[beerglass007]

So after driving the LCI 330 for a while with LED they feel whiter and maybe brighter ?

My pre LCI 330 has xenon light and I'm feeling the love for LED now

I have read loads of here that people like the xenon lights more than LED why is this, is there a negative to LED

[Steces]

My opinion is that the LEDs are often set up incorrectly from new

When I first took my LCI car out at night it was just plain dangerous, however tweaking the beam pattern helped enormously

I suspect lots of the LED hate is due to this

[chris-c]

Xenon's have more light output than LED's.
Adaptive LEDs have more light output Standard LEDs.

LED's are whiter so they appear brighter.

[xenon]

An individual xenon lamp has more specific output per source but then on LEDs you have twice the number of elements (both inner and outer lights are used each side) so overall LEDs have a slightly higher output in terms of lumens. There is no difference between adaptive and non-adaptive though as they use the same elements.

[aquazi]

I didnt love the (adaptive) LED’s on my f32 when i first got it last yr.

However cleaned my car last weekend and now they seem pretty good

[Abdul Karim]

Originally Posted by Steces

My opinion is that the LEDs are often set up incorrectly from new

When I first took my LCI car out at night it was just plain dangerous, however tweaking the beam pattern helped enormously

I suspect lots of the LED hate is due to this

Absolutely this ^^^

It's critical you take time to set your LEDs correctly.

[Abdul Karim]

Originally Posted by xenon

An individual xenon lamp has more specific output per source but then on LEDs you have twice the number of elements (both inner and outer lights are used each side) so overall LEDs have a slightly higher output in terms of lumens. There is no difference between adaptive and non-adaptive though as they use the same elements.

Time to change your username?

[xenon]

Originally Posted by Abdul Karim

Time to change your username?

I have cars with each

[SkyJawa]

LED on the M140, Xenon on the F31 prior and F30 post.

I prefer Xenon

[r654321]

I'd take LED's over my Xenons.

What I find strange is you don't have to have washers for the LED's but they are mandatory for cars with Xenons.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by SkyJawa

LED on the M140, Xenon on the F31 prior and F30 post.

I prefer Xenon

Me too. The projector xenons put the light where you need it and light up the distance better. I find 3/4 Series LEDs as a downgrade from xenon.

Thankfully Laserlight is coming to the new 3/4 and (presumably LCI 5). That appears to be a real step up from xenon.

[chris-c]

Originally Posted by xenon

An individual xenon lamp has more specific output per source but then on LEDs you have twice the number of elements (both inner and outer lights are used each side) so overall LEDs have a slightly higher output in terms of lumens. There is no difference between adaptive and non-adaptive though as they use the same elements.

Sorry but no.

Low Beam:
F30/31 LCI Standard LED: 784 lm
F30/31 LCI Adaptive LED: 1097 lm
F32 Xenon: 1170 lm
F32 Adaptive LED: 903 lm

High Beam:
F30/31 LCI Standard LED: 1226 lm
F30/31 LCI Adaptive LED: 1498 lm
F32 Xenon: 1702 lm
F32 Adaptive LED: 1802 lm

Total
F30/31 LCI Standard LED: 2010 lm
F30/31 LCI Adaptive LED: 2595 lm
F32 Xenon: 2872 lm
F32 Adaptive LED: 2705lm

[xenon]

Those figures are wrong. For a start the "Total" makes no sense in the xenon application because the lamps are bi-xenon and do not operate clumatively. The output on high beam is the output of the element with the shutter dropped, it's not "added" to the low beam output.

[aquazi]

Originally Posted by r654321

I'd take LED's over my Xenons.

What I find strange is you don't have to have washers for the LED's but they are mandatory for cars with Xenons.

Which i am glad for.... hated headlight washers on every car i owned.... didnt clean the headlights and just dirtied the bonnet/ got frozen or jammed in winter.

[Oceanic]

I have adaptive LED and they are insanely bright compared to my last car with standard Xenon, nothing wrong with Xenon though and they're hardly lacking.

[kitster]

I'm yet to try my car in the dark! I had adaptive xenon's on the F31, which I really liked. Will be interesting to see how they compare to the G31 Icon lights.

[saltyamigo]

Originally Posted by Abdul Karim

Absolutely this ^^^

It's critical you take time to set your LEDs correctly.

Is this something you can do yourself or does it need to go to a dealer? If it is DIY can you explain the process please?

[Rich9600]

Originally Posted by aquazi

Which i am glad for.... hated headlight washers on every car i owned.... didnt clean the headlights and just dirtied the bonnet/ got frozen or jammed in winter.

I guess it depends on where you live and drive. If you live in a city both adaptive and washers are probably a poor option.

However, living in the country and driving muddy winters roads at night makes both adaptive and head light washers very useful.

My pre-LCI standard Adaptive Xenon washers were much more active than the LCI option Adaptive LED washers on my present car. For starters they triggered on every first wash after the headlights came on. I'd estimate that they are used less than 25% of the times they were with Xenons.

During periods of poor weather I wash my screen multiple times to force a headlight wash. I wonder if the lack of a legal requirement for washers on LED's makes for dirty lights and so relatively poor performance. Dirty headlights do make for a big difference.

[SW6Steve]

Originally Posted by Steces

My opinion is that the LEDs are often set up incorrectly from new
I suspect lots of the LED hate is due to this

I agree with this

When I first drove with standard LED's thought they were terrible, no distance to them.
Had ACS springs fitted, headlamp adjustment is recommended I believe.
The distance vision improved greatly, but I kept getting flashed.
Took it to BMW to adjust and they are great now, greater distance vision and no flashing.

[r654321]

Is there no auto levelling on the LED's?

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Rich9600

I guess it depends on where you live and drive. If you live in a city both adaptive and washers are probably a poor option.

However, living in the country and driving muddy winters roads at night makes both adaptive and head light washers very useful.

My pre-LCI standard Adaptive Xenon washers were much more active than the LCI option Adaptive LED washers on my present car. For starters they triggered on every first wash after the headlights came on. I'd estimate that they are used less than 25% of the times they were with Xenons.

During periods of poor weather I wash my screen multiple times to force a headlight wash. I wonder if the lack of a legal requirement for washers on LED's makes for dirty lights and so relatively poor performance. Dirty headlights do make for a big difference.

I'm pretty sure you can change this through coding. My original F31 used to spray the headlights lots more, then latterly less so. I presume at one of the services they updated software which reduced increased the number of windscreen wash cycles between headlamp wash cycles.

[KCH1984]

Originally Posted by SkyJawa

LED on the M140, Xenon on the F31 prior and F30 post.

I prefer Xenon

I had Xenon on the M135i then adaptive LED on the 330d and now back to Xenon on the X5.

I also prefer the xenon lights. As noted above, the LEDs produce a whiter looking light but I prefer the more 'natural daylight' tone of the xenons and I think the light dispersion (if that's the correct term) is better.

Aesthetically I also think the xenons look better when lit, although in the F30 I preferred the angel eyes on the LED cars.