When looking at the Lux figures from the real world test, HID nearly doubled the long-range performance of halogen driving lights. HIDs are king if you are chasing pure distance from your driving lights. The long-range performance offered by HID driving lights has always been legendary, and our testing absolutely confirms this. This is not a comparison more a case study to draw data from. We also took a pair of LightForce Genesis 210mm and two Xray Vision 220 Halogen driving lights. We took two sets of halogen driving lights to LED Lab in Castle Hill (which has done all of our scientific testing). We see a purpose for halogen driving lights for those on a budget, or for those who travel regularly in dusty or foggy conditions (as a yellow beam reportedly works better in those conditions). As expected, the light produced was yellow in appearance and, if I’m honest, was somewhat underwhelming. It must be said, after testing multiple LED driving lights and light bars over the past year, it was a real shock to the system to fire up a pair of halogens. Essentially, this is a Catch-22… as you want to protect your lights, but considering fitting the covers will knock back (on average) 100 lumens at 1m, you have to question the value of fitting them when the lights are in use. And it is easy to see why: Instead of pushing the light produced out, the cover traps some and reflects it back to the source. From our testing with LED, HID and Halogen driving lights, the figure (while not massive) was notable. Now this is an interesting topic, but we found the supplied lens covers many driving light manufacturers offer either with the lights or as optional extras actually rob you of performance. But with years of technological advancements under the belt of LED development, has the gap been reduced? Well we decided it was about time to find out… once and for all!
Traditionally, the view was that LEDs are only good for close-distance performance and lacked long-distance punch. While LEDs have been around for longer than unleaded petrol, their use in automotive driving lights has only become mainstream in the last few years. There was room for improvement, basically. But as always, there was a catch – annoying ballast warm-up time, and the purchase price being out of reach for many punters. Then, HID burst onto the scene and we now had access to a light with great long-distance performance, while running cooler than halogen equivalents. For images and the full Unsealed 4X4 experience, read this in our online magazine.ĭriving lights… you need them, but how much do you know about them? For many years we had a choice of any light we wanted as long as it was a halogen.