams (like on the M3's of 15 years ago) where superb in comparison with what we have today!

The anti-glare function (in the UK) works very well, I've been out in total darkness a few times and had no problems with dazzling oncoming cars or when following others; the high beam stays on and the light shines up either side of the other cars - you need to see it to appreciate how well it actually works. The system is not automatically enabled until it's very dark, you have to be out of a built up are (it detects the presence of street lights) and you must not have the front fogs on. If the fogs are on the high beam assist works as normal but the anti-glare function is disabled.

The only thing I don't like with the LED's is when the high beam is on and you go around corners. Say for example you're turning left, the nearside headlamp beam swings left as you'd expect though the offside beam stays pointing straight ahead. This results in a very dark area between the two beams, in this case just to the left of the straight ahead position. I don't know why BOTH beam patterns don't swing to the left TOGETHER? (I'm looking into the possibility of re-coding this function)

Apart from this one minor niggle the LED's are excellent - and, don't forget, you get the super-bright, sharp LED front direction indicators to match the rear ones instead of the crappy orange 'bulbs' (sorry - lamps) you get if you spec the standard Xenons. 

Three options you MUST select are the LED's, HUD  and the multi-contour (comfort) seats - 'end-of' - no F15 X5 is complete without them! (IMO of course)

[Steamyrotter]

[quote="catflap"]

Two options you MUST select are the LED's, HUD  and the multi-contour (comfort) seats - 'end-of' - no F15 X5 is complete without them! (IMO of course)
[/quote]

.....and maths lessons..... ???

[X5Sport]

Definitely a buy at build option because the retrofit is SERIOUS money - like £6k! From BMW or £4k ish if you can find one on eBay etc.

[catflap]

[quote="Steamyrotter"]
[quote="catflap"]

Two options you MUST select are the LED's, HUD  and the multi-contour (comfort) seats - 'end-of' - no F15 X5 is complete without them! (IMO of course)
[/quote]

.....and maths lessons..... ???
[/quote]

Well spotted - added HUD afterwards!